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diff --git a/488-h/488-h.htm b/488-h/488-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aa63659 --- /dev/null +++ b/488-h/488-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8678 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + She Stands Accused, by Victor Macclure + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of She Stands Accused, by Victor MacClure + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: She Stands Accused + +Author: Victor MacClure + +Release Date: April, 1996 [EBook #488] +Last Updated: February 6, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHE STANDS ACCUSED *** + + + + +Produced by Mike Lough and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + SHE STANDS ACCUSED + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Victor Macclure + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + Being a Series of Accounts of the Lives and Deeds of Notorious Women, + Murderesses, Cheats, Cozeners, on whom Justice was Executed, and of + others who, Accused of Crimes, were Acquitted at least in Law; Drawn + from Authenticated Sources + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p> + TO RAFAEL SABATINI TO WHOSE VIRTUES AS AN AUTHOR AND AS A FRIEND THE + WRITER WISHES HIS BOOK WERE WORTHIER OF DEDICATION + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> I. — INTRODUCTORY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> II. — A FAIR NECK FOR THE MAIDEN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> III: — THE COUNTESS AND THE COZENER </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> IV: — A MODEL FOR MR HOGARTH </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> V: — ALMOST A LADY[27] </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> VI: — ARSENIC A LA BRETONNE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> VII: — THE MERRY WIDOWS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> INDEX </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_FOOT"> FOOTNOTES: </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I. — INTRODUCTORY + </h2> + <p> + I had a thought to call this book Pale Hands or Fair Hands Imbrued—so + easy it is to fall into the ghastly error of facetiousness. + </p> + <p> + Apart, however, from the desire to avoid pedant or puerile humour, + re-examination of my material showed me how near I had been to crashing + into a pitfall of another sort. Of the ladies with whose encounters with + the law I propose to deal several were assoiled of the charges against + them. Their hands, then—unless the present ruddying of female + fingernails is the revival of an old fashion—were not pink-tipped, + save, perhaps, in the way of health; nor imbrued, except in soapsuds. My + proposed facetiousness put me in peril of libel. + </p> + <p> + Interest in the criminous doings of women is so alive and avid among + criminological writers that it is hard indeed to find material which has + not been dealt with to the point of exhaustion. Does one pick up in a + secondhand bookshop a pamphlet giving a verbatim report of a trial in + which a woman is the central figure, and does one flatter oneself that the + find is unique, and therefore providing of fresh fields, it is almost + inevitable that one will discover, or rediscover, that the case has + already been put to bed by Mr Roughead in his inimitable manner. What a + nose the man has! What noses all these rechauffeurs of crime possess! To + use a figure perhaps something unmannerly, the pigs of Perigord, which, + one hears, are trained to hunt truffles, have snouts no keener. + </p> + <p> + Suppose, again, that one proposes to deal with the peccancy of women from + the earliest times, it is hard to find a lady, even one whose name has + hitherto gleamed lurid in history, to whom some modern writer has not + contrived by chapter and verse to apply a coat of whitewash. + </p> + <p> + Locusta, the poisoner whom Agrippina, wanting to kill the Emperor Claudius + by slow degrees, called into service, and whose technique Nero admired so + much that he was fain to put her on his pension list, barely escapes the + deodorant. Messalina comes up in memory. And then one finds M. Paul + Moinet, in his historical essays En Marge de l'histoire, gracefully + pleading for the lady as Messaline la calomniee—yes, and making out + a good case for her. The Empress Theodora under the pen of a psychological + expert becomes nothing more dire than a clever little whore disguised in + imperial purple. + </p> + <p> + On the mention of poison Lucretia Borgia springs to mind. This is the lady + of whom Gibbon writes with the following ponderous falsity: + </p> + <p> + In the next generation the house of Este was sullied by a sanguinary and + incestuous race in the nuptials of Alfonso I with Lucretia, a bastard of + Alexander VI, the Tiberius of Christian Rome. This modern Lucretia might + have assumed with more propriety the name of Messalina, since the woman + who can be guilty, who can even be accused, of a criminal intercourse with + a father and two brothers must be abandoned to all the licentiousness of a + venal love. + </p> + <p> + That, if the phrase may be pardoned, is swatting a butterfly with a + sledge-hammer! Poor little Lucretia, described by the excellent M. Moinet + as a "bon petit coeur," is enveloped in the political ordure slung by + venal pamphleteers at the masterful men of her race. My friend Rafael + Sabatini, than whom no man living has dug deeper into Borgia history, + explains the calumniation of Lucretia in this fashion: Adultery and + promiscuous intercourse were the fashion in Rome at the time of Alexander + VI. Nobody thought anything of them. And to have accused the Borgia girl, + or her relatives, of such inconsiderable lapses would have been to evoke + mere shrugging. But incest, of course, was horrible. The writers paid by + the party antagonistic to the Borgia growth in power therefore slung the + more scurrile accusation. But there is, in truth, just about as much + foundation for the charge as there is for the other, that Lucretia was a + poisoner. The answer to the latter accusation, says my same authority, may + take the form of a question: WHOM DID LUCRETIA POISON? As far as history + goes, even that written by the Borgia enemies, the reply is, NOBODY! + </p> + <p> + Were one content, like Gibbon, to take one's history like snuff there + would be to hand a mass of caliginous detail with which to cause + shuddering in the unsuspecting reader. But in mere honesty, if in nothing + else, it behoves the conscientious writer to examine the sources of his + information. The sources may be—they too frequently are—contaminated + by political rancour and bias, and calumnious accusation against + historical figures too often is founded on mere envy. And then the + rechauffeurs, especially where rechauffage is made from one language to + another, have been apt (with a mercenary desire to give their readers as + strong a brew as possible) to attach the darkest meanings to the words + they translate. In this regard, and still apropos the Borgias, I draw once + again on Rafael Sabatini for an example of what I mean. Touching the + festivities celebrating Lucretia's wedding in the Vatican, the one + eyewitness whose writing remains, Gianandrea Boccaccio, Ferrarese + ambassador, in a letter to his master says that amid singing and dancing, + as an interlude, a "worthy" comedy was performed. The diarist Infessura, + who was not there, takes it upon himself to describe the comedy as + "lascivious." Lascivious the comedies of the time commonly were, but later + writers, instead of drawing their ideas from the eyewitness, prefer the + dark hints of Infessura, and are persuaded that the comedy, the whole + festivity, was "obscene." Hence arises the notion, so popular, that the + second Borgia Pope delighted in shows which anticipated those of the + Folies Bergere, or which surpassed the danse du ventre in lust-excitation. + </p> + <p> + A statue was made by Guglielmo della Porta of Julia Farnese, Alexander's + beautiful second mistress. It was placed on the tomb of her brother + Alessandro (Pope Paul III). A Pope at a later date provided the lady, + portrayed in 'a state of nature,' with a silver robe—because, say + the gossips, the statue was indecent. Not at all: it was to prevent + recurrence of an incident in which the sculptured Julia took a static part + with a German student afflicted with sex-mania. + </p> + <p> + I become, however, a trifle excursive, I think. If I do the blame lies on + those partisan writers to whom I have alluded. They have a way of leading + their incautious latter-day brethren up the garden. They hint at + flesh-eating lilies by the pond at the path's end, and you find nothing + more prone to sarcophagy than harmless primulas. In other words, the + beetle-browed Lucretia, with the handy poison-ring, whom they promise you + turns out to be a blue-eyed, fair-haired, rather yielding little darling, + ultimately an excellent wife and mother, given to piety and good works, + used in her earlier years as a political instrument by father and brother, + and these two no worse than masterful and ambitious men employing the + political technique common to their day and age. + </p> + <p> + II + </p> + <p> + Messalina, Locusta, Lucretia, Theodora, they step aside in this particular + review of peccant women. Cleopatra, supposed to have poisoned slaves in + the spirit of scientific research, or perhaps as punishment for having + handed her the wrong lipstick, also is set aside. It were supererogatory + to attempt dealing with the ladies mentioned in the Bible and the + Apocrypha, such as Jael, who drove the nail into the head of Sisera, or + Judith, who cut off the head of Holofernes. Their stories are plainly and + excellently told in the Scriptural manner, and the adding of detail would + be mere fictional exercise. Something, perhaps, might be done for them by + way of deducing their characters and physical shortcomings through + examination of their deeds and motives—but this may be left to + psychiatrists. There is room here merely for a soupcon of psychology—just + as much, in fact, as may afford the writer an easy turn from one plain + narrative to another. You will have no more of it than amounts, say, to + the pinch of fennel that should go into the sauce for mackerel. + </p> + <p> + Toffana, who in Italy supplied poison to wives aweary of their husbands + and to ladies beginning to find their lovers inconvenient, and who thus at + second hand murdered some six hundred persons, has her attractions for the + criminological writer. The bother is that so many of them have found it + out. The scanty material regarding her has been turned over so often that + it has become somewhat tattered, and has worn rather thin for + refashioning. The same may be said for Hieronyma Spara, a direct poisoner + and Toffana's contemporary. + </p> + <p> + The fashion they set passed to the Marquise de Brinvilliers, and she, with + La Vigoureux and La Voisin, has been written up so often that the task of + finding something new to say of her and her associates looks far too + formidable for a man as lethargic as myself. + </p> + <p> + In the abundance of material that criminal history provides about women + choice becomes difficult. There is, for example, a plethora of women + poisoners. Wherever a woman alone turns to murder it is a hundred to one + that she will select poison as a medium. This at first sight may seem a + curious fact, but there is for it a perfectly logical explanation, upon + which I hope later to touch briefly. The concern of this book, however, is + not purely with murder by women, though murder will bulk largely. + Swindling will be dealt with, and casual allusion made to other crimes. + </p> + <p> + But take for the moment the women accused or convicted of poisoning. What + an array they make! What monsters of iniquity many of them appear! Perhaps + the record, apart from those set up by Toffana and the Brinvilliers + contingent, is held by the Van der Linden woman of Leyden, who between + 1869 and 1885 attempted to dispose of 102 persons, succeeded with no less + than twenty-seven, and rendered at least forty-five seriously ill. Then + comes Helene Jegado, of France, who, according to one account, with two + more working years (eighteen instead of sixteen), contrived to envenom + twenty-six people, and attempted the lives of twelve more. On this + calculation she fails by one to reach the der Linden record, but, even + reckoning the two extra years she had to work in, since she made only a + third of the other's essays, her bowling average may be said to be + incomparably better. + </p> + <p> + Our own Mary Ann Cotton, at work between 1852 and 1873, comes in third, + with twenty-four deaths, at least known, as her bag. Mary Ann operated on + a system of her own, and many of her victims were her own children. She is + well worth the lengthier consideration which will be given her in later + pages. + </p> + <p> + Anna Zwanziger, the earlier 'monster' of Bavaria, arrested in 1809, was an + amateur compared with those three. + </p> + <p> + Mrs Susannah Holroyd, of Ashton-under-Lyne, charged in September of 1816 + at the Lancashire Assizes with the murder by poison of her husband, her + own son, and the infant child of Anna Newton, a lodger of hers, was nurse + to illegitimate children. She was generally suspected of having murdered + several of her charges, but no evidence, as far as I can learn, was + brought forward to give weight to the suspicion at her trial. Then there + were Mesdames Flanagan and Higgins, found guilty, at Liverpool Assizes in + February 1884, of poisoning Thomas Higgins, husband of the latter of the + accused, by the administration of arsenic. The ladies were sisters, living + together in Liverpool. With them in the house in Skirvington Street were + Flanagan's son John, Thomas Higgins and his daughter Mary, Patrick + Jennings and his daughter Margaret. + </p> + <p> + John Flanagan died in December 1880. His mother drew the insurance money. + Next year Thomas Higgins married the younger of the sisters, and in the + year following Mary Higgins, his daughter, died. Her stepmother drew the + insurance money. The year after that Margaret Jennings, daughter of the + lodger, died. Once again insurance money was drawn, this time by both + sisters. + </p> + <p> + Thomas Higgins passed away that same year in a house to which what + remained of the menage had removed. He was on the point of being buried, + as having died of dysentery due to alcoholism, when the suspicions of his + brother led the coroner to stop the funeral. The brother had heard word of + insurance on the life of Thomas. A post-mortem revealed the fact that + Thomas had actually died of arsenic poisoning; upon which discovery the + bodies of John Flanagan, Mary Higgins, and Margaret Jennings were exhumed + for autopsy, which revealed arsenic poisoning in each case. The prisoners + alone had attended the deceased in the last illnesses. Theory went that + the poison had been obtained by soaking fly-papers. Mesdames Flanagan and + Higgins were executed at Kirkdale Gaol in March of 1884. + </p> + <p> + Now, these are two cases which, if only minor in the wholesale poisoning + line when compared with the Van der Linden, Jegado, and Cotton + envenomings, yet have their points of interest. In both cases the guilty + were so far able to banish "all trivial fond records" as to dispose of + kindred who might have been dear to them: Mrs Holroyd of husband and son, + with lodger's daughter as makeweight; the Liverpool pair of nephew, + husband, stepdaughter (or son, brother-in-law, and stepniece, according to + how you look at it), with again the unfortunate daughter of a lodger + thrown in. If they "do things better on the Continent"—speaking + generally and ignoring our own Mary Ann—there is yet temptation to + examine the lesser native products at length, but space and the scheme of + this book prevent. In the matter of the Liverpool Locustas there is an + engaging speculation. It was brought to my notice by Mr Alan Brock, author + of By Misadventure and Further Evidence. Just how far did the use of + flypapers by Flanagan and Higgins for the obtaining of arsenic serve as an + example to Mrs Maybrick, convicted of the murder of her husband in the + same city five years later? + </p> + <p> + The list of women poisoners in England alone would stretch interminably. + If one were to confine oneself merely to those employing arsenic the list + would still be formidable. Mary Blandy, who callously slew her father with + arsenic supplied her by her lover at Henley-on-Thames in 1751, has been a + subject for many criminological essayists. That she has attracted so much + attention is probably due to the double fact that she was a girl in a very + comfortable way of life, heiress to a fortune of L10,000, and that + contemporary records are full and accessible. But there is nothing + essentially interesting about her case to make it stand out from others + that have attracted less notice in a literary way. Another Mary, of a + later date, Edith Mary Carew, who in 1892 was found guilty by the Consular + Court, Yokohama, of the murder of her husband with arsenic and sugar of + lead, was an Englishwoman who might have given Mary Blandy points in + several directions. + </p> + <p> + When we leave the arsenical-minded and seek for cases where other poisons + were employed there is still no lack of material. There is, for example, + the case of Sarah Pearson and the woman Black, who were tried at Armagh in + June 1905 for the murder of the old mother of the latter. The old woman, + Alice Pearson (Sarah was her daughter-in-law), was in possession of small + savings, some forty pounds, which aroused the cupidity of the younger + women. Their first attempt at murder was with metallic mercury. It rather + failed, and the trick was turned by means of three-pennyworth of + strychnine, bought by Sarah and mixed with the old lady's food. The murder + might not have been discovered but for the fact that Sarah, who had gone + to Canada, was arrested in Montreal for some other offence, and made a + confession which implicated her husband and Black. A notable point about + the case is the amount of metallic mercury found in the old woman's body: + 296 grains—a record. + </p> + <p> + Having regard to the condition of life in which these Irishwomen lived, + there is nothing, to my mind, in the fact that they murdered for forty + pounds to make their crime more sordid than that of Mary Blandy. + </p> + <p> + Take, again, the case of Mary Ansell, the domestic servant, who, at + Hertford Assizes in June 1899, was found guilty of the murder of her + sister, Caroline, by the administration of phosphorus contained in a cake. + Here the motive for the murder was the insurance made by Ansell upon the + life of her sister, a young woman of weak intellect confined in Leavesden + Asylum, Watford. The sum assured was only L22 10s. If Mary Blandy poisoned + her father in order to be at liberty to marry her lover, Cranstoun, and to + secure the fortune Cranstoun wanted with her, wherein does she shine above + Mary Ansell, a murderess who not only poisoned her sister, but nearly + murdered several of her sister's fellow-inmates of the asylum, and all for + twenty odd pounds? Certainly not in being less sordid, certainly not in + being more 'romantic.' + </p> + <p> + There is, at root, no case of murder proved and accepted as such which + does not contain its points of interest for the criminological writer. + There is, indeed, many a case, not only of murder but of lesser crime, + that has failed to attract a lot of attention, but that yet, in affording + matter for the student of crime and criminal psychology, surpasses others + which, very often because there has been nothing of greater public moment + at the time, were boomed by the Press into the prominence of causes + celebres. + </p> + <p> + There is no need then, after all, for any crime writer who wants to fry a + modest basket of fish to mourn because Mr Roughead, Mr. Beaufroy Barry, Mr + Guy Logan, Miss Tennyson Jesse, Mr Leonard R. Gribble, and others of his + estimable fellows seem to have swiped all the sole and salmon. It may be a + matter for envy that Mr Roughead, with his uncanny skill and his gift in + piquant sauces, can turn out the haddock and hake with all the + delectability of sole a la Normande. The sigh of envy will merge into an + exhalation of joy over the artistry of it. And one may turn, + wholeheartedly and inspired, to see what can be made of one's own catch of + gudgeon. + </p> + <p> + III. + </p> + <p> + Kipling's line about the female of the species has been quoted, + particularly as a text for dissertation on the female criminal, perhaps + rather too often. There is always a temptation to use the easy gambit. + </p> + <p> + It is quite probable that there are moments in a woman's life when she + does become more deadly than the male. The probability is one which no man + of age and experience will lack instance for making a fact. Without + seeking to become profound in the matter I will say this: it is but + lightly as compared with a man that one need scratch a woman to come on + the natural creature. + </p> + <p> + Now, your natural creature, not inhibited by reason, lives by theft, + murder, and dissimulation. It lives, even as regards the male, but for one + purpose: to continue its species. Enrage a woman, then, or frighten her + into the natural creature, and she will discard all those petty rules + invented by the human male for his advantage over, and his safety from, + the less disciplined members of the species. All that stuff about + 'honour,' 'Queensberry rules,' 'playing the game,' and what not will go by + the board. And she will fight you with tooth and talon, with lies, with + blows below the belt—metaphorically, of course. + </p> + <p> + It may well be that you have done nothing more than hurt her pride—the + civilized part of her. But instinctively she will fight you as the mother + animal, either potentially or in being. It will not occur to her that she + is doing so. Nor will it occur to you. But the fact that she is fighting + at all will bring it about, for fighting to any female animal means + defence of her young. She may not have any young in being. That does not + affect the case. She will fight for the ova she carries, for the ova she + has yet to develop. Beyond all reason, deep, instinct deep, within her she + is the carrier of the race. This instinct is so profound that she will + have no recollection in a crisis of the myriads of her like, but will + think of herself as the race's one chance to persist. Dangerous? Of course + she's dangerous—as dangerous as Nature! Just as dangerous, just as + self-centred, as in its small way is that vegetative organism the volvox, + which, when food is scarce and the race is threatened, against possible + need of insemination, creates separate husband cells to starve in + clusters, while 'she' hogs all the food-supply for the production of eggs. + </p> + <p> + This small flight into biology is made merely for the dim light it may + cast on the Kipling half-truth. It is not made to explain why women + criminals are more deadly, more cruel, more deeply lost in turpitude, than + their male colleagues. But it may help to explain why so many + crime-writers, following Lombroso, THINK the female more deadly. + </p> + <p> + There is something so deeply shocking in the idea of a woman being other + than kind and good, something so antagonistic to the smug conception of + Eve as the "minist'ring angel, thou," that leaps to extremes in expression + are easy. + </p> + <p> + A drunken woman, however, and for example, is not essentially more + degraded than a drunken man. This in spite of popular belief. A + nymphomaniac is not essentially more degraded than a brothel-haunting + male. It may be true that moral sense decays more quickly in a woman than + in a man, that the sex-ridden or drink-avid woman touches the deeps of + degradation more quickly, but the reasons for this are patent. They are + economic reasons usually, and physical, and not adherent to any inevitably + weaker moral fibre in the woman. + </p> + <p> + Women as a rule have less command of money than men. If they earn what + they spend they generally have to seek their satisfactions cheaply; and, + of course, since their powers of resistance to the debilitating effects of + alcohol are commonly less than those of men, they more readily lose + physical tone. With loss of health goes loss of earning power, loss of + caste. The descent, in general, must be quicker. It is much the same in + nymphomania. Unless the sex-avid woman has a decent income, such as will + provide her with those means whereby women preserve the effect of + attractiveness, she must seek assuagement of her sex-torment with men less + and less fastidious. + </p> + <p> + But it is useless and canting to say that peccant women are worse than + men. If we are kind we say so merely because we are more apprehensive for + them. Safe women, with but rare exceptions, are notably callous about + their sisters astray, and the "we" I have used must be taken generally to + signify men. We see the danger for erring women, danger economic and + physical. Thinking in terms of the phrase that "a woman's place is the + home," we wonder what will become of them. We wonder anxiously what man, + braver or less fastidious than ourselves, will accept the burden of + rescuing them, give them the sanctuary of a home. We see them as helpless, + pitiable beings. We are shocked to see them fall so low. + </p> + <p> + There is something of this rather maudlin mentality, generally speaking, + in our way of regarding women criminals. To think, we say, that a WOMAN + should do such things! + </p> + <p> + But why should we be more shocked by the commission of a crime by a woman + than by a man—even the cruellest of crimes? Take the male and female + in feral creation, and there is nothing to choose between them in the + matter of cruelty. The lion and the lioness both live by murder, and until + gravidity makes her slow for the chase the breeding female is by all + accounts the more dangerous. The she-bear will just as readily eat up a + colony of grubs or despoil the husbandry of the bees as will her mate. If, + then, the human animal drops the restraints imposed by law, reverting + thereby to the theft, murder, and cunning of savagery, why should it be + shocking that the female should equal the male in callousness? Why should + it be shocking should she even surpass the male? It is quite possible + that, since for physiological reasons she is nearer to instinctive + motivation than the male, she cannot help being more ruthless once + deterrent inhibition has been sloughed. But is she in fact more dangerous, + more deadly as a criminal, than the male? + </p> + <p> + Lombroso—vide Mr Philip Beaufroy Barry in his essay on Anna + Zwanziger—tells us that some of the methods of torture employed by + criminal women are so horrible that they cannot be described without + outraging the laws of decency. Less squeamish than Lombroso or Mr Barry, I + gather aloud that the tortures have to do with the organs of generation. + But male savages in African and American Indian tribes have a punishment + for adulterous women which will match anything in that line women have + ever achieved, and men in England itself have wreaked perverted vengeance + on women in ways indescribable too. Though it may be granted that pain + inflicted through the genitals is particularly sickening, pain is pain all + over the body, and must reach what might be called saturation-point + wherever inflicted. And as regards the invention of sickening punishment + we need go no farther afield in search for ingenuity than the list of + English kings. Dirty Jamie the Sixth of Scotland and First of England, + under mask of retributive justice, could exercise a vein of cruelty that + might have turned a Red Indian green with envy. Moreover, doesn't our word + expressing cruelty for cruelty's sake derive from the name of a man—the + Marquis de Sade? + </p> + <p> + I am persuaded that the reason why so many women murderers have made use + of poison in their killings is primarily a simple one, a matter of + physique. The average murderess, determined on the elimination of, for + example, a husband, must be aware that in physical encounter she would + have no chance. Then, again, there is in women an almost inborn aversion + to the use of weapons. Once in a way, where the murderess was of Amazonian + type, physical means have been employed for the slaying. + </p> + <p> + In this regard Kate Webster, who in 1879 at Richmond murdered and + dismembered Mrs Julia Thomas, springs to mind. She was, from all accounts, + an exceedingly virile young woman, strong as a pony, and with a devil of a + temper. Mr Elliot O'Donnell, dealing with her in his essay in the "Notable + British Trials" series, seems to be rather at a loss, considering her lack + of physical beauty, to account for her attractiveness to men and to her + own sex. But there is no need to account for it. Such a thing is no + phenomenon. + </p> + <p> + I myself, sitting in a taberna in a small Spanish port, was once pestered + by a couple of British seamen to interpret for them in their approaches to + the daughter of the house. This woman, who had a voice like a raven, + seemed able to give quick and snappy answers to the chaff by frequenters + of the taberna. Few people in the day-time, either men or women, would + pass the house if 'Fina happened to be showing without stopping to have a + word with her. She was not at all gentle in manner, but children ran to + her. And yet, without being enormously fat, 'Fina must have weighed close + on fifteen stone. She had forearms and biceps like a coal-heaver's. She + was black-haired, heavy-browed, squish-nosed, moled, and swarthy, and she + had a beard and moustache far beyond the stage of incipiency. Yet those + two British seamen, fairly decent men, neither drunk nor brutish, could + not have been more attracted had 'Fina had the beauty of the Mona Lisa + herself. I may add that there were other women handy and that the seamen + knew of them. + </p> + <p> + This in parenthesis, I hope not inappropriately. + </p> + <p> + Where the selected victim, or victims, is, or are, feeble-bodied you will + frequently find the murderess using physical means to her end. Sarah + Malcolm, whose case will form one of the chief features of this volume, is + an instance in point. Marguerite Diblanc, who strangled Mme Reil in the + latter's house in Park Lane on a day in April 1871, is another. Amelia + Dyer, the baby-farmer, also strangled her charges. Elizabeth Brownrigg + (1767) beat the feeble Mary Clifford to death. I do not know that great + physical difference existed to the advantage of the murderess between her + and her older victim, Mrs Phoebe Hogg, who, with her baby, was done to + death by Mrs Pearcy in October 1890, but the fact that Mrs Hogg had been + battered about the head, and that the head had been almost severed from + the body, would seem to indicate that the murderess was the stronger of + the two women. The case of Belle Gunness (treated by Mr George Dilnot in + his Rogues March<a href="#linknote-1" name="linknoteref-1" + id="linknoteref-1">[1]</a>) might be cited. Fat, gross-featured, far from + attractive though she was, her victims were all men who had married or had + wanted to marry her. Mr Dilnot says these victims "almost certainly + numbered more than a hundred." She murdered for money, using chloral to + stupefy, and an axe for the actual killing. She herself was slain and + burned, with her three children, by a male accomplice whom she was + planning to dispose of, he having arrived at the point of knowing too + much. 1907 was the date of her death at La Porte, U.S.A. + </p> + <p> + It occurs when the female killer happens to be dramatical-minded that she + will use a pistol. Mme Weissmann-Bessarabo, who, with her daughter, shot + her husband in Paris (August 1920), is of this kind. She and the daughter, + Paule-Jacques, seem to have seen themselves as wild, wild women from the + Mexico where they had sometime lived, and were always flourishing + revolvers. + </p> + <p> + I would say that the use of poison so much by women murderers has reason, + first, in the lack of physique for violent methods, but I would put + alongside that reason this other, that women poisoners usually have had a + handy proximity to their victims. They have had contact with their victims + in an attendant capacity. I have a suspicion, moreover, that a good number + of women poisoners actually chose the medium as THE KINDEST WAY. Women, + and I might add not a few men, who would be terribly shocked by sight or + news of a quick but violent death, can contemplate with relative placidity + a lingering and painful fatal illness. Propose to a woman the destruction + of a mangy stray cat or of an incurably diseased dog by means of a clean, + well-placed shot, and the chances are that she will shudder. But—no + lethal chamber being available—suggest poison, albeit unspecified, + and the method will more readily commend itself. This among women with no + murderous instincts whatever. + </p> + <p> + I have a fancy also that in some cases of murder by poison, not only by + women, the murderer has been able to dramatize herself or himself ahead as + a tender, noble, and self-sacrificing attendant upon the victim. No need + here, I think, to number the cases where the ministrations of murderers to + their victims have aroused the almost tearful admiration of beholders. + </p> + <p> + I shall say nothing of the secrecy of the poison method, of the chance + which still exists, in spite of modern diagnosis, that the illness induced + by it will pass for one arising from natural causes. This is ground + traversed so often that its features are as familiar as those of one's own + house door. Nor shall I say anything of the ease with which, even in these + days, the favourite poison of the woman murderer, arsenic, can be obtained + in one form or another. + </p> + <p> + One hears and reads, however, a great deal about the sense of power which + gradually steals upon the poisoner. It is a speculation upon which I am + not ready to argue. There is, indeed, chapter and verse for believing that + poisoners have arrived at a sense of omnipotence. But if Anna Zwanziger + (here I quote from Mr Philip Beaufroy Barry's essay on her in his Twenty + Human Monsters), "a day or two before the execution, smiled and said it + was a fortunate thing for many people that she was to die, for had she + lived she would have continued to poison men and women indiscriminately"; + if, still according to the same writer, "when the arsenic was found on her + person after the arrest, she seized the packet and gloated over the + powder, looking at it, the chronicler assures us, as a woman looks at her + lover"; and if, "when the attendants asked her how she could have brought + herself calmly to kill people with whom she was living—whose meals + and amusements she shared—she replied that their faces were so + stupidly healthy and happy that she desired to see them change into faces + of pain and despair," I will say this in no way goes to prove the woman + criminal to be more deadly than the male. This ghoulish satisfaction, with + the conjectured feeling of omnipotence, is not peculiar to the woman + poisoner. Neill Cream had it. Armstrong had it. Wainewright, with his + reason for poisoning Helen Abercrombie—"Upon my soul I don't know, + unless it was that her legs were too thick"—is quite on a par with + Anna Zwanziger. The supposed sense of power does not even belong + exclusively to the poisoner. Jack the Ripper manifestly had something of + the same idea about his use of the knife. + </p> + <p> + As a monster in mass murder against Mary Ann Cotton I will set you the + Baron Gilles de Rais, with his forty flogged, outraged, obscenely + mutilated and slain children in one of his castles alone—his total + of over two hundred children thus foully done to death. I will set you + Gilles against anything that can be brought forward as a monster in + cruelty among women. + </p> + <p> + Against the hypocrisy of Helene Jegado I will set you the sanctimonious Dr + Pritchard, with the nauseating entry in his diary (quoted by Mr Roughead) + recording the death of the wife he so cruelly murdered: + </p> + <p> + March 1865, 18, Saturday. Died here at 1 A.M. Mary Jane, my own beloved + wife, aged thirty-eight years. No torment surrounded her bedside [the foul + liar!]—but like a calm peaceful lamb of God passed Minnie away. May + God and Jesus, Holy Ghost, one in three, welcome Minnie! Prayer on prayer + till mine be o'er; everlasting love. Save us, Lord, for Thy dear Son! + </p> + <p> + Against the mean murders of Flanagan and Higgins I will set you Mr Seddon + and Mr Smith of the "brides in the bath." + </p> + <p> + IV + </p> + <p> + I am conscious that in arguing against the "more deadly than the male" + conception of the woman criminal I am perhaps doing my book no great + service. It might work for its greater popularity if I argued the other + way, making out that the subjects I have chosen were monsters of + brutality, with arms up to the shoulders in blood, that they were + prodigies of iniquity and cunning, without bowels, steeped in hypocrisy, + facinorous to a degree never surpassed or even equalled by evil men. It + may seem that, being concerned to strip female crime of the lurid + preeminence so commonly given it, I have contrived beforehand to rob the + ensuing pages of any richer savour they might have had. But I don't, + myself, think so. + </p> + <p> + If these women, some of them, are not greater monsters than their male + analogues, monsters they still remain. If they are not, others of them, + greater rogues and cheats than males of like criminal persuasion, cheats + and rogues they are beyond cavil. The truth of the matter is that I loathe + the use of superlatives in serious works on crime. I will read, I promise + you, anything decently written in a fictional way about 'master' crooks, + 'master' killers, kings, queens, princes, and a whole peerage of crime, + knowing very well that never yet has a 'master' criminal had any + cleverness but what a novelist gave him. But in works on crime that + pretend to seriousness I would eschew, pace Mr Leonard R. Gribble, all + 'queens' and other honorifics in application to the lost men and women + with whom such works must treat. There is no romance in crime. Romance is + life gilded, life idealized. Crime is never anything but a sordid + business, demonstrably poor in reward to its practitioners. + </p> + <p> + But, sordid or not, crime has its human interest. Its practitioners are + still part of life, human beings, different from law-abiding humanity by + God-alone-knows-what freak of heredity or kink in brain convolution. I + will not ask the reader, as an excuse for my book, to view the criminal + with the thought attributed to John Knox: + </p> + <p> + "There, but for the Grace of God, goes ——" Because the phrase + might as well be used in contemplation of John D. Rockefeller or Augustus + John or Charlie Chaplin or a man with a wooden leg. I do not ask that you + should pity these women with whom I have to deal, still less that you + should contemn them. Something between the two will serve. I write the + book because I am interested in crime myself, and in the hope that you'll + like the reading as much as I like the writing of it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. — A FAIR NECK FOR THE MAIDEN + </h2> + <p> + In her long history there can have been few mornings upon which Edinburgh + had more to offer her burghers in the way of gossip and rumour than on + that of the 1st of July, 1600. In this 'gate' and that 'gate,' as one may + imagine, the douce citizens must have clustered and broke and clustered, + like eddied foam on a spated burn. By conjecture, as they have always been + a people apt to take to the streets upon small occasion as on large, it is + not unlikely that the news which was to drift into the city some + thirty-five days later—namely, that an attempt on the life of his + Sacred Majesty, the High and Mighty (and Rachitic) Prince, James the Sixth + of Scotland, had been made by the brothers Ruthven in their castle of + Gowrie—it is not unlikely that the first buzz of the Gowrie affair + caused no more stir, for the time being at any rate, than the word which + had come to those Edinburgh folk that fine morning of the first day in + July. The busier of the bodies would trot from knot to knot, anxious to + learn and retail the latest item of fact and fancy regarding the tidings + which had set tongues going since the early hours. Murder, no less. + </p> + <p> + If the contemporary juridical records, even what is left of them, be a + criterion, homicide in all its oddly named forms must have been a + commonplace to those couthie lieges of his Slobberiness, King Jamie. It is + hard to believe that murder, qua murder, could have been of much more + interest to them than the fineness of the weather. We have it, however, on + reasonable authority, that the murder of the Laird of Warriston did set + the people of "Auld Reekie" finely agog. + </p> + <p> + John Kincaid, of Warriston, was by way of being one of Edinburgh's + notables. Even at that time his family was considered to be old. He + derived from the Kincaids of Kincaid, in Stirlingshire, a family then in + possession of large estates in that county and here and there about + Lothian. His own property of Warriston lay on the outskirts of Edinburgh + itself, just above a mile from Holyroodhouse. Notable among his + possessions was one which he should, from all accounts, dearly have + prized, but which there are indications he treated with some contumely. + This was his wife, Jean Livingstone, a singularly beautiful girl, no more + than twenty-one years of age at the time when this story opens. Jean, like + her husband, was a person of good station indeed. She was a daughter of + the Laird of Dunipace, John Livingstone, and related through him and her + mother to people of high consideration in the kingdom. + </p> + <p> + News of the violent death of John Kincaid, which had taken place soon + after midnight, came quickly to the capital. Officers were at once + dispatched. Small wonder that the burghers found exercise for their + clacking tongues from the dawning, for the lovely Jean was taken by the + officers 'red-hand,' as the phrase was, for the murder of her husband. + With her to Edinburgh, under arrest, were brought her nurse and two other + serving-women. + </p> + <p> + To Pitcairn, compiler of Criminal Trials in Scotland, from indications in + whose account of the murder I have been set on the hunt for material + concerning it, I am indebted for the information that Jean and her women + were taken red-hand. But I confess being at a loss to understand it. + Warriston, as indicated, stood a good mile from Edinburgh. The informant + bringing word of the deed to town, even if he or she covered the distance + on horseback, must have taken some time in getting the proper authorities + to move. Then time would elapse in quantity before the officers dispatched + could be at the house. They themselves could hardly have taken the Lady + Warriston red-hand, because in the meantime the actual perpetrator of the + murder, a horse-boy named Robert Weir, in the employ of Jean's father, had + made good his escape. As a fact, he was not apprehended until some time + afterwards, and it would seem, from the records given in the Pitcairn + Trials, that it was not until four years later that he was brought to + trial. + </p> + <p> + A person taken red-hand, it would be imagined, would be one found in such + circumstances relating to a murder as would leave no doubt as to his or + her having "airt and pairt" in the crime. Since it must have taken the + officers some time to reach the house, one of two things must have + happened. Either some officious person or persons, roused by the killing, + which, as we shall see, was done with no little noise, must have come upon + Jean and her women immediately upon the escape of Weir, and have detained + all four until the arrival of the officers, or else Jean and her women + must have remained by the dead man in terror, and have blurted out the + truth of their complicity when the officers appeared. + </p> + <p> + Available records are irritatingly uninformative upon the arrest of the + Lady Warriston. Pitcairn himself, in 1830, talks of his many "fruitless + searches" through the Criminal Records of the city of Edinburgh, the + greater part of which are lost, and confesses his failure to come on any + trace of the actual proceedings in this case, or in the case of Robert + Weir. For this reason the same authority is at a loss to know whether the + prisoners were immediately put to the knowledge of an assize, being taken + "red-hand," without the formality of being served a "dittay" (as who + should say an indictment), as in ordinary cases, before the magistrates of + Edinburgh, or else sent for trial before the baron bailie of the regality + of Broughton, in whose jurisdiction Warriston was situated. + </p> + <p> + It would perhaps heighten the drama of the story if it could be learned + what Jean and her women did between the time of the murder and the arrest. + It would seem, however, that the Lady Warriston had some intention of + taking flight with Weir. One is divided between an idea that the horse-boy + did not want to be hampered and that he was ready for self-sacrifice. "You + shall tarry still," we read that he said; "and if this matter come not to + light you shall say, 'He died in the gallery,' and I shall return to my + master's service. But if it be known I shall fly, and take the crime on + me, and none dare pursue you!" + </p> + <p> + It was distinctly a determined affair of murder. The loveliness of Jean + Livingstone has been so insisted upon in many Scottish ballads,<a + href="#linknote-2" name="linknoteref-2" id="linknoteref-2">[2]</a> and her + conduct before her execution was so saintly, that one cannot help wishing, + even now, that she could have escaped the scaffold. But there is no doubt + that, incited by the nurse, Janet Murdo, she set about having her husband + killed with a rancour which was very grim indeed. