On being delivered up to justice, letters were found upon him, which he had written during his nine days9 flight. Two of these were addressed to the king; in them, his enemies were denounced, but at the same time his Majesty was entreated not to punish them. The others were for two of his relatives, in which he confessed the murder which he had committed, and demanded a passport for a foreigner under a false name.

In his examination, D. gave all the details of the murder and the precautions which he had taken to avoid arrest; but he wandered as to the motives which had induced him to it, and gave several different reasons. Now, he pretended that he was intoxicated; then, that he was angry, because his wife had refused to give him money; and, again, that he was exasperated and irri- tated by the bad advice which was given to his wife, who, nevertheless, was very virtuous; finally, he accused his enemies of having tempted him to it, in order to destroy him, and particularly accused Robert.

During his imprisonment, D. wrote several times to his father, to the magistrates, to his medical attendant, etc. All these letters resembled each other in their incoherence, their length, the repetition of similar ideas in excusing himself or accusing his enemies, especially Robert, or in attempting to excite pity in his behalf. His excuses, regrets, accusations, requests, and recommendations were ridiculous, extravagant, and highly unbecoming one in his position. It was perfectly evident from these letters, that he had no moral consciousness of the double crime he had committed, nor the punishment it deserved.

The attorney-general gave a requisition that no proceedings could be instituted against him so long as he was declared insane. The court thought that the proceedings did not sufficiently establish his insanity at the period of committing the crime, since the precautions which he had taken to escape the pursuit of justice, proved that he then had consciousness of a crime committed, and of a punishment consequent thereon. Upon this, on the 14th of August, 1828, an order was given to arraign D. for the murder of his wife. The court, by a decree of the following 12th of September, ordered an additional investigation.

In consequence of this judgment, D. was sent to Paris, and placed in the insane division at Bicetre, where he could be closely watched by the experienced undersigned.

During the first few weeks of his stay at Bicetre, D. remained quite alone, took no exercise, never spoke, and appeared in a stupor, wept long and often, particularly when questioned relative to the murder which he had committed, the motives which led him to it, his actual position, etc., when his face would become much flushed. If pressed with questions, he would accuse his enemies, particularly Robert, of having led him into these criminal paths. He spoke of the murder of his wife as of a thing in which a third person was culpable; and loudly demanded his freedom, saying: "It is not my fault." He also wrote several letters, which resembled in all points those which he wrote before his removal to Bicetre. On other subjects neither his acts nor remarks were irrational.

After remaining for some months in the hospital, he became more communicative, took more exercise, conversed more readily with the attendants and the patients, and even argued with them on matters foreign to his position. He wept more rarely, excepting when he was questioned as to the cause of his being in the hospital. But the acuteness of his replies proved that he was aware of his position in regard to the law. He occupied himself with manual labor and learned to net purses.

On the 14th of April, 1829, a great change was observed in D.; he became restless and appeared distressed.* It was evident that he had hallucinations of hearing. He complained that the inmates of the hospital said disagreeable things to him as they passed him, and expressed dissatisfaction towards some of the patients with whom he had argued, but he had never either disputed or quarrelled with them.

On the 16th of April, he requested to be shut up; and gave to the physician, attending the insane in the hospital, one of the undersigned, a crochet needle, wishing by that means to show his unwillingness to harm any one. "I do not desire," he repeated, "to harm any one."

* This sudden alteration in the habits of an insane person deserves particular notice. Whenever we have observed it in our establishment, the individual has attempted suicide, escape, etc.

On the 18th of April, D. went to rest, without the keepers having remarked more agitation in him than in the preceding days. During the night he left the dormitory, in which he slept with other patients, under some pretext, took a broom-handle which he found outside, and with it struck a patient who was sleeping in the sixth bed from his.

The neighbor of the person he attacked, awakened by the noise, called for help; D. struck at him until he hid himself under the covering, and then recommenced his assault on his first victim. The attendants hurried in and seised him; he allowed the strait waistcoat to be put on, wept, repented, accused those who had driven him to it, and said that he heard voices, which told him to be revenged, as some one wanted to kill him; he added that it was well they bound him, for he intended to have treated two or three others in the same way.

After this fresh murder, he became calm, slept well, and ate well, made no effort to rid himself of the strait waistcoat, wept frequently, especially when reminded of his actions; turned red, excused himself, and accused others. It was remarked that after this second murder, he appeared to fear the punishment reserved for criminals.

Such are the facts relative to the accused. They may easily be classed in two series; the one would induce the belief that D. was sane when he murdered his wife, and was conscious of having committed a crime when he fled; the other would seem to prove that he was insane when he committed the crime, and that even during his flight he had not a very clear perception of the position in which he had placed himself.