The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1838-10-16 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

KILLED BY A CAT.—The Convent de St Claire at Dombes-les-eaux, has lately been the theatre of a catasthrophe which has plunged a highly respectable family into the deepest grief by the loss of a beloved child, and created a deep sympathy among the inhabitants of that part of the country, as much, indeed, from the melancholy nature of the circumstance itself as from the unexampled manner in which it took place. Monsieur and Madame B— had placed their only child, a beautiful girl of ten years of age, in the above-mentioned convent, conducted by Ursuline nuns during several years, and enjoying a high reputation as an establishment for female education. The unfortunate child, Louise B—, it appears, had incurred the punishment of the cachot, or prison,—the usual mode of correction adopted in French schools,—and was in consequence shut up in the place used for that purpose. It was observed that the moment the door was closed upon the child, her screams were heightened to a remarkable degree; but no particular importance was attached to the circumstance, and she was left in the cachot, situated at the bottom of the garden, was l such a distance from the house that her cries were inaudible to the inmates. About an hour after the child had been shut up, a violent knocking was heard at the outer gate of the convent, which being opened, a labouring man, who happened to Ire conducting a cart along the road which passes near the premises, presented himself, and in an authoritative tone demanded "whom they were murdering in the convent," adding that he had distinctly heard the sighs and groans of a dying person proceeding from tire premises at the bottom of the garden, and insisted on krmwing the cause.- he nuns immediately explained to the man the fact of the child's imprisonment, and assured him that his imagination had attached inure importance to the matter than was necessary. The man nevertheless insisted upon seeing the child, and the nuns were ultimately compelled by his positive and determined air to accede to his request, and they •had no sooner arrived at the spot where the child was confined than the convulsive sobs and faint sighs which struck their ears excited apprehensions for her safety. The door was immediately opened, when a spectacle of indescribable horror presented itself. The unhappy child was lying on the ground in a state of the most agonizing convulsions, and a cat employed in tearing away the flesh from her neck and face. Every effort was had recourse to in order to save the life of the child, but such was the nature of- the wounds inflicted on the neck and face of the unhappy sufferer that she expired three days after the -event in a state of the most horrid delirium. It is supposed that -the cat, which happened to be shut up with the child, -became :in—the-Tint instance frightened by its screams, and subsequently infuriated.—French paper.  The alteration which has taken place in the time of departure of the Mails from this town has caused some irregularity in the receipt of our paper by distant subscribers. A reference to the table which appears in another column will satisfy our friends that we are not accountable for the later delivery of the STANDARD in the North of England and elsewhere.  The tiberpool etanbarti.