The Virginian

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 20.--This morning between two and three o'clock, an unhappy man, styling himself J. M. Rioult De Mombray, Public Accuser from 1809 to 1819, at the sovereign Court of Caen in France, put an end to his existence, in a singular manner.

Mr. De Mombray's mind had been for some years past haunted by many imaginary foes. He was the special object of vengeance with the French government, whose displeasure he fancied he had incurred by his political opinions, and by exposing the abuses of men in authority. The emissaries of France, seemed to have little to do but to work his destruction. They have poisoned all the wells in his neighborhood, and when Mr. De Mombray wanted a drink of water, he was obliged to go from his house in Ninth street near Lombard, as far perhaps as the Northern Liberties. Sometimes he took a boat, and from the middle of the Delaware obtained the necessary supply of pure water.

It was equally difficult for him to obtain a wholesome loaf of bread. In vain was it that Mr. De Mombray published advertisement after advertisement offering large rewards for the discovery and prosecution to conviction of those persons who were plotting against his life. In vain was it that he appealed for assistance to his brother masons, among whom he had been for ten years a past master. The number of his enemies increased rather than diminished; and some of our newspaper editors fell under suspicion for refusing to publish his advertisements, though he was convinced that the reluctance of others to insert them arose from a dread that they also would be poisoned, if they exposed the designs of the French emissaries. He dwelt alone, not daring to trust another person in the house with him, and under continual dread of attacks on his life. It was this state of mind, which made him look upon almost every man as his enemy, which, probably, led him this morning to put an end to his terrestrial sufferings. He set fire to a magazine of powder, and blew out the front and gable end of the house in which he dwelt. This morning the remains of the unhappy Mr. De Mombray were taken from among the ruins.

He was a man of elegant appearance and refined manners.

[Phil. Gaz.