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to wish for theijfl . A crafty female , employed by the government ^ was sent to the president to procure some drops for , as she pretended , a tyrannical husband . By these means the whole society was arrested ; and all of them , except the fortune-teller , by name Hieronyma Spara , confessed before being put to the torture .
" Where are now , " exclaimed she , " the Eoman princes , knights , and barons , who on so many occasions promised me their protection Where are the ladies who assured me of their friendship ! Where are my children , whom I have placed in such distinguished situations ! "
In order to deter others from like crimes , Gratiosa , the assistant of Spara , three other women , and Spara herself , who , up to the last , retained a hope of aid , were hanged in public . Some were executed in the same way months afterwards ; others were whipped , and the rest banished . This Spara was a Sicilian , and learnt the art from Tophana , at Palermo .
About the year 1670 , great excitement was produced in Prance by the art of poisoning . Mary Margaret d ' Aubray , daughter of the lieutenant-civil Dreux d'Aubray , was , in the year 1651 , married to the Marquis de Brinvilliers , son of Q-obelin , president of the Chamber of Accounts , who was worth thirty thousand livres a year , and to whom she brought a portion of two hundred thousand . He was a
colonel of horse in the regiment of Normandy , and during the course of his campaigns , became acquainted with one Grodin de Ste . Croix , a young man of distinguished family , then captain of that regiment of troops . Being a needy adventurer , the officer became a frequent visitor at the house of the marquis , and in a short time began to pay his addresses to the marchioness , who lost her husband , after she had helped to squander his large fortune . Her conduct , when newly a
widow , gave rise to so much uneasiness in her father , that he had Ste . Croix arrested by lettre de cachet , and thrown into the Bastille . While here , the young man became acquainted with an Italian , named Exili , from whom he learnt the art of making poison . In this he instructed the marchioness , who , when she acquired the skill , assumed the habit of a nun , distributed food to the poor , visited the hospitals , and gave the sick medicine , in order to try the strength of her poisons . By the force of bribes , she induced La Chaussee ,
Ste . Croix ' s servant , to poison her father , into whose service she got him introduced , and her brother : the former it took ten doses to kill ; the son died sooner . The daughter , Mademoiselle Aubray , could not be poisoned , owing to her great vigilance , and a suspicion she had that her father and brother had been poisoned .
The way in which her villany was detected is curious in the extreme . Ste . Croix , when preparing poison , usually wore a glass mask ; but this dropping off once by accident , he was suifocated and found dead in his laboratory . On his effects being searched by order of the government , there was found a small casket , to which Ste . Croix had affixed a written request that after his death it might be delivered to the Marchioness de Brinvilliers , or in case she should not
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
to wish for theijfl . A crafty female , employed by the government ^ was sent to the president to procure some drops for , as she pretended , a tyrannical husband . By these means the whole society was arrested ; and all of them , except the fortune-teller , by name Hieronyma Spara , confessed before being put to the torture .
" Where are now , " exclaimed she , " the Eoman princes , knights , and barons , who on so many occasions promised me their protection Where are the ladies who assured me of their friendship ! Where are my children , whom I have placed in such distinguished situations ! "
In order to deter others from like crimes , Gratiosa , the assistant of Spara , three other women , and Spara herself , who , up to the last , retained a hope of aid , were hanged in public . Some were executed in the same way months afterwards ; others were whipped , and the rest banished . This Spara was a Sicilian , and learnt the art from Tophana , at Palermo .
About the year 1670 , great excitement was produced in Prance by the art of poisoning . Mary Margaret d ' Aubray , daughter of the lieutenant-civil Dreux d'Aubray , was , in the year 1651 , married to the Marquis de Brinvilliers , son of Q-obelin , president of the Chamber of Accounts , who was worth thirty thousand livres a year , and to whom she brought a portion of two hundred thousand . He was a
colonel of horse in the regiment of Normandy , and during the course of his campaigns , became acquainted with one Grodin de Ste . Croix , a young man of distinguished family , then captain of that regiment of troops . Being a needy adventurer , the officer became a frequent visitor at the house of the marquis , and in a short time began to pay his addresses to the marchioness , who lost her husband , after she had helped to squander his large fortune . Her conduct , when newly a
widow , gave rise to so much uneasiness in her father , that he had Ste . Croix arrested by lettre de cachet , and thrown into the Bastille . While here , the young man became acquainted with an Italian , named Exili , from whom he learnt the art of making poison . In this he instructed the marchioness , who , when she acquired the skill , assumed the habit of a nun , distributed food to the poor , visited the hospitals , and gave the sick medicine , in order to try the strength of her poisons . By the force of bribes , she induced La Chaussee ,
Ste . Croix ' s servant , to poison her father , into whose service she got him introduced , and her brother : the former it took ten doses to kill ; the son died sooner . The daughter , Mademoiselle Aubray , could not be poisoned , owing to her great vigilance , and a suspicion she had that her father and brother had been poisoned .
The way in which her villany was detected is curious in the extreme . Ste . Croix , when preparing poison , usually wore a glass mask ; but this dropping off once by accident , he was suifocated and found dead in his laboratory . On his effects being searched by order of the government , there was found a small casket , to which Ste . Croix had affixed a written request that after his death it might be delivered to the Marchioness de Brinvilliers , or in case she should not