A SHAMEFUL OUTRAGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9022, 7 April 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

A SHAMEFUL OUTRAGE.

A shameful outrage was perpetrated lately at Saint Hilaire du Bois, situate in the neighbourhood of Narbonne. A young couple were walking home after the wedding festivities in company with the bridegroom's father, when they were attacked suddenly by three men and a woman, who, darting out of a dark corner, began to belabour them soundly. All at once a cry of intense anguish was heard. The woman, Marie Miquel, had flung the contents of a bottle of vitriol in the bridegroom's face. The bride, who was also injured by the corrosive liquid, shrieked and cried with pain, and soon the old father—one against four—fell to the ground covered with bruises. It was half-past ten, and most of the inhabitants were in bed; but the noise alarmed them, and as they came to the rescue the brutal assailants of the nuptial party took to their heels. Every attention was lavished on the unfortunate victims of this diabolical outrage, but the bridegroom is blind for life and his face is a mass of wounds. The bride is also disfigured horribly, and it is feared that she, too, may lose her sight. The father, who was so cruelly beaten, will be confined to his room for a long time. Marie Miquel, the instigator of the attack, accuses the bridegroom of having seduced I her.