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "She has twa weel-made feet; + Far better is her hand; + She's jimp about the middle + As ony willy wand." +</pre> + <p> + The reason for Jean's hatred of her husband appears in the dittay against + Robert Weir. "Forasmuch," it runs, translated to modern terms, + </p> + <p> + as whilom Jean Livingstone, Goodwife of Warriston, having conceived a + deadly rancour, hatred, and malice against whilom John Kincaid, of + Warriston, for the alleged biting of her in the arm, and striking her + divers times, the said Jean, in the month of June, One Thousand Six + Hundred Years, directed Janet Murdo, her nurse, to the said Robert [Weir], + to the abbey of Holyroodhouse, where he was for the time, desiring him to + come down to Warriston, and speak with her, anent the cruel and unnatural + taking away of her said husband's life. + </p> + <p> + And there you have it. If the allegation against John Kincaid was true it + does not seem that he valued his lovely wife as he ought to have done. The + striking her "divers times" may have been an exaggeration. It probably + was. Jean and her women would want to show there had been provocation. (In + a ballad he is accused of having thrown a plate at dinner in her face.) + But there is a naivete, a circumstantial air, about the "biting of her in + the arm" which gives it a sort of genuine ring. How one would like to come + upon a contemporary writing which would throw light on the character of + John Kincaid! Growing sympathy for Jean makes one wish it could be found + that Kincaid deserved all he got. + </p> + <p> + Here and there in the material at hand indications are to be found that + the Lady of Warriston had an idea she might not come so badly off on + trial. But even if the King's Majesty had been of clement disposition, + which he never was, or if her judges had been likely to be moved by her + youth and beauty, there was evidence of such premeditation, such fixity of + purpose, as would no doubt harden the assize against her. + </p> + <p> + Robert Weir was in service, as I have said, with Jean Livingstone's + father, the Laird of Dunipace. It may have been that he knew Jean before + her marriage. He seems, at any rate, to have been extremely willing to + stand by her. He was fetched by the nurse several times from Holyrood to + Warriston, but failed to have speech with the lady. On the 30th of June, + however, the Lady Warriston having sent the nurse for him once again, he + did contrive to see Jean in the afternoon, and, according to the dittay, + "conferred with her, concerning the cruel, unnatural, and abominable + murdering of the said whilom John Kincaid." + </p> + <p> + The upshot of the conference was that Weir was secretly led to a "laigh" + cellar in the house of Warriston, to await the appointed time for the + execution of the murder. + </p> + <p> + Weir remained in the cellar until midnight. Jean came for him at that hour + and led him up into the hall. Thence the pair proceeded to the room in + which John Kincaid was lying asleep. It would appear that they took no + great pains to be quiet in their progress, for on entering the room they + found Kincaid awakened "be thair dyn." + </p> + <p> + I cannot do better at this point than leave description of the murder as + it is given in the dittay against Weir. The editor of Pitcairn's Trials + remarks in a footnote to the dittay that "the quaintness of the ancient + style even aggravates the horror of the scene." As, however, the ancient + style may aggravate the reader unacquainted with Scots, I shall English + it, and give the original rendering in a footnote: + </p> + <p> + And having entered within the said chamber, perceiving the said whilom + John to be wakened out of his sleep by their din, and to pry over his + bed-stock, the said Robert came then running to him, and most cruelly, + with clenched fists, gave him a deadly and cruel stroke on the jugular + vein, wherewith he cast the said whilom John to the ground, from out his + bed; and thereafter struck him on his belly with his feet; whereupon he + gave a great cry. And the said Robert, fearing the cry should have been + heard, he thereafter, most tyrannously and barbarously, with his hand, + gripped him by the throat, or weasand, which he held fast a long time, + while [or until] he strangled him; during the which time the said John + Kincaid lay struggling and fighting in the pains of death under him. And + so the said whilom John was cruelly murdered and slain by the said Robert.<a + href="#linknote-3" name="linknoteref-3" id="linknoteref-3">[3]</a> + </p> + <p> + It will be seen that Robert Weir evolved a murder technique which, as + Pitcairn points out, was to be adopted over two centuries later in + Edinburgh at the Westport by Messrs Burke and Hare. + </p> + <p> + II + </p> + <p> + Lady Warriston was found guilty, and four days after the murder, on the + 5th of July, was taken to the Girth Cross of Holyrood, at the foot of the + Canongate, and there decapitated by that machine which rather anticipated + the inventiveness of Dr Guillotin—"the Maiden." At the same time, + four o'clock in the morning, Janet Murdo, the nurse, and one of the + serving-women accused with her as accomplices were burned on the Castle + Hill of the city. + </p> + <p> + There is something odd about the early hour at which the executions took + place. The usual time for these affairs was much later in the day, and it + is probable that the sentence against Jean ran that she should be executed + towards dusk on the 4th of the month. The family of Dunipace, however, + having exerted no influence towards saving the daughter of the house from + her fate, did everything they could to have her disposed of as secretly + and as expeditiously as possible. In their zeal to have done with the + hapless girl who, they conceived, had blotted the family honour indelibly + they were in the prison with the magistrates soon after three o'clock, + quite indecent in their haste to see her on her way to the scaffold. In + the first place they had applied to have her executed at nine o'clock on + the evening of the 3rd, another unusual hour, but the application was + turned down. The main idea with them was to have Jean done away with at + some hour when the populace would not be expecting the execution. Part of + the plan for privacy is revealed in the fact of the burning of the nurse + and the "hyred woman" at four o'clock at the Castle Hill, nearly a mile + away from the Girth Cross, so—as the Pitcairn Trials footnote + says-"that the populace, who might be so early astir, should have their + attentions distracted at two opposite stations... and thus, in some + measure, lessen the disgrace of the public execution." + </p> + <p> + If Jean had any reason to thank her family it was for securing, probably + as much on their own behalf as hers, that the usual way of execution for + women murderers should be altered in her case to beheading by "the + Maiden." Had she been of lesser rank she would certainly have been burned, + after being strangled at a stake, as were her nurse and the serving-woman. + This was the appalling fate reserved for convicted women<a + href="#linknote-4" name="linknoteref-4" id="linknoteref-4">[4]</a> in such + cases, and on conviction even of smaller crimes. The process was even + crueller in instances where the crime had been particularly atrocious. + "The criminal," says the Pitcairn account of such punishment, "was 'brunt + quick'!" + </p> + <p> + Altogether, the Dunipace family do not exactly shine with a good light as + concerns their treatment of the condemned girl. Her father stood coldly + aside. The quoted footnote remarks: + </p> + <p> + It is recorded that the Laird of Dunipace behaved with much apathy towards + his daughter, whom he would not so much as see previous to her execution; + nor yet would he intercede for her, through whose delinquency he reckoned + his blood to be for ever dishonoured. + </p> + <p> + Jean herself was in no mind to be hurried to the scaffold as early as her + relatives would have had her conveyed. She wanted (poor girl!) to see the + sunrise, and to begin with the magistrates granted her request. It would + appear, however, that Jean's blood-relations opposed the concession so + strongly that it was almost immediately rescinded. The culprit had to die + in the grey dark of the morning, before anyone was likely to be astir. + </p> + <p> + In certain directions there was not a little heart-burning about the + untimely hour at which it was manoeuvred the execution should be carried + out. The writer of a Memorial, from which this piece of information is + drawn, refrains very cautiously from mentioning the objectors by name. But + it is not difficult, from the colour of their objections, to decide that + these people belonged to the type still known in Scotland as the 'unco + guid.' They saw in the execution of this fair malefactor a moral lesson + and a solemn warning which would have a salutary and uplifting effect upon + the spectators. + </p> + <p> + "Will you," they asked the presiding dignitaries, and the blood-relations + of the hapless Jean, "deprive God's people of that comfort which they + might have in that poor woman's death? And will you obstruct the honour of + it by putting her away before the people rise out of their beds? You do + wrong in so doing; for the more public the death be, the more profitable + it shall be to many; and the more glorious, in the sight of all who shall + see it." + </p> + <p> + But perhaps one does those worthies an injustice in attributing cant + motives to their desire that as many people as possible should see Jean + die. It had probably reached them that the Lady Warriston's repentance had + been complete, and that after conviction of her sin had come to her her + conduct had been sweet and seemly. They were of their day and age, those + people, accustomed almost daily to beheadings, stranglings, burnings, + hangings, and dismemberings. With that dour, bitter, fire-and-brimstone + religious conception which they had through Knox from Calvin, they were + probably quite sincere in their belief that the public repentance Jean + Livingstone was due to make from the scaffold would be for the "comfort of + God's people." It was not so often that justice exacted the extreme + penalty from a young woman of rank and beauty. With "dreadful objects so + familiar" in the way of public executions, it was likely enough that pity + in the commonalty was "choked with custom of fell deeds." Something out of + the way in the nature of a dreadful object-lesson might stir the hearts of + the populace and make them conscious of the Wrath to Come. + </p> + <p> + And Jean Livingstone did die a good death. + </p> + <p> + The Memorial<a href="#linknote-5" name="linknoteref-5" id="linknoteref-5">[5]</a> + which I have mentioned is upon Jean's 'conversion' in prison. It is + written by one "who was both a seer and hearer of what was spoken [by the + Lady Warriston]." The editor of the Pitcairn Trials believes, from + internal evidence, that it was written by Mr James Balfour, colleague of + Mr Robert Bruce, that minister of the Kirk who was so contumacious about + preaching what was practically a plea of the King's innocence in the + matter of the Gowrie mystery. It tells how Jean, from being completely + apathetic and callous with regard to religion or to the dreadful situation + in which she found herself through her crime, under the patient and tender + ministrations of her spiritual advisers, arrived at complete resignation + to her fate and genuine repentance for her misdeeds. + </p> + <p> + Her confession, as filleted from the Memorial by the Pitcairn Trials, is + as follows: + </p> + <p> + I think I shall hear presently the pitiful and fearful cries which he gave + when he was strangled! And that vile sin which I committed in murdering my + own husband is yet before me. When that horrible and fearful sin was done + I desired the unhappy man who did it (for my own part, the Lord knoweth I + laid never my hands upon him to do him evil; but as soon as that man + gripped him and began his evil turn, so soon as my husband cried so + fearfully, I leapt out over my bed and went to the Hall, where I sat all + the time, till that unhappy man came to me and reported that mine husband + was dead), I desired him, I say, to take me away with him; for I feared + trial; albeit flesh and blood made me think my father's moen [interest] at + Court would have saved me! + </p> + <p> + Well, we know what the Laird of Dunipace did about it. + </p> + <p> + "As to these women who was challenged with me," the confession goes on, + </p> + <p> + I will also tell my mind concerning them. God forgive the nurse, for she + helped me too well in mine evil purpose; for when I told her I was minded + to do so she consented to the doing of it; and upon Tuesday, when the turn + was done, when I sent her to seek the man who would do it, she said, "I + shall go and seek him; and if I get him not I shall seek another! And if I + get none I shall do it myself!" + </p> + <p> + Here the writer of the Memorial interpolates the remark, "This the nurse + also confessed, being asked of it before her death." It is a misfortune, + equalling that of the lack of information regarding the character of + Jean's husband, that there is so little about the character of the nurse. + She was, it is to be presumed, an older woman than her mistress, probably + nurse to Jean in her infancy. One can imagine her (the stupid creature!) + up in arms against Kincaid for his treatment of her "bonny lamb," without + the sense to see whither she was urging her young mistress; blind to the + consequences, but "nursing her wrath" and striding purposefully from + Warriston to Holyroodhouse on her strong plebeian legs, not once but + several times, in search of Weir! What is known in Scotland as a 'limmer,' + obviously. + </p> + <p> + "As for the two other women," Jean continues, + </p> + <p> + I request that you neither put them to death nor any torture, because I + testify they are both innocent, and knew nothing of this deed before it + was done, and the mean time of doing it; and that they knew they durst not + tell, for fear; for I compelled them to dissemble. As for mine own part, I + thank my God a thousand times that I am so touched with the sense of that + sin now: for I confess this also to you, that when that horrible murder + was committed first, that I might seem to be innocent, I laboured to + counterfeit weeping; but, do what I could, I could not find a tear. + </p> + <p> + Of the whole confession that last is the most revealing touch. It is + hardly just to fall into pity for Jean simply because she was young and + lovely. Her crime was a bad one, much more deliberate than many that, in + the same age, took women of lower rank in life than Jean to the crueller + end of the stake. In the several days during which she was sending for + Weir, but failing to have speech with him, she had time to review her + intention of having her husband murdered. If the nurse was the prime mover + in the plot Jean was an unrelenting abettor. It may have been in her + calculations before, as well as after, the deed itself that the interest + of her father and family at Court would save her, should the deed have + come to light as murder. Even in these days, when justice is so much more + seasoned with mercy to women murderers, a woman in Jean's case, with such + strong evidence of premeditation against her, would only narrowly escape + the hangman, if she escaped him at all. But that confession of trying to + pretend weeping and being unable to find tears is a revelation. I can + think of nothing more indicative of terror and misery in a woman than that + she should want to cry and be unable to. Your genuinely hypocritical + murderer, male as well as female, can always work up self-pity easily and + induce the streaming eye. + </p> + <p> + It is from internal evidences such as this that one may conclude the + repentance of Jean Livingstone, as shown in her confession, to have been + sincere. There was, we are informed by the memorialist, nothing maudlin in + her conduct after condemnation. Once she got over her first obduracy, + induced, one would imagine, by the shock of seeing the realization of what + she had planned but never pictured, the murder itself, and probably by the + desertion of her by her father and kindred, her repentance was "cheerful" + and "unfeigned." They were tough-minded men, those Scots divines who + ministered to her at the last, too stern in their theology to be misled by + any pretence at finding grace. And no pretty ways of Jean's would have + deceived them. The constancy of behaviour which is vouched for, not only + by the memorialist but by other writers, stayed with her until the axe + fell. + </p> + <p> + III + </p> + <p> + "She was but a woman and a bairn, being the age of twenty-one years," says + the Memorial. But, "in the whole way, as she went to the place of + execution, she behaved herself so cheerfully as if she had been going to + her wedding, and not to her death. When she came to the scaffold, and was + carried up upon it, she looked up to 'the Maiden' with two longsome looks, + for she had never seen it before." + </p> + <p> + The minister-memorialist, who attended her on the scaffold, says that all + who saw Jean would bear record with himself that her countenance alone + would have aroused emotion, even if she had never spoken a word. "For + there appeared such majesty in her countenance and visage, and such a + heavenly courage in her gesture, that many said, 'That woman is ravished + by a higher spirit than a man or woman's!'" + </p> + <p> + As for the Declaration and Confession which, according to custom, Jean + made from the four corners of the scaffold, the memorialist does not + pretend to give it verbatim. It was, he says, almost in a form of words, + and he gives the sum of it thus: + </p> + <p> + The occasion of my coming here is to show that I am, and have been, a + great sinner, and hath offended the Lord's Majesty; especially, of the + cruel murdering of mine own husband, which, albeit I did not with mine own + hands, for I never laid mine hands upon him all the time that he was + murdering, yet I was the deviser of it, and so the committer. But my God + hath been always merciful to me, and hath given me repentance for my sins; + and I hope for mercy and grace at his Majesty's hands, for his dear son + Jesus Christ's sake. And the Lord hath brought me hither to be an example + to you, that you may not fall into the like sin as I have done. And I pray + God, for his mercy, to keep all his faithful people from falling into the + like inconvenient as I have done! And therefore I desire you all to pray + to God for me, that he would be merciful to me! + </p> + <p> + One wonders just how much of Jean's own words the minister-memorialist got + into this, his sum of her confession. Her speech would be coloured + inevitably by the phrasing she had caught from her spiritual advisers, and + the sum of it would almost unavoidably have something of the memorialist's + own fashion of thought. I would give a good deal to know if Jean did + actually refer to the Almighty as "the Lord's Majesty," and hope for + "grace at his Majesty's hands." I do not think I am being oversubtle when + I fancy that, if Jean did use those words, I see an element of confusion + in her scaffold confession—the trembling confusion remaining from a + lost hope. As a Scot, I have no recollection of ever hearing the Almighty + referred to as "the Lord's Majesty" or as "his Majesty." It does not ring + naturally to my ear. Nor, at the long distance from which I recollect + reading works of early Scottish divines, can I think of these forms being + used in such a context. I may be—I very probably am—all wrong, + but I have a feeling that up to the last Jean Livingstone believed royal + clemency would be shown to her, and that this belief appears in the use of + these unwonted phrases. + </p> + <p> + However that may be, Jean's conduct seems to have been heroic and + unfaltering. She prayed, and one of her relations or friends brought "a + clean cloath" to tie over her eyes. Jean herself had prepared for this + operation, for she took a pin out of her mouth and gave it into the + friend's hand to help the fastening. The minister-memorialist, having + taken farewell of her for the last time, could not bear the prospect of + what was about to happen. He descended from the scaffold and went away. + "But she," he says, as a constant saint of God, humbled herself on her + knees, and offered her neck to the axe, laying her neck, sweetly and + graciously, in the place appointed, moving to and fro, till she got a rest + for her neck to lay in. When her head was now made fast to "the Maiden" + the executioner came behind her and pulled out her feet, that her neck + might be stretched out longer, and so made more meet for the stroke of the + axe; but she, as it was reported to me by him who saw it and held her by + the hands at this time, drew her legs twice to her again, labouring to sit + on her knees, till she should give up her spirit to the Lord! During this + time, which was long, for the axe was but slowly loosed, and fell not down + hastily, after laying of her head, her tongue was not idle, but she + continued crying to the Lord, and uttered with a loud voice those her + wonted words, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! O Lamb of God, that taketh + away the sins of the world, have mercy upon me! Into thy hand, Lord, I + commend my soul!" When she came to the middle of this last sentence, and + had said, "Into thy hand, Lord," at the pronouncing of the word "Lord" the + axe fell; which was diligently marked by one of her friends, who still + held her by the hand, and reported this to me. + </p> + <p> + IV + </p> + <p> + On the 26th of June, 1604, Robert Weir, "sumtyme servande to the Laird of + Dynniepace," was brought to knowledge of an assize. He was "Dilaitit of + airt and pairt of the crewall Murthour of umqle Johnne Kincaid of + Wariestoune; committit the first of Julij, 1600 yeiris." + </p> + <p> + Verdict. The Assyse, all in ane voce, be the mouth of the said Thomas + Galloway, chanceller, chosen be thame, ffand, pronouncet and declairit the + said Robert Weir to be ffylit, culpable and convict of the crymes above + specifiet, mentionat in the said Dittay; and that in respect of his + Confessioun maid thairof, in Judgement. + </p> + <p> + Sentence. The said Justice-depute, be the mouth of James Sterling, + dempster of the Court, decernit and ordainit the said Robert Weir to be + tane to ane skaffold to be fixt beside the Croce of Edinburgh, and there + to be brokin upoune ane Row,<a href="#linknote-6" name="linknoteref-6" + id="linknoteref-6">[6]</a> quhill he be deid; and to ly thairat, during + the space of xxiiij houris. And thaireftir, his body to be tane upon the + said Row, and set up, in ane publict place, betwix the place of + Wariestoune and the toun of Leyth; and to remain thairupoune, ay and + quhill command be gevin for the buriall thairof. Quhilk was pronouncet for + dome. + </p> + <p> + V + </p> + <p> + The Memorial before mentioned is, in the original, a manuscript belonging + to the Advocates' Library of Edinburgh. A printed copy was made in 1828, + under the editorship of J. Sharpe, in the same city. This edition + contains, among other more relative matter, a reprint of a newspaper + account of an execution by strangling and burning at the stake. The woman + concerned was not the last victim in Britain of this form of execution. + The honour, I believe, belongs to one Anne Cruttenden. The account is full + of gruesome and graphic detail, but the observer preserves quite an air of + detachment: + </p> + <p> + IVELCHESTER: 9th May, 1765. Yesterday Mary Norwood, for poisoning her + husband, Joseph Norwood, of Axbridge, in this county [Somerset], was burnt + here pursuant to her sentence. She was brought out of the prison about + three o'clock in the afternoon, barefoot; she was covered with a tarred + cloth, made like a shift, and a tarred bonnet over her head; and her legs, + feet, and arms had likewise tar on them; the heat of the weather melting + the tar, it ran over her face, so that she made a shocking appearance. She + was put on a hurdle, and drawn on a sledge to the place of execution, + which was very near the gallows. After spending some time in prayer, and + singing a hymn, the executioner placed her on a tar barrel, about three + feet high; a rope (which was in a pulley through the stake) was fixed + about her neck, she placing it properly with her hands; this rope being + drawn extremely tight with the pulley, the tar barrel was then pushed + away, and three irons were then fastened around her body, to confine it to + the stake, that it might not drop when the rope should be burnt. As soon + as this was done the fire was immediately kindled; but in all probability + she was quite dead before the fire reached her, as the executioner pulled + her body several times whilst the irons were fixing, which was about five + minutes. There being a good quantity of tar, and the wood in the pile + being quite dry, the fire burnt with amazing fury; notwithstanding which + great part of her could be discerned for near half an hour. Nothing could + be more affecting than to behold, after her bowels fell out, the fire + flaming between her ribs, issuing out of her ears, mouth, eyeholes, etc. + In short, it was so terrible a sight that great numbers turned their backs + and screamed out, not being able to look at it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III: — THE COUNTESS AND THE COZENER + </h2> + <p> + It is hardly likely when that comely but penniless young Scot Robert Carr, + of Ferniehurst, fell from his horse and broke his leg that any of the + spectators of the accident foresaw how far-reaching it would be in its + consequences. It was an accident, none the less, which in its ultimate + results was to put several of the necks craned to see it in peril of the + hangman's noose. + </p> + <p> + That divinely appointed monarch King James the Sixth of Scotland and First + of England had an eye for manly beauty. Though he could contrive the + direst of cruelties to be committed out of his sight, the actual spectacle + of physical suffering in the human made him squeamish. Add the two facts + of the King's nature together and it may be understood how Robert Carr, in + falling from his horse that September day in the tilt-yard of Whitehall, + fell straight into his Majesty's favour. King James himself gave orders + for the disposition of the sufferer, found lodgings for him, sent his own + surgeon, and was constant in his visits to the convalescent. Thereafter + the rise of Robert Carr was meteoric. Knighted, he became Viscount + Rochester, a member of the Privy Council, then Earl of Somerset, Knight of + the Garter, all in a very few years. It was in 1607 that he fell from his + horse, under the King's nose. In 1613 he was at the height of his power in + England. + </p> + <p> + Return we for a moment, however, to that day in the Whitehall tilt-yard. + It is related that one woman whose life and fate were to be bound with + Carr's was in the ladies' gallery. It is very probable that a second + woman, whose association with the first did much to seal Carr's doom, was + also a spectator. If Frances Howard, as we read, showed distress over the + painful mishap to the handsome Scots youth it is almost certain that Anne + Turner, with the quick eye she had for male comeliness and her less need + for Court-bred restraint, would exhibit a sympathetic volubility. + </p> + <p> + Frances Howard was the daughter of that famous Elizabethan seaman Thomas + Howard, Earl of Suffolk. On that day in September she would be just over + fifteen years of age. It is said that she was singularly lovely. At that + early age she was already a wife, victim of a political marriage which, in + the exercise of the ponderous cunning he called kingcraft, King James had + been at some pains to arrange. At the age of thirteen Frances had been + married to Robert Devereux, third Earl of Essex, then but a year older + than herself. The young couple had been parted at the altar, the groom + being sent travelling to complete his growth and education, and Frances + being returned to her mother and the semi-seclusion of the Suffolk mansion + at Audley End. + </p> + <p> + Of the two women, so closely linked in fate, the second is perhaps the + more interesting study. Anne Turner was something older than the Countess + of Essex. In the various records of the strange piece of history which is + here to be dealt with there are many allusions to a long association + between the two. Almost a foster-sister relationship seems to be implied, + but actual detail is irritatingly absent. Nor is it clear whether Mrs + Turner at the time of the tilt-yard incident had embarked on the business + activities which were to make her a much sought-after person in King + James's Court. It is not to be ascertained whether she was not already a + widow at that time. We can only judge from circumstantial evidence brought + forward later. + </p> + <p> + In 1610, at all events, Mrs Turner was well known about the Court, and was + quite certainly a widow. Her husband had been a well-known medical man, + one George Turner, a graduate of St John's College, Cambridge. He had been + a protege of Queen Elizabeth. Dying, this elderly husband of Mistress + Turner had left her but little in the way of worldly goods, but that + little the fair young widow had all the wit to turn to good account. There + was a house in Paternoster Row and a series of notebooks. Like many + another physician of his time, George Turner had been a dabbler in more + arts than that of medicine, an investigator in sciences other than + pathology. His notebooks would appear to have contained more than remedial + prescriptions for agues, fevers, and rheums. There was, for example, a + recipe for a yellow starch which, says Rafael Sabatini, in his fine + romance The Minion,<a href="#linknote-7" name="linknoteref-7" + id="linknoteref-7">[7]</a> "she dispensed as her own invention. This had + become so widely fashionable for ruffs and pickadills that of itself it + had rendered her famous." One may believe, also, that most of the recipes + for those "perfumes, cosmetics, unguents and mysterious powders, liniments + and lotions asserted to preserve beauty where it existed, and even to + summon it where it was lacking," were derived from the same sources. + </p> + <p> + There is a temptation to write of Mistress Turner as forerunner of that + notorious Mme Rachel of whom, in his volume Bad Companions,<a + href="#linknote-8" name="linknoteref-8" id="linknoteref-8">[8]</a> Mr + Roughead has said the final and pawky word. Mme Rachel, in the middle of + the nineteenth century, founded her fortunes as a beauty specialist (?) on + a prescription for a hair-restorer given her by a kindly doctor. She also + 'invented' many a lotion and unguent for the preservation and creation of + beauty. But at about this point analogy stops. Both Rachel and her + forerunner, Anne Turner, were scamps, and both got into serious trouble—Anne + into deeper and deadlier hot water than Rachel—but between the two + women there is only superficial comparison. Rachel was a botcher and a + bungler, a very cobbler, beside Anne Turner. + </p> + <p> + Anne, there is every cause for assurance, was in herself the best + advertisement for her wares. Rachel was a fat old hag. Anne, prettily + fair, little-boned, and deliciously fleshed, was neat and elegant. The + impression one gets of her from all the records, even the most prejudiced + against her, is that she was a very cuddlesome morsel indeed. She was, in + addition, demonstrably clever. Such a man of talent as Inigo Jones + supported the decoration of many of the masques he set on the stage with + costumes of Anne's design and confection. Rachel could neither read nor + write. + </p> + <p> + It is highly probable that Anne Turner made coin out of the notes which + her late husband, so inquisitive of mind, had left on matters much more + occult than the manufacture of yellow starch and skin lotions. "It was + also rumoured," says Mr Sabatini, "that she amassed gold in another and + less licit manner: that she dabbled in fortune-telling and the arts of + divination." We shall see, as the story develops, that the rumour had some + foundation. The inquiring mind of the late Dr Turner had led him into + strange company, and his legacy to Anne included connexions more sombre + than those in the extravagantly luxurious Court of King James. + </p> + <p> + In 1610 the elegant little widow was flourishing enough to be able to + maintain a lover in good style. This was Sir Arthur Mainwaring, member of + a Cheshire family of good repute but of no great wealth. By him she had + three children. Mainwaring was attached in some fashion to the suite of + the Prince of Wales, Prince Henry. And while the Prince's court at St + James's Palace was something more modest, as it was more refined, than + that of the King at Whitehall, position in it was not to be retained at + ease without considerable expenditure. It may be gauged, therefore, at + what expense Anne's attachment to Mainwaring would keep her, and to what + exercise of her talent and ambition her pride in it would drive her. And + her pride was absolute. It would, says a contemporary diarist, "make her + fly at any pitch rather than fall into the jaws of want."<a + href="#linknote-9" name="linknoteref-9" id="linknoteref-9">[9]</a> + </p> + <p> + II + </p> + <p> + In his romance The Minion, Rafael Sabatini makes the first meeting of Anne + Turner and the Countess of Essex occur in 1610 or 1611. With this date + Judge A. E. Parry, in his book The Overbury Mystery,<a href="#linknote-10" + name="linknoteref-10" id="linknoteref-10">[10]</a> seems to agree in part. + There is, however, warrant enough for believing that the two women had met + long before that time. Anne Turner herself, pleading at her trial for + mercy from Sir Edward Coke, the Lord Chief Justice, put forward the plea + that she had been "ever brought up with the Countess of Essex, and had + been a long time her servant."<a href="#linknote-11" name="linknoteref-11" + id="linknoteref-11">[11]</a> She also made the like extenuative plea on + the scaffold.