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Leader (1850-1860), 5th May 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 417

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      afterwards he was again brought out ; and the acting colonel ( in the place of the Adjutant-General , who had left ) -said he released him on his own responsibility , but-at the same time intimated that he did not think the sergeant could hold his office of saddler to the regiment much longer . The colonel also remarked that there was not another non-commissioned officer in the service that would have acted as Brodie had done , and-made other disparaging observations on the conduct of the sergeant . Brodie was then discharged from arrest . It is currently reported that © very possible means were resorted to by the guilty parties ( though without avail ) to induce the corporal who arrested Brodie to say that he was intoxicated at the time ; and it is also affirmed that Adjutant Webster has declared " that he would not stop in the regiment unless Brodie was smashed . "

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      ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE THE FRENCH EMPEROR . An attempt of a very deliberate and predetermined character , has been made upon the life of the present ruler of France . The Emperor was on horseback in the Champs Ely sees about ten minutes past five on Saturday evening , when he was fired upon twice within a few seconds by a foreigner who is now in custody . The Constitutionnel publishes the annexed account of the affair : — "On the right side of the avenue near the Beaujon grounds , almost at the corner of the Rue Balzac , a man

      was seen to advance from the aide alley towards the Emperor ; he had his hand in the breast-pocket of his paletot , as if he were about to take out a petition to present to his Majesty- This man was decently dressed ; and appeared about thirty-five years of age . He was armed with a double-barrelled pistol of the length of a cavalry pistol , and he fired twice , at a short interval between the two shots . The Emperor cast a look of profound disdain upon the assassin , and , with his hand waving off the persons who hastened up to see that he was not wounded , and saluting them , he continued his ride to rejoin the Empress , whose carriage was a little in advance .

      " Meantime an agent attached to the person of the Emperor , on hearing the first report , rushed to the spot whence it proceeded , and , armed with a dagger which he had with him , fell upon the assassin just as he fired his second shot . It appears that when he caught hold of him be wounded him with his dagger , which led to a report that the assassin had attempted suicide . The assassin had no dagger ; but a revolver was found upon ' him , which he had no time to use . " Surrounded by Sergens de Ville , who kept the curious at a distance , the man was taken to the guardhouse at the Barriere de l'Etoile , occupied by a detachment of the 90 th of the Line . Here he was searched , and \> y his papers it was proved that he was an Italian . He is a Roman of the name of Liverani , who embraced Protestantism at London , where he had emigrated after the taking of Rome by the French .

      " He was dressed in an undcrsuit quiet different from the first in form and colour , so that if he had not been at once arrested he might easily have escaped . He was immediately handcuffed and taken to the Prefecture of Police . On arriving at the guardhouse at the Palais de Justice , occupied by the Garde de Paris , it was found necessary to take bandages and lint to bind up his wound . He had lOOf . in gold in his pockets , and the large doublebarrelled - > iatol which he had fired , and which is a weapon of some value ; it is , perhaps , its length which made him so fortunately twice miss his aim . While the aasassin was being secured , the Emperor , followed by a crowd of pedestrians and equestrians , who loudly cheered him , rejoined the Empress , and returned to the Tuileries , in the midst of a sort of triumphal escort . The ladies in the carriages joined in the acclamations , waving their

      handkerchiefs . The Emperor and Empress had previously announced their intention of visiting the Opexa-Comique . Their Majesties went there . On their way , in the Kuo de Rivoli , in the Rue de la Paix , alone the Boulevards , tho crowd thronged the pathways , and saluted their Majesties with loud cheers . Many of the houses were illuminated ; three rounds of applause welcomed tho Emperor and Empress as they entered their box . Tho Emperor took tho scat in tho box usually occupied by tho Empress . When they left , tho crowd had not diminished , and shouts of ' Vive VEtnperevr were heard on all sides . On Sunday morning thoro was a continual roll of carriages to the Tuilorics . Tho colonels of tho different regiments of the garrison of Paris , and oven those of tho regiments stationed at Versailles , came to congratulate tho Emperor . "

