Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1910-02-04

IA" tiIttt Siit W tiS dWfhl tb Stllu HtT
miniature to her husband, requested
the elderly lady To make few cakes
to send along in the same parcel.
which were furnished TO the Madame.
According to the testimony. when
the parcel arrived, instead of con
tanning the small cakes, there was
only one cake of large size, accompa
MED by Il letter from his wife beg
glng him Ia eat it at particular
hour as She proposed to do likewise
ut the same time. When he partook
of the cake he was seized with vio-
lent pains which continued with in
termiSSions until he arrived home,
January 9th. 1910 1t was proved at
the trial. that about that time
Madame Lafarge procured more ar
senic and some gum-arabic powder.
having very similar appearance to
arsenic; that during his illness she
was in the habit of giving her huS-
band drinks into some of which She
put white powder; that on a certain
occasion he tasted of an Omelette his
wife had prepared, which he claimed
burned his throat. The attending
physician was treating the patient
for disease of an inhammatory ma
ture. On the 18th of January, 1910,
the suspicious of the mother and sis
ter were aroused, and they sent for
another physician, to whom they
communicated their fears. The pa
tient became rapidly worse, and two
days thereafter he passed away.
The body was examined before bur
ial, the physicians employed declared
they recognized the presence of ar
senic in the stomach.
The widow was arrested, and while
searching the premises at Chandler,
the missing diamonds were dis
covered. Two indictments were
found against her, one charging
theft of the jewels and the other was
preferred for the murder of her hus-
band. She was tried on the former
charge at Brives. Her attorney
made vigorous effort without avail
to postpone the trial until after the
more serious charge had been dis
posed of. She made no defense to
this prosecution under the advice of
her counsel; was found guilty and
sentenced to two years imprison-
ment, which conviction was set aside
by the court. On the third day OI
September, 1910, the murder trial
was commenced. NJ Pallet, leader
of the Paris bar, was the chief coun-
sci for the defense The Attorney
General in his opening statement to
the jury, INDUCED in intemperate
language, which would not have been
tolerated by British or American
court. To quote, he exclaimed:
Those diamonds, those diamonds
Marie Capelle; you have stolen them.
l assert it! When you were charged
with that crime, what conduct ought
you to have observed ? You ought
to have confessed your guilt, and de-
clared that one day, under the intlu
ence of an extraordinary hallucina
tiOn, you placed your hand upor
those diamonds; that you wished tC
restore them, but had not the cour
age to do so. Such a course woulC
have been the avOwal of a fault; but
in this there was no ignominy. | dc
not believe the annals of justice offel
us any example of an attempt like
that which you have made. / wOult
willingly suppose you did not con
ceive it, and that your advisers have
led you astray; but cannot believ,
it. 1t is impossible"
In the trial of a human being fol
her life, nothing more prejudicial OF
unfair could be imagined than tn,
course pursued by the Attorney
General. BY intermingling the two
charges, it tended seriously to com
promise the prisoner. 1t by nj
means follows that because person
has committed one crime, he or sh'
may be guilty of having committed
another Offense of a different charac
ter. Again, such reflections upOr
the accused introduced false issue.
before the court and jury. In th'
trial of criminal cases in the courts
of this country. the course of Prose
cutting Attorneys is very much cir
cumscribed. Reversals of Judgment
of conviction in criminal trials ar
not rare wherein the Prosecuting AT
torney has deviated from the line O
his duty, and unnecessarily cast re
iections upon the prisoner at tn
bar, or commented on matters no
sanctioned by the testimony. TIL
counsel for Madame Lafarge protest
ed against the course adopted by tn
Attorney General, who claimed h
was within the bounds of propriety
and his position was upheld by tn
court.
The following are samples of tn
questions propounded to the prisone
by the President of the court:
President -" After sending tn
cake, or cakes. and at the time whe
you presumed that NJ. Lafarge mus
!