The Sun. — 1851-02-07 (London, England)

HORRIBLE MURDER IN PARIS. (From Galignani's Messenger.) At the end of last month M. Desfontaines, a manufacturer of bronzes, Rue St. Honore, 422, was obliged to dismiss his man-servant for misconduct, and he applied to one of the bureaux de placement (register offices for servants) for another. The bureau sent a young man of about twenty-four, who produced excellent certificates, and was at once admitted. Early in the morning of the 13th the new servant, who had been about a fortnight in the place, went to the corner of the Rue Royale, and bargained with two commissioners to convey three trunks, containing, he said, goods and patterns, to the Centre Railway, Boulevard de l'Hopital. He then took the men to the house, and having told the concierge that his master had already left for the railway station, that he was about to join him, and that they shoukthe absent several days, he helped the commissionnaires to put the trunks, which were very heavy, into a hand-cart, and saw them leave. He afterwards went away himself. The neighbours were greatly surprised to see the shop of M. Desfontaines closed on the next and following days; but, to their inquiries, the concierge said that he had gone with his servant on a journey which was to last several days. As, however, he had not spoken of this journey either to his relations or more intimate friends, and as, moreover, his business required his presence, some alarm was felt, and a communication was made to the commissary of police. An application was even made to the prefect to cause an investigation. Things were in this state when, three or four days ago, the pref. ct of the department of the Indre informed the Minister of the Interior that a horribly-mutliatcd corpse had been found in the r.tilway station at Chateauroux, in a trunk which had been sent from Paris. This trunk bore the address, " Merest', watchmaker, at Chateauroux;" but no watchmaker of that name resided, or ever had resided, in the town. The trunk had been opened, in consequence of a strong smell which issued from it. As soon as Ibis intelligence reached the Prefecture of Police, the recent declaration respecting the disappearaece of M. Desfontaines was called to. mind, and orders were given to send up the trunk and the body to Paris. Inquiries having been made as to when and by whom the box was sent from Paris, it was ascertained that on the 13th three trunks had been taken to the station by two commissionnaires; that one  resembling a lady's travelling trunk, covered with oilcloth, and Weighing 190 kiiegramtnes, had been sent separately to Chatesuroux, whilst the other two, which were more solid, larger, and heavier, had been taken by the owner to Beurgee, end he had paid extra for them, as they exceeded the weight of luggage allowed for each passenger. The trunk arrived in Paris yesterday morning by the five o'clock train; and it so happened that the two commissioners who had conveyed it to the station arrived at the same time with the luggage of a person about to leave. They and the trunk were sent to the Prefecture of Police, and a judicial investigation was forthwith commenced. The trunk, or rather box, was fastened with a bad lock, and bound round with cords. The judicial authorities of the Indre had placed their seals on these cords The address Al.Moreau, watchmaker atChateauroux" was written in a bad hand, on a common piece of paper, and stuck on the box with wafers. As the box was rather small, the murderer hal cut the body into pieces, and bad deposited first the trunk, then the legs, and then the arms and head. NI. Desfontaines was a strong end courageous man, and the murderer must have killed him as ho was asleep. It is supposed that after the commission of the crime, the murderer possessed himself of everything of value in the shop and apartment, and packed the property in two trunks. The apartment and shop hare not yet been entered by the authorities. Yesterday telegraphic dispatches were sent to the frontiers to arrest the domestic, but from the length of time he has been away—seventeen days—there is every reason to believe that he has already got out of the country. It is supposed, from the direction he took, that ho has gone into Spain.