The Daily Times. — 1860-12-08 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.  FRANCE. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)  PARIS, Dec. 7.  A dreadful murder has been committed in a railway carriage, on. the person of one of the most eminent magistrates of the Court of Paris, which has caused eitraordinary excitement and consternation. At first there was an ittlpression that M. Poinsot, who is the President of the Imperial Court, was the victim of an assassin who had taken this means of satiating his revenge for some public or private wrong done to him ; but the actual circumstances were as follow :—On the arrival yesterday, at the station, of the train from Mullhouse, the lifeless body of the lamented gentleman was found in the compartment of one of the carriages. The deceased had, it is said, arrived from the Champagne districts, where he OAVIIS several valuable properties. He entered the train the previous evening at Troyes, and took his place in a first-class carriage, which was empty. An individual appears to have entered the the same compartment sometime afterwards, and got out at another station without his departure having given rise to the slightest suspicion. Such at least is the rumour which prevails, for until a judicial enquiry takes place no reliable details can be obtained respecting the facts which preceded, accompanied, or followed the crime. It is, however, generally believed that robbery was the sOle motive for its commission. It was on opening the couipartmerit gesterday morning at five o'clock, when the train arrived for the purpose of collecting the tickets of the passengers, that one of the company's servants of the Cliemin de fer de l'Est perceived the body of M. Poinsoit lying bathed in blood. No time was'lost in acquainting the family orthe deceased with the. lamentable event, as well as the judicial authorities. The Procureur-General and the Procureur-Imperial, and the Prefect of Police, as well as the heads of the municipal police and of safety, immediately proceeded to the Strasbourg station to commence the necessary investigation. It has sttbsequentlY been ascertained beyond doubt that the murdeted gentleman had been robbed, and his watch torn from his waistcoat pocket. It is supposed that the crime must have been committed before the arrival of the train at Noisy:le-Sec station.* A lady, who was in an adjoining compartment, states that she heard some cries before that station was passed. The body was lying on the jars containing the hot water with which the carriages are supplied ; and the reason the murder was not sooner discovered, was that the murderer had taken care to draw down the window blind, intended to exclude the light during the night. It is reported that, near to Noisy, the traces of footsteps have been discovered, indicating that the murderer had leapt out at that station while the train was being slowed in order to receive the mail bags. Unfortunately, railway management in France, as it is in England, is still behind both Belgium and Germany. In both these countries a passenger has the means of stopping the train at any minute ; and had such means of calling for aid been available to M. Poinsot, either his life would have been saved, or at all events the murderer would have been caught red-handed.  The news from Gaeta is to the 3rd December, at which date there was "nothing new." On the afternoon of the 2nd the besiegers sent some shells into the town, but they alighted upon places where no damage was done ; and the firing ceased, in order that its direction might be rectified.  The greater part of the Piedmontese army is at present in the Neapolitan provinces, where it has plenty of work before it. Independent of Naples itself, and other towns where there are garrisons, there are three powerful corps—one of which i 5 employed in the investment of the fortress of Gaeta ; another is operating in the Abruzzi, where the state of things is still serious ; and the third occupies Calabria, where its movements are producing some little excitement. Matters seem likely to remain in their present situation until the spring.  There was little doing at the Bourse yesterday, but much firmness continued to be exhibited. Itentes closed at 70f. 60c.  LECTURE Mc