The Sun. — 1842-09-09 (London, England)

HIS WIFE. The Court of Assizes of the Oise was engaged on the 27th and 28th ult. with the trial of the widow Dupain for the murder of her husband, whose body was found in an oven on the 30th of June last at Compiegne. It appeared from the evidence that Dupain and his wife lived together on very bac( terms, he accusing her of having improper connection with his son, and she upbraiding him with living with a girl named Ducarroy. In the year 1835 he left his wife altogether, and took up his residence with the other woman, and about the same time sold his house and kept the whole of the price to himself. This sale and the application of the money was an additional cause of difference between Dupain and his wife. In 1837 Dupain was engaged to do some mason work in the prison at Senlis, and was there exhorted by the chaplain so strongly to give up his evil course of life, that he determined to quit the woman with whom he was cohabiting, and return to his family at Compiegne. He previously made a pilgrimage to Notre:-Dame de Liesse and in 1837 he againentered the house where his wife was residing. Their differences continued, however, just as badly as before, and the neighbours frequently heard them quarrelling. A person named Brabant heard one night loud cries for help proceeding from Dupain's wife. He went down to the street, and was about to interfere, when, considering that this might be only an ordinary quarrel, he thought it as well to leave the matter as it was. From that night Dupain was seen no more, and none of the neighbours could say what had become of him. His wife gave different accounts of his absence, at one time saying that he was living at Senlis, at another time that she knew nothing about him. In 1840 she appeared before a notary to signify her consent to the marriage of her son, and then assumed the quality of widow. On his remarking that the certificate of her husband's decease ought to be produced, she got an act drawn up, stating that he had disappeared in 1837. Eight days before the discovery of the body, she averred to two witnesses that she had seen her husband at Chapel-en-Serval, on her way to Paris. The discovery of the body was as fblloWs :—A woman named Francceur, wishing to use the oven, which was common to the several inhabitants of the house, perceived a thick smoke to issue from the lower part. She informed the prisoner of the fact, adding that there was a strong smell of burnt linen, and with some difficulty persuaded her to have a mason sent for. The man determined on opening the part below the oven, formerly used as a rabbit-hutch, and, on removing the masonwork and a quantity of stones piled up inside, wag horrified at beholding a body, in a sitting pos!,,ctre, fully clothed in winter attire, the cravat alo:,e being wanting. The body was in a co;nplete state of mummification, and was imr,ediately recognised as being that of ilapain. In the pocket of his jacket were a prayer-book and a medal, arising probably from his pilgrimage to NotreDame de Liesse, three letters from the woman he lived with (dated 1837), and Three notes on different matters. The question r". once presented itself, how did the body get into this strange position ? The prisoner tried to ae_ .;ount for it in various ways. At one time she spoke of suicide, but if, it was observed to her, he ha!, put an end to his existence, how did he get into the cavity ? She then suggested that b, might have descended by the chimney tSf the oven, and placed himself in the I,',..•ktion in which he was found ; but, on exa-mination, it was discovered that there was no communication between the two. Another suggestion of hers %% as that he had built up the orifice himself from the interior, but it was found that not only had the mason work been executed from the outside, but that she had herself employed a man, named Hautman, in 1837, to stop up the opening. It was proved also that she had never left him during the time he was so employed, and had given him snuff to enable him to continue his work, a dreadful smell having proceeded from the hole. She had also, for some time afterwards, been in the habit of throwing filthy matters near the place, to lead persons to suppose that the offensive odour proceeded from them. The jury, after threequarters of an hour's deliberation, brought in a verdict of guilty of murder without premeditation, Wand the Court sentenced the prisoner to hard labour for life at the hulks. On hearing this sentence, the wretched woman fell back insensible, and the gendarmes were obliged to carry her out of Court._ Galignanz's Messenger.