Sacramento daily record-union., 1889-09-07

certain improvements IN Inc Manufacture
! of iron. On December 18th his mother
wrote to him to say that the family had
sent to him some little cakes of the local
kind known as "choux," and that he was
to eat these cakes on a given day and at a
| given hour, in loving remembrance of his
wife and family, who, at the same hour,
would be partaking of similar cakes at lie
| Chandler. The cakes were made by Nine.
| Lafarge mere, who was a notable pastry
| cook, but they were packed and sent off by
| Marie Cappelle. The little cakes never
came to hand, but one large cake did, and
it afterward transpired that the box in
which the cakes were to be placed closed
with hooks, whereas the case in which the
| large case came to hand was fastened down
with nails. NJ. Lafarge only partook of
! small portion of this cake. He was imme-
diately seized with violent collie. a
| fortnight afterward, in piteouSly feeble
condition, he returned to lie Glander, and
on January IA, 1910, in extreme agony, he
died. Before his death, however, his fam
lily began to suspect foul play, and the OBJ
ject of their suspicion was his wife.
The first medical man called in saw
nothing wrong. He was the family doc
tor, and ascribed Lafarge's sickness TO
nervous cole, from which he had been a
chronic sufferer. The second physician
had his doubts. He thought that he dis
covered arsenical traces in iait dc p0iIe,
or white wine whey, which Madame La
farge had made for her husband. 1t is
worthy of remark that the sick man knew
that his wife was in the habit of taking
such Iait de p0uie before she went to bed,
and as a proof of affection he entreated
her to share this night-draught with him;
and that on the night in question, she al
legged that she had drunk the whole
draught, but that she would make him an
other, which she did and which he drank
The watchful mother and sister-in-law de-
clared that they had frequently seen young
Nine. Lafarge dropping pinch Of white
powder into the food and the medicines
administered 10 the patient. Marie Cap.
pelle, on being charged with this, replied
that the white powder was only pounded
gum arabic, which was "very refreshing"
to an invalid and it is certain, as all trav-
elers know, that gum arabic does allay
thirst Then NJ. Lafarge complained of
the rats with which the tumbled-down old
masaTe Of lie Chandler was infested, and
the noise made by which robbed him Of
sleep. Marie Cappelle herself complained
that the mischieyous rodents had gnawed
away half of the skirt of her riding habit.
Ratsbane was sent for, and, to make it
stronger, Marie purchased from chemist
a quantity of arsenic. But when the mort
az rats came to be analyzed it did not ex-
hihit single trace of arsenic, and when
Nine. Cappelle was questioned on this
matter she explained that, having mixed
a certain quantity of arsenic, she had
given the rest TO her servant, who, in her
turn, asserted that, being afraid of the
stuff she had buried the parcel containing
it in the garden. There, sure enough, the
packet was found, but it contained only
carbonate of soda
These equivocal circumstances continu-
ing to accumulate, the family demanded
the exhumation and autopsy of NJ. La
farge. The analysis of the remains was
undertaken in the first instance by the
faculty of Tulle, who seemed to have made
scandalous mess of the whole matter.
They proiessed to have found an arsenical
precipitate; but the illustrious chemist
Orfla, applied to as referee, pointed out
that the precipitate obtained had not been
reduced TO metallic arsenic, and indig-
nantly added that, in their laundering ex-
periments, the faculty of Tulle had "gas-
piles" or squandered the most valuable
of the internal arrangements of the defunct
Lafarge.
Young Nine. Lafarge had been in the
meantime arrested; and an idea may be
formed of the snail-like pace at which
French criminal procedure moves when it
is stated that eight entire months were de-
voted to the prevention or instruc-
tion," during which period the prisoner
was kept in solitary confinement, and sub
jected to innumerable interrogations from
the examining Judge. 1t was not until
September 2, 1910, that the miserable
woman was placed on her trial before the
Court Of Assizes at Tulle, and by this time
public opinion in France had become di-
yided into two great camps, the Lafargists
and the antiLaiargiststs, the former very
! large predominatlng. She was defended
! by two Of the most eminent members of
| the French bar, Maitre Pallet and Maitre
! Lachaud, to whom was adjoined a young
and gifted advocate, NJ Theodore Bac
! The first and clumsy analysis of the re-
/ mains having been declared abortive and
| null, second took place, even while the
| Advocate General was reading the act Of
/ accusation. This time the experiments
were made in accordance with the direc-
! tions laid down by Orfila, and with the use
! of Marshs apparatus, the result being that
! the experts declared their inability to dis
! cover a single trace of arsenic in the body
| of VI. Lafarge. One should not forget the
! post-mortem "gaspillage," or squandering,
| which had so aroused the ire of Orfla. A
| third analysis took place on September Sd
this time under the auspices of NJ Du-
| puytren-andt the conclusion arrived at was
a wholly negative one.
To Nine. Lafarge, for a few hours, the
bitterness of impending death was passed.
! She alternately wept and swooned for Joy
Maitre Pallet and Maitre Lachaud en-
| braced her. Maitre Bac-who by this
| time had fallen in love with her-knelt
and reverently kissed her hand. The
gendarmes who guarded her threw aloft
| their cooked hats in exu tation. The
crowd outside the prison roared with de-
| light: mo arsenic, No arsenic in Papa
| implacable and the President of the
tribunal dead against the prisoner. Yet
another ANALYSIS was decreed, and the illus
! trious Ortila himself was sent from Paris.
! On the 18th the great chemist appeared
! III court, anu IN NOiCe uSSCTIOSu as
'sepulchral," said: 81 will demonstrate
that arsenic exists in the body of Lafarge"
He exhibited three plates which had been
exposed to the vapor generated by Marsh's
apparatus On two of the plates there
was no sign or token of the poison sought
for; but the third was speckled with grains
of arsenic in what Orfila admitted to be
''an imponderable quantity" that if to say,
not susceptible of being weighed. But
these imponderable particles proved heavy
enough TO turn the scale of justice against
| Mime. Lafarge. The jury found her guilty,