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Wachs was again about to leave the house, when his eye fell upon the watch, which lay on the counter. He took it up and examined it. Huber told him that it had cost fourteen florins, and that the silver chain belonging to it was in a room on the second floor. Wachs walked up and down the shop in silence: the watch occupied all his thoughts; at every instant the desire to possess himself of it became stronger, and although, as he asserted, he struggled for a quarter of an hour against the temptation, it at length became too powerful for him. He suddenly seized a hammer, rushed on Huber, who was quietly occupied with his work, struck him a violent blow with the hammer on his head, and knocked him senseless off his chair; then, seizing the watch, he ran up to the room on the second story, and possessed himself of the silver chain, a pair of ear-rings, seven florins, and some other portable articles. Hearing the dying groans of his victim, he rushed down stairs, took up the body in his arms, deposited it in a closet, and was leaving the house, when, as he crossed the threshold, he met the two eldest children returning from the garden, who kindly wished him farewell. Lest these children might denounce him as the murderer of their father, he instantly resolved upon their destruction; and, first seizing the boy (a child of three years old) by the feet, he dashed his head against the ground and killed him on the spot; he then, after rolling the body into a corner, laid hold of the girl and dashed her also against the earth, but she rose up again and ran into the house calling upon her father for help. The murderer followed her and struck

her with the same hammer which had served to kill her father. She fell senseless; and Wachs, supposing her to be dead, left her, and was again about quitting the scene of this bloody tragedy, when he was withheld from doing so by seeing a peasant go by with a cart and horse. He waited till this man was out of sight, and was then again quitting the house, when he saw Huber's wife returning from the market. As it was impossible to quit the house without being seen by her, he resolved to add her to his other victims. Shutting the door, and concealing the hammer, he awaited her coming. On entering the house, the poor woman asked smilingly in a good humoured tone, if he meant to make himself a prisoner. The answer was a blow of the hammer on her skull, which laid her dead at his feet. After this series of fiendish acts, Wachs went to the cradle where the infant lay, and arranged it with the greatest possible care, lest any accident should happen to it.

He then closed the door, and quitted the house. The little girl (Catherine) was still alive, when the neighbours entered the house, and she named Wachs as the murderer of herself and her family. Confounded by this testimony the wretch avowed his guilt. The Criminal Court condemned him to death, and he was decapitated.

FRACAS BETWEEN Mr. O'CONNELL AND MR. MAHONY.-An imputation having been thrown on O'Connell of having been in negotiation with the Beresford family on the subject of acting as their counsel in the Waterford Election, he gave his account of the transaction in a long address to the electors of Waterford. The accuracy of his statement was doubted,

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and is said to have been denied by Mr. Mahony, a very eminent solicitor, who had acted for O'Connell in the first Clare election. The following has been published as an authentic account of what actually took place between Messrs. Mahony and O'Connell on this subject.

"On the day after the publication of Mr. O'Connell's address to the electors of Waterford, Mr. Mahony was conversing with some gentlemen in the hall of the Four Courts, when Mr. O'Connell joined the group-" "Well," said he, addressing Mr. Mahony, "have you seen my letter, and what do you think of it?"-"I have seen it," said Mr. Mahony, "and I am sorry for your own sake that you ever wrote it."-"Why," demanded the counsellor? "Because," said Mr. Mahony, "it is untrue." "Untrue! In what respect?""Why, with respect to the amount of the fee. You never were offered the sum you state, and, therefore, you never could have refused it."-"The sum," said Mr. O'Connell, "was mentioned in your letter."-" Positively not," responded Mr. Mahony, "I have perused my letter on the subject, since I read that published by you, and I positively assert that you have stated that which is not true."-" Well, then," said Mr. O'Connell, "you mentioned the sum to me in conversation."-"That," replied Mr. Mahony, coolly, "was impossible, for I was in England!" Driven from one falsehood to another, the counsellor lost his temper, and exclaimed with great warmth and some vehemence, "Well, no matter. This I can say, that I will not be bullied nor put down by the Beresfords, or by their panders-or agents."-" Mr. O'Connell," said, Mr. Mahony," you well know that you are the only man who dare

use such expressions in my presence with impunity. You have earned an infamous protection for yourself, and no gentleman can take notice of what comes from your lips."-Saunders's News Letter.

