: "Oh! I formerly knew a very
curious affair, curious for several reasons, as you will see.

"I was at that time imperial attorney in one of the provinces. I had to
take up the case which has remained famous under the name of the Moiron
case.

"Monsieur Moiron, who was a teacher in the north of France, enjoyed an
excellent reputation throughout the whole country. He was a person of
intelligence, quiet, very religious, a little taciturn; he had married
in the district of Boislinot, where he exercised his profession. He had
had three children, who had died of consumption, one after the other.
From this time he seemed to bestow upon the youngsters confided to his
care all the tenderness of his heart. With his own money he bought toys
for his best scholars and for the good boys; he gave them little dinners
and stuffed them with delicacies, candy and cakes: Everybody loved this
good man with his big heart, when suddenly five of his pupils died, in
a strange manner, one after the other. It was supposed that there was an
epidemic due to the condition of the water, resulting from drought; they
looked for the causes without being able to discover them, the more so
that the symptoms were so peculiar. The children seemed to be attacked
by a feeling of lassitude; they would not eat, they complained of pains
in their stomachs, dragged along for a short time, and died in frightful
suffering.

"A post-mortem examination was held over the last one, but nothing
was discovered. The vitals were sent to Paris and analyzed, and they
revealed the presence of no toxic substance.

"For a year nothing new developed; then two little boys, the best
scholars in the class, Moiron's favorites, died within four days of each
other. An examination of the bodies was again ordered, and in both of
them were discovered tiny fragments of crushed glass. The conclusion
arrived at was that the two youngsters must imprudently have eaten from
some carelessly cleaned receptacle. A glass broken over a pail of milk
could have produced this frightful accident, and the affair would have
been pushed no further if Moiron's servant had not been taken sick at
this time. The physician who was called in noticed the same symptoms he
had seen in the children. He questioned her and obtained the admission
that she had stolen and eaten some candies that had been bought by the
teacher for his scholars.

"On an order from the court the schoolhouse was searched, and a closet