The Sun. — 1862-12-18 (London, England)

CRIME IN FRANCE.  The Court of Assizes of the Gironde has this week tried a woman named Ithier, aged 40, charged with the murder of her husband, a farmer, residing at Massugas. On the 24th February last, the body of the deceased was found dreadfully mangled with: some heavy cutting instrument, in a wood by the road side, a short distance from his dwelling house. The deceased had left home on the preceding day with the intention of consulting a professional .man in a neighbouring village about swellings in bis legs, but he never went, nor was he seen by any person after his departure from home. Suspicion immediately fell on the prisoner and a neighbouring farmer named Rousseau, with whom she was known to entertain an illicit intercourse, and both were arrested, but Rousseau, having been able to prove in alibi, was dischat ged and admitted as a witness; for the prosecution. The ill-treatment which the' deceased, who was an easy good-natured man, but weak in mind and infirm in body, had experienced. for years from his wife and her mother, who lived with them, was proved by numerous witnesses, as was also the wife's shameless conduct with. Rousseau. The evidence left little doubt that; the prisoner followed her husband when he left the house, and came up with him in the wood, where she felled him to the ground with a bill-hook, repeated her blows until he was quite tad, and then dragged the body into a thicket. She was seen to return home from that direction in great haste about in hour after her husband's departure, and was occupied all the rest of the day in washing her clothes,' on which, nevertheless, the chemists found traces, of human blood. When Rousseau gave his evidence in court and stated that she had confessed her crime to him before the body was found, she exclaimed,, " You lie ! It was you that killed him, and confessed. it to me !" The falsehood of this assertion Was, however, demonstrated by the evidence of the wit❑esses, who proved Rousseau's alibi. The prisoner, nevertheless, adhered to it throughout the trial, and. her counsel maintained that the crime could never• have been committed by her alone. The jury, however, deemed the evidence conclusive, for they brought in a verdict of guilty, but admitted extenuating circumstances, and the Court consequently sentenced the prisoner to hard labour for life.  Another similar case has been tried at the Couxt. of Assizes of the Sarthe, sitting at Le Mans, where? a woman named Beranger, aged 45, was charged with the murder of her husband, Francois Bellanger, a day labourer at Luche, by mixing arsenic in his food. It appeared from the evidence that on the morning of the 12th of June last the prisoner carried some soup and an omelet to her husband, who was at work in the fields, and that three hours after he was seized: with violent vomitings, which continued with little intermission until the morning of the 14th, when he expired. During these 48 hours the prisoner ex-0 hibited the utmost indifference to her husband's sufferings, and even prevented him from taking several antidotes that were recommended. She was therefore arrested and committed for trial. From\ the very first, none of the villagers had any doubt that Ballanger had been poisoned by his wife, who had for some time been leading a most immoral life, and kept up an adulterous intercourse with her brother-in-law, a man named Cador. A great number of witnesses were examined, several of whom stated that Bellanger had complained to them of his wife having previously attempted to poison him, and one deposed that on the day preceding the crime she had overheard the prisoner say to her husband, " You jealous old fool, you shall die like a dog!" The analysis of the contents of the de— ceased man's stomach clearly proved that ho had died from the effects of arsenic, which he could only have taken in the food carried to him by his wife. In her defence the prisoner protested her innocence,, but could not produce a single fact calculated to invalidate the evidence against her. The jury, therefore, after a short deliberation, brought in a verdict of guilty, but allowed the prisot:er the benefit of extenuating circumstances, and the o.out sentenced her to hard labour for life.  Lord Clyde has arrived from London in Paris,. and alighted at the Hotel Mirabeau.  A