      Tho would-be nssnssin lias said that his design was to avenge the Roman Republic . It iri asserted that ho refuses to speak . The' Paris correspondent of tho Afowing Post says that , after the first shot was fired , " Count Ney struck spurs into his horse and dashed at the villain , who hud such presence of mind as to step aside suddenly , and as tho impetus given to the horse carried Colonel Noy paat him , and therefore exposed tho Emperor , ho stepped forward to about four paces from his mark and fired again . " Tho Daily News correspondent pays the Emperor avoided tho first shot by slightly

      ducking his head , and that the second shot is reported to have passed through bis hat . The same writer adds : — " Immediately after the second shot was fired , the regicide was seized by two men in blouses , who looked like operatives , but were , in fact , agents employed by M . Balestrino , the director o £ the secret police . Almost at the same moment ~ a" gendarme , a native of Corsica , named Alessandrini , who , in the capacity of what is 1

      commonly termed a bull-dog , was following the Emperor in a brougham , accompanied by M . Hirevoy , a commissary of police , rushed out of the carriage with a drawn poniard , and flew at the murderer , who , it appears , resisted violently . He was taken to the Prefecture of Police , where he expressed his regret for his crime . He denied that he had any accomplices , but said that numbers had sworn an oath to do what he only had had the courage to attempt . He declared that he had nourished the project ever since the siege of Rome .

      ? ' It is rumoured that many arrests were made on Saturday night , but I have only heard specifically of one . A M . Danesi , an Italian refugee , who was an acquaintance of Liverani , and in the habit of meeting him at the Cafe * de France , near the Palais Royal , is in ^ custody . Danesi protests his innocence , and entire ignorance of Liverani ' s projects . The police was en permar nence in the Rue de Jerusalem on the night of the attack . At one in the morning , one hundred Sergens de Ville took refreshments at Madame Moreau ' s preserved-fruit-shop . The Archbishop of Paris ordered a Te Deum in all the churches on Sunday evening . "

      The culprit's hat , and the revolver which he fired , were of English manufacture . It is also said that he had some English money about him . A probability exists that he belongs to some secret society , for which he has acted . The correspondent of the Times says , that when the Emperor returned with the Empress , " the sight was touching in the extreme . Her Majesty was deeply , affected , and sobbed convulsively amidst her efforts to smile . " We gather from the same source that " when the Emperor saw the assassin in the hands of the people , and his clothes torn , he called out to spare him ; and I am assured his words were , * Epargnez-le—ne le tutz pas , le miserable ! ' He did not lose his presence of mind for an instant . "

      To a congratulatory address from the Senate , presented on Monday , the Emperor returned the following very characteristic reply : — " I thank the Senate for the sentiments which it has just expressed to me . I have no dread of the attempts of assassins . There are existences which are the instruments of the decrees of Providence . As long as I shall not have accomplished my mission , I incur no danger . " The Emperor ( says Galignam ) afterwards received the papal nuncio , and the ambassadors and ministers of Great Britain , Austria , Prussia , Wurtemberg , and Saxony , who went in the name of their sovereigns to express to his Majesty the indignation -which they felt at the attempt on his life , and to offer their congratulations on his escape . Their Majesties afterwards proceeded to the chapel , where they heard mass .

      The English residents in Paris were making preparations for a public meeting when a notice appeared in the Monileur to tlie effect that the Emperor , being well assured of the affection of all classes , did not desire that any addresses should be presented to him . The English , however , are determined upon holding a meeting . The Court of Aldermen of London have passed a resolution congratulating the Emperor upon his escape ; and this will be presented to the French ambassador . A similar address lias been adopted by the Town Council of Birmingham . it lias

      Since the arrest of the would-be assassin , been elicited that his renl name is Pianori . He was formerly a volunteer in the army of Garibaldi , and it is said that , having renounced Catholicism , he has spoken at Protestant meetings nt Exeter-hall . " He is now , " says the Paris correspondent of the Daily News , " at the Prefecture of Police . He wears a strait jacket . A gaoler sleeps at the foot of his bed to watch him . A hole has been made in . the wall through which he may be seen fts he lies , and several persons of note have been to look at him . He lived in two well-furnished rooms in the Faubourg St . Honorc * , the rent of which ho Inul paid for a month beforehand . Ho will be tried in the ordinary Assize Court , and not by the High Court of Justice . " Tho trial will commence on Monday .