<a href="#linknote-12" name="linknoteref-12" + id="linknoteref-12">[12]</a> Judge Parry seems to follow some of the + contemporary writers in assuming that Anne was a spy in the pay of the + Lord Privy Seal, the Earl of Northampton. If this was so there is further + ground for believing that Anne and Lady Essex had earlier contacts, for + Northampton was Lady Essex's great-uncle. The longer association would go + far in explaining the terrible conspiracy into which, from soon after that + time, the two women so readily fell together—a criminal conspiracy, + in which the reader may see something of the "false nurse" in Anne Turner + and something of Jean Livingstone in Frances Howard, Lady Essex. + </p> + <p> + It was about this time, 1610-1611, that Lady Essex began to find herself + interested in the handsome Robert Carr, then Viscount Rochester. Having + reached the mature age of eighteen, the lovely Frances had been brought by + her mother, the Countess of Suffolk, to Court. Highest in the King's + favour, and so, with his remarkably good looks, his charm, and the elegant + taste in attire and personal appointment which his new wealth allowed him + lavishly to indulge, Rochester was by far the most brilliant figure there. + Frances fell in love with the King's minion. + </p> + <p> + Rochester, it would appear, did not immediately respond to the lady's + advances. They were probably too shy, too tentative, to attract + Rochester's attention. It is probable, also, that there were plenty of + beautiful women about the Court, more mature, more practised in the arts + of coquetry than Frances, and very likely not at all 'blate'—as Carr + and his master would put it—in showing themselves ready for conquest + by the King's handsome favourite. + </p> + <p> + Whether the acquaintance of Lady Essex with Mrs Turner was of long + standing or not, it was to the versatile Anne that her ladyship turned as + confidante. The hint regarding Anne's skill in divination will be + remembered. Having regard to the period, and to the alchemistic nature of + the goods that composed so much of Anne's stock-in-trade at the sign of + the Golden Distaff, in Paternoster Row, it may be conjectured that the + love-lorn Frances had thoughts of a philtre. + </p> + <p> + With an expensive lover and children to maintain, to say nothing of her + own luxurious habits, Anne Turner would see in the Countess's appeal a + chance to turn more than one penny into the family exchequer. She was too + much the opportunist to let any consideration of old acquaintance + interfere with working such a potential gold-mine as now seemed to lie + open to her pretty but prehensile fingers. Lady Essex was rich. She was + also ardent in her desire. The game was too big for Anne to play + single-handed. A real expert in cozening, a master of guile, was wanted to + exploit the opportunity to its limit. + </p> + <p> + It is a curious phenomenon, and one that constantly recurs in the history + of cozenage, how people who live by spoof fall victims so readily to + spoofery. Anne Turner had brains. There is no doubt of it. Apart from that + genuine and honest talent in costume-design which made her work acceptable + to such an outstanding genius as Inigo Jones, she lived by guile. But I + have now to invite you to see her at the feet of one of the silliest + charlatans who ever lived. There is, of course, the possibility that Anne + sat at the feet of this silly charlatan for what she might learn for the + extension of her own technique. Or, again, it may have been that the + wizard of Lambeth, whom she consulted in the Lady Essex affair, could + provide a more impressive setting for spoof than she had handy, or that + they were simply rogues together. My trouble is to understand why, by the + time that the Lady Essex came to her with her problem, Anne had not + exhausted all the gambits in flummery that were at the command of the + preposterous Dr Forman. + </p> + <p> + The connexion with Dr Forman was part of the legacy left Anne by Dr + Turner. Her husband had been the friend and patron of Forman, so that by + the time Anne had taken Mainwaring for her lover, and had borne him three + children, she must have had ample opportunity for seeing through the old + charlatan. + </p> + <p> + Antony Weldon, the contemporary writer already quoted, is something too + scurrilous and too apparently biased to be altogether a trustworthy + authority. He seems to have been the type of gossip (still to be met in + London clubs) who can always tell with circumstance how the duchess came + to have a black baby, and the exact composition of the party at which + Midas played at 'strip poker.' But he was, like many of his kind, an + amusing enough companion for the idle moment, and his description of Dr + Forman is probably fairly close to the truth. + </p> + <p> + "This Forman," he says, + </p> + <p> + was a silly fellow who dwelt in Lambeth, a very silly fellow, yet had wit + enough to cheat the ladies and other women, by pretending skill in telling + their fortunes, as whether they should bury their husbands, and what + second husbands they should have, and whether they should enjoy their + loves, or whether maids should get husbands, or enjoy their servants to + themselves without corrivals: but before he would tell them anything they + must write their names in his alphabetical book with their own + handwriting. By this trick he kept them in awe, if they should complain of + his abusing them, as in truth he did nothing else. Besides, it was + believed, some meetings were at his house, wherein the art of the bawd was + more beneficial to him than that of a conjurer, and that he was a better + artist in the one than in the other: and that you may know his skill, he + was himself a cuckold, having a very pretty wench to his wife, which would + say, she did it to try his skill, but it fared with him as with + astrologers that cannot foresee their own destiny. + </p> + <p> + And here comes an addendum, the point of which finds confirmation + elsewhere. It has reference to the trial of Anne Turner, to which we shall + come later. + </p> + <p> + "I well remember there was much mirth made in the Court upon the showing + of the book, for, it was reported, the first leaf my lord Cook [Coke, the + Lord Chief Justice] lighted on he found his own wife's name." + </p> + <p> + Whatever Anne's reason for doing so, it was to this scortatory old scab + that she turned for help in cozening the fair young Countess. The devil + knows to what obscene ritual the girl was introduced. There is evidence + that the thaumaturgy practised by Forman did not want for lewdness—as + magic of the sort does not to this day—and in this regard Master + Weldon cannot be far astray when he makes our pretty Anne out to be the + veriest baggage. + </p> + <p> + Magic or no magic, philtre or no philtre, it was not long before Lady + Essex had her wish. The Viscount Rochester fell as desperately in love + with her as she was with him. + </p> + <p> + There was, you may be sure, no small amount of scandalous chatter in the + Court over the quickly obvious attachment the one to the other of this + handsome couple. So much of this scandalous chatter has found record by + the pens of contemporary and later gossip-writers that it is hard indeed + to extract the truth. It is certain, however, that had the love between + Robert Carr and Frances Howard been as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, + jealousy would still have done its worst in besmirching. It was not, if + the Rabelaisian trend in so much of Jacobean writing be any indication, a + particularly moral age. Few ages in history are. It was not, with a + reputed pervert as the fount of honour, a particularly moral Court. Since + the emergence of the lovely young Countess from tutelage at Audley End + there had been no lack of suitors for her favour. And when Frances so + openly exhibited her preference for the King's minion there would be some + among those disappointed suitors who would whisper, greenly, that + Rochester had been granted that prisage which was the right of the absent + Essex, a right which they themselves had been quite ready to usurp. It is + hardly likely that there would be complete abnegation of salty gossip + among the ladies of the Court, their Apollo being snatched by a mere chit + of a girl. + </p> + <p> + What relative happiness there may have been for the pair in their loving—it + could not, in the hindrance there was to their free mating, have been an + absolute happiness—was shattered after some time by the return to + England of the young husband. The Earl of Essex, now almost come to man's + estate, arrived to take up the position which his rank entitled him to + expect in the Court, and to assume the responsibilities and rights which, + he fancied, belonged to him as a married man. In respect of the latter + part of his intention he immediately found himself balked. His wife, + perhaps all the deeper in love with Rochester for this threat to their + happiness, declared that she had no mind to be held by the marriage forced + on her in infancy, and begged her husband to agree to its annulment. + </p> + <p> + It had been better for young Essex to have agreed at once. He would have + spared himself, ultimately, a great deal of humiliation through ridicule. + But he tried to enforce his rights as a husband, a proceeding than which + there is none more absurd should the wife prove obdurate. And prove + obdurate his wife did. She was to be moved neither by threat nor by + pleading. It was, you will notice, a comedy situation; husband not perhaps + amorous so much as the thwarted possessor of the unpossessable—wife + frigid and a maid, as far, at least, as the husband was concerned, and her + weeping eyes turned yearningly elsewhere. A comedy situation, yes, and at + this distance almost farcical—but for certain elements in it + approaching tragedy. + </p> + <p> + Badgered, not only by her husband but by her own relatives, scared no + doubt, certainly unhappy, unable for politic reasons to appeal freely to + her beloved Robin, to whom might Frances turn but the helpful Turner? And + to whom, having turned to pretty Anne, was she likely to be led but again + to the wizard of Lambeth? + </p> + <p> + Dr Forman had a heart for beauty in distress, but dissipating the ardency + of an exigent husband was a difficult matter compared with attracting that + of a negligent lover. It was also much more costly. A powder there was, + indeed, which, administered secretly by small regular doses in the + husband's food or drink, would soon cool his ardour, but the process of + manufacture and the ingredients were enormously expensive. Frances got her + powder. + </p> + <p> + The first dose was administered to Lord Essex just before his departure + from a visit to his wife at Audley End. On his arrival back in London he + was taken violently ill, so ill that in the weeks he lay in bed his life + was despaired of. Only the intervention of the King's own physician, one + Sir Theodore Mayerne, would appear to have saved him. + </p> + <p> + Her husband slowly convalescing, Lady Essex was summoned by her family + back to London. In London, while Lord Essex mended in health, she was much + in the company of her "sweet Turner." In addition to the house in + Paternoster Row the little widow had a pretty riverside cottage at + Hammersmith, and both were at the disposal of Lady Essex and her lover for + stolen meetings. Those meetings were put a stop to by the recovery of Lord + Essex, and with his recovery his lordship exhibited a new mood of + determination. Backed by her ladyship's family, he ordered her to + accompany him to their country place of Chartley. Her ladyship had to + obey. + </p> + <p> + The stages of the journey were marked by the nightly illness of his + lordship. By the time they arrived at Chartley itself he was in a + condition little if at all less dangerous than that from which he had been + rescued by the King's physician. His illness lasted for weeks, and during + this time her ladyship wrote many a letter to Anne Turner and to Dr + Forman. She was afraid his lordship would live. She was afraid his + lordship would die. She was afraid she would lose the love of Rochester. + She begged Anne Turner and Forman to work their best magic for her aid. + She was afraid that if his lordship recovered the spells might prove + useless, that his attempts to assert his rights as a husband would begin + again, and that there, in the heart of the country and so far from any + refuge, they might take a form she would be unable to resist. + </p> + <p> + His lordship did recover. His attempts to assert his rights as a husband + did begin again. The struggle between them, Frances constant in her + obduracy, lasted several months. Her obstinacy wore down his. At long last + he let her go. + </p> + <p> + III + </p> + <p> + If the fate that overtook Frances Howard and Rochester, and with them Anne + Turner and many another, is to be properly understood, a brief word on the + political situation in England at this time will be needed—or, + rather, a word on the political personages, with their antagonisms. + </p> + <p> + Next in closeness to the King's ear after Rochester, and perhaps more + trusted as a counsellor by that "wise fool," there had been Robert Cecil, + Lord Salisbury, for a long time First Secretary of State. But about the + time when Lady Essex finally parted with her husband Cecil died, depriving + England of her keenest brain and the staunchest heart in her causes. If + there had been no Rochester the likeliest man in the kingdom to succeed to + the power and offices of Cecil would have been the Earl of Northampton, + uncle of Lord Suffolk, who was the father of Lady Essex. Northampton, as + stated, held the office of Lord Privy Seal. + </p> + <p> + The Howard family had done the State great service in the past. Its + present representatives, Northampton and Suffolk, were anxious to do the + State great service, as they conceived it, in the future. They were, + however, Catholics in all but open acknowledgment, and as such were + opposed by the Protestants, who had at their head Prince Henry. This was + an opposition that they might have stomached. It was one that they might + even have got over, for the Prince and his father, the King, were not the + best of friends. The obstacle to their ambitions, and one they found hard + to stomach, was the upstart Rochester. And even Rochester would hardly + have stood in their way had his power in the Council depended on his own + ability. The brain that directed Robert Carr belonged to another man. This + was Sir Thomas Overbury. + </p> + <p> + On the death of Cecil the real contenders for the vacant office of First + Secretary of State—the highest office in the land—were not the + wily Northampton and the relatively unintelligent Rochester, but the + subtle Northampton and the quite as subtle, and perhaps more + spacious-minded, Thomas Overbury. There was, it will be apprehended, a + possible weakness on the Overbury side. The gemel-chain, like that of many + links, is merely as strong as its weakest member. Overbury had no approach + to the King save through the King's favourite. Rochester could have no + real weight with the King, at least in affairs of State, except what he + borrowed from Overbury. Divided, the two were powerless. No, more than + that, there had to be no flaw in their linking. + </p> + <p> + The wily Northampton, one may be certain, was fully aware of this possible + weakness in the combination opposed to his advancement. He would be fully + aware, that is, that it was there potentially; but when he began, as his + activities would indicate, to work for the creation of that flaw in the + relationship between Rochester and Overbury it is unlikely that he knew + the flaw had already begun to develop. Unknown to him, circumstance + already had begun to operate in his favour. + </p> + <p> + Overbury was Rochester's tutor in more than appertained to affairs of + State. It is more than likely that in Carr's wooing of Lady Essex he had + held the role of Cyrano de Bergerac, writing those gracefully turned + letters and composing those accomplished verses which did so much to + augment and give constancy to her ladyship's love for Rochester. It is + certain, at any rate, that Overbury was privy to all the correspondence + passing between the pair, and that even such events as the supplying by + Forman and Mrs Turner of that magic powder, and the Countess's use of it + upon her husband, were well within his knowledge. + </p> + <p> + While the affair between his alter ego and the Lady Essex might be looked + upon as mere dalliance, a passionate episode likely to wither with a speed + equal to that of its growth, Overbury, it is probable, found cynical + amusement in helping it on. But when, as time went on, the lady and her + husband separated permanently, and from mere talk of a petition for + annulment of the Essex marriage that petition was presented in actual form + to the King, Overbury saw danger. Northampton was backing the petition. If + it succeeded Lady Essex would be free to marry Rochester. And the + marriage, since Northampton was not the man to give except in the + expectation of plenty, would plant the unwary Rochester on the hearth of + his own and Overbury's enemies. With Rochester in the Howard camp there + would be short shrift for Thomas Overbury. There would be, though + Rochester in his infatuation seemed blind to the fact, as short a shrift + as the Howards could contrive for the King's minion. + </p> + <p> + In that march of inevitability which marks all real tragedy the road that + is followed forks ever and again with an 'if.' And we who, across the + distance of time, watch with a sort of Jovian pity the tragic puppets in + their folly miss this fork and that fork on their road of destiny select, + each according to our particular temperaments, a particular 'if' over + which to shake our heads. For me, in this story of Rochester, Overbury, + Frances Howard, and the rest, the point of tragedy, the most poignant of + the issues, is the betrayal by Robert Carr of Overbury's friendship. + Though this story is essentially, or should be, that of the two women who + were linked in fate with Rochester and his coadjutor, I am constrained to + linger for a moment on that point. + </p> + <p> + Overbury's counsel had made Carr great. With nothing but his good looks + and his personal charm, his only real attributes, Carr had been no more + than King James's creature. James, with all the pedantry, the laboured + cunning, the sleezy weaknesses of character that make him so detestable, + was yet too shrewd to have put power in the hands of the mere minion that + Carr would have been without the brain of Overbury to guide him. Of + himself Carr was the 'toom tabard' of earlier parlance in his native + country, the 'stuffed shirt' of a later and more remote generation. But + beyond the coalition for mutual help that existed between Overbury and + Carr, an arrangement which might have thrived on a basis merely material, + there was a deep and splendid friendship. 'Stuffed shirt' or not, Robert + Carr was greatly loved by Overbury. Whatever Overbury may have thought of + Carr's mental attainments, he had the greatest faith in his loyalty as a + friend. And here lies the terrible pity in that 'if' of my choice. The + love between the two men was great enough to have saved them both. It + broke on the weakness of Carr. + </p> + <p> + Overbury was aware that, honestly presented, the petition by Lady Essex + for the annulment of her marriage had little chance of success. But for + the obstinacy of Essex it might have been granted readily enough. He had, + however, as we have seen, forced her to live with him as his wife, in + appearance at least, for several months in the country. There now would be + difficulty in putting forward the petition on the ground of + non-consummation of the marriage. + </p> + <p> + It was, nevertheless, on this ground that the petition was brought + forward. But the non-consummation was not attributed, as it might have + been, to the continued separation that had begun at the altar; the reason + given was the impotence of the husband. Just what persuasion Northampton + and the Howards used on Essex to make him accept this humiliating + implication it is hard to imagine, but by the time the coarse wits of the + period had done with him Essex was amply punished in ridicule for his + primary obstinacy. + </p> + <p> + Sir Thomas Overbury, well informed though he usually was, must have been a + good deal in the dark regarding the negotiations which had brought the + nullity suit to this forward state. He had warned Rochester so frankly of + the danger into which the scheme was likely to lead him that they had + quarrelled and parted. If Rochester had been frank with his friend, if, on + the ground of their friendship, he had appealed to him to set aside his + prejudice, it might well have been that the tragedy which ensued would + have been averted. Enough evidence remains to this day of Overbury's + kindness for Robert Carr, there is enough proof of the man's abounding + resource and wit, to give warrant for belief that he would have had the + will, as he certainly had the ability, to help his friend. Overbury was + one of the brightest intelligences of his age. Had Rochester confessed the + extent of his commitment with Northampton there is little doubt that + Overbury could and would have found a way whereby Rochester could have + attained his object (of marriage with Frances Howard), and this without + jeopardizing their mutual power to the Howard menace. + </p> + <p> + In denying the man who had made him great the complete confidence which + their friendship demanded Rochester took the tragically wrong path on his + road of destiny. But the truth is that when he quarrelled with Overbury he + had already betrayed the friendship. He had already embarked on the + perilous experiment of straddling between two opposed camps. It was an + experiment that he, least of all men, had the adroitness to bring off. He + was never in such need of Overbury's brain as when he aligned himself in + secret with Overbury's enemies. + </p> + <p> + It is entirely probable that in linking up with Northampton Rochester had + no mind to injure his friend. The bait was the woman he loved. Without + Northampton's aid the nullity suit could not be put forward, and without + the annulment there could be no marriage for him with Frances Howard. But + he had no sooner joined with Northampton than the very processes against + which Overbury had warned him were begun. Rochester was trapped, and with + him Overbury. + </p> + <p> + For the success of the suit, in Northampton's view, Overbury knew too + much. It was a view to which Rochester was readily persuaded; or it was + one which he was easily frightened into accepting. From that to joining in + a plot for being rid of Overbury was but a step. Grateful, perhaps, for + the undoubted services that Overbury had rendered him, Rochester would be + eager enough to find his quondam friend employment. If that employment + happened to take Overbury out of the country so much the better. At one + time the King, jealous as a woman of the friendship existing between his + favourite and Overbury, had tried to shift the latter out of the way by an + offer of the embassy in Paris. It was an offer Rochester thought, that he + might cause to be repeated. The idea was broached to Overbury. That shrewd + individual, of course, saw through the suggestion to the intention behind + it, but he was at a loss for an outlet for his talents, having left + Rochester's employ, and he believed without immodesty that he could do + useful work as ambassador in Paris. + </p> + <p> + Overbury was offered an embassy—but in Muscovy. He had no mind to + bury himself in Russia, and he refused the offer on the ground of + ill-health. By doing this he walked into the trap prepared for him. + Northampton had foreseen the refusal when he promoted the offer on its + rearranged terms. The King, already incensed against Overbury for some + hints at knowledge of facts liable to upset the Essex nullity suit, + pretended indignation at the refusal. Overbury unwarily repeated it before + the Privy Council. That was what Northampton wanted. The refusal was high + contempt of the King's majesty. Sir Thomas Overbury was committed to the + Tower. He might have talked in Paris, or have written from Muscovy. He + might safely do either in the Tower—where gags and bonds were so + readily at hand. + </p> + <p> + Did Rochester know of the springe set to catch Overbury? The answer to the + question, whether yes or no, hardly matters. Since he was gull enough to + discard the man whose brain had lifted him from a condition in which he + was hardly better than the King's lap-dog, he was gull enough to be fooled + by Northampton. Since he valued the friendship of that honest man so + little as to consort in secret with his enemies, he was knave enough to + have been party to the betrayal. Knave or fool—what does it matter? + He was so much of both that, in dread of what Sir Thomas might say or do + to thwart the nullity suit, he let his friend rot in the Tower for months + on end, let him sicken and nearly die several times, without a move to + free him. He did this to the man who had trusted him implicitly, a man + that—to adapt Overbury's own words from his last poignant letter to + Rochester—he had "more cause to love... yea, perish for.. . rather + than see perish." + </p> + <p> + It is not given to every man to have that greater love which will make him + lay down his life for a friend, but it is the sheer poltroon and craven + who will watch a friend linger and expire in agony without lifting a + finger to save him. Knave or fool—what does it matter when either is + submerged in the coward? + </p> + <p> + IV + </p> + <p> + Overbury lay in the Tower five months. The commission appointed to examine + into the Essex nullity suit went into session three weeks after he was + imprisoned. There happened to be one man in the commission who cared more + to be honest than to humour the King. This was the Archbishop Abbot. The + King himself had prepared the petition. It was a task that delighted his + pedantry, and his petition was designed for immediate acceptance. But such + was Abbot's opposition that in two or three months the commission ended + with divided findings. + </p> + <p> + Meantime Overbury in the Tower had been writing letters. He had been + talking to visitors. As time went on, and Rochester did nothing to bring + about his enlargement, his writings and sayings became more threatening + Rochester's attitude was that patience was needed. In time he would bring + the King to a more clement view of Sir Thomas's offending, and he had no + doubt that in the end he would be able to secure the prisoner both freedom + and honourable employment. + </p> + <p> + Overbury had been consigned to the Tower in April. In June he complained + of illness. Rochester wrote to him in sympathetic terms, sending him a + powder that he himself had found beneficial, and made his own physician + visit the prisoner. + </p> + <p> + But the threats which Overbury, indignant at his betrayal by Rochester, + made by speech and writing were becoming common property in the city and + at Court One of Overbury's visitors who had made public mention of + Overbury's knowledge of facts likely to blow upon the Essex suit was + arrested on the orders of Northampton. In the absence of the King and + Rochester from London the old Earl was acting as Chief Secretary of State—thus + proving Overbury to have been a true prophet. Northampton issued orders to + the Tower that Overbury was to be closely confined, that his man Davies + was to be dismissed, and that he was to be denied all visitors. The then + Lieutenant of the Tower, one Sir William Wade, was deprived of his + position on the thinnest of pretexts, and, on the recommendation of Sir + Thomas Monson, Master of the Armoury, an elderly gentleman from + Lincolnshire, Sir Gervase Elwes, was put in his place. + </p> + <p> + From that moment Sir Thomas Overbury was permitted no communication with + the outer world, save by letter to Lord Rochester and for food that was + brought him, as we shall presently see, at the instance of Mrs Turner. + </p> + <p> + In place of his own servant Davies Sir Thomas was allowed the services of + an under-keeper named Weston, appointed at the same time as Sir Gervase + Elwes. This man, it is perhaps important to note, had at one time been + servant to Mrs Turner. + </p> + <p> + The alteration in the personnel of the Tower was almost immediately + followed by severe illness on the part of the prisoner. The close + confinement to which he was subjected, with the lack of exercise, could + hardly have been the cause of such a violent sickness. It looked more as + if it had been brought about by something he had eaten or drunk. By this + time the conviction he had tried to resist, that Rochester was meanly + sacrificing him, became definite. Overbury is hardly to be blamed if he + came to a resolution to be revenged on his one-time friend by bringing him + to utter ruin. King James had been so busy in the Essex nullity suit, had + gone to such lengths to carry it through, that if it could be wrecked by + the production of the true facts he would be bound to sacrifice Rochester + to save his own face. Sir Thomas had an accurate knowledge of the King's + character. He knew the scramble James was capable of making in a + difficulty that involved his kingly dignity, and what little reck he had + of the faces he trod on in climbing from a pit of his own digging. By a + trick Overbury contrived to smuggle a letter through to the honest + Archbishop Abbot, in which he declared his possession of facts that would + non-suit the nullity action, and begged to be summoned before the + commission. + </p> + <p> + Overbury was getting better of the sickness which had attacked him when + suddenly it came upon him again. This time he made no bones about saying + that he had been poisoned. + </p> + <p> + Even at the last Overbury had taken care to give Rochester a chance to + prove his fidelity. He contrived that the delivery of the letter to the + Archbishop of Canterbury should be delayed until just before the nullity + commission, now augmented by members certain to vote according to the + King's desire, was due to sit again. The Archbishop carried Overbury's + letter to James, and insisted that Overbury should be heard. The King, + outward stickler that he was for the letter of the law, had to agree. + </p> + <p> + On the Thursday of the week during which the commission was sitting + Overbury was due to be called. He was ill, but not so ill as he had been. + On the Tuesday he was visited by the King's physician. On the Wednesday he + was dead. + </p> + <p> + Now, before we come to examine those evidences regarding Overbury's death + that were to be brought forward in the series of trials of later date, + that series which was to be known as "the Great Oyer of Poisoning," it may + be well to consider what effect upon the Essex nullity suit Overbury's + appearance before the commission might have had. It may be well to + consider what reason Rochester had for keeping his friend in close + confinement in the Tower, what reason there was for permitting Northampton + to impose such cruelly rigorous conditions of imprisonment. + </p> + <p> + The nullity suit succeeded. A jury of matrons was impanelled, and made an + examination of the lady appellant. Its evidence was that she was virgo + intacta. Seven out of the twelve members of the packed commission voted in + favour of the sentence of nullity. + </p> + <p> + The kernel of the situation lies in the verdict of the jury of matrons. + Her ladyship was declared to be a maid. If in the finding gossips and + scandal-mongers found reason for laughter, and decent enough people cause + for wonderment, they are hardly to be blamed. If Frances Howard was a + virgin, what reason was there for fearing anything Overbury might have + said? What knowledge had he against the suit that put Rochester and the + Howards in such fear of him that they had to confine him in the Tower + under such miserable conditions? In what was he so dangerous that he had + to be deprived of his faithful Davies, that he had to be put in the care + of a Tower Lieutenant specially appointed? The evidence given before the + commission can still be read in almost verbatim report. It is completely + in favour of the plea of Lady Essex. Sir Thomas Overbury's, had he given + evidence, would have been the sole voice against the suit. If he had said + that in his belief the association of her ladyship with Rochester had been + adulterous there was the physical fact adduced by the jury of matrons to + confute him. And being confuted in that, what might he have said that + would not be attributed to rancour on his part? That her ladyship, with + the help of Mrs Turner and the wizard of Lambeth, had practised magic upon + her husband, giving him powders that went near to killing him? That she + had lived in seclusion for several months with her husband at Chartley, + and that the non-consummation of the marriage was due, not to the + impotence of the husband, but to refusal to him of marital rights on the + part of the wife because of her guilty love for Rochester? His lordship of + Essex was still alive, and there was abundant evidence before the court + that there had been attempt to consummate the marriage. Whatever Sir + Thomas might have said would have smashed as evidence on that one fact. + Her ladyship was a virgin. + </p> + <p> + What did Sir Thomas Overbury know that made every one whose interest it + was to further the nullity suit so scared of him—Rochester, her + ladyship, Northampton, the Howards, the King himself? + </p> + <p> + Sir Thomas Overbury was much too cool-minded, too intelligent, to indulge + in threats unless he was certain of the grounds, and solid upon them, upon + which he made those threats. He had too great a knowledge of affairs not + to know that the commission would be a packed one, too great an + acquaintance with the strategy of James to believe that his lonely + evidence, unless of bombshell nature, would have a chance of carrying + weight in a court of his Majesty's picking. And, then, he was of too big a + mind to put forward evidence which would have no effect but that of + affording gossip for the scandal-mongers, and the giving of which would + make him appear to be actuated by petty spite. He had too great a sense of + his own dignity to give himself anything but an heroic role. Samson he + might play, pulling the pillars of the temple together to involve his + enemies, with himself, in magnificent and dramatic ruin. But Iachimo—no. + </p> + <p> + In the welter of evidence conflicting with apparent fact which was given + before the commission and in the trials of the Great Oyer, in the mass of + writing both contemporary and of later days round the Overbury mystery, it + is hard indeed to land upon the truth. Feasible solution is to be come + upon only by accepting a not too pretty story which is retailed by Antony + Weldon. He says that the girl whom the jury of matrons declared to be + virgo intacta was so heavily veiled as to be unidentifiable through the + whole proceedings, and that she was not Lady Essex at all, but the + youthful daughter of Sir Thomas Monson. + </p> + <p> + Mrs Turner, we do know, was very much a favourite with the ladies of Sir + Thomas Monson's family. Gossip Weldon has a funny, if lewd, story to tell + of high jinks indulged in by the Monson women and Mrs Turner in which + Symon, Monson's servant, played an odd part. This Symon was also employed + by Mrs Turner to carry food to Overbury in the Tower. If the substitution + story has any truth in it it might well have been a Monson girl who played + the part of the Countess. But, of course, a Monson girl may have been + chosen by the inventors to give verisimilitude to the substitution story, + simply because the family was friendly with Turner, and the tale of the + lewd high jinks with Symon added to make it seem more likely that old Lady + Monson would lend herself to such a plot. + </p> + <p> + If there was such a plot it is not at all unlikely that Overbury knew of + it. If there was need of such a scheme to bolster the nullity petition it + would have had to be evolved while the petition was being planned—that + is, a month or two before the commission went first into session. At that + time Overbury was still Rochester's secretary, still Rochester's + confidant; and if such a scheme had been evolved for getting over an + obstacle so fatal to the petition's success it was not in Rochester's + nature to have concealed it from Overbury, the two men still being fast + friends. Indeed, it may have been Overbury who pointed out the need there + would be for the Countess to undergo physical examination, and it may have + been on the certainty that her ladyship could not do so that Overbury + rested so securely—as he most apparently did, beyond the point of + safety—in the idea that the suit was bound to fail. It is legitimate + enough to suppose, along this hypothesis, that this substitution plot was + the very matter on which the two men quarrelled. + </p> + <p> + That Overbury had knowledge of some such essential secret as this is + manifest in the enmity towards the man which Lady Essex exhibited, even + when he lay, out of the way of doing harm, in the Tower. It is hard to + believe that an innocent girl of twenty, conscious of her virgin chastity, + in mere fear of scandal which she knew would be baseless, could pursue the + life of a man with the venom that, as we shall presently see, Frances + Howard used towards Overbury through Mrs Turner. + </p> + <p> + V + </p> + <p> + As a preliminary to his marriage with Frances Howard, Rochester was + created Earl of Somerset, and had the barony of Brancepeth bestowed on him + by the King. Overbury was three months in his grave when the marriage was + celebrated in the midst of the most extravagant show and entertainment. + </p> + <p> + The new Earl's power in the kingdom was never so high as at this time. It + was, indeed, at its zenith. Decline was soon to set in. It will not serve + here to follow the whole process of decay in the King's favour that + Somerset was now to experience. There was poetic justice in his downfall. + With hands all about him itching to bring him to the ground, he had not + the brain for the giddy heights. If behind him there had been the man + whose guidance had made him sure-footed in the climb he might have + survived, flourishing. But the man he had consigned to death had been more + than half of him, had been, indeed, his substance. Alone, with the power + Overbury's talents had brought him, Somerset was bound to fail. The irony + of it is that his downfall was contrived by a creature of his own raising. + </p> + <p> + Somerset had appointed Sir Ralph Winwood to the office of First Secretary + of State. In that office word came to Winwood from Brussels that new light + had been thrown on the mysterious death of Sir Thomas Overbury. Winwood + investigated in secret. An English lad, one Reeves, an apothecary's + assistant, thinking himself dying, had confessed at Flushing that Overbury + had been poisoned by an injection of corrosive sublimate. Reeves himself + had given the injection on the orders of his master, Loubel, the + apothecary who had attended Overbury on the day before his death. Winwood + sought out Loubel, and from him went to Sir Gervase Elwes. The story he + was able to make from what he had from the two men he took to the King. + From this beginning rose up the Great Oyer of Poisoning. The matter was + put into the hands of the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Edward Coke. + </p> + <p> + The lad Reeves, whose confession had started the matter, was either dead + or dying abroad, and was so out of Coke's reach. But the man who had + helped the lad to administer the poisoned clyster, the under-keeper + Weston, was at hand. Weston was arrested, and examined by Coke. The + statement Coke's bullying drew from the man made mention of one Franklin, + another apothecary, as having supplied a phial which Sir Gervase Elwes had + taken and thrown away. Weston had also received another phial by + Franklin's son from Lady Essex. This also Sir Gervase had taken and + destroyed. Then there had been tarts and jellies supplied by Mrs Turner. + </p> + <p> + Coke had Mrs Turner and Franklin arrested, and after that Sir Gervase was + taken as an accessory, and on his statement that he had employed Weston on + Sir Thomas Monson's recommendation Sir Thomas also was roped in. He + maintained that he had been told to recommend Weston by Lady Essex and the + Earl of Northampton. + </p> + <p> + The next person to be examined by Coke was the apothecary Loubel, he who + had attended Overbury on the day before his death. Though in his + confession the lad Reeves said that he had been given money and sent + abroad by Loubel, this was a matter that Coke did not probe. Loubel told + Coke that he had given Overbury nothing but the physic prescribed by Sir + Theodore Mayerne, the King's physician, and that in his opinion Overbury + had died of consumption. With this evidence Coke was very strangely + content—or, at least, content as far as Loubel was concerned, for + this witness was not summoned again. + </p> + <p> + Other persons were examined by Coke, notably Overbury's servant Davies and + his secretary Payton. Their statements served to throw some suspicion on + the Earl of Somerset. + </p> + <p> + But if all the detail of these examinations were gone into we should never + be done. Our concern is with the two women involved, Anne Turner and the + Countess of Somerset, as we must now call her. I am going to quote, + however, two paragraphs from Rafael Sabatini's romance The Minion that I + think may explain why it is so difficult to come to the truth of the + Overbury mystery. They indicate how it was smothered by the way in which + Coke rough-handled justice throughout the whole series of trials. + </p> + <p> + On October 19th, at the Guildhall, began the Great Oyer of Poisoning, as + Coke described it, with the trial of Richard Weston. + </p> + <p> + Thus at the very outset the dishonesty of the proceedings is apparent. + Weston was an accessory. Both on his own evidence and that of Sir Gervase + Elwes, besides the apothecary's boy in Flushing, Sir Thomas Overbury had + died following upon an injection prepared by Loubel. Therefore Loubel was + the principal, and only after Loubel's conviction could the field have + been extended to include Weston and the others. But Loubel was tried + neither then nor subsequently, a circumstance regarded by many as the most + mysterious part of what is known as the Overbury mystery, whereas, in + fact, it is the clue to it. Nor was the evidence of the coroner put in, so + that there was no real preliminary formal proof that Overbury had been + poisoned at all. + </p> + <p> + Here Mr Sabatini is concerned to develop one of the underlying arguments + of his story—namely, that it was King James himself who had + ultimately engineered the death of Sir Thomas Overbury. It is an argument + which I would not attempt to refute. I do not think that Mr Sabatini's + acumen has failed him in the least. But the point for me in the paragraphs + is the indication they give of how much Coke did to suppress all evidence + that did not suit his purpose. + </p> + <p> + Weston's trial is curious in that at first he refused to plead. It is the + first instance I have met with in history of a prisoner standing 'mute of + malice.' Coke read him a lecture on the subject, pointing out that by his + obstinacy he was making himself liable to peine forte et dure, which meant + that order could be given for his exposure in an open place near the + prison, extended naked, and to have weights laid upon him in increasing + amount, he being kept alive with the "coarsest bread obtainable and water + from the nearest sink or puddle to the place of execution, that day he had + water having no bread, and that day he had bread having no water." One may + imagine with what grim satisfaction Coke ladled this out. It had its + effect on Weston. + </p> + <p> + He confessed that Mrs Turner had promised to give him a reward if he would + poison Sir Thomas Overbury. In May she had sent him a phial of "rosalgar," + and he had received from her tarts poisoned with mercury sublimate. He was + charged with having, at Mrs Turner's instance, joined with an apothecary's + boy in administering an injection of corrosive sublimate to Sir Thomas + Overbury, from which the latter died. Coke's conduct of the case obscures + just how much Weston admitted, but, since it convinced the jury of + Weston's guilt, the conviction served finely for accusation against Mrs + Turner. + </p> + <p> + Two days after conviction Weston was executed at Tyburn. + </p> + <p> + The trial of Anne Turner began in the first week of November. It would be + easy to make a pathetic figure of the comely little widow as she stood + trembling under Coke's bullying, but she was, in actual fact, hardly + deserving of pity. It is far from enlivening to read of Coke's handling of + the trial, and it is certain that Mrs Turner was condemned on an + indictment and process which to-day would not have a ghost of a chance of + surviving appeal, but it is perfectly plain that Anne was party to one of + the most vicious poisoning plots ever engineered. + </p> + <p> + We have, however, to consider this point in extenuation for her. It is + almost certain that in moving to bring about the death of Overbury she had + sanction, if only tacit, from the Earl of Northampton. By the time that + the Great Oyer began Northampton was dead. Two years had elapsed from the + death of Overbury. It would be quite clear to Anne that, in the view of + the powerful Howard faction, the elimination of Overbury was politically + desirable. It should be remembered, too, that she lived in a period when + assassination, secret or by subverted process of justice, was a + commonplace political weapon. Public executions by methods cruel and even + obscene taught the people to hold human life at small value, and hardened + them to cruelties that made poisoning seem a mercy. It is not at all + unlikely that, though her main object may have been to help forward the + plans of her friend the Countess, Anne considered herself a plotter in + high affairs of State. + </p> + <p> + The indictment against her was that she had comforted, aided, and abetted + Weston—that is to say, she was made an accessory. If, however, as + was accused, she procured Weston and Reeves to administer the poisonous + injection she was certainly a principal, and as such should have been + tried first or at the same time as Weston. But Weston was already hanged, + and so could not be questioned. His various statements were used against + her unchallenged, or, at least, when challenging them was useless. + </p> + <p> + The indictment made no mention of her practices against the Earl of Essex, + but from the account given in the State Trials it would seem that evidence + on this score was used to build the case against her. Her relations with + Dr Forman, now safely dead, were made much of. She and the Countess of + Essex had visited the charlatan and had addressed him as "Father." Their + reason for visiting, it was said, was that "by force of magick he should + procure the then Viscount of Rochester to love the Countess and Sir Arthur + Mainwaring to love Mrs Turner, by whom she had three children." Letters + from the Countess to Turner were read. They revealed the use on Lord Essex + of those powders her ladyship had been given by Forman. The letters had + been found by Forman's wife in a packet among Forman's possessions after + his death. These, with others and with several curious objects exhibited + in court, had been demanded by Mrs Turner after Forman's demise. Mrs + Turner had kept them, and they were found in her house. + </p> + <p> + As indicating the type of magic practised by Forman these objects are of + interest. Among other figures, probably nothing more than dolls of French + make, there was a leaden model of a man and woman in the act of + copulation, with the brass mould from which it had been cast. There was a + black scarf ornamented with white crosses, papers with cabalistic signs, + and sundry other exhibits which appear to have created superstitious fear + in the crowd about the court. It is amusing to note that while those + exhibits were being examined one of the scaffolds erected for seating gave + way or cracked ominously, giving the crowd a thorough scare. It was + thought that the devil himself, raised by the power of those uncanny + objects, had got into the Guildhall. Consternation reigned for quite a + quarter of an hour. + </p> + <p> + There was also exhibited Forman's famous book of signatures, in which Coke + is supposed to have encountered his own wife's name on the first page. + </p> + <p> + Franklin, apothecary, druggist, necromancer, wizard, and born liar, had + confessed to supplying the poisons intended for use upon Overbury. He + declared that Mrs Turner had come to him from the Countess and asked him + to get the strongest poisons procurable. He "accordingly bought seven: + viz., aqua fortis, white arsenic, mercury, powder of diamonds, lapis + costitus, great spiders, cantharides." Franklin's evidence is a palpable + tissue of lies, full of statements that contradict each other, but it is + likely enough, judging from facts elicited elsewhere, that his list of + poisons is accurate. Enough poison passed from hand to hand to have slain + an army. + </p> + <p> + Mention is made by Weldon of the evidence given by Symon, servant to Sir + Thomas Monson, who had been employed by Mrs Turner to carry a jelly and a + tart to the Tower. Symon appears to have been a witty fellow. He was, "for + his pleasant answer," dismissed by Coke. + </p> + <p> + My lord told him: "Symon, you have had a hand in this poisoning business——" + </p> + <p> + "No, my good lord, I had but a finger in it, which almost cost me my life, + and, at the best, cost me all my hair and nails." For the truth was that + Symon was somewhat liquorish, and finding the syrup swim from the top of + the tart as he carried it, he did with his finger skim it off: and it was + believed, had he known what it had been, he would not have been his taster + at so dear a rate. + </p> + <p> + Coke, with his bullying methods and his way of acting both as judge and + chief prosecutor, lacks little as prototype for the later Judge Jeffreys. + Even before the jury retired he was at pains to inform Mrs Turner that she + had the seven deadly sins: viz., "a whore, a bawd, a sorcerer, a witch, a + papist, a felon, and a murderer, the daughter of the devil Forman."