Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1879-03-08 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

HASTY FRENCH MARRIAGE WITH  TRAGIC RESULTS. The Civil Tribunal of Toulouse has given judgment in favour of Madame Robert Magre and her child. This suit, out of which a criminal one may grow, is already a cause celebre, and in its main features peculiarly French. The late Robert Magre, about whose estates his widow and his relations have been disputing, was a cavalry officer of large fortune. On coming into it he retired from the military service, and went to live in Toulouse, his native town. The winter before last he came to Paris to spend the fashionable season. A friend wrote to inquire of him whether his heart was free, and if he would like to marry Mdlle. Blanche du Perrier, who was described as beautiful, just 18, welldowered, noble, and religiously educated. M. Magre had never seen the young lady, but knew she was of genuine nobility. His imagination fired up. An affirmative answer was telegraphed, and the suitor followed it by express to offer himself and fortune to mademoiselle. The friend lost no time in introducing him to the Du Perrier family. Blanche, whom he thought shy and lovely, as he had been told, was shown him twice for a few minutes by her mother. The interviews in both cases were short, and in the presence of many witnesses. Between the day on which the proposal was made in February and the wedding in March, barely time for the publication of the banns elapsed. Settlements favourable to the young lady, who had nothing but her beauty, were drawn up, the consent of the parents obtained, and a splendid trousseau was prepared with a celerity which cost the suitor a mint of money. His mother implored him not to desecrate Lent by a wedding tour, and remonstrated with the Comtesse du Perrier on the profanity of suffering bridal feasts in her house in that season. She spoke to deaf ears. On leaving the church the newly-married couple started for Nice, the bride taking with her a Spanish maid, Paquito, and a lap-dog,which she insisted on carrying in her arms. It was snappish and menacing, and showed its teeth at the bridegroom whenever he attempted to approach his wife. It also mounted guard in her chamber at Nice, when a room was hired there for the brute, and it was imprisoned there. A "love me love my dog" scene took place, which ended in the bride falling on her knees, confessing a prior attachment, and her expectation of being a mother in Oct. A circumstantial account was given by her of her mishap, of which Paquita was a confidant, and it was then repeated in writing and signed. The dog was sent back to its post, and a despatch trana—. milted to the Comtesse du Perrier, announcing that the whole party would start for Toulouse at daybreak, in consequence of the revelations Blanche had made. Under maternal influence at Toulouse, the bride declared that her confession was untrue, and explained that fatigue and nervous excitement had led her into ' caluminating herself and family. The husband, hoping this might be so, agreed to keep silence and to live in a separate wing of the countess's house until time should prove the falsity or veracity of the confession. It showed the lady had told the truth. M. Magre then made the full statement of his situation to a magistrate as a step to disowning the coming infant, and quitted Toulouse for Madrid. Simultaneously Paquita went there also. She was devoted to her mistress, in all her secrets, and on seeing that she tracked him M. Magre wrote home that she was related to desperadoes, and he feared being murdered by them. He jumped to the conclusion that to prevent the expected child from being bastardised his death was compassed. The day his wife gave birth to a son in last October he was assailed by armed men with knives, and mortally wounded. On his death-bed he made a will in favour of his own family, and a further declaration, which, with the confession made at Nice, he entrusted to a notary. The suit brought by his mother was to establish this will, and the disavowal of paternity it contained. The counsel for the widow and infant did not refute the allegations of the other side, and limited himself to pleading the pater est gum =pike demonstrant and the Caveat emptor of the civil law; and no, notwithstanding certain moral evidence, judgment is given, from motives of public policy, that the child of the man murdered in Madrid is his legitimate offspring, and will inherit his large fortune. The murder is under diplomatic investigation.  trane-1