The Sun. — 1870-05-21 (London, England)

THE NICE ROMANCE.  Some few details have been given of a remarkable double suicide which has just been committed at Nice. Further particulars are to hand of the singular story. On Sunday morning last some peasants found, in the grounds of the Villa Teissere, in the Valley of Montegat, near Nice, a young woman bleeding and insensible. She was removed to the town, but expired before reaching it. From her statements and other information it appear that she was the daughter of a bookseller, and herself a brilliant pianiste, who during the winter menthe resided at Nice. She there made.the acquaintance of a man named Morplain, and a close intimacy was formed between them, the man being 34 and the young woman 30 years of age. The latter, Mdlle. de Hauterine, became apprehensive that her father would discontinue the allowance he had been accustomed to make, and Morplain being without resources, they determined to put an end to their anxieties by terminating their existence. According to the statement of the dying woman she left Nice with her companion. "It was," said she, " our last night. We took with us a phial of laudanum, a revolver, and a swordstick. We chose this as the best spot for our purpose. - We made a bed with our outer garments, laid upon the moss. We slept till daybreak. We had prepared everything, and at 7 o'clock came the adieu. -I had taken off my whitepetticoat, which Morplain hung upon the branches of a tree. We drank the laudanum. We ' suffered much but we could not die. Morplain said to me I can bear this no 1 onger ; I shall blow out my brains.' I cried out that I would not be left alone with his corpse, and I said, 'Shot me here,' pointing to the spot • where a gaping wound in her breast was visible. I did not wish to be disfigured, and I entreated him to aim there. He fired point blank. The correspondent of the Gaulois adds that the statement is verified by the facts of the chemise being burnt, and the skin blackened by the powder. " Morplain," added the dying woman, " shot himself through the head? and you will find him lying yonder. He feared a failure, and you will see that he yet holds his poignard in his hand. I did not feel much hurt at first, and I managed to walk hither, leaning upon the case of the sword stick." The body of the man was discovered in the position his unhappy companion had described, and was removed to Nice, where a judicial inquiry was opened.  The third reading of the Irish Land Bill will be moved in the House of Conunons on Monday week, the 30th inst. _  • Measles and scarlatina (according to the Lancet) have been very prevalent of late at Woolwich. The latter disease is diminishing among the civil populationi, but a few cases have recently appeared among the children of the military. The more the Medical fill is considered, and the more it is amended the less do critics seem to think of it, and the more necessary does it appear (remarks the Lancet) for the profession to oppose it as an altogether unsetisfactory and incomplete measure. The Lancet says: We have seen a decision of the Poor-law. Board in favour of the eligibility of ladies• as ,guardians,of the poor, and it is somewhat extraordinary t iat they should refuse to re-affirm their apinion in so important a case as that of Burdett Coutts.