THEY DO THESE THING BETTER IN FRANCE.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 87, 29 October 1879, Page 2

THEY DO THESE THING BETTER IN FRANCE .

: There is an expression m common use, "They do these things- better m France,'' but however true the statement may be m the abstract, it is scarcely correct as far es the punishment of their oriminals goes.' No matter how atrocious or diabolical a murder may be, the perpetrator would appear to the sympathies of fhe jury, and, m nine cases out of ten a recommendation, to mercy accompanies tfie yeYd}ct. A/oase has v just been concluded ; at which, for wholtsale : ,poiaoQzrig. h,a» ?\ot been equalled since the days of .theMarchionait of. Br-inyilliers, or Pritchard.and Palmer, The poisoner,' a, peasant woman^ named Batistine BhUip, had succVssfully managed to send to the i/gjtuyg. her mistwraa, Keyiupele, her "husband,, an,d it is impossible to surrLise, where her devilish : operations: would .have, •topped, had. no^ suspicion been .aroused: r and the criminal arrested. The bodies ■ of) her ; victims were exhumed, >and notwithstanding j thai larg^ quantities of arsenic jwere plainly, discernible, the murdress not only, indignantly deflif '% ths charge, but conducted herself so'deJSantiy m the dock as to; call for frequent condemnation from the Judge. In the face of all that, would 'it^be I believed thatjan intelligent jury brought m a verdioJ; of guilty under eitenuatingcircunistjances. llnf ortunatelyj j however, foi the satisfaction of persons at a distance, the "extenuating circumstances " hare, not been specified, and the reader, j is; compelled to : make powerful demands upon his imagination to aujpply the deficiency. Had Batistine been ."feir 'yss . well"^ as : frail, :;!; th 6 " extenuatiu.g,[ circ^ums^anceß "^ might ""have .been, s§|i dpw,~n un,der Head .oil ,' c vpfilh an,d beauty j" bat unfoytunatelx^ s\\ch a presumption this plsbian Borgia .was. middle-, aged as well^^ ? a8 masculine m appearance.;; I remember some ' yeajw ago a< m^rdek was" committed m Yictbria, .undtfl^f^^ circumstances" of singular brutality and' atrocity,' and? the crims wa§ Bh.ee J te<^-home,to ; cU;lpritiip6?i the very clda,reßfc-eT,idenc(B.^ Thejurjicer:, tainly brought. in a of "guilty," but attached a strong recommendation to mercy, upon what grounds ! think j foju— " tha t f itwas the orimiiial's 1 first offence of thekind." I was \n court at the, time, . ancl I will never forget the playful ?p>ge .^hich performed r a circuit of Sir KJedmond's rubicund coimtenance upon tha declaration' of "the Fore-, man. Of course he did, as m duty bound 1 , forward ; the- V- recommendation v .■; to f: ,the ExeoutiYe;.but as- it wus accompanied 'by: the somewhat original reason giveiij it is needless to say that, that murderer's ~isai:den effort . was Ms ; . 1 i'V> : -- ;;;;; -,'■■'■'. :.y^v