A CAPITAL SENTENCE.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 4056, 29 December 1881, Page 2

A CAPITAL SENTENCE.

A criminal, who the French papers de- ; nominate a " modern Lacenaire," and who baring taken for his motto "Quo non ascendant," seems not unlikely to ascend - the scaffold, has just been found guilty of murder at the Tours Assizes, and sentenoed to death, Morisret, as this • interesting individual is called, was em. . ployed as clerk to a notary at Tours, bat ac had a soul above the lawyer's desk/ and when-he entered upon this prosaic career he had already written several pieces in poetry and prose, and attempted to commit suicide because they did not ■ come up to his own standard of the beautiful. While with the notary he wrote an essay upon the well known text, " la proprii ti c est te vol," and proceeded to exemplify his meaning by conveying to his own use a sum of 12,500 francs from his employer's cash-box. The theft was discovered, and Morisret ought to have been grateful to his employer for not handing him over to the police, but in* stead .of that he determined to murder him at the first opportunity. One evening in June, he thought the time had

come, but while on his way to his late employer's residence with a loaded revolver he met several persons singing a song, the chorus of which was " Ah ! ah ! le Toila." This he took as a personal insult, and fired his six barrels into the " crowd " of them.wounding one in the thigh and another in the calf of tlie leg. He then reloaded his revolver, and made for the notary's house, but he met on the way an unfortunate railway clerk, and without any provocation shot him through the stomach. He was captured before he could do any other mischief, and when in prison declined to defend himself, though he declared himself fully responsible for his actions, and would not hear of his counsel pleading lunacy as an excuse. • It is a wonder the jury did not give him the benefit of extenuating circumstances, but the President of the Republic is so averse to signing the death warrant that he must, after all, escape the fate of his prototype.—O.ur Paris Letter.

The Seminole Indians have a singular tradition regarding the white man's origin and superiority. They say when the Great Spirit made the earth he also created three men, all of whom were fair complexioned. He then lead them to a small lake and bade them jumped in. One immediately obeyed the command and came out purer and fairer than before; the second hesitated a while, by which time the water became muddled, and when he came up he was copper coloured; the third did not leap until the water became black with mud, and he came out with that colour. After this the great Spirit laid before them three sealed packages, and gave the black mai the first choice, so that he might have a chance to amend his former misfortune. He closely examined each package, and, having felt their weight chose the heaviest in preference to the rest, believing it to be the best and most valuable. The copper coloured man chose the next heaviest, leaving the white man the lightest. When the packages were opened, the first contained-spades, hoes and impliments of labour; and the second unfolded fishing tackle, and hunting and warlike weapons; and the third gave the white man pens, ink and paper—the means of mental improvement, the social ink of humanity, the foundation of the white man's superiority.—Exchange.

Several persons were making purchases in a grocery in Kansas City on a snowy day, when an old man with a can in one hand and a bundle in the other entered, and asked: "Did any of you drive up here in a sleigh ? " " STes; I did," replied one. "Was it an old white boss ? " "Yes." "And an old woman in the cutter ?" "Yes." " And can she manage the hoss." "I guess she can." " Then its all right," said the old men of the can and bundle. " The old hoss has run away, and the old woman is hanging to the dashboard and shouting' Murder!' with all her might; but, if she can manage him, there's no use of anybody getting excited over it. Let me inquire what the price of cranberries is to.day ? "