Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-10-20
FRENCH MorHERs-IN-LAw.
4 Sensational Poisoning Case which
Revealed Strange Dislike to Them.
From tho Ne'0 York HeraId'


From tho Ne,o York Herald.
PARIS, Oct. IA new impetus to
the popular feeling against mothers
in-law has just been provoked
by very sensational poisoning
case Just concluded at the Seine Assizes.
a man named Ribout, dealer in artificial
flowers, was charged by his mother-in-law
with poisoning his first wife, whose
maiden name was Marie David.
Wlile living at Noisy, in 1881,
Ribout and his wife received
as an apprentice and boarder a
very pretty girl OF - named Luce Quot.
! Shortly afterward Lucie QuiOts mother
| died, and on her deathbed she begged
/ RibOut and his wife TO take care OF her
/ daughter, and promises were made that
/ they would do so. The pretty Young girl
/ encouraged the familiarities OF Ribout,
whose wife concealed her veXation.
Nine. RiboIt was seized on Feb. "a, 1854.
with violent yomitings, and died on the
7th of the next month.
About a fortnight before his wife's
death Ribout, in the presence Of two wit
nesses. invoked a spirit by means OF table
turning, and pretended to receive from
the spirit the following answers to ques-
lions that he put:
Glow long will it be before Mile. Lucie
marries?"
"In three months. She will marry a
widower."
is the wife of this man still living"'
yes"
Glow long will it be before he is a wild
ower?"
''Three months"
Lucie Quot was present when this oc-
CURED, and laughed when the answers to
the questions were announced.
Shortly before the death Of Nine. Ribout
her husband had promised, at her request
to dismiss Quot, and this had given her
much qualification. At the funeral the
accused and Quot laughed to each other,
and conducted themselves in way that
shocked those present. Two or three
days after they announced that they were
engaged, and on July 2, 1884, they were
married. These facts awakened the sus-
picions of Nine. David, the mother of the
deceased wife.
On Sept. "a Nine. David ascertained
from man named Auburn, who had been
in the employment Of the accused, that
during her daughier's Illness he had been
sent with prescription to a druggist who
had refused to give the medicine.
1.-The DOCTOR" said the druggist, sis an
ass, or else he has made some mistake.
cannot make it up till l have written to
him."
A letter was written and addressed to
DR.. Guillaume, Noisy lie Sec, but ii was
returned with the statement that no such
doctor was known there.
The druggist had kept the prescription,
which was produced in court. RlbOut at
first pretended that he knew nothing of
the pretended prescription. Then he said
that he had written it and that his pur-
nlt tai on ID
substance used as dye in his business.
The body of Nine. Ribout was disnterred
but nothing could be discovered
by the medical men to explain her
death by natural causes. The
presence OF cOlchicine, a vegetable poison,
it. would be difficult to detect ten months
after death, and all that the experts who
had examined the body ventured to say
was that the symptoms disclosed by the
autopsy and the chemical analysis were
consistent with the hypothesis that she
was poisoned by colcbicine, but that the
scientific evidence was not complete.
After the examination of the body let
ter written by RibOut to his wife was in
tercepted, IN which he tells her to deny
all she knows, and says that all their let
ters are burned and that it is impossible
for the authorities ever TO fad out the
facts. Ribout denied that he wrote this
his handwriting.
Ribout is a bluff, honest-looklng peas
ant, ana in answer to the Judge said: sit
is true / never cared very much about my
first wife. She was hdgety and ALWAYS
nagging away at me. and her breath was
simply intolerable. The reason married
my second wife Lucie) so soon after the
death of my fest wife was because her
father was about to start for the Congo,
and | was eager to provide home for
her"
After most minute investigation, Prof.
Vulpian and Drs. BrOuardel, POnchet and
Ogier were unable TO find IN the remains
OF Nine. RibOut any traces of poison. Prof.
Nulplan said:
1.-The remains OF Nine. Ribout were in
a remarkable state of preservation con-
sidering they had been under ground for
over year. After the completion Of the
analysis l gave the remains of Nine.
/ Ribout to a dog to eat. The dog eagerly
/ devoured every portion. and no incon-
Venience except very slight vomiting re-
suited to the dog. At the same time
] gave some intestines containing traces OF
| cOlchicne to another dog. This second
! dog died shortly aiterward in agony"
Muftre Demange, who defended Ribout,
scored a magnificent success by repre-
senting his client as a victim of his
mother-in-law's malignity. at was the
mOther-ln-law," he said that first trump
ed up this charge of poisoning, and had il
not been for the mother-in-law the prise.
ner would not now be here"
This appeal to hatred fmothers-in-law,
which seems to make all Frenchmen
akin, had a most marked effect on the
Jury. They. without the slightest hesita.
ton, returned verdict Of acquittal, sew.
eral Of the jury actually apPlauding Mai.
tire Demange in his eloquent outbursi
against mOthers-in-law before the Judge
could stop them. The verdict was re.
ceiVed by the public with loud cheers.