The Staffordshire and Potteries Examiner. — 1881-01-22 (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England)

CRIMF:. IN SWITZERLAND.  A case of suspected murder is reported from Fribourg. Towards the end of February, 1880, a young man, named Munfwyller, living at Fribourg, but a native of Thurgau, left the former place for the purpose of. drawing a legacy of 800 f., which had been bequeathed to him by a kinsman near Frauenfeld. After receiving his legacy he set out on the return journey, accompanied by a friend, also a native of Thurgau settled at Fribourg. From that time to this Munfwyller has never been heard of, and all inquiries as to his fate have proved abortive: Foul play being suspected, the companion of his journey, a man named Breitschmid, by trade a butcher, was arrested and kept some time in confinement: but no evidence being adduced in support of the charge of murder which was made against him, he had to be set at liberty. The circumstance was beginning to be forgotten, the general impression being that Munfwyller, for reasons best known to himself, had secretly quitted Switzerland, when the suspicion that he had been made sway with was revived by the accidental discovery tin New Year's Eve of a body in the wood of ChapelLe :Rouge, on a steep slope above the , River Sarine. From the position of the body it seemed that an attempt had been mete to throw it into the river, but that in its th-scent oi the almost precipitous bank it had been arrested by the pine-trees among which it was found. From its long exposure to the air at so great an altitude, the corpse had become quite desiccated and so nearly a skeleton that identification will be extremely difficult, if not impossible. When the limbs were touched they fell in pieces. On the other hand, the clothes are intact, and the hat, which, strange to say, remained in its place, had kept the hair in a perfect state of preservation. It bears a striking resemblance to that of the missing man. In the pockets were found a bunch of keys, an ivory pencilcase, and one franc in money. When Munfwyller left Fribourg he had 800 f. in his possession, so if the body be his he has clearly been robbed. The face is quite gone, and, the medical experts have not yet been able to determize whether the case is one of natural death or murder. Meanwhile Breitschrofd, who shortly after his friend's disappearance went away to Schaffhausen, hais been arrested a second time and is now under exaulination. Crimes caused by drink continue to be alarmingly frequent in various parts of Switzer;land, but especially in Berne and Fribourg. A. young man named Morel happening, as he was i walking n one of the principal streets of the Federal capital, to receive an accidental touch from the cane of a passer-by, who was accompanied by some friends, drew a revolver and fired at them several shots in rapid succession killing one man and badly wounding another. Ho is now in prison, and declares that he was so drumik at the time that he did not know what he was doing-. Suicides from the same cause are numerous, and. last week two men in Fribourg died from excessive drinking of schnapps. 'rue Mnount of schnapps consumed in some districts is almost incredible. In Berne alone there are 9,000 distilleries, producing annually 51 million litres of schnapps, the whole of which, in addition to 11 million litres of foreign spirits, is consumed •in the canton. This makes the consumption of itrong drink in the district, exclusive of beer rand wine, which are also largely drunk, equal to 14 ;litres per head of the entire population, or, if men stbove 20 alone be reckoned, 60 litres per head per !year. To make head against the growing evil of intemperance in Switzerland a total abstinence society was started in 1877, but, according to the report just issued, its success has not been very marked.  On Saturday a cotton mill at Preston belonging to 'Mr. M. S. Maynard was burned down. The Nationalist journals in Dublin are filled with the scenes in the Four Courts and the debates on the Address in the " British " Parliament.  About sixty gallons of creosote were destriSred bj an outbreak of fire in some buildings in eonite of coAstruction in New Court.: Scrle Sgrtohlegied la; §aligilv• , _  ^ r' •