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      A CHESHIRE TRAGEDY . Mr . " James Sproston , joiner ami builder , residing near Sandbach , in Cheshire , has murdered his wife in a very horrible manner , and . afterwards committed suicide . The cause of the act was jealousy , which appears to have been unfounded . Sproston and his wife were people in comfortable circumstances ,, and hud been married about seventeen years , during the greater p » rt of which time they hud lived in apparent happiness . Tho woman , who ia said to have been luindsomc , was forty years of ago ; tho man was forty-six . Both were strict Methodists , and used to act "a teachers in ( he Sunday school of that sect ,

      They kept no female servant at the house ; but an apprentice youth in the timber-yard was employed occasionally to assist in some of the heavier household duties . A widowed sister of Sproston had been induced by her brother to reside with him and his wife ; and on Friday week , the morning of the murder , she went to Sandbach on a matter . of business , the apprentice being told by his master to accompany her . Sproston and his wife were thus left alone . Mrs . Gill , the sister , returned about nine a-m . ; and we may here quote her own account of what she saw , as stated at the inquest : —

      " I found the back-yard door fastened inside ; but , as it was a arop-latch , and might have slipped , this excited no surprise . I went round to the further side of the house , and got over the fence into the garden . The kitchen door was closed , but not fastened , and 1 let myself in . On entering the kitchen , I saw my sister on the floor , on her knees , with her face thrown forward upon her hands , which were resting on the floor . She was praying , and calling upon the Lord to take her . She said , ' Oh , James , don't , ' as I approached her , and

      afterwards , when I had raised her head and arms , she said in a low voice , ' Where is he ? ' She was in a great pool of blood , and was still bleeding . A sword was on tn " e table by her side . I went to search for my brother , and found him in my parlour . He -was quite dead , with a pistol lying between his feet , which I picked up and laid on the table . The sword and pistol belonged to my brother , and he has had them a long time . The only cause I can assign for the murder is , that my brother had for some weeks been jealous of his wife ; jealousy which had amounted to monomania , and which I had told him was

      quite unfounded . " From the evidence of the surgeon who was called in , the attack must have been of a very fearful description . Both arms , which the poor creature seems to have held up either in supplication or to protect her head , were cut through the muscles and bone ; the skull was gashed open , leaving the brain exposed ; and the spinal marrow at the back of the neck was completely severed . Sproston and his wife were both tall ; and the ceiling of the room , which was low , had apparently been struck by the sword , and presented a patch of blood . The appearance of the kitchen , according to a constable who was examined , " was worse than that of a slaughter-house . " The skull of the man was found completely shattered . He had apparently discharged the pistol into his mouth .

      The apprentice mentioned at the inquest that on the morning of the murder his master gave him several directions about ordinary matters of business . A short time ago , be had said , pointing to some boards in the shop , " Those boards must be-used to make my coffin with . " He had also mentioned to the youth those of his nephews whom he wished to be the bearers of his body to the grave , as if he had entertained some idea of his death . Sproston , in his will , made last February , alienates all his property from his wife , leaving her , however , that which she brought him as a marriage dowry . Though madly jealous , he had never indicated any individual as the specific cause of his jealousy ; and Mrs . Sproston was always highly respected by the neighbours . The inquest terminated , with respect to the man , in a verdict of " Temporary Insanity . "

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      EXECUTION OF BURANELLI . Luici Bdkanelli was executed on Monday morning in front of Newgate . Notwithstanding the efforts that have been made to save his life on the plea of insanity , it is said that he never expected any commutation of his sentence . Being a Papist , Le was at first attended by Dr . Farr , a Roman Catholic priest ; but that gentleman shortly discontinued his visits , on account of Buranelli refusing to allow his

      daughter Rosa to be brought up as a Roman Catholic . Her mother , having been a Protestant , Buranelli had promised to bring the child up in that faith ; and , as he refused to break this promise , Dr . Farr told him his soul was lost , and left him . He then obtained the spiritual services of Father Gavazzi , who attended him to the last . The following letter was addressed by " Buranelli on Sunday to tho ludy under whose charge his daughter has been placed : — " Newgate Prison , April 29 .

      " My dear Madam , —Before dving , lot me renew my thanks for what you have already done for my daughter , and for the caro your Christian charity has promised to bestow on her . May Heaven Moss you , and impart to my little darling a truly Christian heart , so that vrc may meet again in a better world , where 1 hope I shall be tomorrow through tho morey of Jesus Christ my Lord and Mediator . With a kiss to my daughter , " I am yours eternally obliged , " LUIGI UlJRA . MKI . UU " We abridge from the daily papers the particulars of tho final scone . Tho fhoriffs arrived at tho gaol soon after seven o ' clock , and upon proceeding to tho coll occupied by tho culprit , they found him engaged in devotional exercises with Father Ciavaz 7 . i , who had been with him since half-past fivo o ' clock . Tho first observation , made by tho prisoner wad

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      Mat 5 , 1855 . ] THE LEADER . # •?

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 5, 1855, page 417, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2089/page/9/