<a + href="#linknote-13" name="linknoteref-13" id="linknoteref-13">[13]</a> And + having given such a Christian example throughout the trial, he besought + her "to repent, and to become the servant of Jesus Christ, and to pray Him + to cast out the seven devils." It was upon this that Anne begged the Lord + Chief Justice to be merciful to her, putting forward the plea of having + been brought up with the Countess of Essex, and of having been "a long + time her servant." She declared that she had not known of poison in the + things that were sent to Sir Thomas Overbury. + </p> + <p> + The jury's retirement was not long-drawn. They found her guilty. + </p> + <p> + Says Weldon: + </p> + <p> + The Wednesday following she was brought from the sheriff's in a coach to + Newgate and there was put into a cart, and casting money often among the + people as she was carried to Tyburn, where she was executed, and whither + many men and women of fashion followed her in coaches to see her die. + </p> + <p> + Her speeches before execution were pious, like most speeches of the sort, + and "moved the spectators to great pity and grief for her." She again + related "her breeding with the Countess of Somerset," and pleaded further + of "having had no other means to maintain her and her children but what + came from the Countess." This last, of course, was less than the truth. + Anne was not so indigent that she needed to take to poisoning as a means + of supporting her family. She also said "that when her hand was once in + this business she knew the revealing of it would be her overthrow." + </p> + <p> + In more than one account written later of her execution she is said to + have worn a ruff and cuffs dressed with the yellow starch which she had + made so fashionable, and it is maintained that this association made the + starch thereafter unpopular. It is forgotten that with Anne the recipe for + the yellow starch probably was lost. Moreover, the elaborate ruff was then + being put out of fashion by the introduction of the much more comfortable + lace collar. In any case, "There is no truth," writes Judge Parry, in the + old story<a href="#linknote-14" name="linknoteref-14" id="linknoteref-14">[14]</a> + that Coke ordered her to be executed in the yellow ruff she had made the + fashion and so proudly worn in Court. What did happen, according to Sir + Simonds d'Ewes, was that the hangman, a coarse ruffian with a distorted + sense of humour, dressed himself in bands and cuffs of yellow colour, but + no one heeded his ribaldry; only in after days none of either sex used the + yellow starch, and the fashion grew generally to be detested. + </p> + <p> + Pretty much, I should think, as the tall 'choker' became detested within + the time of many of us. After Mrs Turner Sir Gervase Elwes was brought to + trial as an accessory. The only evidence against him was that of the liar + Franklin, who asserted that Sir Gervase had been in league with the + Countess. It was plain, however, both from Weston's statements and from + Sir Gervase's own, that the Lieutenant of the Tower had done his very best + to defeat the Turner-Essex-Northampton plot for the poisoning of Overbury, + throwing away the "rosalgar" and later draughts, as well as substituting + food from his own kitchen for that sent in by Turner. "Although it must + have been clear that if any of what was alleged against him had been true + Overbury's poisoning would never have taken five months to accomplish, he + was sentenced and hanged."<a href="#linknote-15" name="linknoteref-15" + id="linknoteref-15">[15]</a> + </p> + <p> + This, of course, was a glaring piece of injustice, but Coke no doubt had + his instructions. Weston, Mrs Turner, Elwes, and, later, Franklin had to + be got out of the way, so that they could not be confronted with the chief + figure against whom the Great Oyer was directed, and whom it was designed + to pull down, Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset—and with him his wife. + Just as much of the statements and confessions of the prisoners in the + four preliminary trials was used by Coke as suited his purpose. It is + pointed out by Amos, in his Great Oyer of Poisoning, that a large number + of the documents appertaining to the Somerset trial show corrections and + apparent glosses in Coke's own handwriting, and that even the confessions + on the scaffold of some of the convicted are holographs by Coke. As a + sample of the suppression of which Coke was guilty I may put forward the + fact that Somerset's note to his own physician, Craig, asking him to visit + Overbury, was not produced. Yet great play was made by Coke of this visit + against Somerset. Wrote Somerset to Craig, "I pray you let him have your + best help, and as much of your company as he shall require." + </p> + <p> + It was never proved that it was Anne Turner and Lady Essex who corrupted + the lad Reeves, who with Weston administered the poisoned clyster that + murdered Overbury. Nothing was done at all to absolve the apothecary + Loubel, Reeves's master, of having prepared the poisonous injection, nor + Sir Theodore Mayerne, the King's physician, of having been party to its + preparation. Yet it was demonstrably the injection that killed Overbury if + he was killed by poison at all. It is certain that the poisons sent to the + Tower by Turner and the Countess did not save in early instances, get to + Overbury at all—Elwes saw to that—or Overbury must have died + months before he did die. + </p> + <p> + According to Weldon, who may be supposed to have witnessed the trials, + Franklin confessed "that Overbury was smothered to death, not poisoned to + death, though he had poison given him." And Weldon goes on to make this + curious comment: + </p> + <p> + Here was Coke glad, how to cast about to bring both ends together, Mrs + Turner and Weston being already hanged for killing Overbury with poison; + but he, being the very quintessence of the law, presently informs the jury + that if a man be done to death with pistols, poniards, swords, halter, + poison, etc., so he be done to death, the indictment is good if he be but + indicted for any of those ways. But the good lawyers of those times were + not of that opinion, but did believe that Mrs Turner was directly + murthered by my lord Coke's law as Overbury was without any law. + </p> + <p> + Though you will look in vain through the reports given in the State Trials + for any speech of Coke to the jury in exactly these terms, it might be + just as well to remember that the transcriptions from which the Trials are + printed were prepared UNDER Coke's SUPERVISION, and that they, like the + confessions of the convicted, are very often in his own handwriting. + </p> + <p> + At all events, even on the bowdlerized evidence that exists, it is plain + that Anne Turner should have been charged only with attempted murder. Of + that she was manifestly guilty and, according to the justice of the time, + thoroughly deserved to be hanged. The indictment against her was faulty, + and the case against her as full of holes as a colander. Her trial was + 'cooked' in more senses than one. + </p> + <p> + It was some seven months after the execution of Anne Turner that the + Countess of Essex was brought to trial. This was in May. In December, + while virtually a prisoner under the charge of Sir William Smith at Lord + Aubigny's house in Blackfriars, she had given birth to a daughter. In + March she had been conveyed to the Tower, her baby being handed over to + the care of her mother, the Countess of Suffolk. Since the autumn of the + previous year she had not been permitted any communication with her + husband, nor he with her. He was already lodged in the Tower when she + arrived there. + </p> + <p> + On a day towards the end of May she was conveyed by water from the Tower + to Westminster Hall. The hall was packed to suffocation, seats being paid + for at prices which would turn a modern promoter of a world's + heavyweight-boxing-championship fight green with envy. Her judges were + twenty-two peers of the realm, with the Lord High Steward, the Lord Chief + Justice, and seven judges at law. It was a pageant of colour, in the midst + of which the woman on trial, in her careful toilette, consisting of a + black stammel gown, a cypress chaperon or black crepe hood in the French + fashion, relieved by touches of white in the cuffs and ruff of cobweb + lawn, struck a funereal note. Preceded by the headsman carrying his axe + with its edge turned away from her, she was conducted to the bar by the + Lieutenant of the Tower. The indictment was read to her, and at its end + came the question: "Frances Howard, Countess of Somerset, how sayest thou? + Art thou guilty of this felony and murder or not guilty?" + </p> + <p> + There was a hushed pause for a moment; then came the low-voiced answer: + "Guilty." + </p> + <p> + Sir Francis Bacon, the Attorney-General—himself to appear in the + same place not long after to answer charges of bribery and corruption—now + addressed the judges. His eloquent address was a commendation of the + Countess's confession, and it hinted at royal clemency. + </p> + <p> + In answer to the formal demand of the Clerk of Arraigns if she had + anything to say why judgment of death should not be given against her the + Countess made a barely audible plea for mercy, begging their lordships to + intercede for her with the King. Then the Lord High Steward, expressing + belief that the King would be moved to mercy, delivered judgment. She was + to be taken thence to the Tower of London, thence to the place of + execution, where she was to be hanged by the neck until she was dead—and + might the Lord have mercy on her soul. + </p> + <p> + The attendant women hastened to the side of the swaying woman. And now the + halbardiers formed escort about her, the headsman in front, with the edge + of his axe turned towards her in token of her conviction, and she was led + away. + </p> + <p> + VI + </p> + <p> + It is perfectly clear that the Countess of Somerset was led to confess on + the promise of the King's mercy. It is equally clear that she did not know + what she was confessing to. Whatever might have been her conspiracy with + Anne Turner it is a practical certainty that it did not result in the + death of Thomas Overbury. There is no record of her being allowed any + legal advice in the seven months that had elapsed since she had first been + made a virtual prisoner. She had been permitted no communication with her + husband. For all she knew, Overbury might indeed have died from the poison + which she had caused to be sent to the Tower in such quantity and variety. + And she went to trial at Westminster guilty in conscience, her one idea + being to take the blame for having brought about the murder of Overbury, + thinking by that to absolve her husband of any share in the plot. She + could not have known that her plea of guilty would weaken Somerset's + defence. The woman who could go to such lengths in order to win her + husband was unlikely to have done anything that might put him in jeopardy. + One can well imagine with what fierceness she would have fought her case + had she thought that by doing so she could have helped the man she loved. + </p> + <p> + But Frances Howard, no less than her accomplice Anne Turner, was the + victim of a gross subversion of justice. That she was guilty of a cruel + and determined attempt to poison Overbury is beyond question, and, being + guilty of that, she was thoroughly deserving of the fate that overcame + Anne Turner, but that at the last she was allowed to escape. Her + confession, however, shackled Somerset at his trial. It put her at the + King's mercy. Without endangering her life Somerset dared not come to the + crux of his defence, which would have been to demand why Loubel had been + allowed to go free, and why the King's physician, Mayerne, had not been + examined. To prevent Somerset from asking those questions, which must have + given the public a sufficient hint of King James's share in the murder of + Overbury, two men stood behind the Earl all through his trial with cloaks + over their arms, ready to muffle him. But, whatever may be said of + Somerset, the prospect of the cloaks would not have stopped him from + attempting those questions. He had sent word to King James that he was + "neither Gowrie nor Balmerino," those two earlier victims of James's + treachery. The thing that muffled him was the threat to withdraw the + promised mercy to his Countess. And so he kept silent, to be condemned to + death as his wife had been, and to join her in the Tower. + </p> + <p> + Five weary years were the couple to eat their hearts out there, their + death sentences remitted, before their ultimate banishment far from the + Court to a life of impoverished obscurity in the country. Better for them, + one would think, if they had died on Tower Green. It is hard to imagine + that the dozen years or so which they were to spend together could contain + anything of happiness for them—she the confessed would-be poisoner, + and he haunted by the memory of that betrayal of friendship which had + begun the process of their double ruin. Frances Howard died in 1632, her + husband twenty-three years later. The longer lease of life could have been + no blessing to the fallen favourite. + </p> + <p> + There is a portrait of Frances Howard in the National Portrait Gallery by + an unknown artist. It is an odd little face which appears above the + elaborate filigree of the stiff lace ruff and under the carefully dressed + bush of dark brown hair. With her gay jacket of red gold-embroidered, and + her gold-ornamented grey gown, cut low to show the valley between her + young breasts, she looks like a child dressed up. If there is no great + indication of the beauty which so many poets shed ink over there is less + promise of the dire determination which was to pursue a man's life with + cruel poisons over several months. It is, however, a narrow little face, + and there is a tight-liddedness about the eyes which in an older woman + might indicate the bigot. Bigot she proved herself to be, if it be bigotry + in a woman to love a man with an intensity that will not stop at murder in + order to win him. That is the one thing that may be said for Frances + Howard. She did love Robert Carr. She loved him to his ruin. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV: — A MODEL FOR MR HOGARTH + </h2> + <p> + On a Sunday, the 5th of February, 1733, there came toddling into that + narrow passage of the Temple known as Tanfield Court an elderly lady by + the name of Mrs Love. It was just after one o'clock of the afternoon. The + giants of St Dunstan's behind her had only a minute before rapped out the + hour with their clubs. + </p> + <p> + Mrs Love's business was at once charitable and social. She was going, by + appointment made on the previous Friday night, to eat dinner with a frail + old lady named Mrs Duncomb, who lived in chambers on the third floor of + one of the buildings that had entry from the court. Mrs Duncomb was the + widow of a law stationer of the City. She had been a widow for a good + number of years. The deceased law stationer, if he had not left her rich, + at least had left her in fairly comfortable circumstances. It was said + about the environs that she had some property, and this fact, combined + with the other that she was obviously nearing the end of life's journey, + made her an object of melancholy interest to the womenkind of the + neighbourhood. + </p> + <p> + Mrs Duncomb was looked after by a couple of servants. One of them, Betty + Harrison, had been the old lady's companion for a lifetime. Mrs Duncomb, + described as "old," was only sixty.<a href="#linknote-16" + name="linknoteref-16" id="linknoteref-16">[16]</a> Her weakness and bodily + condition seem to have made her appear much older. Betty, then, also + described as "old," may have been of an age with her mistress, or even + older. She was, at all events, not by much less frail. The other servant + was a comparatively new addition to the establishment, a fresh little girl + of about seventeen, Ann (or Nanny) Price by name. + </p> + <p> + Mrs Love climbed the three flights of stairs to the top landing. It + surprised her, or disturbed her, but little that she found no signs of + life on the various floors, because it was, as we have seen, a Sunday. The + occupants of the chambers of the staircase, mostly gentlemen connected in + one way or another with the law, would be, she knew abroad for the eating + of their Sunday dinners, either at their favourite taverns or at commons + in the Temple itself. What did rather disturb kindly Mrs Love was the fact + that she found Mrs Duncomb's outer door closed—an unwonted fact—and + it faintly surprised her that no odour of cooking greeted her nostrils. + </p> + <p> + Mrs Love knocked. There was no reply. She knocked, indeed, at intervals + over a period of some fifteen minutes, still obtaining no response. The + disturbed sense of something being wrong became stronger and stronger in + the mind of Mrs Love. + </p> + <p> + On the night of the previous Friday she had been calling upon Mrs Duncomb, + and she had found the old lady very weak, very nervous, and very low in + spirits. It had not been a very cheerful visit all round, because the old + maidservant, Betty Harrison, had also been far from well. There had been a + good deal of talk between the old women of dying, a subject to which their + minds had been very prone to revert. Besides Mrs Love there were two other + visitors, but they too failed to cheer the old couple up. One of the + visitors, a laundress of the Temple called Mrs Oliphant, had done her + best, poohpoohing such melancholy talk, and attributing the low spirits in + which the old women found themselves to the bleakness of the February + weather, and promising them that they would find a new lease of life with + the advent of spring. But Mrs Betty especially had been hard to console. + </p> + <p> + "My mistress," she had said to cheerful Mrs Oliphant, "will talk of dying. + And she would have me die with her." + </p> + <p> + As she stood in considerable perturbation of mind on the cheerless + third-floor landing that Sunday afternoon Mrs Love found small matter for + comfort in her memory of the Friday evening. She remembered that old Mrs + Duncomb had spoken complainingly of the lonesomeness which had come upon + her floor by the vacation of the chambers opposite her on the landing. The + tenant had gone a day or two before, leaving the rooms empty of furniture, + and the key with a Mr Twysden. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Love, turning to view the door opposite to that on which she had been + rapping so long and so ineffectively, had a shuddery feeling that she was + alone on the top of the world. + </p> + <p> + She remembered how she had left Mrs Duncomb on the Friday night. Mrs + Oliphant had departed first, accompanied by the second visitor, one Sarah + Malcolm, a charwoman who had worked for Mrs Duncomb up to the previous + Christmas, and who had called in to see how her former employer was + faring. An odd, silent sort of young woman this Sarah, good-looking in a + hardfeatured sort of way, she had taken but a very small part in the + conversation, but had sat staring rather sullenly into the fire by the + side of Betty Harrison, or else casting a flickering glance about the + room. Mrs Love, before following the other two women downstairs, had + helped the ailing Betty to get Mrs Duncomb settled for the night. In the + dim candle-light and the faint glow of the fire that scarce illumined the + wainscoted room the high tester-bed of the old lady, with its curtains, + had seemed like a shadowed catafalque, an illusion nothing lessened by the + frail old figure under the bedclothing. + </p> + <p> + It came to the mind of Mrs Love that the illness manifesting itself in + Betty on the Friday night had worsened. Nanny, she imagined, must have + gone abroad on some errand. The old servant, she thought, was too ill to + come to the door, and her voice would be too weak to convey an answer to + the knocking. Mrs Love, not without a shudder for the chill feeling of + that top landing, betook herself downstairs again to make what inquiry she + might. It happened that she met one of her fellow-visitors of the Friday + night, Mrs Oliphant. + </p> + <p> + Mrs Oliphant was sympathetic, but could not give any information. She had + seen no member of the old lady's establishment that day. She could only + advise Mrs Love to go upstairs again and knock louder. + </p> + <p> + This Mrs Love did, but again got no reply. She then evolved the theory + that Betty had died during the night, and that Nanny, Mrs Duncomb being + confined to bed, had gone to look for help, possibly from her sister, and + to find a woman who would lay out the body of the old servant. With this + in her mind Mrs Love descended the stairs once more, and went to look for + another friend of Mrs Duncomb's, a Mrs Rhymer. + </p> + <p> + Mrs Rhymer was a friend of the old lady's of some thirty years' standing. + She was, indeed, named as executrix in Mrs Duncomb's will. Mrs Love + finding her and explaining the situation as she saw it, Mrs Rhymer at once + returned with Mrs Love to Tanfield Court. + </p> + <p> + The two women ascended the stairs, and tried pushing the old lady's door. + It refused to yield to their efforts. Then Mrs Love went to the staircase + window that overlooked the court, and gazed around to see if there was + anyone about who might help. Some distance away, at the door, we are told, + "of my Lord Bishop of Bangor," was the third of Friday night's visitors to + Mrs Duncomb, the charwoman named Sarah Malcolm. Mrs Love hailed her. + </p> + <p> + "Prithee, Sarah," begged Mrs Love, "go and fetch a smith to open Mrs + Duncomb's door." + </p> + <p> + "I will go at all speed," Sarah assured her, with ready willingness, and + off she sped. Mrs Love and Mrs Rhymer waited some time. Sarah came back + with Mrs Oliphant in tow, but had been unable to secure the services of a + locksmith. This was probably due to the fact that it was a Sunday. + </p> + <p> + By now both Mrs Love and Mrs Rhymer had become deeply apprehensive, and + the former appealed to Mrs Oliphant. "I do believe they are all dead, and + the smith is not come!" cried Mrs Love. "What shall we do, Mrs Oliphant?" + </p> + <p> + Mrs Oliphant, much younger than the others, seems to have been a woman of + resource. She had from Mr Twysden, she said, the key of the vacant + chambers opposite to Mrs Duncomb's. "Now let me see," she continued, "if I + cannot get out of the back chamber window into the gutter, and so into Mrs + Duncomb's apartment." + </p> + <p> + The other women urged her to try.<a href="#linknote-17" + name="linknoteref-17" id="linknoteref-17">[17]</a> Mrs Oliphant set off, + her heels echoing in the empty rooms. Presently the waiting women heard a + pane snap, and they guessed that Mrs Oliphant had broken through Mrs + Duncomb's casement to get at the handle. They heard, through the door, the + noise of furniture being moved as she got through the window. Then came a + shriek, the scuffle of feet. The outer door of Mrs Duncomb's chambers was + flung open. Mrs Oliphant, ashen-faced, appeared on the landing. "God! Oh, + gracious God!" she cried. "They're all murdered!" + </p> + <p> + II + </p> + <p> + All four women pressed into the chambers. All three of the women occupying + them had been murdered. In the passage or lobby little Nanny Price lay in + her bed in a welter of blood, her throat savagely cut. Her hair was loose + and over her eyes, her clenched hands all bloodied about her throat. It + was apparent that she had struggled desperately for life. Next door, in + the dining-room, old Betty Harrison lay across the press-bed in which she + usually slept. Being in the habit of keeping her gown on for warmth, as it + was said, she was partially dressed. She had been strangled, it seemed, + "with an apron-string or a pack-thread," for there was a deep crease about + her neck and the bruised indentations as of knuckles. In her bedroom, also + across her bed, lay the dead body of old Mrs Duncomb. There had been here + also an attempt to strangle, an unnecessary attempt it appeared, for the + crease about the neck was very faint. Frail as the old lady had been, the + mere weight of the murderer's body, it was conjectured, had been enough to + kill her. + </p> + <p> + These pathological details were established on the arrival later of Mr + Bigg, the surgeon, fetched from the Rainbow Coffee-house near by by + Fairlow, one of the Temple porters. But the four women could see enough + for themselves, without the help of Mr Bigg, to understand how death had + been dealt in all three cases. They could see quite clearly also for what + motive the crime had been committed. A black strong-box, with papers + scattered about it, lay beside Mrs Duncomb's bed, its lid forced open. It + was in this box that the old lady had been accustomed to keep her money. + </p> + <p> + If any witness had been needed to say what the black box had contained + there was Mrs Rhymer, executrix under the old lady's will. And if Mrs. + Rhymer had been at any need to refresh her memory regarding the contents + opportunity had been given her no farther back than the afternoon of the + previous Thursday. On that day she had called upon Mrs Duncomb to take tea + and to talk affairs. Three or four years before, with her rapidly + increasing frailness, the old lady's memory had begun to fail. Mrs Rhymer + acted for her as a sort of unofficial curator bonis, receiving her money + and depositing it in the black box, of which she kept the key. + </p> + <p> + On the Thursday, old Betty and young Nanny being sent from the room, the + old lady had told Mrs Rhymer that she needed some money—a guinea. + Mrs Rhymer had gone through the solemn process of opening the black box, + and, one must suppose—old ladies nearing their end being what they + are—had been at need to tell over the contents of the box for the + hundredth time, just to reassure Mrs Duncomb that she thoroughly + understood the duties she had agreed to undertake as executrix + </p> + <p> + At the top of the box was a silver tankard. It had belonged to Mrs + Duncomb's husband. In the tankard was a hundred pounds. Beside the tankard + lay a bag containing guinea pieces to the number of twenty or so. This was + the bag that Mrs Rhymer had carried over to the old lady's chair by the + fire, in order to take from it the needed guinea. + </p> + <p> + There were some half-dozen packets of money in the box, each sealed with + black wax and set aside for particular purposes after Mrs Duncomb's death. + Other sums, greater in quantity than those contained in the packets, were + earmarked in the same way. There was, for example, twenty guineas set + aside for the old lady's burial, eighteen moidores to meet unforeseen + contingencies, and in a green purse some thirty or forty shillings, which + were to be distributed among poor people of Mrs Duncomb's acquaintance. + The ritual of telling over the box contents, if something ghostly, had had + its usual effect of comforting the old lady's mind. It consoled her to + know that all arrangements were in order for her passing in genteel + fashion to her long home, that all the decorums of respectable demise + would be observed, and that "the greatest of these" would not be + forgotten. The ritual over, the black box was closed and locked, and on + her departure Mrs Rhymer had taken away the key as usual. + </p> + <p> + The motive for the crime, as said, was plain. The black box had been + forced, and there was no sign of tankard, packets, green purse, or bag of + guineas. + </p> + <p> + The horror and distress of the old lady's friends that Sunday afternoon + may better be imagined than described. Loudest of the four, we are told, + was Sarah Malcolm. It is also said that she was, however, the coolest, + keen to point out the various methods by which the murderers (for the + crime to her did not look like a single-handed effort) could have got into + the chambers. She drew attention to the wideness of the kitchen chimney + and to the weakness of the lock in the door to the vacant rooms on the + other side of the landing. She also pointed out that, since the bolt of + the spring-lock of the outer door to Mrs Duncomb's rooms had been engaged + when they arrived, the miscreants could not have used that exit. + </p> + <p> + This last piece of deduction on Sarah's part, however, was made rather + negligible by experiments presently carried out by the porter, Fairlow, + with the aid of a piece of string. He showed that a person outside the + shut door could quite easily pull the bolt to on the inside. + </p> + <p> + The news of the triple murder quickly spread, and it was not long before a + crowd had collected in Tanfield Court, up the stairs to Mrs. Duncomb's + landing, and round about the door of Mrs Duncomb's chambers. It did not + disperse until the officers had made their investigations and the bodies + of the three victims had been removed. And even then, one may be sure, + there would still be a few of those odd sort of people hanging about who, + in those times as in these, must linger on the scene of a crime long after + the last drop of interest has evaporated. + </p> + <p> + III + </p> + <p> + Two further actors now come upon the scene. And for the proper grasping of + events we must go back an hour or two in time to notice their activities. + </p> + <p> + They are a Mr Gehagan, a young Irish barrister, and a friend of his named + Kerrel.<a href="#linknote-18" name="linknoteref-18" id="linknoteref-18">[18]</a> + These young men occupy chambers on opposite sides of the same landing, the + third floor, over the Alienation Office in Tanfield Court. + </p> + <p> + Mr Gehagan was one of Sarah Malcolm's employers. That Sunday morning at + nine she had appeared in his rooms to do them up and to light the fire. + While Gehagan was talking to Sarah he was joined by his friend Kerrel, who + offered to stand him some tea. Sarah was given a shilling and sent out to + buy tea. She returned and made the brew, then remained about the chambers + until the horn blew, as was then the Temple custom, for commons. The two + young men departed. After commons they walked for a while in the Temple + Gardens, then returned to Tanfield Court. + </p> + <p> + By this time the crowd attracted by the murder was blocking up the court, + and Gehagan asked what was the matter. He was told of the murder, and he + remarked to Kerrel that the old lady had been their charwoman's + acquaintance. + </p> + <p> + The two friends then made their way to a coffee-house in Covent Garden. + There was some talk there of the murder, and the theory was advanced by + some one that it could have been done only by some laundress who knew the + chambers and how to get in and out of them. From Covent Garden, towards + night, Gehagan and Kerrel went to a tavern in Essex Street, and there they + stayed carousing until one o'clock in the morning, when they left for the + Temple. They were not a little astonished on reaching their common landing + to find Kerrel's door open, a fire burning in the grate of his room, and a + candle on the table. By the fire, with a dark riding-hood about her head, + was Sarah Malcolm. To Kerrel's natural question of what she was doing + there at such an unearthly hour she muttered something about having things + to collect. Kerrel then, reminding her that Mrs Duncomb had been her + acquaintance, asked her if anyone had been "taken up" for the murder. + </p> + <p> + "That Mr Knight," Sarah replied, "who has chambers under her, has been + absent two or three days. He is suspected." + </p> + <p> + "Well," said Kerrel, remembering the theory put forward in the + coffee-house, and made suspicious by her presence at that strange hour, + "nobody that was acquainted with Mrs Duncomb is wanted here until the + murderer is discovered. Look out your things, therefore, and begone!" + </p> + <p> + Kerrel's suspicion thickened, and he asked his friend to run downstairs + and call up the watch. Gehagan ran down, but found difficulty in opening + the door below, and had to return. Kerrel himself went down then, and came + back with two watchmen. They found Sarah in the bedroom at a chest of + drawers, in which she was turning over some linen that she claimed to be + hers. The now completely suspicious Kerrel went to his closet, and noticed + that two or three waistcoats were missing from a portmanteau. He asked + Sarah where they were; upon which Sarah, with an eye to the watchmen and + to Gehagan, begged to be allowed to speak with him alone. + </p> + <p> + Kerrel refused, saying he could have no business with her that was secret. + </p> + <p> + Sarah then confessed that she had pawned the missing waistcoats for two + guineas, and begged him not to be angry. Kerrel asked her why she had not + asked him for money. He could readily forgive her for pawning the + waistcoats, but, having heard her talk of Mrs Lydia Duncomb, he was afraid + she was concerned with the murder. A pair of earrings were found in the + drawers, and these Sarah claimed, putting them in her corsage. An + odd-looking bundle in the closet then attracted Kerrel's attention, and he + kicked it, and asked Sarah what it was. She said it was merely dirty linen + wrapped up in an old gown. She did not wish it exposed. Kerrel made + further search, and found that other things were missing. He told the + watch to take the woman and hold her strictly. + </p> + <p> + Sarah was led away. Kerrel, now thoroughly roused, continued his search, + and he found underneath his bed another bundle. He also came upon some + bloodstained linen in another place, and in a close-stool a silver + tankard, upon the handle of which was a lot of dried blood. + </p> + <p> + Kerrel's excitement passed to Gehagan, and the two of them went at speed + downstairs yelling for the watch. After a little the two watchmen + reappeared, but without Sarah. They had let her go, they said, because + they had found nothing on her, and, besides, she had not been charged + before a constable. + </p> + <p> + One here comes upon a recital by the watchmen which reveals the + extraordinary slackness in dealing with suspect persons that characterized + the guardians of the peace in London in those times. They had let the + woman go, but she had come back. Her home was in Shoreditch, she said, and + rather than walk all that way on a cold and boisterous night she had + wanted to sit up in the watch-house. The watchmen refused to let her do + this, but ordered her to "go about her business," advising her sternly at + the same time to turn up again by ten o'clock in the morning. Sarah had + given her word, and had gone away. + </p> + <p> + On hearing this story Kerrel became very angry, threatening the two + watchmen, Hughes and Mastreter, with Newgate if they did not pick her up + again immediately. Upon this the watchmen scurried off as quickly as their + age and the cumbrous nature of their clothing would let them. They found + Sarah in the company of two other watchmen at the gate of the Temple. + Hughes, as a means of persuading her to go with them more easily, told her + that Kerrel wanted to speak with her, and that he was not angry any + longer. Presently, in Tanfield Court, they came on the two young men + carrying the tankard and the bloodied linen. This time it was Gehagan who + did the talking. He accused Sarah furiously, showing her the tankard. + Sarah attempted to wipe the blood off the tankard handle with her apron. + Gehagan stopped her. + </p> + <p> + Sarah said the tankard was her own. Her mother had given it her, and she + had had it for five years. It was to get the tankard out of pawn that she + had taken Kerrel's waistcoats, needing thirty shillings. The blood on the + handle was due to her having pricked a finger. + </p> + <p> + With this began the series of lies Sarah Malcolm put up in her defence. + She was hauled into the watchman's box and more thoroughly searched. A + green silk purse containing twenty-one guineas was found in the bosom of + her dress. This purse Sarah declared she had found in the street, and as + an excuse for its cleanliness, unlikely with the streets as foul as they + were at that age and time of year, said she had washed it. Both bundles of + linen were bloodstained. There was some doubt as to the identity of the + green purse. Mrs Rhymer, who, as we have seen, was likelier than anyone to + recognize it, would not swear it was the green purse that had been in Mrs + Duncomb's black box. There was, however, no doubt at all about the + tankard. It had the initials "C. D." engraved upon it, and was at once + identified as Mrs Duncomb's. The linen which Sarah had been handling in Mr + Kerrel's drawer was said to be darned in a way recognizable as Mrs + Duncomb's. It had lain beside the tankard and the money in the black box. + </p> + <p> + IV + </p> + <p> + There was, it will be seen, but very little doubt of Sarah Malcolm's + guilt. According to the reports of her trial, however, she fought fiercely + for her life, questioning the witnesses closely. Some of them, such as + could remember small points against her, but who failed in recollection of + the colour of her dress or of the exact number of the coins said to be + lost, she vehemently denounced. + </p> + <p> + One of the Newgate turnkeys told how some of the missing money was + discovered. Being brought from the Compter to Newgate, Sarah happened to + see a room in which debtors were confined. She asked the turnkey, Roger + Johnson, if she could be kept there. Johnson replied that it would cost + her a guinea, but that from her appearance it did not look to him as if + she could afford so much. Sarah seems to have bragged then, saying that if + the charge was twice or thrice as much she could send for a friend who + would pay it. Her attitude probably made the turnkey suspicious. At any + rate, after Sarah had mixed for some time with the felons in the prison + taproom, Johnson called her out and, lighting the way by use of a link, + led her to an empty room. + </p> + <p> + "Child," he said, "there is reason to suspect that you are guilty of this + murder, and therefore I have orders to search you." He had, he admitted, + no such orders. He felt under her arms; whereupon she started and threw + back her head. Johnson clapped his hand on her head and felt something + hard. He pulled off her cap, and found a bag of money in her hair. + </p> + <p> + "I asked her," Johnson said in the witness-box, "how she came by it, and + she said it was some of Mrs Duncomb's money. 'But, Mr Johnson,' says she, + 'I'll make you a present of it if you will keep it to yourself, and let + nobody know anything of the matter. The other things against me are + nothing but circumstances, and I shall come well enough off. And therefore + I only desire you to let me have threepence or sixpence a day till the + sessions be over; then I shall be at liberty to shift for myself.'" + </p> + <p> + To the best of his knowledge, said this turnkey, having told the money + over, there were twenty moidores, eighteen guineas, five broad pieces, a + half-broad piece, five crowns, and two or three shillings. He thought + there was also a twenty-five-shilling piece and some others, + twenty-three-shilling pieces. He had sealed them up in the bag, and there + they were (producing the bag in court). + </p> + <p> + The court asked how she said she had come by the money. + </p> + <p> + Johnson's answer was that she had said she took the money and the bag from + Mrs Duncomb, and that she had begged him to keep it secret. "My dear," + said this virtuous gaoler, "I would not secrete the money for the world. + </p> + <p> + "She told me, too," runs Johnson's recorded testimony, "that she had hired + three men to swear the tankard was her grandmother's, but could not depend + on them: that the name of one was William Denny, another was Smith, and I + have forgot the third. After I had taken the money away she put a piece of + mattress in her hair, that it might appear of the same bulk as before. + Then I locked her up and sent to Mr Alstone, and told him the story. + 'And,' says I, 'do you stand in a dark place to be witness of what she + says, and I'll go and examine her again."' + </p> + <p> + Sarah interrupted: "I tied my handkerchief over my hair to hide the money, + but Buck,<a href="#linknote-19" name="linknoteref-19" id="linknoteref-19">[19]</a> + happening to see my hair fall down, he told Johnson; upon which Johnson + came to see me and said, 'I find the cole's planted in your hair. Let me + keep it for you and let Buck know nothing about it.' So I gave Johnson + five broad pieces and twenty-two guineas, not gratis, but only to keep for + me, for I expected it to be returned when sessions was over. As to the + money, I never said I took it from Mrs Duncomb; but he asked me what they + had to rap against me. I told him only a tankard. He asked me if it was + Mrs Duncomb's, and I said yes." + </p> + <p> + The Court: "Johnson, were those her words: 'This is the money and bag that + I took'?" + </p> + <p> + Johnson: "Yes, and she desired me to make away with the bag." + </p> + <p> + Johnson's evidence was confirmed in part by Alstone, another officer of + the prison. He said he told Johnson to get the bag from the prisoner, as + it might have something about it whereby it could be identified. Johnson + called the girl, while Alstone watched from a dark corner. He saw Sarah + give Johnson the bag, and heard her ask him to burn it. Alstone also + deposed that Sarah told him (Alstone) part of the money found on her was + Mrs Duncomb's. + </p> + <p> + There is no need here to enlarge upon the oddly slack and casual + conditions of the prison life of the time as revealed in this evidence. It + will be no news to anyone who has studied contemporary criminal history. + There is a point, however, that may be considered here, and that is the + familiarity it suggests on the part of Sarah with prison conditions and + with the cant terms employed by criminals and the people handling them. + </p> + <p> + Sarah, though still in her earliest twenties,<a href="#linknote-20" + name="linknoteref-20" id="linknoteref-20">[20]</a> was known already—if + not in the Temple—to have a bad reputation. It is said that her + closest friends were thieves of the worst sort. She was the daughter of an + Englishman, at one time a public official in a small way in Dublin. Her + father had come to London with his wife and daughter, but on the death of + the mother had gone back to Ireland. He had left his daughter behind him, + servant in an ale-house called the Black Horse. + </p> + <p> + Sarah was a fairly well-educated girl. At the ale-house, however, she + formed an acquaintance with a woman named Mary Tracey, a dissolute + character, and with two thieves called Alexander. Of these three + disreputable people we shall be hearing presently, for Sarah tried to + implicate them in this crime which she certainly committed alone. It is + said that the Newgate officers recognized Sarah on her arrival. She had + often been to the prison to visit an Irish thief, convicted for stealing + the pack of a Scots pedlar. + </p> + <p> + It will be seen from Sarah's own defence how she tried to implicate Tracey + and the two Alexanders: + </p> + <p> + "I freely own that my crimes deserve death; I own that I was accessory to + the robbery, but I was innocent of the murder, and will give an account of + the whole affair. + </p> + <p> + "I lived with Mrs Lydia Duncomb about three months before she was + murdered. The robbery was contrived by Mary Tracey, who is now in + confinement, and myself, my own vicious inclinations agreeing with hers. + We likewise proposed to rob Mr Oakes in Thames Street. She came to me at + my master's, Mr Kerrel's chambers, on the Sunday before the murder was + committed; he not being then at home, we talked about robbing Mrs Duncomb. + I told her I could not pretend to do it by myself, for I should be found + out. 