LEGAL MEDICINE.-A case has recently occurred in France, in which a body was disinterred seven years after burial; and the fact of the individual having been poisoned by arsenic was determined by chemical examination. M. Orfila was asked, if a body, removed from the grave after such a lapse of time, could possibly afford proofs of poison having been administered; and if so, in what manner such an investigation was to be conducted? To this question he replied, that it was very probable the body was already entirely reduced to ashes, but, that, nevertheless, if a sort of blackish coom was found at the sides of the spinal column, chiefly in the dorsal and lumbar regions, that mass might be analyzed in the manner pointed out in his work on Toxicology. MM. Ozanam and Ide, physicians at Lyons, where the supposed murder had occurred, were requested by the legal authorities to proceed to the disinterment of the body of a man, who, they suspected, had been poisoned by his daughter in 1822, in the department of Ain. The coffin was entire, formed of thick planks of fir, which internally were quite dry. Although more than seven years had elapsed since the interment, the body was recognized by the priest, by the grave digger, and even by some of the National Guard who had assisted at the ceremony, and fired over the grave. All remembered the spot, and the individual was identified by the hair which yet remained, and by

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the teeth, all of which were still in their sockets, except one particular tooth, which he had lost before death; and lastly, the joiner recognized the coffin, which had been constructed with unusual care. The head, trunk, and limbs, were entire, so that the stature could be measured. The chest had sunk in, the heart and lungs had been blended together, and presented the appearance of a dark ointment. The whole was without smell. The entire trunk was removed, the head and extremities being regarded as unnecessary to the investigation. The portion thus reserved for examination weighed nine pounds; of this, two pounds were set aside for a second series of experiments, in case those made on the first should prove unsatisfactory.

In the investigation, MM. Ozanam and Ide went on the supposition of arsenic being the poison. The matter was boiled, the fluid evaporated to dryness, and the residuum thus obtained dissolved in distilled water. This produced a deep coloured liquid, which was but imperfectly deprived of its hue by chlorine. The distilled water, charged with this extract, was again evaporated to dryness. At the same time, four ounces of nitrate of potass, placed in a matrass, were exposed on ignited charcoal. The suspected matter, well dried and rolled into little portions, was introduced. Each time this was done, a deflagration was perceived. It was then allowed to cool, and the residue again dissolved in distilled water. The solution was saturated with nitric acid, and afterwards subjected to the usual re-agents, all of which indicated the presence of arsenic. Some small portions were treated with vegetable charcoal, introduced into

a glass tube, and then heated. They gave aqueous vapour; soon after which, small gray-coloured and brilliant points were seen. A grain of metallic arsenic was thus obtained. Another portion, treated with hydro-sulphuric acid, furnished sulphuret of arsenic; and this, heated and acted upon by caustic potass, afforded a portion of shining matter, which was easily dissolved in distilled water, by directing upon it a current of oxygen gas. By these various experiments, the fact of a considerable quantity of arsenic having been administered was demonstrated at the end of seven years.

29. THE BOOK TRADE.—A meeting of the principal publishers and booksellers was held at the Chapter coffee-house, for the purpose of discussing certain usages necessary to support the respectability of the trade, and to maintain profits at a fair rate. For some time past, the publishers of new works and the majority of booksellers have regarded with a feeling very different from complacency the practice which had sprung up, and was daily extending, of selling new works under the publishing price. This practice had been resorted to by persons, who, in order to produce quick sales, instead of requiring the profit of twenty-five per cent allowed to the trade, were satisfied with half, or even less, and endeavoured to force a sale by a reduction from the publication price equal to the remainder. A number of the principal publishers and booksellers some time since formed themselves into a committee, and framed certain resolutions for the prevention of this practice. These resolutions, which had been agreed to, and signed by no less than 650 persons, declared generally

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the injurious effects of the practice; and, for its prevention, proposed, that no new work should be sold by retail at more than ten per cent under the publisher's price, and that for ready money; and that no publisher should sell to persons acting in violation of this rule. The term "new work" in the resolution gave rise to great latitude and uncertainty of interpretation; and to fix with precision the determinate meaning it should bear, was the principal object of the meeting. The purport of the resolutions adopted on this subject was as follows:-The trade in books, which were not protected by copyright, it was not intended to interfere with. There every man should be left to act on his own discretion, as he might deem most for his own interest; but with respect to the new works, which the whole trade must have, and which they all had on the same terms, it could not be allowed that a few should (perhaps for some temporary purpose) reduce the fair profits, and unfairly innovate upon the business of all the rest of the trade. The term new works should therefore be confined to books published or reprinted within the last two years, or protected by copyright. These were the works which the resolutions declared should not be sold more than ten

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