Arizona republican., 1914-03-11
TRIAL OF EUGENE MARIE CHANTRELLE

One of the most conspicuous trials Of wife poisoning in the annals of Scot tish criminal jurisprudence was that of Eugene Marie Chantrelle. The con- Victed prisoner was Frenchman by birth, who on August II, 1868, married Elizabeth Cullen Dyer in Edinburgh, one of his pupils in a fashionable boarding school in which he was teach CT of languages.
 Before going to Scotland, Chantrelle had spent several years in America, although of his movements and occu pations in this country nothing defin- itelv is known. Almost from the first, the marriage was an unhappy one. Again and again the wife was com pelled to take refuge with her mother. Chantrelle had several times threatened to take her life. only the Wife's deep affection for their four children kept her from a separation.
 To poison his wife had been Chan | trelle's favorite form of threat In Oc- | tober, 1877. he insured the life of his wife for s5,000, the policy being so | framed as to take effect only in the case of her death by accident Up to | New Years Day, 1878. Madame Chan | trelle had been in good health. She had allowed her servant a holiday on that l day, and with her husband and chill dren remained at home
 | On the return of the servant she found her mistress in bed with her baby beside her She complained of l hai, T @;,xsr to her, and went to her own room She left the light burning and heard noth l ing more during the night
 | When the servant rose the following morning, she heard moaning sound proceeding from the room of her mis- 1 tress and went to see the cause and discovered that Madame Chantrelle was unconscious. The girl at once summoned the husband who was asleep in an adjoining room, or apparently so He came to his wife's bedroom and sent | the servant out of the room on a pre- l text. and when she returned she found | that there was very strong smell of gas, which she had not previously noticed
 The husband went for a physician and also directed that his wife's mother
 should be brought to the house. The dying woman was sent to the Royal
 1nfirmary, where Professor Maclagen, upon examination, found that the symptoms were not indicative of gas, but of narcotic poisoning. Madame Chantrelle died that afternoon without lregaining consciousness.
 On the following day a postmortem examination was held and subsequent investigations confirmed the general
 suspicion awakened by the peculiar circumstances attending the deceased's
 illness and death, and on the afternoon
 of Saturday, January 5, 1878, immedi- ately after the wife's funeral Chan
 trelle was arrested and taken to the Calton Prison.
 The preparation of the case for trial
 took several months, and it was not
 until April that he was indicted The
 trial began on Tuesday May '. The
 judge, who sat at the hearing was Lord
 Justice Clerk Moncreiff The prisoner
 was attired in mourning, and to his
 indictment he answered in a clear and
 steady voice. Not guilty"
 For the prosecution there appeared
 the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General, Watson and Macdonald as
 well as several advocates depute; ant
 the accused was defended by MT. Tray
 ner, assisted by J. P. B. Robertson an(
 Thomas Shaw. The trial lasted foul
 days, of which three were occupied
 with the evidence, and the fourth witt
 the speeches of counsel, the judge.
 charge to the jury, and the verdict ant the sentence
 It was clearly proven that Chantrellt