'No,' says she, 'there are the two Alexanders will help us.' Next day + I had seventeen pounds sent me out of the country, which I left in Mr + Kerrel's drawers. I met them all in Cheapside the following Friday, and we + agreed on the next night, and so parted. + </p> + <p> + "Next day, being Saturday, I went between seven and eight in the evening + to see Mrs Duncomb's maid, Elizabeth Harrison, who was very bad. I stayed + a little while with her, and went down, and Mary Tracey and the two + Alexanders came to me about ten o'clock, according to appointment." + </p> + <p> + On this statement the whole implication of Tracey and the Alexanders by + Sarah stands or falls. It falls for the reason that the Temple porter had + seen no stranger pass the gate that night, nobody but Templars going to + their chambers. The one fact riddles the rest of Sarah's statement in + defence, but, as it is somewhat of a masterpiece in lying invention, I + shall continue to quote it. "Mary Tracey would have gone about the robbery + just then, but I said it was too soon. Between ten and eleven she said, + 'We can do it now.' I told her I would go and see, and so went upstairs, + and they followed me. I met the young maid on the stairs with a blue mug; + she was going for some milk to make a sack posset. She asked me who were + those that came after me. I told her they were people going to Mr Knight's + below. As soon as she was gone I said to Mary Tracey, 'Now do you and Tom + Alexander go down. I know the door is ajar, because the old maid is ill, + and can't get up to let the young maid in when she comes back.' Upon that, + James Alexander, by my order, went in and hid himself under the bed; and + as I was going down myself I met the young maid coming up again. She asked + me if I spoke to Mrs Betty. I told her no; though I should have told her + otherwise, but only that I was afraid she might say something to Mrs Betty + about me, and Mrs Betty might tell her I had not been there, and so they + might have a suspicion of me." + </p> + <p> + There is a possibility that this part of her confession, the tale of + having met the young maid, Nanny, may be true.<a href="#linknote-21" + name="linknoteref-21" id="linknoteref-21">[21]</a> And here may the truth + of the murder be hidden away. Very likely it is, indeed, that Sarah + encountered the girl going out with the blue mug for milk to make a sack + posset, and she may have slipped in by the open door to hide under the bed + until the moment was ripe for her terrible intention. On the other hand, + if there is truth in the tale of her encountering the girl again as she + returned with the milk—and her cunning in answering "no" to the + maid's query if she had seen Mrs Betty has the real ring—other ways + of getting an entry were open to her. We know that the lock of the vacant + chambers opposite Mrs Duncomb's would have yielded to small manipulation. + It is not at all unlikely that Sarah, having been charwoman to the old + lady, and with the propensities picked up from her Shoreditch + acquaintances, had made herself familiar with the locks on the landing. So + that she may have waited her hour in the empty rooms, and have got into + Mrs Duncomb's by the same method used by Mrs Oliphant after the murder. + She may even have slipped back the spring-catch of the outer door. One + account of the murder suggests that she may have asked Ann Price, on one + pretext or other, to let her share her bed. It certainly was not beyond + the callousness of Sarah Malcolm to have chosen this method, murdering the + girl in her sleep, and then going on to finish off the two helpless old + women. + </p> + <p> + The truth, as I have said, lies hidden in this extraordinarily mendacious + confection. Liars of Sarah's quality are apt to base their fabrications on + a structure, however slight, of truth. I continue with the confession, + then, for what the reader may get out of it. + </p> + <p> + "I passed her [Nanny Price] and went down, and spoke with Tracey and + Alexander, and then went to my master's chambers, and stirred up the fire. + I stayed about a quarter of an hour, and when I came back I saw Tracey and + Tom Alexander sitting on Mrs Duncomb's stairs, and I sat down with them. + At twelve o'clock we heard some people walking, and by and by Mr Knight + came home, went to his room, and shut the door. It was a very stormy + night; there was hardly anybody stirring abroad, and the watchmen kept up + close, except just when they cried the hour. At two o'clock another + gentleman came, and called the watch to light his candle, upon which I + went farther upstairs, and soon after this I heard Mrs Duncomb's door + open; James Alexander came out, and said, 'Now is the time.' Then Mary + Tracey and Thomas Alexander went in, but I stayed upon the stair to watch. + I had told them where Mrs Duncomb's box stood. They came out between four + and five, and one of them called to me softly, and said, 'Hip! How shall I + shut the door?' Says I, ''Tis a spring-lock; pull it to, and it will be + fast.' And so one of them did. They would have shared the money and goods + upon the stairs, but I told them we had better go down; so we went under + the arch by Fig-tree Court, where there was a lamp. I asked them how much + they had got. They said they had found fifty guineas and some silver in + the maid's purse, about one hundred pounds in the chest of drawers, + besides the silver tankard and the money in the box and several other + things; so that in all they had got to the value of about three hundred + pounds in money and goods. They told me that they had been forced to gag + the people. They gave me the tankard with what was in it and some linen + for my share, and they had a silver spoon and a ring and the rest of the + money among themselves. They advised me to be cunning and plant the money + and goods underground, and not to be seen to be flush. Then we appointed + to meet at Greenwich, but we did not go.<a href="#linknote-22" + name="linknoteref-22" id="linknoteref-22">[22]</a> + </p> + <p> + "I was taken in the manner the witnesses have sworn, and carried to the + watch-house, from whence I was sent to the Compter, and so to Newgate. I + own that I said the tankard was mine, and that it was left me by my + mother: several witnesses have swore what account I gave of the tankard + being bloody; I had hurt my finger, and that was the occasion of it. I am + sure of death, and therefore have no occasion to speak anything but the + truth. When I was in the Compter I happened to see a young man<a + href="#linknote-23" name="linknoteref-23" id="linknoteref-23">[23]</a> + whom I knew, with a fetter on. I told him I was sorry to see him there, + and I gave him a shilling, and called for half a quartern of rum to make + him drink. I afterwards went into my room, and heard a voice call me, and + perceived something poking behind the curtain. I was a little surprised, + and looking to see what it was, I found a hole in the wall, through which + the young man I had given the shilling to spoke to me, and asked me if I + had sent for my friends. I told him no. He said he would do what he could + for me, and so went away; and some time after he called to me again, and + said, 'Here is a friend.' + </p> + <p> + "I looked through, and saw Will Gibbs come in. Says he, 'Who is there to + swear against you?' I told him my two masters would be the chief + witnesses. 'And what can they charge you with?' says he. I told him the + tankard was the only thing, for there was nothing else that I thought + could hurt me. 'Never fear, then,' says he; 'we'll do well enough. We will + get them that will rap the tankard was your grandmother's, and that you + was in Shoreditch the night the act was committed; and we'll have two men + that shall shoot your masters. But,' said he, 'one of the witnesses is a + woman, and she won't swear under four guineas; but the men will swear for + two guineas apiece,' and he brought a woman and three men. I gave them ten + guineas, and they promised to wait for me at the Bull Head in Broad + Street. But when I called for them, when I was going before Sir Richard + Brocas, they were not there. Then I found I should be sent to Newgate, and + I was full of anxious thoughts; but a young man told me I had better go to + the Whit than to the Compter. + </p> + <p> + "When I came to Newgate I had but eighteenpence in silver, besides the + money in my hair, and I gave eighteenpence for my garnish. I was ordered + to a high place in the gaol. Buck, as I said before, having seen my hair + loose, told Johnson of it, and Johnson asked me if I had got any cole + planted there. He searched and found the bag, and there was in it + thirty-six moidores, eighteen guineas, five crown pieces, two half-crowns, + two broad pieces of twenty-five shillings, four of twenty-three shillings, + and one half-broad piece. He told me I must be cunning, and not to be seen + to be flush of money. Says I, 'What would you advise me to do with it?' + 'Why,' says he, 'you might have thrown it down the sink, or have burnt it, + but give it to me, and I'll take care of it.' And so I gave it to him. Mr + Alstone then brought me to the condemned hold and examined me. I denied + all till I found he had heard of the money, and then I knew my life was + gone. And therefore I confessed all that I knew. I gave him the same + account of the robbers as I have given you. I told him I heard my masters + were to be shot, and I desired him to send them word. I described Tracey + and the two Alexanders, and when they were first taken they denied that + they knew Mr Oakes, whom they and I had agreed to rob. + </p> + <p> + "All that I have now declared is fact, and I have no occasion to murder + three persons on a false accusation; for I know I am a condemned woman. I + know I must suffer an ignominious death which my crimes deserve, and I + shall suffer willingly. I thank God He has given me time to repent, when I + might have been snatched off in the midst of my crimes, and without having + an opportunity of preparing myself for another world." There is a glibness + and an occasional turn of phrase in this confession which suggests some + touching up from the pen of a pamphleteer, but one may take it that it is, + in substance, a fairly accurate report. In spite of the pleading which + threads it that she should be regarded as accessory only in the robbery, + the jury took something less than a quarter of an hour to come back with + their verdict of "Guilty of murder." Sarah Malcolm was sentenced to death + in due form. + </p> + <p> + V + </p> + <p> + Having regard to the period in which this confession was made, and + considering the not too savoury reputations of Mary Tracey and the + brothers Alexander, we can believe that those three may well have thought + themselves lucky to escape from the mesh of lies Sarah tried to weave + about them.<a href="#linknote-24" name="linknoteref-24" id="linknoteref-24">[24]</a> + It was not to be doubted on all the evidence that she alone committed that + cruel triple murder, and that she alone stole the money which was found + hidden in her hair. The bulk of the stolen clothing was found in her + possession, bloodstained. A white-handled case-knife, presumably that used + to cut Nanny Price's throat, was seen on a table by the three women who, + with Sarah herself, were first on the scene of the murder. It disappeared + later, and it is to be surmised that Sarah Malcolm managed to get it out + of the room unseen. But to the last moment possible Sarah tried to get her + three friends involved with her. Say, which is not at all unlikely, that + Tracey and the Alexanders may have first suggested the robbery to her, and + her vindictive maneouvring may be understood. + </p> + <p> + It is said that when she heard that Tracey and the Alexanders had been + taken she was highly pleased. She smiled, and said that she could now die + happy, since the real murderers had been seized. Even when the three were + brought face to face with her for identification she did not lack + brazenness. "Ay," she said, "these are the persons who committed the + murder." "You know this to be true," she said to Tracey. "See, Mary, what + you have brought me to. It is through you and the two Alexanders that I am + brought to this shame, and must die for it. You all promised me you would + do no murder, but, to my great surprise, I found the contrary." + </p> + <p> + She was, you will perceive, a determined liar. Condemned, she behaved with + no fortitude. "I am a dead woman!" she cried, when brought back to + Newgate. She wept and prayed, lied still more, pretended illness, and had + fits of hysteria. They put her in the old condemned hold with a constant + guard over her, for fear that she would attempt suicide. + </p> + <p> + The idlers of the town crowded to the prison to see her, for in the time + of his Blessed Majesty King George II Newgate, with the condemned hold and + its content, composed one of the fashionable spectacles. Young Mr Hogarth, + the painter, was one of those who found occasion to visit Newgate to view + the notorious murderess. He even painted her portrait. It is said that + Sarah dressed specially for him in a red dress, but that copy—one + which belonged to Horace Walpole—which is now in the National + Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, shows her in a grey gown, with a white cap + and apron. Seated to the left, she leans her folded hands on a table on + which a rosary and a crucifix lie. Behind her is a dark grey wall, with a + heavy grating over a dark door to the right. There are varied mezzotints + of this picture by Hogarth himself still extant, and there is a + pen-and-wash drawing of Sarah by Samuel Wale in the British Museum. + </p> + <p> + The stories regarding the last days in life of Sarah Malcolm would occupy + more pages than this book can afford to spend on them. To the last she + hoped for a reprieve. After the "dead warrant" had arrived, to account for + a paroxysm of terror that seized her, she said that it was from shame at + the idea that, instead of going to Tyburn, she was to be hanged in Fleet + Street among all the people that knew her, she having just heard the news + in chapel. This too was one of her lies. She had heard the news hours + before. A turnkey, pointing out the lie to her, urged her to confess for + the easing of her mind. + </p> + <p> + One account I have of the Tanfield Court murders speaks of the custom + there was at this time of the bellman of St Sepulchre's appearing outside + the gratings of the condemned hold just after midnight on the morning of + executions.<a href="#linknote-25" name="linknoteref-25" id="linknoteref-25">[25]</a> + This performance was provided for by bequest from one Robert Dove, or Dow, + a merchant-tailor. Having rung his bell to draw the attention of the + condemned (who, it may be gathered, were not supposed to be at all in want + of sleep), the bellman recited these verses: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + All you that in the condemned hold do lie, + Prepare you, for to-morrow you shall die. + Watch all and pray; the hour is drawing near + That you before th' Almighty must appear. + + Examine well yourselves, in time repent, + That you may not t'eternal flames be sent: + And when St 'Pulchre's bell to-morrow tolls, + The Lord above have mercy on your souls! + Past twelve o'clock!<a href="#linknote-26" name="linknoteref-26" + id="linknoteref-26">[26]</a> +</pre> + <p> + A fellow-prisoner or a keeper bade Sarah Malcolm heed what the bellman + said, urging her to take it to heart. Sarah said she did, and threw the + bellman down a shilling with which to buy himself a pint of wine. + </p> + <p> + Sarah, as we have seen, was denied the honour of procession to Tyburn. Her + sentence was that she was to be hanged in Fleet Street, opposite the Mitre + Court, on the 7th of March, 1733. And hanged she was accordingly. She + fainted in the tumbril, and took some time to recover. Her last words were + exemplary in their piety, but in the face of her vindictive lying, + unretracted to the last, it were hardly exemplary to repeat them. + </p> + <p> + She was buried in the churchyard of St Sepulchre's. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V: — ALMOST A LADY<a href="#linknote-27" name="linknoteref-27" + id="linknoteref-27">[27]</a> + </h2> + <p> + Born (probably illegitimately) in a fisherman's cottage, reared in a + workhouse, employed in a brothel, won at cards by a royal duke, mistress + of that duke, married to a baron, received at Court by three kings (though + not much in the way of kings), accused of cozenage and tacitly of murder, + died full of piety, 'cutting up' for close on L150,000—there, as it + were in a nutshell, you have the life of Sophie Dawes, Baronne de + Feucheres. + </p> + <p> + In the introduction to her exhaustive and accomplished biography of Sophie + Dawes,<a href="#linknote-28" name="linknoteref-28" id="linknoteref-28">[28]</a> + from which a part of the matter for this resume is drawn, Mme Violette + Montagu, speaking of the period in which Sophie lived, says that "Paris, + with its fabulous wealth and luxury, seems to have been looked upon as a + sort of Mecca by handsome Englishwomen with ambition and, what is + absolutely necessary if they wish to be really successful, plenty of + brains." + </p> + <p> + It is because Sophie had plenty of brains of a sort, besides the + attributes of good looks, health, and by much a disproportionate share of + determination, and because, with all that she attained to, she died quite + ostracized by the people with whom it had been her life's ambition to mix, + and was thus in a sense a failure—it is because of these things that + it is worth while going into details of her career, expanding the precis + with which this chapter begins. + </p> + <p> + Among the women selected as subjects for this book Sophie Dawes as a + personality wins 'hands down.' Whether she was a criminal or not is a + question even now in dispute. Unscrupulous she certainly was, and a good + deal of a rogue. That modern American product the 'gold-digger' is what + she herself would call a 'piker' compared with the subject of this + chapter. The blonde bombshell, with her 'sugar daddy,' her alimony + 'racket,' and the hundred hard-boiled dodges wherewith she chisels money + and goods from her prey, is, again in her own crude phraseology, 'knocked + for a row of ash-cans' by Sophie Dawes. As, I think, you will presently + see. + </p> + <p> + Sophie was born at St Helens, Isle of Wight—according to herself in + 1792. There is controversy on the matter. Mme Montagu in her book says + that some of Sophie's biographers put the date at 1790, or even 1785. But + Mme Montagu herself reproduces the list of wearing apparel with which + Sophie was furnished when she left the 'house of industry' (the + workhouse). It is dated 1805. In those days children were not maintained + in poor institutions to the mature ages of fifteen or twenty. They were + supposed to be armed against life's troubles at twelve or even younger. + Sophie, then, could hardly have been born before 1792, but is quite likely + to have been born later. + </p> + <p> + The name of Sophie's father is given as "Daw." Like many another + celebrity, as, for example, Walter Raleigh and Shakespeare, Sophie spelled + her name variously, though ultimately she fixed on "Dawes." Richard, or + Dickey, Daw was a fisherman for appearance sake and a smuggler for + preference. The question of Sophie's legitimacy anses from the fact that + her mother, Jane Callaway, was registered at death as "a spinster." Sophie + was one of ten children. Dickey Daw drank his family into the poorhouse, + an institution which sent Sophie to fend for herself in 1805, procuring + her a place as servant at a farm on the island. + </p> + <p> + Service on a farm does not appear to have appealed to Sophie. She escaped + to Portsmouth, where she found a job as hotel chambermaid. Tiring of that, + she went to London and became a milliner's assistant. A little affair we + hear, in which a mere water-carrier was an equal participant, lost Sophie + her place. We next have word of her imitating Nell Gwynn, both in selling + oranges to playgoers and in becoming an actress—not, however, at Old + Drury, but at the other patent theatre, Covent Garden. Save that as a + comedian she never took London by storm, and that she lacked Nell's + unfailing good humour, Sophie in her career matches Nell in more than + superficial particulars. Between selling oranges and appearing on the + stage Sophie seems to have touched bottom for a time in poverty. But her + charms as an actress captivated an officer by and by, and she was + established as his mistress in a house at Turnham Green. Tiring of her + after a time—Sophie, it is probable, became exigeant with increased + comfort—her protector left her with an annuity of L50. + </p> + <p> + The annuity does not appear to have done Sophie much good. We next hear of + her as servant-maid in a Piccadilly brothel, a lupanar much patronized by + wealthy emigres from France, among whom was Louis-Henri-Joseph, Duc de + Bourbon and later Prince de Conde, a man at that time of about fifty-four. + </p> + <p> + The Duc's attention was directed to the good looks of Sophie by a + manservant of his. Mme Montagu says of Sophie at this time that "her face + had already lost the first bloom of youth and innocence." Now, one wonders + if that really was so, or if Mme Montagu is making a shot at a hazard. She + describes Sophie a little earlier than this as having developed into a + fine young woman, not exactly pretty or handsome, but she held her head + gracefully, and her regular features were illumined by a pair of + remarkably bright and intelligent eyes. She was tall and squarely built, + with legs and arms which might have served as models for a statue of + Hercules. Her muscular force was extraordinary. Her lips were rather thin, + and she had an ugly habit of contracting them when she was angry. Her + intelligence was above the average, and she had a good share of wit. + </p> + <p> + At the time when the Duc de Bourbon came upon her in the Piccadilly stew + the girl was probably no more than eighteen. If one may judge her + character from the events of her subsequent career there was an + outstanding resiliency and a resoluteness as main ingredients of her + make-up, qualities which would go a long way to obviating any marks that + might otherwise have been left on her by the ups and downs of a mere five + years in the world. If, moreover, Mme Montagu's description of her is a + true one it is clear that Sophie's good looks were not of the sort to make + an all-round appeal. The ways in which attractiveness goes, both in men + and in women, are infinite in their variety. The reader may recall, in + this respect, what was said in the introductory chapter about Kate Webster + and the instance of the bewhiskered 'Fina of the Spanish tavern. And since + a look of innocence and the bloom of youth may, and very often do, appear + on the faces of individuals who are far from being innocent or even young, + it may well be that Sophie in 1810, servant-maid in a brothel though she + was, still kept a look of country freshness and health, unjaded enough to + whet the dulled appetence of a bagnio-haunting old rip. The odds are, at + all events, that Sophie was much less artificial in her charms than the + practised ladies of complacency upon whom she attended. With her odd good + looks she very likely had just that subacid leaven for which, in the + alchemy of attraction, the Duc was in search. + </p> + <p> + The Duc, however, was not the only one to whom Sophie looked desirable. + Two English peers had an eye on her—the Earl of Winchilsea and the + Duke of Kent. This is where the card affair comes in. The Duc either + played whist with the two noblemen for sole rights in Sophie or, what is + more likely, cut cards with them during a game. The Duc won. Whether his + win may be regarded as lucky or not can be reckoned, according to the + taste and fancy of the reader, from the sequelae of some twenty years. + </p> + <p> + II + </p> + <p> + With the placing of Sophie dans ses meubles by the Duc de Bourbon there + began one of the most remarkable turns in her career. In 1811 he took a + house for her in Gloucester Street, Queen's Square, with her mother as + duenna, and arranged for the completion of her education. + </p> + <p> + As a light on her character hardly too much can be made of this stage in + her development. It is more than likely that the teaching was begun at + Sophie's own demand, and by the use she made of the opportunities given + her you may measure the strength of her ambition. Here was no rich man's + doxy lazily seeking a veneer of culture, enough to gloss the rough patches + of speech and idea betraying humble origin. This fisherman's child, + workhouse girl, ancilla of the bordels, with the thin smattering of the + three R's she had acquired in the poor institution, set herself, with a + wholehearted concentration which a Newnham 'swot' might envy, to master + modern languages, with Greek, Latin, and music. At the end of three years + she was a good linguist, could play and sing well enough to entertain and + not bore the most intelligent in the company the Duc kept, and to pass in + that company—the French emigre set in London—as a person of + equal education. If, as it is said, Sophie, while she could read and write + French faultlessly, never could speak it without an English accent, it is + to be remembered that the flexibility of tongue and mind needed for + native-sounding speech in French (or any other language) is so exceptional + as to be practically non-existent among her compatriots to this day. The + fault scarcely belittles her achievement. As well blame a one-legged man + for hopping when trying to run. Consider the life Sophie had led, the sort + of people with whom she had associated, and that temptation towards + laissez-faire which conquers all but the rarest woman in the mode of life + in which she was existing, and judge of the constancy of purpose that kept + that little nose so steadfastly in Plutarch and Xenophon. + </p> + <p> + If in the year 1812 the Duc began to allow his little Sophie about L800 a + year in francs as pin-money he was no more generous than Sophie deserved. + The Duc was very rich, despite the fact that his father, the old Prince de + Conde, was still alive, and so, of course, was enjoying the income from + the family estates. + </p> + <p> + There is no room here to follow more than the barest outline of the Duc de + Bourbon's history. Fully stated, it would be the history of France. He was + a son of the Prince de Conde who collected that futile army beyond the + borders of France in the royalist cause in the Revolution. Louis-Henri was + wounded in the left arm while serving there, so badly wounded that the + hand was practically useless. He came to England, where he lived until + 1814, when he went back to France to make his unsuccessful attempt to + raise the Vendee. Then he went to Spain. + </p> + <p> + At this time he intended breaking with Sophie, but when he got back to + Paris in 1815 he found the lady waiting for him. It took Sophie some + eighteen months to bring his Highness up to scratch again. During this + time the Duc had another English fancy, a Miss Harris, whose reign in + favour, however, did not withstand the manoeuvring of Sophie. + </p> + <p> + Sophie as a mistress in England was one thing, but Sophie unattached as a + mistress in France was another. One wonders why the Duc should have been + squeamish on this point. Perhaps it was that he thought it would look + vulgar to take up a former mistress after so long. At all events, he was + ready enough to resume the old relationship with Sophie, provided she + could change her name by marriage. Sophie was nothing loth. The idea fell + in with her plans. She let it get about that she was the natural daughter + of the Duc, and soon had in tow one Adrien-Victor de Feucheres. He was an + officer of the Royal Guard. Without enlarging on the all-round tawdriness + of this contract it will suffice here to say that Sophie and Adrien were + married in London in August of 1818, the Duc presenting the bride with a + dowry of about L5600 in francs. Next year de Feucheres became a baron, and + was made aide-de-camp to the Duc. + </p> + <p> + Incredible as it may seem, de Feucheres took four years to realize what + was the real relationship between his wife and the Prince de Conde. The + aide-de-camp and his wife had a suite of rooms in the Prince's favourite + chateau at Chantilly, and the ambition which Sophie had foreseen would be + furthered by the marriage was realized. She was received as La Baronne de + Feucheres at the Court of Louis XVIII. She was happy—up to a point. + Some unpretty traits in her character began to develop: a violent temper, + a tendency to hysterics if crossed, and, it is said, a leaning towards + avaricious ways. At the end of four years the Baron de Feucheres woke up + to the fact that Sophie was deceiving him. It does not appear, however, + that he had seen through her main deception, because it was Sophie + herself, we are told, who informed him he was a fool—that she was + not the Prince's daughter, but his mistress. + </p> + <p> + Having waked up thus belatedly, or having been woken up by Sophie in her + ungoverned ill-temper, de Feucheres acted with considerable dignity. He + begged to resign his position as aide to the Prince, and returned his + wife's dowry. The departure of Sophie's hitherto complacent husband rather + embarrassed the Prince. He needed Sophie but felt he could not keep her + unattached under his roof and he sent her away—but only for a few + days. Sophie soon was back again in Chantilly. + </p> + <p> + The Prince made some attempt to get de Feucheres to return, but without + success. De Feucheres applied for a post in the Army of Spain, an + application which was granted at once. It took the poor man seven years to + secure a judicial separation from his wife. + </p> + <p> + The scandal of this change in the menage of Chantilly—it happened in + 1822—reached the ears of the King, and the Baronne de Feucheres was + forbidden to appear at Court. All Sophie's energies from then on were + concentrated on getting the ban removed. She explored all possible avenues + of influence to this end, and, incidentally drove her old lover nearly + frantic with her complaints giving him no peace. Even a rebuff from the + Duchesse de Berry, widow of the son of that prince who was afterwards + Charles X, did not put her off. She turned up one day at the Tuileries, to + be informed by an usher that she could not be admitted. + </p> + <p> + This desire to be reinstated in royal favour is at the back of all + Sophie's subsequent actions—this and her intention of feathering her + own nest out of the estate of her protector. It explains why she worked so + hard to have the Prince de Conde assume friendly relations with a family + whose very name he hated: that of the Duc d'Orleans. It is a clue to the + mysterious death, eight years later, of the Prince de Conde, last of the + Condes, in circumstances which were made to pass as suicide, but which in + unhampered inquiry would almost certainly have been found to indicate + murder. + </p> + <p> + III + </p> + <p> + Louis-Henri-Joseph, Duc de Bourbon and Prince de Conde, seems to have been + rather a simple old man: a useless old sinner, true enough, but relatively + harmless in his sinning, relatively venial in his uselessness. It were + futile to seek for the morality of a later age in a man of his day and + rank and country, just as it were obtuse to look for greatness in one so + much at the mercy of circumstance. As far as bravery went he had shown + himself a worthy descendant of "the Great Conde." But, surrounded by the + vapid jealousies of the most useless people who had ever tried to rule a + country, he, no more than his father, had the faintest chance to show the + Conde quality in war. Adrift as a comparatively young man, his world about + his ears, with no occupation, small wonder that in idleness he fell into + the pursuit of satisfactions for his baser appetites. He would have been, + there is good reason to believe, a happy man and a busy one in a camp. + There is this to be said for him: that alone among the spineless crowd of + royalists feebly waiting for the miracle which would restore their + privilege he attempted a blow for the lost cause. But where in all that + bed of disintegrating chalk was the flint from which he might have evoked + a spark? + </p> + <p> + The great grief of the Prince's life was the loss of his son, the young + Duc d'Enghien, shamefully destroyed by Bonaparte. It is possible that much + of the Prince's inertia was due to this blow. He had married, at the early + age of fourteen, Louise-Marie-Therese-Mathilde d'Orleans, daughter of + Louis-Philippe, Duc d'Orleans and the Duchesse de Chartres, the bride + being six years older than her husband. Such a marriage could not last. It + merely sustained the honeymoon and the birth of that only son. The couple + were apart in eighteen months, and after ten years they never even saw + each other again. About the time when Sophie's husband found her out and + departed the Princesse died. The Prince was advised to marry again, on the + chance that an heir might be born to the large fortune he possessed. But + Sophie by then had become a habit with the Prince—a bad one—and + the old man was content to be left to his continual hunting, and not to + bother over the fact that he was the last of his ancient line. + </p> + <p> + It may be easily believed that the Prince's disinclination to marry again + contented Sophie very well. And the fact that he had no direct heir was + one in which she saw possibilities advantageous to herself. + </p> + <p> + The Prince was then sixty-six years old. In the course of nature he was + almost bound to predecease her. His wealth was enormous, and out of it + Sophie wanted as much by bequest as she could get. She was much too + shrewd, however, to imagine that, even if she did contrive to be made his + sole heir, the influential families who had an eye upon the great + possessions of the Prince, and who through relationship had some right to + expect inheritance, would allow such a will to go uncontested. She + therefore looked about among the Prince's connexions for some one who + would accept coheirship with herself, and whose family would be strong + enough in position to carry through probate on such terms, but at the same + time would be grateful enough to her and venal enough to further her aim + of being reinstated at Court. Her choice in this matter shows at once her + political cunning, which would include knowledge of affairs, and her + ability as a judge of character. + </p> + <p> + It should be remembered that, in spite of his title of Duc de Bourbon, + Sophie's elderly protector was only distantly of that family. He was + descended in direct line from the Princes de Conde, whose connexion with + the royal house of France dated back to the sixteenth century. The other + line of 'royal' ducs in the country was that of Orleans, offshoot of the + royal house through Philippe, son of Louis XIII, and born in 1640. + Sophie's protector, Louis-Henri-Joseph, Prince de Conde, having married + Louise-Marie, daughter of the great-grandson of this Philippe, was thus + the brother-in-law of that Louis-Philippe, Duc d'Orleans, who in the + Revolution was known as "Egalite." This was a man whom, for his political + opinion and for his failure to stand by the King, Louis XVI, the Prince de + Conde utterly detested in memory. As much, moreover, as he had hated the + father did the Prince de Conde detest Egalite's son. But it was out of + this man's family that Sophie selected, though ultimately, her coheir. + </p> + <p> + Before she arrived at this point, however, Sophie had been at pains to do + some not very savoury manoeuvring. + </p> + <p> + By a dancer at the Opera, called Mimi, the Prince de Conde had an + illegitimate daughter, whom he had caused to be educated and whom he had + married to the Comte de Rully. The Comtesse de Rully and her husband had a + suite at Chantilly. This was an arrangement which Sophie, as reigning + Queen of Chantilly, did not like at all. While the Rully woman remained at + Chantilly Sophie could not think that her sway over the Prince was quite + as absolute as she wished. It took her six years of badgering her + protector, from 1819 to 1825, to bring about the eviction. + </p> + <p> + But meantime (for Sophie's machinations must be taken as concurrent with + events as they transpire) the Baronne de Feucheres had approached the son + of Philippe-Egalite, suggesting that the last-born of his six children, + the Duc d'Aumale, should have the Prince de Conde for godfather. If she + could persuade her protector to this the Duc d'Orleans, in return, was to + use his influence for her reinstatement at Court. And persuade the old man + to this Sophie did, albeit after a great deal of badgering on her part and + a great deal of grumbling on the part of the Prince. + </p> + <p> + The influence exerted at Court by the Duc d'Orleans does not seem to have + been very effective. The King who had dismissed her the Court, Louis + XVIII, died in 1824. His brother, the Comte d'Artois, ascended the throne + as Charles X, and continued by politically foolish recourses, comparable + in history to those of the English Stuarts, to alienate the people by + attempting to regain that anachronistic absolute power which the + Revolution had destroyed. He lasted a mere six years as king. The + revolution of 1830 sent him into exile. But up to the last month or so of + those six years he steadfastly refused to have anything to do with the + Baronne de Feucheres—not that Sophie ever gave up manoeuvring and + wheedling for a return to Court favour. + </p> + <p> + About 1826 Sophie had a secret proposition made to the King that she + should try to persuade the Prince de Conde to adopt as his heir one of the + brothers of the Duchesse de Berry, widow of the King's second son—or + would his Majesty mind if a son of the Duc d'Orleans was adopted? The King + did not care at all. + </p> + <p> + After that Sophie pinned her faith in the power possessed by the Duc + d'Orleans. She was not ready to pursue the course whereby her return to + Court might have been secured—namely, to abandon her equivocal + position in the Prince de Conde's household, and thus her power over the + Prince. She wanted first to make sure of her share of the fortune he would + leave. She knew her power over the old man. Already she had persuaded him + to buy and make over to her the estates of Saint-Leu and Boissy, as well + as to make her legacies to the amount of a million francs. Much as she + wanted to be received again at Court, she wanted more just as much as she + could grab from the Prince's estate. To make her inheritance secure she + needed the help of the Duc d'Orleans. + </p> + <p> + The Duc d'Orleans was nothing loth. He had the mind of a French bourgeois, + and all the bourgeois itch for money. He knew that the Prince de Conde + hated him, hated his politics, hated his very name. But during the seven + years it took Sophie to bring the Prince to the point of signing the will + she had in mind the son of Philippe-Egalite fawned like a huckster on his + elderly and, in more senses than one, distant relative. The scheme was to + have the Prince adopt the little Duc d'Aumale, already his godchild, as + his heir. + </p> + <p> + The ways by which Sophie went about the job of persuading her old lover do + not read pleasantly. She was a termagant. The Prince was stubborn. He + hated the very idea of making a will—it made him think of death. He + was old, ill, friendless. Sophie made his life a hell, but he had become + dependent upon her. She ill-used him, subjecting him to physical violence, + but yet he was afraid she might, as she often threatened, leave him. Her + way of persuading him reached the point, it is on record, of putting a + knife to his throat. Not once but several times his servants found him + scratched and bruised. But the old man could not summon up the strength of + mind to be quit of this succubine virago. + </p> + <p> + At last, on the 29th of August, 1829, Sophie's 'persuasions' succeeded. + The Prince consented to sign the will, and did so the following morning. + In its terms the Duc d'Aumale became residuary legatee, and 2,000,000 + francs, free of death-duty, were bequeathed to the Prince's "faithful + companion, Mme la baronne de Feucheres," together with the chateaux and + estates of Saint-Leu-Taverny, Boissy, Enghien, Montmorency, and + Mortefontaine, and the pavilion in the Palais-Bourbon, besides all the + Prince's furniture, carriages, horses, and so on. Moreover, the estate and + chateau of Ecouen was also given her, on condition that she allowed the + latter to be used as an orphanage for the descendants of soldiers who had + served with the Armies of Conde and La Vendee. The cost of running this + establishment, however, was to be borne by the Duc d'Aumale. + </p> + <p> + It might be thought that Sophie, having got her way, would have turned to + kindness in her treatment of her old lover. But no. All her mind was now + concentrated on working, through the Duc d'Orleans, for being received + again at Court. She ultimately succeeded in this. On the 7th of February, + 1830, she appeared in the presence of the King, the Dauphin and Dauphine. + In the business of preparing for this great day Chantilly and the Prince + de Conde were greatly neglected. The beggar on horseback had to be about + Paris. + </p> + <p> + But events were shaping in France at that time which were to be important + to the royal family, to Sophie and her supporters of the house of Orleans, + and fatal in consequence to the old man at Chantilly. + </p> + <p> + On the 27th of July revolution broke out in France. Charles X and his + family had to seek shelter in England, and Louis-Philippe, Duc d'Orleans, + became—not King of France, but "King of the French" by election. + This consummation had not been achieved without intrigue on the part of + Egalite's son. It was not an achievement