Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1879-05-01
The Horrors of the Bagne.
An Innocent Lunatic's Terrible
Sufferings-The Lash, The Chain
and Starvation Diet-An Infa-
nous Rascal's Confession.

; ry, 1874, that a young man nam
, ed Charles Dumoisin, was called
to the bar in the Court of Crimi-
. nal Assizes, in Paris.
, The courtroom was crowded,
: for Dumoisin was accused of
having assassinated his young
, wife, Isabella, and his mother-in-
in-law, Nine. Cragnone, by adj
ministering large dose of ar
senic to them in two cups of
chocolate.
4 The Prosecuting Attorney
briefly stated the facts in the
case. They were as follows:
Young Nine. Dumoisin, although
her husband was a poorly-paid
clerk in a lead pencil factory,
was excessively fond Of fine
J dresses.
To crafty this passion she
squandered her husbands earn
ings, and contracted in his name
debts amounting to 5000 francs,
for which he was constantly ha-
rassed. His troubles had seri-
ously affected his mind. He
had grown morose and quarrel
some, and often threatened to
kill his wife.
The latter had fled to the
house of her mother, whittier her
husband had pursued her, and
when Madame Cragnone took
her daughters part, he had NUT
tered:
"BeWare, mother, or l shall
give you too a dose p
Madame Dumoisin and her
mother, frightened by his threats,
had returned to his house.
On the following day after
their return Dumoisin bought
some chocolate, and each of them
drank large cupful, Dumoisin
not touching his cup.
The two unfortunate women
were at once taken sick. They |
vomited and complained of terri
bic pains in the stomach.
Dumoisin did not send for a
physician, although his servant
girl urged him to do so.
Fifteen minutes later his wife
and his mother-in-law died in
terrible agony.
Dumoisin left the house, went
to a saloon and drank to excess.
He was arrested and said to the
policeman who apprehended him:
off they are dead, they deserv-
ed it. They have goaded me to
madness"
He was put into solitary cell,
where he acted like a lumatic.
He refused for days to partake
of any food, and sang ditties of
disgusting ribaldry.
When taken at last before the
examining magistrate, he said:
"Well, cut my head off, if yOu
please, but do not look for any
confession from me-"
On his trial he refused to an
swer the questions of the Presid-
ing Judge. The jury found him
guilty Of murder, with extenua-
ting circumstances, and he was
sentenced to penal seryitude for
life.
Three days later he was sent
to the Bagne of Toulon.
There he refused to obey the
rules, and was, in consequence, (;
subjected to all the horrors of /,
bagne discipline.
His record showed that from
July, 1874, to August, 1864, he
received no fewer than eleven ,
thousand two hundred lashes.
He spent during that time up
wards of one year chained to the
stone floor of the dark-cell. Dur
ing nearly half that time bread !
and water were his only nourish-
ment. u
The prison authorities declar-
ed that they had never seen a
more unruly convictin the bagne.
Suddenly, in September, 1864,
the Emperor Napoleon pardon
ed the wretched man, because it
had been discovered that he was
perfectly innocent. A brother
of Nine. Cragnone, Randove
Cragnone, a Paris grocer, in
formed the authorities that he
had mixed arsenic in a cake Of
chocolate which he had sent to
Dumoisin's house for the pur-
pose of killing his sister and her
daughter, so that he could inher-
it the five hundred francs which
Nine. Cragnone had deposited in
a savings bank.
Cragnone was guillotined ear
Iv I'm 1861 ug Ii