PARIS.

Southland Times, Issue 1622, 20 August 1872, Page 3

PARIS.

(fbom ot7e own cobbesfondent.) Mat 29. There have been some strange deaths and burials in this city of late. An unfortunate man committed suicide by throwing himself from a balcony of the sixth storey; his feet caught in the railings, his head was dashed against the wail, and so he hung suspended for two hours before being discovered— it was night-time. The " Vendome dwarf," or rather hunchback had fallen in love with an actress of the Chateau theatre: bis passion was not returned; he met the object of his affection in company with the director of the theatre, a rather huge man ; the dwarf attacked his legs, overturned Brobdignag, who fell on the dwarf ; the latter struck against some paving-stones and lived but for a few hours. Arteni, the well-known proprietor of learned dogs, was buried on Monday ; he died in great misery. Three of his dogs followed his bier to Pere Lachaise ; of course they were not allowed to enter the cemetery ; and at the gate tbey set forth plaintive barks, then commenced to waltz, to lie on one another as if dead, and, finding their tricks and supplications had no effect upon the keepers, they formed a sort of line and returned to where was their home. Victor Hugo's epistle to the "Romans still affords Parisians a good laugh. It is only the old man himself who cannot see his "day is over. The fall which he has experienced from his once high estate, is the result of a morbid appetite for popularity, and the Blough in which he now finds himself contains not only a politician but a poet. He has never been forgiven for his sympathies with the Commune, he has chanted its misfortunes, but avoided its crimes ; he has reserved his tears but for Rigault and Ferre. His circular letters are only regarded as speaking the language of the tower of Babel, to produce a headache when read, and that — the charitable hope — he himself does not comprehend. It is an excellent proof of the progress of France, that the people are taking a positive dislike to what Carlyle calls a " diarrhoaa of words." Every bombastic and nonsensical expression and enigma is now attributed by the press to Victor Hugo. Only one thing is he quite sensible of, the making of money, and the practising of the " gentlemanly vice" of avarice. The departure of the high priests of Communism for New Caledonia has been so often erroneously announced, that it is now better to wait till they announce themselves their safe arrival. Grousset's mistress, on leaving prison, is to marry the tailor of the Commune's late Foreign Secretary, after the latter offered her a home in the goldfields of New Caledonia. This being the anniversary week of the suppression of the Commune, tbe cemeteries are crowded with the friends of the killed on both sides. Extra police are on duty, to prevent any obnoxious epitaphs being dedicated to political memories. France is getting up a very respectable army, and an efficient one to boot. I visited the camp at St. Cloud a few days ago. Everything about it has a business, a serious look. Tbe men are being drilled, and well drilled, and the officers had the air of men from whom France expects duty. I witnessed the new steam-kitchen at work, drawn by two horses, A halt is suddenly sounded, and excellent pea soup served out to 400 men ; in 25 minutes all is again under march ; another halt to serve out capital coffee ; in 20 minutes afterwards the men are deploying over the battlefield of Buzenval, while the " steamer" has taken up shelter behind a hedge, where a Uhlan could not discover it except by the savory odors from its coppers. M. Grego, a Tunisian, carried on business at Marseilles as a merchant and commission agent. Three of his fellowcountrymen, of whom one was a porter, being in want of money and position, resolved to kill him. Aware of his weakness for the fair Bex, they induced him to come to a lonely out-house rented for the purpose of the crime, though he was induced to believe he would there encounter only some fast women. Two cords of different dimensions — in silk and hemp —were purchased to strangle him, and a life-preserver to finish him. The

■■ I» - _llll_ .MM——— l porter made his " knot ;" the deceased was felled like a bullock ; his keys taken, and proceeding to his office his safe was robbed. To get rid of the body, sacks and trunks were purchased ; the trunk being too short, a saw was brought- and the limbs of the victim cut off. Ultimately two of the murderers— the porter backed out after being paid— conveyed the body to sea in a yawl, but on throwing the trunk overboard, it burst open and floated. Subsequently a fishing-boat picked it up, but the sailors believed it was a ** suicide" — of that remarkable kind where the deceased has cut off his legs, placed them on his breast, and settled down in a box. Sitbon, one of the murderers, flew to London, but has since been brought back ; the second, Toledano, acted as mourner at deceased's funeral, and the porter has joined his employers in the dock. The latter will be guillotined if the excited people do not discount the sentence. The most horrible impression was produced in the court by the exhibition of the trunk, the cords and the lifepreserver, as well as the saw, with the flesh and marrow of the victim cloggiag up tbe teeth. Upwards of 123 " separations" have taken place since January last in Paris ; in 3_ cases the wife demanded to be liberated, in 27, the application for relief was mutual. Since the Dubourg drama, husbands believe they have a legal right to kill their adulterous wives. Ere yesterday a gentleman pursued a fashionably dressed lady along the quays, shouting Adele, and commanding her to stop ; but Adele ran all tbe same ; on overtaking her, the man struck her on the head with a loaded cane, and only then perceived it was a stranger and not his wife he watched and felled. He has to answer for an assault, and the unknown has to account to her husband for being whore she ought not to have been. There is a splendid painting in the French Exhibition of pictures of the charge of the French cuirassiers at Worth. A Colonel a few days ago astonished the public by brandishing his cane, and cryins, " forward — charge ! " and rushing towards the painting. He waß mad, and bas been so since his two and only sons were killed at Gravelotte. At last Darwin has been elected honorary member of the French Academy Of Sciences ; he has hitherto been voted aside in favor of other Englishmen; French savants not * ishing to endorse Darwin's hypothetical views by selecting him. M. Le Verrier, the celebrated astronomer, has discovered that there is a fractional error in the geometrical divisions of sun dials, and that the clocks of Paris are " too fast" — they being regulated by the famous dial at Montmartre. Perhaps this may account for the time being out of joint so much in that neighborhood. Tbe fashionable ladies are getting tired of scented pugs — possibly since the duty on tbem has been doubled — aud now take to a kind of small white rat for a pet. One on each shoulder, during a carriage drive, is the correct thing. Several bird-merchants, unable to demonstrate to their parrots tbe impropriety of now shouting Vive VEmpereur ! have sent a consignment of the rebels to Brazil. Since the new postal treaty with Germany, Parisian journals are making great efforts to flood Alsace, &c, with " sage advice." As to the taking of it, that is another thing ; the Alsatians have but Hobson's choice unfortunately.