calculated to abate the Prince de + Conde's hatred for him. Rather did it inflame that hatred. In the matter + of the famous will, moreover, as the King's son the little Duc d'Aumale + would be now in no need of the provision made for him by his unwilling + godfather, while members of the exiled royal family—notably the + grandson of Charles, the Duc de Bordeaux, certainly cut out of the + Prince's will by the intrigues of Sophie and family—were in want of + assistance. This is a point to be remembered in the light of subsequent + events. + </p> + <p> + IV + </p> + <p> + While she had been looking after herself Sophie Dawes had not been + unmindful ofthe advancement of hangers-on of her own family. She had about + her a nephew and a niece. The latter, supposed by some to have a closer + relationship to Sophie than that of mere niece, she had contrived to marry + off to a marquis. The Marquise de Chabannes de la Palice need not here + concern us further. But notice must be taken of the nephew. A few million + francs, provided by the Prince de Conde, had secured for this James Dawes + the title of Baron de Flassans, from a domain also bestowed upon him by + Sophie's elderly lover. De Flassans, with some minor post in the Prince's + household, acted as his aunt's jackal. + </p> + <p> + If Sophie, after the election to kingship of Louis-Philippe, found it + necessary to be in Paris a great deal to worship at the throne her nephew + kept her well informed about the Prince de Conde's activities. The old + man, it appeared, had suddenly developed the habit of writing letters. The + Prince, then at the chateau of Saint-Leu expressed a desire to remove to + Chantilly. He was behaving very oddly all round, was glad to have Sophie + out of his sight, and seemed unwilling even to hear her name. The + projected move to Chantilly, as a fact, was merely a blind to cover a + flight out of Sophie's reach and influence. Rumour arose about Saint-Leu + and in Paris that the Prince had made another will—one in which + neither Sophie nor the Duc d'Aumale was mentioned. This was a move of + which Sophie had been afraid. She saw to it that the Prince did not get + away from Saint-Leu. Rumour and the Prince's conduct made Sophie very + anxious. She tried to get him to make over to her in his lifetime those + properties which he had left to her in his will, and it is probable enough + that she would have forced this request but for the fact that, to raise + the legal costs, the property of Saint-Leu would have had to be sold. + </p> + <p> + This was the position of affairs about the middle of August 1830. It was + believed the Prince had already signed a will in favour of the exiled + little Duc de Bordeaux, but that he had kept the act secret from his + mistress. + </p> + <p> + On the morning of the 11th of the month the Prince was met outside his + bedroom in his night attire. It was a young man called Obry who thus met + the Prince. He was the old man's godchild. The old man's left eye was + bleeding, and there was a scratch on his cheek as if made by a fingernail. + To Obry the Prince attributed these wounds to the spite of the Baronne de + Feucheres. Half an hour later he told his valet he had hit his head + against a night-table. Later again in the day he gave another version + still: he had fallen against the door to a secret staircase from his + bedroom while letting the Baronne de Feucheres out, the secret staircase + being in communication with Sophie's private apartments. + </p> + <p> + For the next ten days or so the Prince was engaged in contriving his + flight from the gentle Sophie, a second plan which again was spoiled by + Sophie's spies. There was something of a fete at Saint-Leu on the 26th, + the Prince's saint's day. There was a quarrel between Sophie and the + Prince on the morning of the 26th in the latter's bedroom. Sophie had then + been back in Saint-Leu for three days. At midnight on the 26th the old man + retired after playing a game or two at whist. He was to go on the 30th to + Chantilly. He was accompanied to his bedroom by his surgeon and a valet, + one Lecomte, and expressed a desire to be called at eight o'clock. Lecomte + found a paper in the Prince's trousers and gave it to the old man, who + placed it on the mantelshelf. Then the valet, as he said later, locked the + door of the Prince's dressing-room, thus—except for the entrance + from the secret staircase—locking the old man in his room. + </p> + <p> + The Prince's apartments were on the first floor of the chateau. His + bedroom was approached through the dressing-room from the main corridor. + Beyond the dressing-room was a passage, turning left from which was the + bedroom, and to the right in which was an entrance to an anteroom. Facing + the dressing-room door in this same passage was the entrance to the secret + staircase already mentioned. The staircase gave access to the Baronne de + Feucheres' apartments on the entrance floor. These, however, were not + immediately under the Prince's rooms. An entresol intervened, and here the + rooms were occupied by the Abbe Briant, a creature of Sophie's and her + secretary, the Widow Lachassine, Sophie's lady's-maid, and a couple named + Dupre. These last, also spies of Sophie's, had their room direcdy below + the Prince's bedroom, and it is recorded that the floor was so thin that + they could hear not only the old man's every movement, but anything he + said. + </p> + <p> + Adjacent to the Prince's room, and on the same floor, were the rooms + occupied by Lambot, the Prince's aide, and the valet Lecomte. Lambot was a + lover of Sophie's, and had been the great go-between in her intrigues with + the Orleans family over the will. Lecomte was in Sophie's pay. Close to + Sophie's apartments on the entrance floor were the rooms occupied by her + nephew and his wife, the de Flassans. It will be seen, therefore, that the + wing containing the Prince's rooms was otherwise occupied almost + completely by Sophie's creatures. + </p> + <p> + You have, then, the stage set for the tragedy which was about to ensue: + midnight; the last of the Condes peaceably in his bedroom for the night, + and locked in it (according to Lecomte). About him, on all sides, are the + creatures of his not too scrupulous mistress. All these people, with the + exception of the Baronne de Flassans, who sat up writing letters until + two, retire about the same time. + </p> + <p> + And at eight o'clock next morning, there being no answer to Lecomte's + knocking to arouse the Prince, the door is broken open at the orders of + the Baronne de Feucheres. The Prince is discovered dead in his bedroom, + suspended by the neck, by means of two of his own handkerchiefs knotted + together, from the fastening of one of the French windows. + </p> + <p> + The fastening was only about two and a half feet off the floor. The + handkerchief about the dead man's neck was loose enough to have permitted + insertion of all the fingers of a hand between it and the neck. The second + handkerchief was tied to the first, and its other end was knotted to the + window-fastening, and the dead man's right cheek was pressed against the + closed shutter. The knees were bent a little, the feet were on the floor. + None of the usual indications of death by strangulation were present. The + eyes were half closed. The face was pale but not livid. The mouth was + almost closed. There was no protrusion of the tongue. + </p> + <p> + On the arrival of the civil functionaries, the Mayor of Saint-Leu and a + Justice of the Peace from Enghien, the body was taken down and put on the + bed. It was then found that the dead man's ankles were greatly bruised and + his legs scratched. On the left side of the throat, at a point too low for + it to have been done by the handkerchief, there was some stripping of the + skin. A large red bruise was found between the Prince's shoulders. + </p> + <p> + The King, Louis-Philippe, heard about the death of the Prince de Conde at + half-past eleven that same day. He immediately sent his High Chancellor, + M. Pasquier, and his own aide-de-camp, M. de Rumigny, to inquire into the + matter. It is not stretching things too far to say that the King's + instructions to these gentlemen are revealed in phrases occurring in the + letters they sent his Majesty that same evening. Both recommend that Drs. + Marc and Marjolin should be sent to investigate the Prince's tragic death. + But M. Pasquier mentions that "not a single document has been found, so a + search has already been made." And M. de Rumigny thinks "it is important + that nobody should be accused who is likely to benefit by the will." What + document was expected to be discovered in the search? Why, a second will + that would invalidate the first. Who was to benefit by the first will? + Why, the little Duc d'Aumale and Dame Sophie Dawes, Baronne de Feucheres! + </p> + <p> + The post-mortem examination was made by the King's own physicians. During + the examination the Prince's doctors, MM. Dubois and Gendrin, his personal + secretary, and the faithful one among his body-servants, Manoury, were + sent out of the room. The verdict was suicide. The Prince's own doctors + maintained that suicide by the handkerchiefs from the window-fastening was + impossible. Dr Dubois wrote his idea of how the death had occurred: + </p> + <p> + The Prince very likely was asleep in his bed. The murderers must have been + given entrance to his bedroom—I have no wish to ask how or by whom. + They then threw themselves on the Prince, gripped him firmly, and could + easily pin him down on his bed; then the most desperate and dexterous of + the murderers suffocated him as he was thus held firmly down; finally, in + order to make it appear that he had committed suicide and to hinder any + judicial investigations which might have discovered the identity of the + assassins, they fastened a handkerchief about their victim's neck, and + hung him up by the espagnolette of the window. + </p> + <p> + And that, at all hazards, is about the truth of the death of the Duc de + Bourbon and Prince de Conde. There was some official display of rigour in + investigation by the Procureur; there was much play with some mysterious + papers found a good time after the first discovery half-burned in the + fireplace of the Prince's bedroom; there was a lot put forward to support + the idea of suicide; but the blunt truth of the affair is that the Prince + de Conde was murdered, and that the murder was hushed up as much as + possible. Not, however, with complete success. There were few in France + who gave any countenance to the theory of suicide. + </p> + <p> + The Prince, it will be remembered, had a practically disabled left arm. It + is said that he could not even remove his hat with his left hand. The + knots in the handkerchiefs used to tie him to the espagnolette were both + complicated and tightly made. Impossible for a one-handed man. His bed, + which at the time of his retiring to it stood close to the alcove wall, + was a good foot and a half away from that wall in the morning. Impossible + feat also for this one-handed man. It was the Prince's habit to lie so + much to one side of the bed that his servants had to prop the outside edge + up with folded blankets. On the morning when his death was discovered it + was seen that the edges still were high, while the centre was very much + pressed down. There was, in fact, a hollow in the bed's middle such as + might have been made by some one standing on it with shoes on. It is + significant that the bedclothes were neatly turned down. If the Prince had + got up on a sudden impulse to commit suicide he is hardly likely, being a + prince, to have attempted remaking his bed. He must, moreover, since he + could normally get from bed only by rolling on his side, have pressed out + that heightened edge. Manoury, the valet who loved him, said that the bed + in the morning looked more as if it had been SMOOTHED OUT than remade. + This would tend to support the theory of Dr Dubois. The murderers, having + suffocated the Prince, would be likely to try effacing the effects of his + struggling by the former method rather than the latter. + </p> + <p> + But the important point of the affair, as far as this chapter on it is + concerned, is the relation of Sophie Dawes with it on the conclusion of + murder. How deeply was she implicated? Let us see how she acted on hearing + that there was no reply to Lecomte's knocking, and let us examine her + conduct from that moment on. + </p> + <p> + Note that the Baronne de Feucheres was the first person whom Lecomte and + the Prince's surgeon apprised of the Prince's silence. She rushed out of + her room and made for the Prince's, not by the secret staircase, but by + the main one. She knew, however, that the door to the secret staircase + from the Prince's room was not bolted that night. This knowledge was + admitted for her later by the Prince's surgeon, M. Bonnie. She had gone up + to the Prince's room by the main staircase in order to hide the fact, an + action which gives a touch of theatricality to her exhibited concern about + the Prince's silence. + </p> + <p> + The search for documents spoken of by M. Pasquier in his letter to the + King had been carried out by Sophie in person, with the aid of her nephew + de Flassans and the Abbe Briant. It was a thorough search, and a piece of + indecorousness which she excused on the ground of being afraid the + Prince's executors might find a will which made her the sole heir, to the + exclusion of the Duc d'Aumale. + </p> + <p> + Regarding the 'accident' which had happened to the Prince on the 11th of + August, she said it was explained by an earlier attempt on his part to do + away with himself. She tried to deny that she had been at Saint-Leu at the + time of the actual happening, when the fact was that she only left for + Paris some hours later. + </p> + <p> + When, some time later, the Prince's faithful valet Manoury made mention of + the fact that the Prince had wanted to put the width of the country + between himself and his mistress, Sophie first tried to put the fear of + Louis-Philippe into the man, then, finding he was not to be silenced that + way, tried to buy him with a promise of employment. + </p> + <p> + It is beyond question that the Prince de Conde was murdered. He was + murdered in a wing of the chateau in which he was hemmed in on all sides + by Sophie's creatures. It is impossible that Sophie was not privy, at the + least, to the deed. It is not beyond the bounds of probability that she + was an actual participator in the murder. + </p> + <p> + She was a violent woman, as violent and passionate as she was determined. + Not once but many times is it on record that she physically ill-used her + elderly lover. There was one occasion, it is said, when the Prince + suddenly came upon her in a very compromising position with a younger man + in the park of one of his chateaux. Sophie, before the Prince could utter + a protest, cut him across the face with her riding-whip, and finished up + by thrashing him with his own cane. + </p> + <p> + Here you have the stuff, at any rate, of which your murderesses of the + violent type are made. It is the metal out of which your Kate Websters, + your Sarah Malcolms, your Meteyards and Brownriggs fashion themselves. It + takes more than three years of scholastic self-discipline, such as Sophie + Dawes in her ambition subjected herself to, to eradicate the inborn + harridan. The very determination which was at the back of Sophie's efforts + at self-education, that will to have her own way, would serve to heighten + the sick rage with which she would discover that her carefully wrought + plans of seven years had come to pieces. What was it that the Abbe Pelier + de Lacroix had in "proof of the horrible assassination" of the Prince de + Conde, but that he was prevented from placing before the lawyers in charge + of the later investigation, if not the fact that the Prince had made a + later will than the one by which Sophie inherited so greatly? The Abbe was + the Prince's chaplain. He published a pamphlet declaring that the Prince + had made a will leaving his entire fortune to the little Duc de Bordeaux, + but that Sophie had stolen this later will. Who likelier to be a witness + to such a will than the Prince's chaplain? + </p> + <p> + It needs no great feat of imagination to picture what the effect of such a + discovery would be on a woman of Sophie's violent temper, or to conceive + how little the matter of taking a life especially the life of a feeble old + man she was used to bullying and mishandling—would be allowed to + stand in the way of rescuing her large gains. Murder of the Prince was her + only chance. It had taken her seven years to bring him to the point of + signing that first will. He was seventy-four years of age, enfeebled, + obstinate, and she knew of his plans to flee from her. Even supposing that + she could prevent his flight, could she begin all over again to another + seven years of bullying and wheedling—always with the prospect of + the old man dying before she could get him to the point again of doing as + she wished? The very existence of the second will was a menace. It only + needed that the would-be heirs of the Prince should hear of it, and there + would be a swoop on their part to rescue the testator from her clutches. + In the balance against 2,000,000 francs and some halfdozen castles with + their estates the only wonder is that any reasonable person, knowing the + history of Sophie Dawes, should hesitate about the value she was likely to + place on the old man's life. + </p> + <p> + The inquiry begun in September of 1830 into the circumstances surrounding + the death of the Prince was cooked before it was dressed. The honest man + into whose hands it was placed at first, a M. de la Hurpoie, proved + himself too zealous. After a night visit from the Procureur he was retired + into private life. After that the investigators were hand-picked. They + concluded the investigation the following June, with the declaration that + the Prince had committed suicide, a verdict which had its reward—in + advancement for the judges. + </p> + <p> + In the winter of 1831-32 there was begun a lawsuit in which the Princes de + Rohan brought action against Sophie and the Duc d'Aumale for the upsetting + of the will under which the latter two had inherited the Prince de Conde's + fortune. The grounds for the action were the undue influence exerted by + Sophie. The Princes de Rohan lost. + </p> + <p> + Thus was Sophie twice 'legally' vindicated. But public opinion refused her + any coat of whitewash. Never popular in France, she became less and less + popular in the years that followed her legal triumphs. Having used her for + his own ends, Louis-Philippe gradually shut off from her the light of his + cod-like countenance.<a href="#linknote-29" name="linknoteref-29" + id="linknoteref-29">[29]</a> + </p> + <p> + Sophie found little joy in her wide French possessions. She found herself + without friends before whom she could play the great lady in her castles. + She gradually got rid of her possessions, and returned to her native land. + She bought an estate near Christchurch, in Hampshire, and took a house in + Hyde Park Square, London. But she did not long enjoy those English homes. + While being treated for dropsy in 1840 she died of angina. According to + the famous surgeon who was at her bedside just before her demise, she died + "game." + </p> + <p> + It may almost be said that she lived game. There must have been a fighting + quality about Sophie to take her so far from such a bad start. Violent as + she was of temper, greedy, unscrupulous, she seems yet to have had some + instincts of kindness. The stories of her good deeds are rather swamped by + those of her bad ones. She did try to do some good with the Prince's money + round about Chantilly, took a definite and lasting interest in the + alms-houses built there by "the Great Conde," and a request in her own + will was to the effect that if she had ever done anything for the Orleans + gang, the Prince de Conde's wishes regarding the use of the chateau of + Ecouen as an orphanage might be fulfilled as a reward to her. The request + never was fulfilled, but it does show that Sophie had some affinity in + kindness to Nell Gwynn. + </p> + <p> + How much farther—or how much better—would Sophie Dawes have + fared had her manners been less at the mercy of her temper? It is + impossible to say. That she had some quality of greatness is beyond doubt. + The resolution of character, the will to achieve, and even the viraginous + temper might have carried her far had she been a man some thirty years + earlier in the country of her greater activities. Under Napoleon, as a + man, Sophie might have climbed high on the way to glory. As a woman, with + those traits, there is almost tragic inevitability in the manner in which + we find her ranged with what Dickens called "Glory's bastard brother"—Murder. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI: — ARSENIC A LA BRETONNE + </h2> + <p> + On Tuesday, the 1st of July, in the year 1851, two gentlemen, sober of + face as of raiment, presented themselves at the office of the + Procureur-General in the City of Rennes. There was no need for them to + introduce themselves to that official. They were well-known medical men of + the city, Drs Pinault and Boudin. The former of the two acted as + spokesman. + </p> + <p> + Dr Pinault confessed to some distress of mind. He had been called in by + his colleague for consultation in the case of a girl, Rosalie Sarrazin, + servant to an eminent professor of law, M. Bidard. In spite of the + ministrations of himself and his colleague, Rosalie had died. The symptoms + of the illness had been very much the same as in the case of a former + servant of M. Bidard's, a girl named Rose Tessier, who had also died. With + this in mind they had persuaded the relatives of Rosalie to permit an + autopsy. They had to confess that they had found no trace of poison in the + body, but they were still convinced the girl had died of poisoning. With + his colleague backing him, Dr Pinault was able to put such facts before + the Procureur-General that that official almost at once reached for his + hat to accompany the two doctors to M. Bidard's. + </p> + <p> + The door of the Professor's house was opened to them by Helene Jegado, + another of M. Bidard's servants. She was a woman of forty odd, somewhat + scraggy of figure and, while not exactly ugly, not prepossessing of + countenance. Her habit of looking anywhere but into the face of anyone + addressing her gave her rather a furtive air. + </p> + <p> + Having ushered the three gentlemen into the presence of the Professor, the + servant-woman lingered by the door. + </p> + <p> + "We have come, M. Bidard," said the Procureur, "on a rather painful + mission. One of your servants died recently—it is suspected, of + poisoning." + </p> + <p> + "I am innocent!" + </p> + <p> + The three visitors wheeled to stare, with the Professor, at the grey-faced + woman in the doorway. It was she who had made the exclamation. + </p> + <p> + "Innocent of what?" demanded the Law officer. "No one has accused you of + anything!" + </p> + <p> + This incautious remark on the part of the servant, together with the facts + already put before him by the two doctors and the information he obtained + from her employer, led the Procureur-General to have her arrested. Helene + Jegado's past was inquired into, and a strange and dreadful Odyssey the + last twenty years of her life proved to be. It was an Odyssey of death. + </p> + <p> + Helene was born at Plouhinec, department of Morbihan, on (according to the + official record) "28 prairial," in the eleventh year of the republic + (1803). Orphaned at the age of seven, she was sheltered by the cure of + Bubry, M. Raillau, with whom two of her aunts were servants. Sixteen years + later one of those aunts, Helene Liscouet, took Helene with her into + service with M. Conan, cure at Seglien, and it was here that Helene + Jegado's evil ways would appear first to become manifest. A girl looking + after the cure's sheep declared she had found grains of hemp in soup + prepared for her by Helene. + </p> + <p> + It was not, however, until 1833 that causing death is laid at her charge. + </p> + <p> + In that year she entered the service of a priest in Guern, one Le Drogo. + In the space of little more than three months, from the 28th of June to + the 3rd of October, seven persons in the priest's household died. All + those people died after painful vomitings, and all of them had eaten food + prepared by Helene, who nursed each of them to the last. The victims of + this fatal outbreak of sickness included Helene's own sister Anna + (apparently on a visit to Guern from Bubry), the rector's father and + mother, and Le Drogo himself. This last, a strong and vigorous man, was + dead within thirty-two hours of the first onset of his illness. Helene, it + was said, showed the liveliest sorrow over each of the deaths, but on the + death of the rector was heard to say, "This won't be the last!" Nor was + it. Two deaths followed that of Le Drogo. + </p> + <p> + Such a fatal outbreak did not pass without suspicion. The body of the + rector was examined by Dr Galzain, who found indications of grave disorder + in the digestive tracts, with inflammation of the intestines. His + colleague, Dr Martel, had suspicions of poison, but the pious sorrow of + Helene lulled his mind as far as she was concerned. + </p> + <p> + We next find Helene returned to Bubry, replacing her sister Anna in the + service of the cure there. In three months three people died: Helene's + aunt Marie-Jeanne Liscouet and the cure's niece and sister. This last, a + healthy girl of about sixteen, was dead within four days, and it is to be + noted that during her brief illness she drank nothing but milk from the + hands of Helene. But here, as hitherto, Helene attended all the sufferers. + Her grief over their deaths impressed every one with whom she came in + contact. + </p> + <p> + From Bubry Helene went to Locmine. Her family connexion as servants with + the clergy found her room for three days in the rectory, after which she + became apprentice to a needlewoman of the town, one Marie-Jeanne + Leboucher, with whom she lived. The Widow Leboucher was stricken ill, as + also was one of her daughters. Both died. The son of the house, Pierre, + also fell ill. But, not liking Helene, he refused her ministrations, and + recovered. By this time Helene had become somewhat sensitive. + </p> + <p> + "I'm afraid," she said to a male relative of the deceased sempstress, + "that people will accuse me of all those deaths. Death follows me wherever + I go." She quitted the Leboucher establishment in distress. + </p> + <p> + A widow of the same town offered her house room. The widow died, having + eaten soup of Helene's preparing. On the day following the Widow Lorey's + death her niece, Veuve Cadic, arrived. The grief-stricken Helene threw + herself into the niece's arms. + </p> + <p> + "My poor girl!" exclaimed the Veuve Cadic. + </p> + <p> + "Ai—but I'm so unhappy!" Helene grieved. "Where-ever I go—Seglien, + Guern, Bubry, Veuve Laboucher's—people die!" + </p> + <p> + She had cause for grief, sure enough. In less than eighteen months + thirteen persons with whom she had been closely associated had died of + violent sickness. But more were to follow. + </p> + <p> + In May of 1835 Helene was in service with the Dame Toussaint, of Locmine. + Four more people died. They were the Dame's confidential maid, Anne Eveno, + M. Toussaint pere, a daughter of the house, Julie, and, later, Mme + Toussaint herself. They had eaten vegetable soup prepared by Helene + Jegado. Something tardily the son of the house, liking neither Helene's + face nor the deathly rumours that were rife about her, dismissed her. + </p> + <p> + To one as burdened with sorrow as Helene Jegado appeared to be the life + conventual was bound to hold appeal. She betook herself to the pleasant + little town of Auray, which sits on a sea arm behind the nose of Quiberon, + and sought shelter in the convent of the Eternal Father there. She was + admitted as a pensionnaire. Her sojourn in the convent did not last long, + for queer disorders marked her stay. Linen in the convent cupboards and + the garments of the pupils were maliciously slashed. Helene was suspect + and was packed off. + </p> + <p> + Once again Helene became apprentice to a sempstress, this time an old maid + called Anne Lecouvrec, proprietress of the Bonnes-oeuvres in Auray. The + ancient lady, seventy-seven years of age, tried Helene's soup. She died + two days later. To a niece of the deceased Helene made moan: "Ah! I carry + sorrow. My masters die wherever I go!" + </p> + <p> + The realization, however, did not prevent Helene from seeking further + employment. She next got a job with a lady named Lefur in Ploermel, and + stayed for a month. During that time Helene's longing for the life + religious found frequent expression, and she ultimately departed to pay a + visit, so she said, to the good sisters of the Auray community. Some time + before her departure, however, she persuaded Anne Lefur to accept a drink + of her preparing, and Anne, hitherto a healthy woman, became very ill + indeed. In this case Helene did not show her usual solicitude. She rather + heartlessly abandoned the invalid—which would appear to have been a + good thing for the invalid, for, lacking Helene's ministrations, she got + better. + </p> + <p> + Helene meantime had found a place in Auray with a lady named Hetel. The + job lasted only a few days. Mme Hetel's son-in-law, M. Le Dore, having + heard why Helene was at need to leave the convent of the Eternal Father, + showed her the door of the house. That was hasty, but not hasty enough. + His mother-in-law, having already eaten meats cooked by Helene, was in the + throes of the usual violent sickness, and died the day after Helene's + departure. + </p> + <p> + Failing to secure another place in Auray, Helene went to Pontivy, and got + a position as cook in the household of the Sieur Jouanno. She had been + there some few months when the son of the house, a boy of fourteen, died + after a sickness of five days that was marked by vomiting and convulsions. + In this case an autopsy was immediately held. It revealed an inflamed + condition of the stomach and some corrosion of the intestines. But the boy + had been known to be a vinegar-drinker, and the pathological conditions + discovered by the doctor were attributed by him to the habit. + </p> + <p> + Helene's next place was with a M. Kerallic in Hennebont. M. Kerallic was + recovering from a fever. After drinking a tisane prepared by Helene he had + a relapse, followed by repeated and fierce vomiting that destroyed him in + five days. This was in 1836. After that the trail of death which had + followed Helene's itineracy about the lower section of the Brittany + peninsula was broken for three years. + </p> + <p> + In 1839 we hear of her again, in the house of the Dame Veron, where + another death occurred, again with violent sickness. + </p> + <p> + Two years elapse. In 1841 Helene was in Lorient, domestic servant to a + middle-aged couple named Dupuyde-Lome, with whom lived their daughter and + her husband, a M. Breger. First the little daughter of the young couple + died, then all the members of the family were seized by illness, its onset + being on the day following the death of the child. No more of the family + died, but M. Dupuy and his daughter suffered from bodily numbness for + years afterwards, with partial paralysis and recurrent pains in the + extremities. + </p> + <p> + Helene seems to have made Lorient too hot for herself, and had to go + elsewhere. Port Louis is her next scene of action. A kinswoman of her + master in this town, one Duperron, happened to miss a sheet from the + household stock. Mlle Leblanc charged Helene with the theft, and demanded + the return of the stolen article. It is recorded that Helene refused to + give it up, and her answer is curious. + </p> + <p> + "I am going into retreat," she declared. "God has forgiven me my sins!" + </p> + <p> + There was perhaps something prophetic in the declaration. By the time + Helene was brought to trial, in 1854, her sins up to this point of record + were covered by the prescription legale, a sort of statute of limitations + in French law covering crime. Between 1833 and 1841 the wanderings of + Helene Jegado through those quiet Brittany towns had been marked by + twenty-three deaths, six illnesses, and numerous thefts. + </p> + <p> + There is surcease to Helene's death-dealing between the years of 1841 and + 1849, but on the inquiries made after her arrest a myriad of accusers + sprang up to tell of thefts during that time. They were petty thefts, but + towards the end of the period they begin to indicate a change in Helene's + habits. She seems to have taken to drink, for her thefts are mostly of + wine and eau de vie. + </p> + <p> + In March 1848 Helene was in Rennes. On the 6th of November of the + following year, having been dismissed from several houses for theft, she + became sole domestic servant to a married couple called Rabot. Their son, + Albert, who was already ill, died in the end of December. He had eaten a + farina porridge cooked by Helene. In the following February, having + discovered Helene's depredations from the wine-cupboard, M. Rabot gave her + notice. This was on the 3rd of the month. (Helene was to leave on the + 13th.) The next day Mme Rabot and Rabot himself, having taken soup of + Helene's making, became very ill. Rabot's mother-in-law ate a panade + prepared by Helene. She too fell ill. They all recovered after Helene had + departed, but Rabot, like M. Dupuy-de-Lome, was partially paralysed for + months afterwards. + </p> + <p> + In Helene's next situation, with people called Ozanne, her way of + abstracting liquor again was noticed. She was chided for stealing eau de + vie. Soon after that the Ozannes' little son died suddenly, very suddenly. + The doctor called in thought it was from a croup fever. + </p> + <p> + On the day following the death of the little Ozanne Helene entered the + service of M. Roussell, proprietor of the Bout-du-Monde hotel in Rennes. + Some six weeks later Roussell's mother suddenly became ill. She had had + occasion to reproach Helene for sullen ill-manners or something of that + sort. She ate some potage which Helene had cooked. The illness that ensued + lasted a long time. Eighteen months later the old lady had hardly + recovered. + </p> + <p> + In the hotel with Helene as fellow-servant there was a woman of thirty, + Perrotte Mace, very greatly relied upon by her masters, with whom she had + been five years. She was a strongly built woman who carried herself + finely. Perrotte openly agreed with the Veuve Roussell regarding Helene's + behaviour. This, with the confidence reposed in Perrotte by the Roussells, + might have been enough to set Helene against her. But there was an + additional cause for jealousy: Jean Andre, the hotel ostler, but also + described as a cabinet-maker, though friendly enough with Helene, showed a + marked preference for the younger, and comelier, Perrotte. The Veuve + Roussell fell ill in the middle of June. In August Perrotte was seized by + a similar malady, and, in spite of all her resistance, had to take to her + bed. Vomiting and purging marked the course of her illness, pains in the + stomach and limbs, distension of the abdomen, and swelling of the feet. + With her strong constitution she put up a hard fight for her life, but + succumbed on the 1st of September, 1850. The doctors called in, MM. + Vincent and Guyot, were extremely puzzled by the course of the illness. At + times the girl would seem to be on the mend, then there would come a + sudden relapse. After Perrotte's death they pressed for an autopsy, but + the peasant relatives of the girl showed the usual repugnance of their + class to the idea. Helene was taken red-handed in the theft of wine, and + was dismissed. Fifteen days later she took service with the Bidards. + </p> + <p> + These are the salient facts of Helene's progression from 1833 to 1851 as + brought out by the investigations made by and for the Procureur-General of + Rennes. All possible channels were explored to discover where Helene had + procured the arsenic, but without success. Under examination by the Juge + d'instruction she stoutly denied all knowledge of the poison. "I don't + know anything about arsenic—don't know what it is," she repeated. + "No witness can say I ever had any." It was believed that she had secured + a large supply in her early days, and had carried it with her through the + years, but that at the first definite word of suspicion against her had + got rid of it. During her trial mention was made of packets found in a + chest she had used while at Locsine, the place where seven deaths had + occurred. But it was never clearly established that these packets had + contained arsenic. It was never clearly established, though it could be + inferred, that Helene ever had arsenic at all. + </p> + <p> + II + </p> + <p> + The first hearings of Helene's case were taken before the Juge + d'instruction in Rennes, and she was remanded to the assizes for + Ille-et-Vilaine, which took place, apparently, in the same city. The + charges against her were limited to eleven thefts, three murders by + poisoning, and three attempts at murder by the like means. Under the + prescription legale twenty-three poisonings, six attempts at poisoning, + and a number of thefts, all of which had taken place within the space of + ten years, had to be left out of the indictment. We shall see, however, + that, under the curious rules regarding permissible evidence which prevail + in French criminal law, the Assize Court concerned itself quite largely + with this prescribed matter. + </p> + <p> + The trial began on the 6th of December, 1851, at a time when France was in + a political uproar—or, more justly perhaps, was settling down from + political uproar. The famous coup d'etat of that year had happened four + days before. Maitre Dorange, defending Helene, asked for a remand to a + later session on the ground that some of his material witnesses were + unavailable owing to the political situation. An eminent doctor, M. + Baudin, had died "pour maintien des lois." There was some argument on the + matter, but the President ruled that all material witnesses were present. + Scientific experts could be called only to assist the court. + </p> + <p> + The business of this first day was taken up almost completely by questions + on the facts produced in investigation, and these mostly facts covered by + the prescription. The legal value of this run of questions would seem + doubtful in the Anglo-Saxon idea of justice, but it gives an indication of + the shiftiness in answer of the accused. It was a long interrogation, but + Helene faced it with notable self-possession. On occasion she answered + with vigour, but in general sombrely and with lowered eyes. At times she + broke into volubility. This did not serve to remove the impression of + shiftiness, for her answers were seldom to the point. + </p> + <p> + Wasn't it true, she was asked, that in Locmine she had been followed and + insulted with cries: "C'est la femme au foie blanc; elle porte la mort + avec elle!"