The Sun. — 1859-03-07 (London, England)

CRIME IN FRANCE.  An attempt to escape from the prison of Saintes was made on Thursday by two men, one of whom was in custody on the charge of stealing 40,000 fr. worth of shares, and the other of stealing shrubs. It appeared that, being in the prison yard, they perceived that an unoccupied room on the ground floor had been left open, and they went into it. In it was a bench about 10 ft. long, each end of which was fastened in the wall. This they succeeded in removing, and taking it into the court-yard placed it against the wall, and climbing up it, succeeded in reaching the top. They then tried to pull it up after them, in order to descend by means of it on the other side ; but when they got it half way up it slipped from their hands and fell to the ground, with a great noise. The turnkeys then rushed to the spot ; and the men were secured.— An attempt to escape was also made lately from the prison of Orleans, and which partly succeeded. For several days, a ladder having been carelessly left in one of the courts, two men, unseen by the jailor, took possession of it, and placing it against the wall got to the top, and then drawing it after them descended into another court and thence by the same means outside, so as to get clear off. Their escape was not discovered for some hours after, when information was given to the gendarmes. One of them was on the following day arrested at Etampes, but the other still remains at large. A case of some commercial interest was decided three days ago by the Tribunal of Commerce o Caen. In April last, a trader of that town, named Blot, purchased from a M. Morel, of Bayeux, 520 hectolitres (the hectolitre is rather more than 21 bushels) of colza seed, and 50 tons of oil cake, to be delivered before the end of October, according to the convenience of the seller. But before any part of the arrangement was executed, Morel died, and as his affairs were in a somewhat embarrassed state, his heirs declined to fulfil it. Blot, in consequence, brought an action against them, and the heirs raised the objection that as at the time the bargain was made Morel had not in hand the colza seed and oil cake, but had counted on obtaining them after the next crop should be got in, it was, in fact, a gambling speculation, and was consequently, according to Art. 1,965 of the Code Napoleon, of no legal value. But the tribunal, after hearing arguments on the point, decided that as the parties had contemplated the actual delivery of goods and payment for them, not the mere payment of the difference between the price of the goods at the time of the bargain and the price at the time of delivery, their transaction was of a legitimate commercial character, and was perfectly valid in law. It therefore adjudged that as Morel and his heirs had not executed the contract, Blot was entitled to damages, which should be estimated afterwards. A Belgian, named Stickelman, was yesterday tried by the Court of Assizes for robbery. After being employed as valet de chambre by several noblemen, he, in September last, entered the service of the Marquis de Stacpoole, Rue Jean Goujon. Before long the marquis constantly missed articles of wearing apparel, jewellery, and small sums of money, and all his efforts to discover what became of them were vain. He at last became convinced that he was robbed, and his suspicions could only point to the prisoner or to an English servant, as they alone had access to his apartment. He determined to have their boxes examined, and he first of all called on the prisoner for the key of his. The man, in great trouble, pretended that he could not find it, and this left little doubt that he was the thief,  His box was then forced open, and it was found to contain clothing, jewellery, a gold.headed cane, engravings, photographs, and even a bottle of wine— all the property of the marquis. On this discovery he implored pardon, and protested that he had taken nothing else; but in a chest of drawers in his room, and also in another trunk placed in the room of a fellow-servant, numerous other articles belonging to the marquis were found. The total value of the objects stolen exceeded 4,000 fr. The prisoner was declared guilty with extenuating circumstances, and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. It may be remembered that in November last, a woman named Galabbe, wife of a public-house keeper and fisherman of the Ile Saint Denis, Was condemned by the Court of Assizes of the Seine to hard labour for life, for having poisoned her husband by means of tartar emetic. In the course of the trial, it was shown that she had caused her two female servants to purchase the emetic in small quantities from different apothecaries in Paris. The servants named as many as twelve such persons who had supplied them with the article, and declared that each sale had been made without their having been required to present any prescription. As the sale of poisonous substances without a prescription is prohibited, the 12 apothecaries were yesterday brought before the Tribunal of. Correctional Police. Five of them positively denied. that they had made any sales to the servants, and as the latter have disappeared and could not be cited as witnesses the tribunal acquitted them. As to the other seven they could not deny that sales had been made in their shops, but they said that the two females had represented that the emetic was required on the instant for persons in danger ; they also said, in extenuation of their offence that the quantity sold on each occasion was so small as not to exceed an ordinary dose. The tribunal condemned one of the defendants, named Dehaut, of the Faubourg St. Denis, who, has been three times punished for dtfferent offences, to 100 f. fine, and six to 60L fine each.  As an omnibus was late on Wednesday evening' going along the rue St. Martin, a lady cried with great indignation to the conductor that a roan seated next her had insulted her. The man 'MI given into the custody of a police-officer, and loam' up in the guardhouse of the Conservatoire des Art et Metiers. On Thurday morning he was found dead in his cell. At first it was supposed that he had committed suicide, but on examination itturnea out that he had died of apoplexy, caused, it is thought, by the emotion which he had experienced by being arrested. He was recognised as a trades' man of the rue St. Denis.