? Nobody had ever said anything of the sort to her, was her + sullen answer. A useless denial. There were plenty of witnesses to express + their belief in her "white liver" and to tell of her reputation of + carrying death. + </p> + <p> + Asked why she had been dismissed from the convent at Auray, she answered + that she did not know. The Mother Superior had told her to go. She had + been too old to learn reading and writing. Pressed on the point of the + slashed garments of the pupils and the linen in the convent cupboards, + Helene retorted that somebody had cut her petticoats as well, and that, + anyhow, the sisters had never accused her of working the mischief. + </p> + <p> + This last answer was true in part. The evidence on which Helene had been + dismissed the convent was circumstantial. A sister from the community + described Helene's behaviour otherwise as edifying indeed. + </p> + <p> + After the merciless fashion of French judges, the President came back time + and again to attack Helene on the question of poison. If Perrotte Mace did + not get the poison from her—from whom, then? + </p> + <p> + "I don't know anything of poison," was the reply, with the pious addendum, + "and, God willing, I never will!" + </p> + <p> + This, with variations, was her constant answer. + </p> + <p> + "Qu'est-ce que c'est l'arsenic? Je n'en ai jamais vu d'arsenic, moi!" + </p> + <p> + The President had occasion later to take her up on these denials. The + curate of Seglien came to give evidence. He had been curate during the + time of M. Conan, in whose service Helene had been at that time. He could + swear that M. Conan had repeatedly told his servants to watch that the + domestic animals did not get at the poisoned bait prepared for the rats. + M. Conan's servants had complete access to the arsenic used. + </p> + <p> + Helene interposed at this point. "I know," she said, "that M. Conan had + asked for arsenic, but I wasn't there at the time. My aunt told me about + it." + </p> + <p> + The President reminded her that in her interrogaion she had declared she + knew nothing of arsenic, nor had heard anyone speak of it. Helene sullenly + persisted in her first declaration, but modified it with the admission + that her aunt had told her the stuff was dangerous, and not to be used + save with the strictest precautions. + </p> + <p> + This evidence of the arsenic at Seglien was brought forward on the second + day of the trial, when witnesses began to be heard. Before pursuing the + point of where the accused might have obtained the poison I should like to + quote, as typical of the hypocritical piety exhibited by Helene, one of + her answers on the first day. + </p> + <p> + After reminding her that Rose Tessier's sickness had increased after + taking a tisane that Helene had prepared the President asked if it was not + the fact that she alone had looked after Rose. + </p> + <p> + "No," Helen replied. "Everybody was meddling. All I did was put the tisane + on to boil. I have suffered a great deal," she added gratuitously. "The + good God will give me grace to bear up to the end. If I have not died of + my sufferings in prison it is because God's hand has guided and sustained + me." + </p> + <p> + With that in parenthesis, let us return to the evidence of the witnesses + on the second day of the trial. A great deal of it had to do with deaths + on which, under the prescription, no charge could be made against Helene, + and with thefts that equally could not be the subject of accusation. + </p> + <p> + Dr Galzain, of Ponivy, who, eighteen years before, had performed the + autopsy on Le Drogo, cure of Guern, testified that though he had then been + puzzled by the pathological conditions, he was now prepared to say they + were consistent with arsenical poisoning. + </p> + <p> + Martel, a pharmacist, brother of the doctor who had attended Le Drogo, + spoke of his brother's suspicions, suspicions which had recurred on + meeting with the cases at Bubry. They had been diverted by the lavishly + affectionate attendance Helene had given to the sufferers. + </p> + <p> + Relatives of the victims of Locmine told of Helene's predictions of death, + and of her plaints that death followed her everywhere. They also remarked + on the very kind ministrations of Helene. + </p> + <p> + Dr Toussaint, doctor at Locmine, and son to the house in which Helene had + for a time been servant, told of his perplexity over the symptoms in the + cases of the Widow Lorey and the youth Leboucher. In 1835 he had been + called in to see Helene herself, who was suffering from an intermittent + fever. Next day the fever had disappeared. He was told that she had been + dosing herself, and he was shown a packet which had been in her + possession. It contained substances that looked like kermes-mineral,<a + href="#linknote-30" name="linknoteref-30" id="linknoteref-30">[30]</a> + some saffron, and a white powder that amounted to perhaps ten grammes. He + had disliked Helene at first sight. She had not been long in his mother's + service when his mother's maid-companion (Anne Eveno), who also had no + liking for Helene, fell ill and died. His father fell violently ill in + turn, seemed to get better, and looked like recovering. But inexplicable + complications supervened, and his father died suddenly of a haemorrhage of + the intestinal canal. His sister Julie, who had been the first to fall + sick, also seemed to recover, but after the death of the father had a + relapse. In his idea Helene, having cured herself, was able to drug the + invalids in her care. The witness ordered her to be kept completely away + from the sufferers, but one night she contrived to get the nurses out of + the way. A confrere he called in ordered bouillon to be given. Helene had + charge of the kitchen, and it was she who prepared the bouillon. It was + she who administered it. Three hours later his sister died in agony. + </p> + <p> + The witness suggested an autopsy. His family would not agree. The pious + behaviour of Helene put her beyond suspicion, but he took it on himself to + dismiss her. During the illness of his father, when Helene herself was + ill, he went reluctantly to see her, being told that she was dying. + Instead of finding her in bed he came upon her making some sort of white + sauce. As soon as he appeared she threw herself into bed and pretended to + be suffering intense pain. A little later he asked to see the sauce. It + had disappeared. + </p> + <p> + He had advised his niece to reserve his sister's evacuations. His niece + replied that Helene was so scrupulously tidy that such vessels were never + left about, but were taken away at once to be emptied and cleaned. "I + revised my opinion of the woman after she had gone," added the witness. "I + thought her very well behaved." + </p> + <p> + HELENE. I never had any drugs in my possession—never. When I had + fever I took the powders given me by the doctor, but I did not know what + they were! + </p> + <p> + THE PRESIDENT. Why did you say yesterday that nothing was ever found in + your luggage? + </p> + <p> + HELENE. I didn't remember. + </p> + <p> + THE PRESIDENT. What were you doing with the saffron? Wasn't it in your + possession during the time you were in Seglien? + </p> + <p> + HELENE. I was taking it for my blood. + </p> + <p> + THE PRESIDENT. And the white powder—did it also come from Seglien? + </p> + <p> + HELENE [energetically]. Never have I had white powder in my luggage! Never + have I seen arsenic! Never has anyone spoken to me of arsenic! + </p> + <p> + Upon this the President rightly reminded her that she had said only that + morning that her aunt had talked to her of arsenic at Seglien, and had + warned her of its lethal qualities. "You deny the existence of that white + powder," said the President, "because you know it was poison. You put it + away from you with horror!" + </p> + <p> + The accused several times tried to answer this charge, but failed. Her + face was beaded with moisture. + </p> + <p> + THE PRESIDENT. Had you or had you not any white powder at Losmine? + </p> + <p> + HELENE. I can't say if I still had fever there. + </p> + <p> + THE PRESIDENT. What was that powder? When did you first have it? + </p> + <p> + HELENE. I had taken it at Locmine. Somebody gave it to me for two sous. + </p> + <p> + THE PRESIDENT. Why didn t you say so at the beginning, instead of waiting + until you are confounded by the witness? [To Dr Toussaint] What would the + powder be, monsieur? What powder would one prescribe for fever? + </p> + <p> + DR TOUSSAINT. Sulphate of quinine; but that's not what it was. + </p> + <p> + Questioned by the advocate for the defence, the witness said he would not + affirm that the powder he saw was arsenic. His present opinion, however, + was that his father and sister had died from injections of arsenic in + small doses. + </p> + <p> + A witness from Locmine spoke of her sister's two children becoming ill + after taking chocolate prepared by the accused. The latter told her that a + mob had followed her in the street, accusing her of the deaths of those + she had been servant to. + </p> + <p> + Then came one of those curious samples of 'what the soldier said' that are + so often admitted in French criminal trials as evidence. Louise Clocher + said she had seen Helene on the road between Auray and Lorient in the + company of a soldier. When she told some one of it people said, "That + wasn't a soldier! It was the devil you saw following her!" + </p> + <p> + One rather sympathizes with Helene in her protest against this testimony. + </p> + <p> + From Ploermel, Auray, Lorient, and other places doctors and relatives of + the dead came to bear witness to Helene's cooking and nursing activities, + and to speak of the thefts she had been found committing. Where any + suspicion had touched Helene her piety and her tender care of the + sufferers had disarmed it. The astonishing thing is that, with all those + rumours of 'white livers' and so on, the woman could proceed from place to + place within a few miles of each other, and even from house to house in + the same towns, leaving death in her tracks, without once being brought to + bay. Take the evidence of M. Le Dore, son-in-law of that Mme Hetel who + died in Auray, His mother-in-law became ill just after Helene's reputation + was brought to his notice. The old lady died next day. + </p> + <p> + "The day following the revelation," said M. Le Dore, "I put Helene out. + She threw herself on the ground uttering fearsome yells. The day's meal + had been prepared. I had it thrown out, and put Helene herself to the door + with her luggage, INTO WHICH SHE HASTILY STOWED A PACKET. Mme Hetel died + next day in fearful agony." + </p> + <p> + I am responsible for the italicizing. It is hard to understand why M. Le + Dore did no more than put Helene to the door. He was suspicious enough to + throw out the meal prepared by Helene, and he saw her hastily stow a + packet in her luggage. But, though he was Mayor of Auray, he did nothing + more about his mother-in-law's death. It is to be remarked, however, that + the Hetels themselves were against the brusque dismissal of Helene. She + had "smothered the mother with care and attentions." + </p> + <p> + But one gets perhaps the real clue to Helene's long immunity from the + remark made in court by M. Breger, son-in-law of that Lorient couple, M. + and Mme Dupuyde-Lome. He had thought for a moment of suspecting Helene of + causing the child's death and the illness of the rest of the family, but + "there seemed small grounds. What interest had the girl in cutting off + their lives?" + </p> + <p> + It is a commonplace that murder without motive is the hardest to detect. + The deaths that Helene Jegado contrived between 1833 and 1841, + twenty-three in number, and the six attempts at murder which she made in + that length of time, are, without exception, crimes quite lacking in + discoverable motive. It is not at all on record that she had reason for + wishing to eliminate any one of those twenty-three persons. She seems to + have poisoned for the mere sake of poisoning. Save to the ignorant and + superstitious, such as followed her in the streets to accuse her of having + a "white liver" and a breath that meant death, she was an unfortunate + creature with an odd knack of finding herself in houses where 'accidents' + happened. Time and again you find her being taken in by kindly people + after such 'accidents,' and made an object of sympathy for the dreadful + coincidences that were making her so unhappy. It was out of sympathy that + the Widow Lorey, of Locmine, took Helene into her house. On the widow's + death the niece arrived. In court the niece described the scene on her + arrival. "Helene embraced me," she said. "'Unhappy me!' she wept. + 'Wherever I go everybody dies!' I pitied and consoled her." She pitied and + consoled Helene, though they were saying in the town that the girl had a + white liver and that her breath brought death! + </p> + <p> + Where Helene had neglected to combine her poisoning with detected + pilfering the people about her victims could see nothing wrong in her + conduct. Witness after witness—father, sister, husband, niece, + son-in-law, or relation in some sort to this or that victim of Helene's—repeated + in court, "The girl went away with nothing against her." And even those + who afterwards found articles missing from their household goods: "At the + same time I did not suspect her probity. She went to Mass every morning + and to the evening services. I was very surprised to find some of my + napkins among the stuff Helene was accused of stealing." + </p> + <p> + "I did not know of Helene's thefts until I was shown the objects stolen," + said a lady of Vannes. "Without that proof I would never have suspected + the girl. Helene claimed affiliation with a religious sisterhood, served + very well, and was a worker." + </p> + <p> + It is perhaps of interest to note how Helene answered the testimony + regarding her thieving proclivities. Mme Lejoubioux, of Vannes, said her + furnishing bills went up considerably during the time Helene was in her + service. Helene had purloined two cloths. + </p> + <p> + Helene: "That was for vengeance. I was furious at being sent away." + </p> + <p> + Sieur Cesar le Clerc and Mme Gauthier swore to thefts from them by Helene. + </p> + <p> + Helene: "I stole nothing from Mme Gauthier except one bottle of wine. If I + commit a larceny it is from choler. WHEN I'M FURIOUS I STEAL!" + </p> + <p> + It was when Helene began to poison for vengeance that retribution fell + upon her. Her fondness for the bottle started to get her into trouble. It + made her touchy. Up to 1841 she had poisoned for the pleasure of it, + masking her secret turpitude with an outward show of piety, of being + helpful in time of trouble. By the time she arrived in Rennes, in 1848, + after seven years during which her murderous proclivities seem to have + slept, her character as a worker, if not as a Christian, had deteriorated. + Her piety, in the face of her fondness for alcohol and her slovenly + habits, and against her now frequently exhibited bursts of temper and + ill-will, appeared the hypocrisy it actually was. Her essays in poisoning + now had purpose and motive behind them. Nemesis, so long at her heels, + overtook her. + </p> + <p> + III + </p> + <p> + It is not clear in the accounts available to me just what particular + murders by poison, what attempts at poisoning, and what thefts Helene was + charged with in the indictment at Rennes. Twenty-three poisonings, six + attempts, and a number of thefts had been washed out, it may be as well to + repeat, by the prescription legale. But from her arrival in Rennes, + leaving the thefts out of account, her activities had accounted for the + following: In the Rabot household one death (Albert, the son) and three + illnesses (Rabot, Mme Rabot, the mother-in-law); in the Ozanne + establishment one death (that of the little son), in the hotel of the + Roussells one death (that of Perrotte Mace) and one illness (that of the + Veuve Roussell); at the Bidards two deaths (Rose Tessier and Rosalie + Sarrazin). In this last establishment there was also one attempt at + poisoning which I have not yet mentioned, that of a young servant, named + Francoise Huriaux, who for a short time had taken the place of Rose + Tessier. We thus have five deaths and five attempts in Rennes, all of + which could be indictable. But, as already stated, the indictment covered + three deaths and three attempts. + </p> + <p> + It is hard to say, from verbatim reports of the trial, where the matter of + the indictment begins to be handled. It would seem from the evidence + produced that proof was sought of all five deaths and all five attempts + that Helene was supposed to be guilty of in Rennes. The father of the boy + Ozanne was called before the Rabot witnesses, though the Rabot death and + illnesses occurred before the death of the Ozanne child. We may, however, + take the order of affairs as dealt with in the court. We may see something + of motive on Helene's part suggested in M. Ozanne's evidence, and an + indication of her method of covering her crime. + </p> + <p> + M. Ozanne said that Helene, in his house, drank eau de vie in secret, and, + to conceal her thefts, filled the bottle up with cider. He discovered the + trick, and reproached Helene for it. She denied the accusation with + vigour, and angrily announced her intention of leaving. Mme Ozanne took + pity on Helene, and told her she might remain several days longer. On the + Tuesday following the young child became ill. The illness seemed to be a + fleeting one, and the father and mother thought he had recovered. On the + Saturday, however, the boy was seized by vomiting, and the parents + wondered if they should send for the doctor. "If the word was mine," said + Helene, who had the boy on her knees, "and the child as ill as he looks, I + should not hesitate." The doctor was sent for about noon on Sunday. He + thought it only a slight illness. Towards evening the child began to + complain of pain all over his body. His hands and feet were icy cold. His + body grew taut. About six o'clock the doctor came back. "My God!" he + exclaimed. "It's the croup!" He tried to apply leeches, but the boy died + within a few minutes. Helene hastened the little body into its shroud. + </p> + <p> + Helene, said Ozanne, always talked of poison if anyone left their food. + "Do you think I'm poisoning you?" she would ask. + </p> + <p> + A girl named Cambrai gave evidence that Helene, coming away from the + cemetery after the burial of the child, said to her, "I am not so sorry + about the child. Its parents have treated me shabbily." The witness + thought Helene too insensitive and reproached her. + </p> + <p> + "That's a lie!" the accused shouted. "I loved the child!" + </p> + <p> + The doctor, M. Brute, gave evidence next. He still believed the child had + died of a croup affection, the most violent he had ever seen. The + President questioned him closely on the symptoms he had seen in the child, + but the doctor stuck to his idea. He had seen nothing to make him suspect + poisoning. + </p> + <p> + The President: "It is strange that in all the cases we have under review + the doctors saw nothing at first that was serious. They admit illness and + prescribe mild remedies, and then, suddenly, the patients get worse and + die." + </p> + <p> + M. Victor Rabot was called next. To begin with, he said, Helene's services + were satisfactory. He had given her notice because he found her stealing + his wine. Upon this Helene showed the greatest discontent, and it was then + that Mme Rabot fell ill. A nurse was put in charge of her, but Helene + found a way to get rid of her. Helene had no love for his child. The child + had a horror of the servant, because she was dirty and took snuff. In + consequence Helene had a spite against the boy. Helene had never been seen + eating any of the dishes prepared for the family, and even insisted on + keeping certain of the kitchen dishes for her own use. + </p> + <p> + At the request of his father-in-law Helene had gone to get a bottle of + violet syrup from the pharmacist. The bottle was not capped. His + father-in-law thought the syrup had gone bad, because it was as red as + mulberry syrup, and refused to give it to his daughter (Mme Rabot). The + bottle was returned to the pharmacist, who remarked that the colour of the + syrup had changed, and that he did not recognize it as his own. + </p> + <p> + Mme Rabot having corroborated her husband's evidence, and told of Helene's + bad temper, thieving, and disorderliness, Dr Vincent Guyot, of Rennes, was + called. + </p> + <p> + Dr Guyot described the illness of the boy Albert and its result. He then + went on to describe the illness of Mme Rabot. He and his confreres had + attributed her sickness to the fact that she was enceinte, and to the + effect of her child's death upon her while in that condition. A + miscarriage of a distressing nature confirmed the first prognosis. But + later he and his confreres saw reason to change their minds. He believed + the boy had been poisoned, though he could not be certain. The mother, he + was convinced, had been the victim of an attempt at poisoning, an opinion + which found certainty in the case of Mme Briere. If Mme Rabot's pregnancy + went some way in explaining her illness there was nothing of this in the + illness of her mother. The explanation of everything was in repeated + dosing of an arsenical substance. + </p> + <p> + The witness had also attended Mme Roussell, of the Bout-du-Monde hotel. It + was remarkable that the violent sickness to which this lady was subject + for twenty days did not answer to treatment, but stopped only when she + gave up taking food prepared for her by Helene Jegado. + </p> + <p> + He had also looked after Perrotte Mace. Here also he had had doubts of the + nature of the malady; at one time he had suspected pregnancy, a suspicion + for which there were good grounds. But the symptoms that later developed + were not consistent with the first diagnosis. When Perrotte died he and M. + Revault, his confrere, thought the cause of death would be seen as poison + in an autopsy. But the post-mortem was rejected by the parents. His + feeling to-day was that Mme Roussell's paralysis was due to arsenical + dosage, and that Perrotte had died of poisoning. Helene, speaking to him + of Perrotte, had said, "She's a chest subject. She'll never get better!" + And she had used the same phrase, "never get better," with regard to + little Rabot. + </p> + <p> + M. Morio, the pharmacist of Rennes from whom the violet syrup was bought, + said that Helene had often complained to him about Mme Roussell. During + the illness of the Rabot boy she had said that the child was worse than + anyone imagined, and that he would never recover. In the matter of the + violet syrup he agreed it had come back to him looking red. The bottle had + been put to one side, but its contents had been thrown away, and he had + therefore been unable to experiment with it. He had found since, however, + that arsenic in powder form did not turn violet syrup red, though possibly + arsenic in solution with boiling water might produce the effect. The + change seen in the syrup brought back from M. Rabot's was not to be + accounted for by such fermentation as the mere warmth of the hand could + bring about. + </p> + <p> + Several witnesses, interrupted by denials and explanations from the + accused, testified to having heard Helene say that neither the Rabot boy + nor his mother would recover. + </p> + <p> + The evidence of M. Roussell, of the Bout-du-Monde hotel, touched on the + illnesses of his mother and Perrotte. He knew nothing of the food prepared + by Helene; nor had the idea of poison occurred to him until her arrest. + Helene's detestable character, her quarrels with other servants, and, + above all, the thefts of wine he had found her out in were the sole causes + of her dismissal. He had noticed that Helene never ate with the other + domestics. She always found an excuse for not doing so. She said she had + stomach trouble and could not hold down her food. + </p> + <p> + The Veuve Roussell had to be helped into court by her son. She dealt with + her own illness and with the death of Perrotte. Her illness did not come + on until she had scolded Helene for her bad ways. + </p> + <p> + Dr Revault, confrere of Guyot, regretted the failure to perform a + post-mortem on the body of Perrotte. He had said to Roussell that if + Perrotte's illness was analogous to cholera it was, nevertheless, not that + disease. He believed it was due to a poison. + </p> + <p> + The President: "Chemical analysis has proved the presence of arsenic in + the viscera of Perrotte. Who administered that arsenic, the existence of + which was so shrewdly foreseen by the witness? Who gave her the arsenic? + [To Helene] Do you know? Was it not you that gave it her, Helene?" + </p> + <p> + At this Helene murmured something unintelligible, but, gathering her + voice, she protested, "I have never had arsenic in my hands, Monsieur le + President—never!" + </p> + <p> + Something of light relief was provided by Jean Andre, the cabinet-making + ostler of Saint-Gilles, he for whose attention Helene had been a rival + with Perrotte Mace. + </p> + <p> + "The service Helene gave was excellent. So was mine. She nursed Perrotte + perfectly, but said it was in vain, because the doctors were mishandling + the disease. She told me one day that she was tired of service, and that + her one wish was to retire." + </p> + <p> + "Did you attach a certain idea to the confidence about retiring?" + </p> + <p> + "No!" Andre replied energetically. + </p> + <p> + "You were in hospital. When you came back, did Helene take good care of + you?" + </p> + <p> + "She gave me bouillon every morning to build me up." + </p> + <p> + "The bouillon she gave you did you no harm?" + </p> + <p> + "On the contrary, it did me a lot of good." + </p> + <p> + "Wasn't the accused jealous of Perrotte—that good-looking girl who + gave you so much of her favour?" + </p> + <p> + "In her life Perrotte was a good girl. She never was out of sorts for a + moment—never rubbed one the wrong way." + </p> + <p> + "Didn't Helene say to you that Perrotte would never recover?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes, she said that. 'She's a lost woman,' she said; 'the doctors are + going the wrong way with the disease.' + </p> + <p> + "All the same," Andre went on, "Helene never ate with us. She worked night + and day, but ate in secret, I believe. Anyhow, a friend of mine told me + he'd once seen her eating a crust of bread, and chewing some other sort of + food at the same time. As for me—I don't know; but I don't think you + can live without eating." + </p> + <p> + "I couldn't keep down what I ate," Helene interposed. "I took some + bouillon here and there; sometimes a mouthful of bread—nothing in + secret. I never thought of Andre in marriage—not him more than + another. That was all a joke." + </p> + <p> + A number of witnesses, friends of Perrotte, who had seen her during her + illness, spoke of the extreme dislike the girl had shown for Helene and + for the liquids the latter prepared for her. Perrotte would say to Helene, + "But you're dirty, you ugly Bretonne!" Perrotte had a horror of bouillon: + "Ah—these vegetable soups! I've had enough of them! It was what + Helene gave me that night that made me ill!" The witnesses did not + understand all this, because the accused seemed to be very good to her + fellow-servant. At the bedside Helene cried, "Ah! What can I do that will + save you, my poor Perrotte?" When Perrotte was dying she wanted to ask + Helene's pardon. Embracing the dying girl, the accused replied, "Ah! + There's no need for that, my poor Perrotte. I know you didn't mean + anything." + </p> + <p> + A witness telling of soup Helene had made for Perrotte, which the girl + declared to have been poisoned, it was asked what happened to the + remainder of it. The President passed the question to Helene, who said she + had thrown it into the hearth. + </p> + <p> + IV + </p> + <p> + The most complete and important testimony in the trial was given by M. + Theophile Bidard, professor to the law faculty of Rennes. + </p> + <p> + The facts he had to bring forward, he said, had taken no significance in + his mind until the last of them transpired. He would have to go back into + the past to trace them in their proper order. + </p> + <p> + He recalled the admission of Helene to his domestic staff and the good + recommendations on which he had engaged her. From the first Helene proved + herself to have plenty of intelligence, and he had believed that her + intelligence was combined with goodness of heart. This was because he had + heard that by her work she was supporting two small children, as well as + her poor old mother, who had no other means of sustenance. + </p> + <p> + (The reader will recollect that Helene was orphaned at the age of seven.) + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, said M. Bidard, Helene was not long in his household before + her companion, Rose Tessier, began to suffer in plenty from the real + character of Helene Jegado. + </p> + <p> + Rose had had a fall, an accident which had left her with pains in her + back. There were no very grave symptoms but Helene prognosticated dire + results. One night, when the witness was absent in the country, Helene + rose from her bed, and, approaching her fellow-servant's room, called + several times in a sepulchral voice, "Rose, Rose!" That poor girl took + fright, and hid under the bedclothes, trembling. + </p> + <p> + Next day Rose complained to witness, who took his domestics to task. + Helene pretended it was the farm-boy who had perpetrated the bad joke. She + then declared that she herself had heard some one give a loud knock. "I + thought," she said, "that I was hearing the call for poor Rose." + </p> + <p> + On Sunday, the 3rd of November, 1850, M. Bidard, who had been in the + country, returned to Rennes. After dinner that day, a meal which she had + taken in common with Helene, Rose was seized with violent sickness. Helene + lavished on her the most motherly attention. She made tea, and sat up the + night with the invalid. In the morning, though she still felt ill, Rose + got up. Helene made tea for her again. Rose once more was sick, violently, + and her sickness endured until the witness himself had administered + copious draughts of tea prepared by himself. Rose passed a fairly good + night, and Dr Pinault, who was called in, saw nothing more in the sickness + than some nervous affection. But on the day of the 5th the vomitings + returned. Helene exclaimed, "The doctors do not understand the disease. + Rose is going to die!" The prediction seemed foolish as far as immediate + appearances were concemed, for Rose had an excellent pulse and no trace of + fever. + </p> + <p> + In the night between Tuesday and Wednesday the patient was calm, but on + the morning of Wednesday she had vomitings with intense stomach pains. + From this time on, said the witness, the life of Rose, which was to last + only thirty-six hours, was nothing but a long-drawn and heart-rending cry + of agony. She drew her last breath on the Thursday evening at half-past + five. During her whole illness, added M. Bidard, Rose was attended by none + save Helene and himself. + </p> + <p> + Rose's mother came. In Rose the poor woman had lost a beloved child and + her sole support. She was prostrated. Helene's grief seemed to equal the + mother's. Tears were ever in her eyes, and her voice trembled. Her + expressions of regret almost seemed to be exaggerated. + </p> + <p> + There was a moment when the witness had his doubts. It was on the way back + from the cemetery. For a fleeting instant he thought that the shaking of + Helene's body was more from glee than sorrow, and he momentarily accused + her in his mind of hypocrisy. But in the following days Helene did nothing + but talk of "that poor Rose," and M. Bidard, before her persistence, could + only believe he had been mistaken. "Ah!" Helene said. "I loved her as I + did that poor girl who died in the Bout-du-Monde." + </p> + <p> + The witness wanted to find some one to take Rose's place. Helene tried to + dissuade him. "Never mind another femme de chambre," she said. "I will do + everything." M. Bidard contented himself with engaging another girl, + Francoise Huriaux, strong neither in intelligence nor will, but + nevertheless a sweet little creature. Not many days passed before Helene + began to make the girl unhappy. "It's a lazy-bones," Helene told the + witness. "She does not earn her keep." ("Le pain qu'elle mange, elle le + vole.") M. Bidard shut her up. That was his affair, he said. + </p> + <p> + Francoise meantime conceived a fear of Helene. She was so scared of the + older woman that she obeyed all her orders without resistance. The + witness, going into the kitchen one day, found Helene eating her soup at + one end of the table, while Francoise dealt with hers at the other + extreme. He told Helene that in future she was to serve the repast in + common, on a tablecloth, and that it was to include dessert from his + table. This order seemed to vex Helene extremely. "That girl seems to live + without eating," she said, "and she never seems to sleep." + </p> + <p> + One day the witness noticed that the hands and face of Francoise were + puffy. He spoke to Helene about it, who became angry. She accused her + companion of getting up in the night to make tea, so wasting the sugar, + and she swore she would lock the sugar up. M. Bidard told her to do + nothing of the sort. He said if Francoise had need of sugar she was to + have it. "All right—I see," Helene replied sullenly, obviously put + out. + </p> + <p> + The swelling M. Bidard had seen in the face and hands of Francoise + attacked her legs, and all service became impossible for the girl. The + witness was obliged to entrust Helene with the job of finding another + chambermaid. It was then that she brought Rosalie Sarrazin to him. "A very + good girl," she said. "If her dress is poor it is because she gives + everything to her mother." + </p> + <p> + The words, M. Bidard commented, were said by Helene with remarkable + sincerity. It was said that Helene had no moral sense. It seemed to him, + from her expressions regarding that poor girl, who, like herself, devoted + herself to her mother, that Helene was far from lacking in that quality. + </p> + <p> + Engaging Rosalie, the witness said to his new domestic, "You will find + yourself dealing with a difficult companion. Do not let her be insolent to + you. You must assert yourself from the start. I do not want Helene to rule + you as she ruled Francoise." At the same time he repeated his order + regarding the service of the kitchen meals. Helene manifested a sullen + opposition. "Who ever heard of tablecloths for the servants?" she said. + "It is ridiculous!" + </p> + <p> + In the first days the tenderness between Helene and the new girl was quite + touching. But circumstance arose to end the harmony. Rosalie could write. + On the 23rd of May the witness told Helene that he would like her to give + him an account of expenses. The request made Helene angry, and increased + her spite against the more educated Rosalie. Helene attempting to order + Rosalie about, the latter laughingly told her, "M. Bidard pays me to obey + him. If I have to obey you also you'll have to pay me too." From that time + Helene conceived an aversion from the girl. + </p> + <p> + About the time when Helene began to be sour to Rosalie she herself was + seized by vomitings. She complained to Mlle Bidard, a cousin of the + witness, that Rosalie neglected her. But when the latter went up to her + room Helene yelled at her, "Get out, you ugly brute! In you I've brought + into the house a stick for my own back!" + </p> + <p> + This sort of quarrelling went on without ceasing. At the beginning of June + the witness said to Helene, "If this continues you'll have to look for + another place." + </p> + <p> + "That's it!" Helene yelled, in reply. "Because of that girl I'll have to + go!" + </p> + <p> + On the 10th of June M. Bidard gave Helene definite notice. It was to take + effect on St John's Day. At his evening meal he was served with a roast + and some green peas. These last he did not touch. In spite of his + prohibition against her serving at table, it was Helene who brought the + peas in. "How's this?" she said to him. "You haven't eaten your green peas—and + them so good!" Saying this, she snatched up the dish and carried it to the + kitchen. Rosalie ate some of the peas. No sooner had she taken a few + spoonfuls, however, than she grew sick, and presently was seized by + vomiting. Helene took no supper. She said she was out of sorts and wanted + none. + </p> + <p> + The witness did not hear of these facts until next day. He wanted to see + the remainder of the peas, but they could not be found. Rosalie still kept + being sick, and he bade her go and see his doctor, M. Boudin. Helene, on a + sudden amiable to Rosalie where she had been sulky, offered to go with + her. Dr Boudin prescribed an emetic, which produced good effects. + </p> + <p> + On the 15th of June Rosalie seemed to have recovered. In the meantime a + cook presented herself at his house to be engaged in place of Helene. The + latter was acquainted with the new-comer. A vegetable soup had been + prescribed for Rosalie, and this Helene prepared. The convalescent ate + some, and at once fell prey to violent sickness. That same day Helene came + in search of the witness. "You're never going to dismiss me for that young + girl?" she demanded angrily. M. Bidard relented. He said that if she would + promise to keep the peace with Rosalie he would let her stay on. Helene + seemed to be satisfied, and behaved better to Rosalie, who began to mend + again. + </p> + <p> + M. Bidard went into the country on the 21st of June, taking Rosalie with + him. They returned on the 22nd. The witness himself went to the pharmacy + to get a final purgative of Epsom salts, which had been ordered for + Rosalie by the doctor. This the witness himself divided into three + portions, each of which he dissolved in separate glasses of whey prepared + by Helene. The witness administered the first dose. Helene gave the last. + The invalid vomited it. She was extremely ill on the night of the + 22nd-23rd, and Helene returned to misgivings about the skill of the + doctors. She kept repeating, "Ah! Rosalie will die! I tell you she will + die!" On the day of the 23rd she openly railed against them. M. Boudin had + prescribed leeches and blisters. "Look at that now, monsieur," Helene said + to the witness. "To-morrow's Rosalie's name-day, and they're going to put + leeches on her!" Rather disturbed, M. Bidard wrote to Dr Pinault, who came + next day and gave the treatment his approval. + </p> + <p> + Dr Boudin had said the invalid might have gooseberry syrup with seltzer + water. Two glasses of the mixture given to Rosalie by her mother seemed to + do the girl good, but after the third glass she did not want any more. + Helene had given her this third glass. The invalid said to the witness, "I + don't know what Helene has put into my drink, but it burns me like red-hot + iron." + </p> + <p> + "Struck by those symptoms," added M. Bidard, "I questioned Helene at once. + It has not been given me more than twice in my life to see Helene's eyes. + I saw at that moment the look she flung at Rosalie. It was the look of a + wild beast, a tiger-cat. At that moment my impulse was to go to my + work-room for a cord, and to tie her up and drag her to the justiciary. + But one reflection stopped me. What was this I was about to do—disgrace + a woman on a mere suspicion? I hesitated. I did not know whether I had + before me a poisoner or a woman of admirable devotion." + </p> + <p> + The witness enlarged on the tortures of mind he experienced during the + night, but said he found reason to congratulate himself on not having + given way to his first impulse. On the morning of the 24th Helene came + running to him, all happiness, to say that Rosalie was better. + </p> + <p> + Three days later Rosalie seemed to be nearly well, so much so that M. + Bidard felt he might safely go into the country. Next day, however, he was + shocked by the news that Rosalie was as ill as ever. He hastened to return + to Rennes. + </p> + <p> + On the night of the 28th-29th the sickness continued with intensity. Every + two hours the invalid was given calming medicine prescribed by Dr Boudin. + Each time the sickness redoubled in violence. Believing it was a case of + worms, the witness got out of bed, and substituted for the medicine a + strong infusion of garlic. This stopped the sickness temporarily. At six + in the morning it began again. + </p> + <p> + The witness then ran to Dr Pinault's, but met the doctor in the street + with his confrere, Dr Guyot. To the two doctors M. Bidard expressed the + opinion that there were either worms in the intestines or else the case + was one of poisoning. "I have thought that," said Dr Pinault, "remembering + the case of the other girl." The doctors went back with M. Bidard to his + house. Magnesia was administered in a strong dose. The vomiting stopped. + But it was too late. + </p> + <p> + Until that day the witness's orders that the ejected matter from the + invalid should be conserved had been ignored. The moment a vessel was + dirty Helene took it away and cleaned it. But now the witness took the + vessels himself, and locked them up in a cupboard for which he alone had + the key. His action seemed to disturb Helene Jegado. From this he judged + that she had intended destroying the poison she had administered. + </p> + <p> + From that time Rosalie was put into the care of her mother and a nurse. + Helene tried hard to be rid of the two women, accusing them of tippling to + the neglect of the invalid. "I will sit up with her," she said to the + witness. The witness did not want her to do so, but he could not prevent + her joining the mother. + </p> + <p> + In the meantime Rosalie suffered the most dreadful agonies. She could + neither sit up nor lie down, but threw herself about with great violence. + During this time Helene was constantly coming and going about her victim. + She had not the courage, however, to watch her victim die. At five in the + morning she went out to market, leaving the mother alone with her child. + The poor mother, worn out with her exertions, also went out, to ask for + help from friends. Rosalie died in the presence of the witness at seven + o'clock in the morning of the 1st of July. Helene returned. "It is all + over," said the witness. Helene's first move was to look for the vessels + containing the ejections of the invalid to throw them out. These were + green in hue. M. Bidard stopped her, and locked the vessels up. That same + day justice was invoked. + </p> + <p> + M. Bidard's deposition had held his hearers spellbound for over an hour + and a half. He had believed, he added finally, that, in spite of her + criminal conduct, Helene at least was a faithful servant. He had been + wrong. She had put his cellar to pillage, and in her chest they had found + many things belonging to him, besides a diamond belonging to his daughter + and her wedding-ring. + </p> + <p> + The President questioned Helene on the points of this important + deposition. Helene simply denied everything. It had not been she who was + jealous of Rosalie, but Rosalie who had been jealous of her. She had given + the two girls all the nursing she could, with no intention but that of + helping them to get better. To the observation of the President, once + again, that arsenic had been administered, and to his question, what + person other than she had a motive for poisoning the girls, or had such + opportunity for doing so, Helene answered defiantly, "You won't redden my + face by talking of arsenic. I defy anybody to say they saw me give + arsenic." + </p> + <p> + The Procureur-General invited M. Bidard to say what amount of intelligence + he had found in Helene. M. Bidard declared that he had never seen in any + of his servants an intelligence so acute or subtle. He held her to be a + phenomenon in hypocrisy. He put forward a fact which he had neglected to + mention in his deposition. It might throw light on the character of the + accused. Francoise had a dress hanging up to dry in the mansard. Helene + went up to the garret above this, made a hole in the ceiling, and dropped + oil of vitriol on her companion's dress to burn it. + </p> + <p> + Dr Pinault gave an account of Rosalie's illness, and spoke of the + suspicions he and his colleagues had had of poisoning. It was a crime, + however, for which there seemed to be no motive. The poisoner could hardly + be M. Bidard, and as far as suspicion might touch the cook, she seemed to + be lavish in her care of the patient. It was not until the very last that + he, with his colleagues, became convinced of poison. + </p> + <p> + Rosalie dead, the justiciary went to M. Bidard's. The cupboards were + searched carefully. The potion which Rosalie had thought to be mixed with + burning stuff was still there, just sampled. It was put into a bottle and + capped. + </p> + <p> + An autopsy could not now be avoided. It was held next day. M. Pinault gave + an account of the results. Most of the organs were in a normal condition, + and such slight alterations as could be seen in others would not account + for death. It was concluded that death had been occasioned by poison. The + autopsy on the exhumed body of Perrotte Mace was inconclusive, owing to + the condition of adipocere. + </p> + <p> + Dr Guyot spoke of the case of Francoise Huriaux, and was now sure she had + been given poison in small doses. Dr Boudin described the progress of + Rosalie's illness. He was in no doubt, like his colleagues, that she had + been poisoned. + </p> + <p> + The depositions of various witnesses followed. A laundress said that + Helene's conduct was to be explained by jealousy. She could not put up + with any supervision, but wanted full control ofthe household and ofthe + money. + </p> + <p> + Francoise Huriaux said Helene was angry because M. Bidard would not have + her as sole domestic. She had resented Francoise's being engaged. The + witness noticed that she became ill whenever she ate food prepared for her + by Helene. When she did not eat Helene was angry but threw out the food + Francoise refused. + </p> + <p> + Several witnesses testified to the conduct of Helene towards Rosalie + Sarrazin during her fatal illness. Helene was constant, self-sacrificing, + in her attention to the invalid. One incident, however, was described by a + witness which might indicate that Helene's solicitude was not altogether + genuine. One morning, towards the end of Rosalie's life, the patient, in + her agony, escaped from the hold of her mother, and fell into an awkward + position against the wall. Rosalie's mother asked Helene to place a pillow + for her. "Ma foi!" Helene replied. "You're beginning to weary me. You're + her mother! Help her yourself!" + </p> + <p> + The testimony of a neighbour, one Francoise Louarne, a domestic servant, + supports the idea that Helene resented the presence of Rosalie in the + house. Helene said to this witness, "M. Bidard has gone into the country + with his housemaid. Everything SHE does is perfect. They leave me here—to + work if I want to, eat my bread dry: that's my reward. But the housemaid + will go before I do. Although M. Bidard has given me my notice, he'll have + to order me out before I'll go. Look!" Helene added. "Here's the bed of + the ugly housemaid—in a room not too far from the master's. Me—they + stick me up in the mansard!" Later, when Rosalie was very ill, Helene + pretended to be grieved. "You can't be so very sorry," the witness + remarked; "you've said plenty that was bad about the girl." + </p> + <p> + Helene vigorously denounced the testimony as all lies. The woman had never + been near Bidard's house. + </p> + <p> + The pharmacist responsible for dispensing the medicines given to Rosalie + was able to show that arsenic could not have got into them by mistake on + his part. + </p> + <p> + At the hearing of the trial on the 12th of December Dr Pinault was asked + to tell what happened when the emissions of Rosalie Sarrazin were being + transferred for analysis. + </p> + <p> + DR PINAULT. As we were carrying out the operation Helene came in, and it + was plain that she was put out of countenance. + </p> + <p> + M. BIDARD [interposing]. We were in my daughter's room, where nobody ever + came. When Helene came to the door I was surprised. There was no + explanation for her appearance except that she was inquisitive. + </p> + <p> + DR PINAULT. She seemed to be disturbed at not finding the emissions by the + bed of the dead girl, and it was no doubt to find them that she came to + the room. + </p> + <p> + HELENE. I had been given a funnel to wash. I was bringing it back. + </p> + <p> + M. BIDARD. Helene, with her usual cleverness, is making the most of a + fact. She had already appeared when she was given the funnel. Her presence + disturbed me. And to get rid of her I said, "Here, Helene, take this away + and wash it." + </p> + <p> + The accused persisted in denying M. Bidard's version of the incident. + </p> + <p> + V + </p> + <p> + M. Malagutti, professor of chemistry to the faculty of sciences in Rennes, + who, with M. Sarzeau, had been asked to make a chemical analysis of the + reserved portions of the bodies of Rosalie, Perrotte Mace, and Rose + Tessier, gave the results of his and his colleague's investigations. In + the case of Rosalie they had also examined the vomitings. The final test + on the portions of Rosalie's body carried out with hydrochloronitric acid—as + best for the small quantities likely to result in poisoning by small doses—gave + a residue which was submitted to the Marsh test. The tube showed a + definite arsenic ring. Tests on the vomit gave the same result. + </p> + <p> + The poisoning of Perrotte Mace had also been accomplished by small doses. + Arsenic was found after the strictest tests, which obviated all + possibility that the substance could have come from the ground in which + the body was interred. + </p> + <p> + In the case of Rose Tessier the tests yielded a huge amount of arsenic. + Rose had died after an illness of only four days. The large amount of + arsenic indicated a brutal and violent poisoning, in which the substance + could not be excreted in the usual way. + </p> + <p> + The President then addressed the accused on this evidence. She alone had + watched near all three of the victims, and against all three she had + motives of hate. Poisoning was established beyond all doubt. Who was the + poisoner if not she, Helene Jegado? + </p> + <p> + Helene: "Frankly, I have nothing to reproach myself with. I gave them only + what came from the pharmacies on the orders of the doctors." + </p> + <p> + After evidence of Helene's physical condition, by a doctor who had seen + her in prison (she had a scirrhous tumour on her left breast), the speech + for the defence was made. + </p> + <p> + M. Dorange was very eloquent, but he had a hopeless case. The defence he + put up was that Helene was irresponsible, but the major part of the + advocate's speech was taken up with a denouncement of capital punishment. + It was a barbarous anachronism, a survival which disgraced civilization. + </p> + <p> + The President summed up and addressed the jury: + </p> + <p> + "Cast a final scrutiny, gentlemen of the jury," he said, "at the matter + brought out by these debates. Consult yourselves in the calm and stillness + of your souls. If it is not proved to you that Helene Jegado is + responsible for her actions you will acquit her. If you think that, + without being devoid of free will and moral sense, she is not, according + to the evidence, as well gifted as the average in humanity, you will give + her the benefit of extenuating circumstance. + </p> + <p> + "But if you consider her culpable, if you cannot see in her either + debility of spirit or an absence or feebleness of moral sense, you will do + your duty with firmness. You will remember that for justice to be done + chastisement will not alone suffice, but that punishment must be in + proportion to the offence." + </p> + <p> + The President then read over his questions for the jury, and that body + retired. After deliberations which occupied an hour and a half the jury + came back with a verdict of guilty on all points. The Procureur asked for + the penalty of death. + </p> + <p> + THE PRESIDENT. Helene Jegado, have you anything to say upon the + application of the penalty? + </p> + <p> + HELENE. No, Monsieur le President, I am innocent. I am resigned to + everything. I would rather die innocent than live in guilt. You have + judged me, but God will judge you all. He will see then ... Monsieur + Bidard. All those false witnesses who have come here to destroy me... they + will see.... + </p> + <p> + In a voice charged with emotion the President pronounced the sentence + condemning Helene Jegado to death. + </p> + <p> + An appeal was put forward on her behalf, but was rejected. + </p> + <p> + On the scaffold, a few moments before she passed into eternity, having no + witness but the recorder and the executioner, faithful to the habits of + her life, Helene Jegado accused a woman not named in any of the processes + of having urged her to her first crimes and of being her accomplice. The + two officials took no notice of this indirect confession of her own guilt, + and the sentence was carried out. The Procureur of Rennes, hearing of this + confession, took the trouble to search out the woman named in it. She + turned out to be a very old woman of such a pious and kindly nature that + the people about her talked of her as the "saint." + </p> + <p> + It were superfluous to embark on analysis of the character of Helene + Jegado. Earlier on, in comparing her with Van der Linden and the Zwanziger + woman, I have lessened her caliginosity as compared with that of the + Leyden poisoner, giving her credit for one less death than her Dutch + sister in crime. Having investigated Helene's activities rather more + closely, however, I find I have made mention of no less than twenty-eight + deaths attributed to Helene, which puts her one up on the Dutchwoman. The + only possible point at which I may have gone astray in my calculations is + in respect of the deaths at Guern. The accounts I have of Helene's bag + there insist on seven, but enumerate only six—namely, her sister + Anna, the cure, his father and mother, and two more (unnamed) after these. + The accounts, nevertheless, insist more than once that between 1833 and + 1841 Helene put away twenty-three persons. If she managed only six at + Guern, that total should be twenty-two. From 1849 she accounted for Albert + Rabot, the infant Ozanne, Perrotte Mace, Rose Tessier, and Rosalie + Sarrazin—five. We need no chartered accountant to certify our + figures if we make the total twenty-eight. Give her the benefit of the + doubt in the case of Albert Rabot, who was ill anyhow when Helene joined + the household, and she still ties with Van der Linden with twenty-seven + deaths. + </p> + <p> + There is much concerning Helene Jegado, recorded incidents, that I might + have introduced into my account of her activities, and that might have + emphasized the outstanding feature of her dingy make-up—that is, her + hypocrisy. When Rosalie Sarrazin was fighting for her life, bewailing the + fact that she was dying at the age of nineteen, Helene Jegado took a + crucifix and made the girl kiss it, saying to her, "Here is the Saviour + Who died for you! Commend your soul to Him!" This, with the canting piety + of the various answers which she gave in court (and which, let me say, I + have transcribed with some reluctance), puts Helene Jegado almost on a + level with the sanctimonious Dr Pritchard—perhaps quite on a level + with that nauseating villain. + </p> + <p> + With her twenty-three murders all done without motive, and the five others + done for spite—with her twenty-eight murders, only five of which + were calculated to bring advantage, and that of the smallest value—it + is hard to avoid the conclusion that Helene Jegado was mad. In spite, + however, of evidence called in her defence—as, for example, that of + Dr Pitois, of Rennes, who was Helene's own doctor, and who said that "the + woman had a bizarre character, frequently complaining of stomach pains and + formications in the head"—in spite of this doctor's hints of + monomania in the accused, the jury, with every chance allowed them to find + her irresponsible, still saw nothing in her extenuation. And very + properly, since the law held the extreme penalty for such as she, Helene + went to the scaffold. Her judges might have taken the sentimental view + that she was abnormal, though not mad in the common acceptation of the + word. Appalled by the secret menace to human life that she had been scared + to think of the ease and the safety in which she had been allowed over + twenty odd years to carry agonizing death to so many of her kind, and + convinced from the inhuman nature of her practices that she was a lusus + naturae, her judges, following sentimental Anglo-Saxon example, might have + given her asylum and let her live for years at public expense. But + possibly they saw no social or Civic advantage in preserving her, so + anti-social as she was. They are a frugal nation, the French. + </p> + <p> + VI + </p> + <p> + Having made you sup on horror a la Bretonne, or Continental fashion, I am + now to give you a savoury from England. This lest you imagine that France, + or the Continent, has a monopoly in wholesale poison. Let me introduce + you, as promised earlier, to Mary Ann Cotton aged forty-one, found guilty + of and sentenced to death for the murder of a child, Charles Edward + Cotton, by giving him arsenic. + </p> + <p> + Rainton, in Durham, was the place where, in 1832 Mary Ann found mortal + existence. At the age of fifteen or sixteen she began to earn her own + living as a nursemaid, an occupation which may appear to have given her a + distaste for infantile society. At the age of nineteen and at Newcastle + she married William Mowbray, a collier, and went with him to live in + Cornwall. Here the couple remained for some years. + </p> + <p> + It was a fruitful marriage. Mary bore William five children in Cornwall, + but, unfortunately, four of the children died—suddenly. With the + remaining child the pair moved to Mary's native county. They had hardly + settled down in their new home when the fifth child also died. It died, + curiously enough, of the ailment which had supposedly carried off the + other four children—gastric fever. + </p> + <p> + Not long after the death of this daughter the Mowbrays removed to Hendon, + Sunderland, and here a sixth child was born. It proved to be of as + vulnerable a constitution as its brothers and sisters, for it lasted + merely a year. Four months later, while suffering from an injured foot, + which kept him at home, William Mowbray fell ill, and died with a + suddenness comparable to that which had characterized the deaths of his + progeny. His widow found a job at the local infirmary, and there she met + George Ward. She married Mr Ward, but not for long. In a few months after + the nuptials George Ward followed his predecessor, Mowbray, from an + illness that in symptoms and speed of fatality closely resembled + William's. + </p> + <p> + We next hear of Mary as housekeeper to a widower named Robinson, whose + wife she soon became. Robinson had five children by his former wife. They + all died in the year that followed his marriage with Mary Ann, and all of + 'gastric fever.' + </p> + <p> + The second Mrs Robinson had two children by this third husband. Both of + these perished within a few weeks of their birth. + </p> + <p> + Mary Ann's mother fell ill, though not seriously. Mary Ann volunteered to + nurse the old lady. It must now be evident that Mary Ann was a 'carrier' + of an obscure sort of intestinal fever, because soon after her appearance + in her mother's place the old lady died of that complaint. + </p> + <p> + On her return to her own home, or soon after it, Mary was accused by her + husband of robbing him. She thought it wise to disappear out of Robinson's + life, a deprivation which probably served to prolong it. + </p> + <p> + Under her old name of Mowbray, and by means of testimonials which on later + investigation proved spurious, Mary Ann got herself a housekeeping job + with a doctor in practice at Spennymore. Falling into error regarding what + was the doctor's and what was her own, and her errors being too patent, + she was dismissed. + </p> + <p> + Wallbottle is the scene of Mary Ann's next activities. Here she made the + acquaintance of a married man with a sick wife. His name was Frederick + Cotton. Soon after he had met Mary Ann his wife died. She died of + consumption, with no more trace of gastric fever than is usual in her + disease. But two of Cotton's children died of intestinal inflammation not + long after their mother, and their aunt, Cotton's sister, who kept house + for him, was not long in her turn to sicken and die in a like manner. + </p> + <p> + The marriage which Mary Ann brought off with Frederick Cotton at Newcastle + anticipated the birth of a son by a mere three months. With two of + Cotton's children by his former marriage, and with the infant son, the + pair went to live at West Auckland. Here Cotton died—and the three + children—and a lodger by the curious name of Natrass. + </p> + <p> + Altogether Mary Ann, in the twenty years during which she had been moving + in Cornwall and about the northeastern counties, had, as it ultimately + transpired, done away with twenty-four persons. Nine of these were the + fruit of her own loins. One of them was the mother who gave her birth. + Retribution fell upon her through her twenty-fourth victim, Charles Edward + Cotton, her infant child. His death created suspicion. The child, it was + shown, was an obstacle to the marriage which she was already contemplating—her + fifth marriage, and, most likely, bigamous at that. The doctor who had + attended the child refused a death certificate. In post-mortem examination + arsenic was found in the child's body. Cotton was arrested. + </p> + <p> + She was brought to trial in the early part of 1873 at Durham Assizes. As + said already, she was found guilty and sentenced to death, the sentence + being executed upon her in Durham Gaol in March of that year. Before she + died she made the following remarkable statement: "I have been a poisoner, + but not intentionally." + </p> + <p> + It is believed that she secured the poison from a vermicide in which + arsenic was mixed with soft soap. One finds it hard to believe that she + extracted the arsenic from the preparation (as she must have done before + administering it, or otherwise it must have been its own emetic) + unintentionally. + </p> + <p> + What advantage Mary Ann Cotton derived from her poisonings can have been + but small, almost as small as that gained by Helene Jegado. Was it for + social advancement that she murdered husbands and children? Was she a + 'climber' in that sphere of society in which she moved? One hesitates to + think that passion swayed her in being rid of the infant obstacle to the + fifth marriage of her contemplation. With her "all o'er-teeming loins," + this woman, Hecuba in no other particular, must have been a very sow were + this her motive. + </p> + <p> + But I have come almost by accident on the word I need to compare Mary Ann + Cotton with Jegado. The Bretonne, creeping about her native province + leaving death in her track, with her piety, her hypocrisy, her enjoyment + of her own cruelty, is sinister and repellent. But Mary Ann, moving from + mate to mate and farrowing from each, then savaging both them and the + litter, has a musty sowishness that the Bretonne misses. Both foul, yes. + But we needn't, we islanders, do any Jingo business in setting Mary Ann + against Helene. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII: — THE MERRY WIDOWS + </h2> + <p> + Twenty years separate the cases of these two women, the length of France + lies between the scenes in which they are placed: Mme Boursier, Paris, + 1823; Mme Lacoste, Riguepeu, a small town in Gascony, 1844. I tie their + cases together for reasons which cannot be apparent until both their + stories are told—and which may not be so apparent even then. That is + not to say I claim those reasons to be profound, recondite, or settled in + the deeps of psychology. The matter is, I would not have you believe that + I join their cases because of similarities that are superficial. My hope + is that you will find, as I do, a linking which, while neither profound + nor superficial, is curious at least. As I cannot see that the one case + transcends the other in drama or interest, I take them chronologically, + and begin with the Veuve Boursier: + </p> + <p> + At the corner of Rue de la Paix and Rue Neuve Saint-Augustine in 1823 + there stood a boutique d'epiceries. It was a flourishing establishment, + typical of the Paris of that time, and its proprietors were people of + decent standing among their neighbours. More than the prosperous condition + of their business, which was said to yield a profit of over 11,000 francs + per annum, it was the happy and cheerful relationship existing between les + epoux Boursier that made them of such good consideration in the district. + The pair had been married for thirteen years, and their union had been + blessed by five children. + </p> + <p> + Boursier, a middle-aged man of average height, but very stout of build and + asthmatically short of neck, was recognized as a keen trader. He did most + of his trading away from the house in the Rue de la Paix, and paid + frequent visits, sometimes entire months in duration, to Le Havre and + Bordeaux. It is nowhere suggested that those visits were made on any + occasion other than that of business. M. Boursier spent his days away from + the house, and his evenings with friends. + </p> + <p> + It does not anywhere appear that Mme Boursier objected to her husband's + absenteeism. She was a capable woman, rather younger than her husband, and + of somewhat better birth and education. She seems to have been content + with, if she did not exclusively enjoy, having full charge of the business + in the shop. Dark, white of tooth, not particularly pretty, this woman of + thirty-six was, for her size, almost as stout as her husband. It is said + that her manner was a trifle imperious, but that no doubt resulted from + knowledge of her own capability, proved by the successful way in which she + handled her business and family responsibilities. + </p> + <p> + The household, apart from Mme and M. Boursier, and counting those employed + in the epicerie, consisted of the five children, Mme Boursier's aunt (the + Veuve Flamand), two porters (Delonges and Beranger), Mlle Reine (the + clerk), Halbout (the book-keeper), and the cook (Josephine Blin). + </p> + <p> + On the morning of the 28th of June, which would be a Sunday, Boursier was + called by the cook to take his usual dejeuner, consisting of chicken broth + with rice. He did not like the taste of it, but ate it. Within a little + time he was violently sick, and became so ill that he had to go to bed. + The doctor, who was called almost immediately, saw no cause for alarm, but + prescribed mild remedies. As the day went on, however, the sickness + increased in violence. Dr Bordot became anxious when he saw the patient + again in the evening. He applied leeches and mustard poultices. Those + ministrations failing to alleviate the sufferings ofthe invalid, Dr Bordot + brought a colleague into consultation, but neither the new-comer, Dr + Partra, nor himself could be positive in diagnosis. Something gastric, it + was evident. They did what they could, though working, as it were, in the + dark. + </p> + <p> + The patient was no better next day. As night came on he was worse than + ever. A medical student named Toupie was enlisted as nurse and watcher, + and sat with the sufferer through the night—but to no purpose. At + four o'clock in the morning of the Tuesday, the 30th, there came a crisis + in the illness of Boursier, and he died. + </p> + <p> + The grief exhibited by Mme Boursier, so suddenly widowed, was just what + might have been expected in the circumstances from a woman of her station. + She had lost a good-humoured companion, the father of her five children, + and the man whose genius in trading had done so much to support her own + activities for their mutual profit. The Veuve Boursier grieved in adequate + fashion for the loss of her husband, but, being a capable woman and + responsible for the direction of affairs, did not allow her grief to + overwhelm her. The dead epicier was buried without much delay—the + weather was hot, and he had been of gross habit—and the business at + the corner of Rue de la Paix went on as near to usual as the loss of the + 'outside' partner would allow. + </p> + <p> + Rumour, meantime, had got to work. There were circumstances about the + sudden death of Boursier which the busybodies of the environs felt they + might regard as suspicious. For some time before the death of the epicier + there had been hanging about the establishment a Greek called Kostolo. He + was a manservant out of employ, and not, even on the surface, quite the + sort of fellow that a respectable couple like the Boursiers might be + expected to accept as a family friend. But such, no less, had been the + Greek's position with the household. So much so that, although Kostolo had + no money and apparently no prospects, Boursier himself had asked him to be + godfather to a niece. The epicier found the Greek amusing, and, on falling + so suddenly ill, made no objection when Kostolo took it on himself to act + as nurse, and to help in the preparing of drinks and medicines that were + prescribed. + </p> + <p> + It is perhaps to the rather loud-mouthed habits of this Kostolo that the + birth of suspicion among the neighbours may be attributed. On the death of + Boursier he had remarked that the nails of the corpse were blue a colour, + he said, which was almost a certain indication of poisoning. Now, the two + doctors who had attended Boursier, having failed to account for his + illness, were inclined to suspect poisoning as the cause of his death. For + this reason they had suggested an autopsy, a suggestion rejected by the + widow. Her rejection of the idea aroused no immediate suspicion of her in + the minds of the doctors. + </p> + <p> + Kostolo, in addition to repeating outside the house his opinion regarding + the blueness of the dead Boursier's nails, began, several days after the + funeral, to brag to neighbours and friends of the warm relationship + existing between himself and the widow. He dropped hints of a projected + marriage. Upon this the neighbours took to remembering how quickly + Kostolo's friendship with the Boursier family had sprung up, and how + frequently he had visited the establishment. His nursing activities were + remembered also. And it was noticed that his visits to the Boursier house + still went on; it was whispered that he visited the Veuve Boursier in her + bedroom. + </p> + <p> + The circumstances in which Boursier had fallen ill were well known. + Nobody, least of all Mme Boursier or Kostolo, had taken any trouble to + conceal them. Anybody who liked to ask either Mme Boursier or the Greek + about the soup could have a detailed story at once. All the neighbourhood + knew it. And since the Veuve Boursier's story is substantially the same as + other versions it may as well be dealt with here and now. + </p> + <p> + M. Boursier, said his widow, tasted his soup that Sunday morning. "What a + taste!" he said to the cook, Josephine. "This rice is poisoned." + </p> + <p> + "But, monsieur," Josephine protested, "that's amazing! The potage ought to + be better than usual this morning, because I made a liaison for it with + three egg-yolks!" + </p> + <p> + M. Boursier called his wife, and told her he couldn't eat his potage au + riz. It was poisoned. Mme Boursier took a spoonful of it herself, she + said, and saw nothing the matter with it. Whereupon her husband, saying + that if it was all right he ought to eat it, took several spoonfuls more. + </p> + <p> + "The poor man," said his widow, "always had a bad taste in his mouth, and + he could not face his soup." Then, she explained, he became very sick, and + brought up what little of the soup he had taken, together with flots de + bile. + </p> + <p> + All this chatter of poison, particularly by Kostolo and the widow, + together with the persistent rumours of an adulterous association between + the pair, gave colour to suspicions of a criminal complicity, and these in + process of time came to the ears of the officers of justice. The two + doctors were summoned by the Procureur-General, who questioned them + closely regarding Boursier's illness. To the mind of the official + everything pointed to suspicion of the widow. Word of the growing + suspicion against her reached Mme Boursier, and she now hastened to ask + the magistrates for an exhumation and a post-mortem examination. This did + not avert proceedings by the Procureur. It was already known that she had + refused the autopsy suggested by the two doctors, and it was stated that + she had hurried on the burial. + </p> + <p> + Kostolo and the Widow Boursier were called before the Juge d'instruction. + </p> + <p> + II + </p> + <p> + There is about the Greek Kostolo so much gaudy impudence and barefaced + roguery that, in spite of the fact that the main concern of these pages is + with women, I am constrained to add his portrait to the sketches I have + made in illustration. He is of the gallery in which are Jingle and + Montague Tigg, with this difference—that he is rather more sordid + than either. + </p> + <p> + Brought before the Procureur du Roi, he impudently confessed that he had + been, and still was, Mme Boursier's lover. He told the judge that in the + lifetime of her husband Mme Boursier had visited him in his rooms several + times, and that she had given him money unknown to her husband. + </p> + <p> + Mme Boursier at first denied the adulterous intimacy with Kostolo, but the + evidence in the hands of the Procureur was too much for her. She had + partially to confess the truth of Kostolo's statement in this regard. She + emphatically denied, however, that she had ever even thought of, let alone + agreed to, marriage with the Greek. She swore that she had been intimate + with Kostolo only once, and that, as far as giving him money was + concerned, she had advanced him but one small sum on his IOU. + </p> + <p> + These confessions, together with the information which had come to him + from other investigations, served to increase the feeling of the Procureur + that Boursier's death called for probing. He issued an exhumation order, + and on the 31st of July an autopsy on the body of Boursier was carried out + by MM. Orfila and Gardy, doctors and professors of the Paris faculty of + medicine. Their finding was that no trace existed of any disorders to + which the death of Boursier might be attributed—such, for example, + as cerebral congestion, rupture of the heart or of a larger vessel—but + that, on the other hand, they had come upon a sufficiency of arsenic in + the intestines to have caused death. + </p> + <p> + On the 2nd of August the same two professors, aided by a third, M. + Barruel, carried out a further examination of the body. Their testimony is + highly technical. It is also rather revolting. I am conscious that, + dealing, as I have had to, with so much arsenical poisoning (the favourite + weapon of the woman murderer), a gastric odour has been unavoidable in + many of my pages—perhaps too many. For that reason I shall refrain + from quoting either in the original French or in translation more than a + small part of the professors' report. I shall, however, make a lay shot on + the evidence it supplies. Boursier's interior generally was in foul + condition, which is not to be explained by any ingestion of arsenic, but + which suggests chronic and morbid pituitousness. The marvel is that the + man's digestion functioned at all. This insanitary condition, however, was + taken by the professors, as it were, in their stride. They concentrated on + some slight traces of intestinal inflammation. + </p> + <p> + "One observed," their report went on, about the end of the ileum some + grains of a whitish appearance and rather stubbornly attached. These + grains, being removed, showed all the characteristics of white arsenic + oxide. Put upon glowing charcoal they volatilized, giving off white smoke + and a garlic odour. Treated with water, they dissolved, and the solution, + when brought into contact with liquid hydrosulphuric acid, precipitated + yellow sulphur of arsenic, particularly when one heated it and added a few + drops of hydrochloric acid. + </p> + <p> + These facts (including, I suppose, the conditions I have hinted at) + allowed them to conclude (a) that the stomach showed traces of + inflammation, and (b) that the intestinal canal yielded a quantity of + arsenic oxide sufficient to have produced that inflammation and to have + caused death. + </p> + <p> + The question now was forward as to where the arsenic found in the body had + come from. Inquiry established the fact that on the 15th of May, 1823—that + is to say, several weeks before his death—Boursier had bought half a + pound of arsenic for the purpose of destroying the rats in his shop + cellars. In addition, he had bought prepared rat-poison. Only a part of + those substances had been used. The remaining portions could not be found + about the shop, nor could Mme Boursier make any suggestions for helping + the search. She declared she had never seen any arsenic about the house at + all. + </p> + <p> + There was, however, sufficient gravity in the evidences on hand to justify + a definite indictment of Mme Boursier and Nicolas Kostolo, the first of + having poisoned her husband, and the second of being accessory to the + deed. + </p> + <p> + The pair were brought to trial on the 27th of November, 1823, before the + Seine Assize Court, M. Hardouin presiding. The prosecution was conducted + by the Avocat-General, M. de Broe. Maitre Couture defended Mme Boursier. + Maitre Theo. Perrin appeared for Kostolo. + </p> + <p> + The case created great excitement, not only in Paris, but throughout the + country. Another poisoning case had not long before this occupied the + minds of the public very greatly—that of the hypocritical Castaing + for the murder of Auguste Ballet. Indeed, there had been a lot of + poisoning going on in French society about this period. Political and + religious controversy, moreover, was rife. The populace were in a mood + either to praise extravagantly or just as extravagantly to condemn. It + happened that rumour convinced them of the guilt of the Veuve Boursier and + Kostolo, and the couple were condemned in advance. Such was the popular + spite against Mme Boursier and Kostolo that, it is said, Maitre Couture at + first refused the brief for the widow's defence. He had already made a + success of his defence of a Mme Lavaillaut, accused of poisoning, and was + much in demand in cases where women sought judicial separation from their + husbands. People were calling him "Providence for women." He did not want + to be nicknamed "Providence for poisoners." But Mme Boursier's case being + more clearly presented to him he took up the brief. + </p> + <p> + The accused were brought into court. + </p> + <p> + Kostolo was about thirty years of age. He was tall, distinctly + good-looking in an exotic sort of way, with his dark hair, complexion, and + flashing eyes. He carried himself grandly, and was elegantly clad in a + frac noir. Not quite, as Army men were supposed once to say, "the clean + potato," it was easy enough to see that women of a kind would be his ready + victims. It was plain, in the court, that Master Nicolas thought himself + the hero of the occasion. + </p> + <p> + There was none of this flamboyance about the Widow Boursier. She was + dressed in complete mourning, and covered her face with a handkerchief. It + was manifest that, in the phrase of the crime reporters, "she felt her + position keenly." The usual questions as to her name and condition she + answered almost inaudibly, her voice choked with sobs. + </p> + <p> + Kostolo, on the contrary, replied in organ tones. He said that he was born + in Constantinople, and that he had no estate. + </p> + <p> + The acte d'accusation was read. It set forth the facts of the adulterous + association of the two accused, of the money lent by Mme Boursier to + Kostolo, of their meetings, and all the suspicious circumstances previous + to the death of the epicier. + </p> + <p> + The cook-girl, Josephine Blin, had prepared the potage au riz in the + kitchen, using the small iron pan that it was her wont to employ. Having + made the soup, she conveyed it in its terrine to a small secretaire in the + dining-room. This secretaire stood within the stretch of an arm from the + door of the comptoir in which Mme Boursier usually worked. According to + custom, Josephine had divided the potage in two portions—one for + Boursier and the other for the youngest child. The youngster and she had + eaten the second portion between them, and neither had experienced any + ill-effects. + </p> + <p> + Josephine told her master that the soup was ready. He came at her call, + but did not eat the soup at once, being otherwise occupied. The soup stood + on the secretaire for about fifteen minutes before Boursier started to eat + it. + </p> + <p> + According to the accused, the accusation went on, after Boursier's death + the two doctors asked that they might be allowed to perform an autopsy, + since they were at a loss to explain the sudden illness. This Mme Boursier + refused, in spite of the insistence of the doctors. She refused, she said, + in the interest of her children. She insisted, indeed, on a quick burial, + maintaining that, as her husband had been tres replet, the body would + rapidly putrefy, owing to the prevailing heat, and that thus harm would be + done to the delicate contents of the epicerie. + </p> + <p> + Led by rumours of the bluish stains—almost certain indications of a + violent death—the authorities, said the accusation, ordered an + exhumation and autopsy. Arsenic was found in the body. It was clear that + Boursier, ignorant, as he was, of his wife's bad conduct, had not killed + himself. This was a point that the widow had vainly attempted, during the + process of instruction, to maintain. She declared that one Clap, a friend + of her late husband, had come to her one day to say that a certain + Charles, a manservant, had remarked to him, "Boursier poisoned himself + because he was tired of living." Called before the Juge d'instruction, + Henri Clap and Charles had concurred in denying this. + </p> + <p> + The accusation maintained that the whole attitude of Mme Boursier proved + her a poisoner. As soon as her husband became sick she had taken the dish + containing the remains of the rice soup, emptied it into a dirty vessel, + and passed water through the dish. Then she had ordered Blin to clean it, + which the latter did, scrubbing it out with sand and ashes. + </p> + <p> + Questioned about arsenic in the house, Mme Boursier said, to begin with, + that Boursier had never spoken to her about arsenic, but later admitted + that her husband had mentioned both arsenic and mort aux rats to her. + </p> + <p> + Asked regarding the people who frequented the house she had mentioned all + the friends of Boursier, but neglected to speak of Kostolo. Later she had + said she never had been intimate with the Greek. But Kostolo, "barefaced + enough for anything," had openly declared the nature of his relations with + her. Then Mme Boursier, after maintaining that she had been no more than + interested in Kostolo, finding pleasure in his company, had been + constrained to confess that she had misconducted herself with the Greek in + the dead man's room. She had given Kostolo the run of her purse, the + accusation declared, though she denied the fact, insisting that what she + had given him had been against his note. There was only one conclusion, + however. Mme Boursier, knowing the poverty of her paramour, had paid him + as her cicisbeo, squandering upon him her children's patrimony. + </p> + <p> + The accusation then dealt with the supposed project of marriage, and + declared that in it there was sufficient motive for the crime. Kostolo was + Mme Boursier's accomplice beyond any doubt. He had acted as nurse to the + invalid, administering drinks and medicines to him. He had had full + opportunity for poisoning the grocer. Penniless, out of work, it would be + a good thing for him if Boursier was eliminated. He had been blatant in + his visits to Mme Boursier after the death of the husband. + </p> + <p> + Then followed the first questioning of the accused. + </p> + <p> + Mme Boursier said she had kept tryst with Kostolo in the Champs-Elysees. + She admitted having been to his lodgings once. On the mention of the name + of Mlle Riene, a mistress of Kostolo's, she said that the woman was partly + in their confidence. She had gone with Mlle Riene twice to Kostolo's + rooms. Once, she admitted, she had paid a visit to Versailles with Kostolo + unknown to her husband. + </p> + <p> + Asked if her husband had had any enemies, Mme Boursier said she knew of + none. + </p> + <p> + The questioning of Kostolo drew from him the admission that he had had a + number of mistresses all at one time. He made no bones about his relations + with them, nor about his relations with Mme Boursier. He was quite blatant + about it, and seemed to enjoy the show he was putting up. Having airily + answered a question in a way that left him without any reputation, he + would sweep the court with his eyes, preening himself like a peacock. + </p> + <p> + He was asked about a journey Boursier had proposed making. At what time + had Boursier intended making the trip? + </p> + <p> + "Before his death," Kostolo replied. + </p> + <p> + The answer was unintentionally funny, but the Greek took credit for the + amusement it created in court. He conceived himself a humorist, and the + fact coloured all his subsequent answers. + </p> + <p> + Kostolo said that he had called to see Boursier on the first day of his + illness at three in the afternoon. He himself had insisted on helping to + nurse the invalid. Mme Boursier had brought water, and he had given it to + the sick man. + </p> + <p> + After Boursier's death he had remarked on the blueness of the fingernails. + It was a condition he had seen before in his own country, on the body of a + prince who had died of poison, and the symptoms of whose illness had been + very like those in Boursier's. He had then suspected that Boursier had + died of poisoning. + </p> + <p> + The loud murmurs that arose in court upon his blunt confession of having + misconducted himself with Mme Boursier fifteen days after her husband's + death seemed to evoke nothing but surprise in Kostolo. He was then asked + if he had proposed marriage to Mme Boursier after Boursier's death. + </p> + <p> + "What!" he exclaimed, with a grin. "Ask a woman with five children to + marry me—a woman I don't love?" + </p> + <p> + Upon this answer Kostolo was taken to task by the President of the court. + M. Hardouin pointed out that Kostolo lived with a woman who kept and fed + him, giving him money, but that at the same time he was taking money from + Mme Boursier as her lover, protesting the while that he loved her. What + could the Greek say in justification of such conduct? + </p> + <p> + "Excuse me, please, everybody," Kostolo replied, unabashed. "I don't know + quite how to express myself, but surely what I have done is quite the + common thing? I had no means of living but from what Mme Boursier gave + me." + </p> + <p> + The murmurs evoked by the reply Kostolo treated with lofty disdain. He + seemed to find his audience somewhat prudish. + </p> + <p> + To further questioning he answered that he had never proposed marriage to + the Veuve Boursier. Possibly something might have been said in fun. He + knew, of course, that the late Boursier had made a lot of money. + </p> + <p> + The cook, Josephine Blin, was called. At one time she had been suspect. + Her version of the potage incidents, though generally in agreement with + that of the accused widow, differed from it in two essential points. When + she took Boursier's soup into the dining-room, she said, Mme Boursier was + in the comptoir, three or four paces away from the desk on which she put + the terrine. This Mme Boursier denied. She said she had been in the same + comptoir as her husband. Josephine declared that Mme Boursier had ordered + her to clean the soup-dish out with sand, but her mistress maintained she + had bade the girl do no more than clean it. For the rest, Josephine + thought about fifteen minutes elapsed before Boursier came to take the + soup. During that time she had seen Mme Boursier writing and making up + accounts. + </p> + <p> + Toupie, the medical student, said he had nursed Boursier during the + previous year. Boursier was then suffering much in the same way as he had + appeared to suffer during his fatal illness. He had heard Mme Boursier + consulting with friends about an autopsy, and her refusal had been on + their advice. + </p> + <p> + The doctors called were far from agreeing on the value of the experiments + they had made. Orfila, afterwards to intervene in the much more + universally notorious case of Mme Lafarge, stuck to his opinion of death + by arsenic. If his evidence in the Lafarge case is read it will be seen + that in the twenty years that had passed from the Boursier trial his + notions regarding the proper routine of analysis for arsenic in a + supposedly poisoned body had undergone quite a change. But by then the + Marsh technique had been evolved. Here, however, he based his opinion on + experiments properly described as "very equivocal;" and stuck to it. He + was supported by a colleague named Lesieur. + </p> + <p> + M. Gardy said he had observed that the greater part of the grains about + the ileum, noted on the 1st of August, had disappeared next day. The + analysis had been made with quantities too small. He now doubted greatly + if the substance taken to be arsenic oxide would account for death. + </p> + <p> + M. Barruel declared that from the glareous matter removed from the body + only a grain of the supposed arsenic had been extracted, and that with + difficulty. He had put the substance on glowing charcoal, but, in his + opinion, the experiment was VERY EQUIVOCAL. It was at first believed that + there was a big amount of arsenic, but he felt impelled to say that the + substance noted was nothing other than small clusters of fat. The witness + now refused to conclude, as he had concluded on the 1st of August, that + enough poison had been in the body to cause death. + </p> + <p> + It would almost seem that the medical evidence should have been enough to + destroy the case for the prosecution, but other witnesses were called. + </p> + <p> + Bailli, at one time a clerk to Boursier, said he had helped his patron to + distribute arsenic and rat-poison in the shop cellars. He was well aware + that the whole of the poison had not been used, but in the course of his + interrogation he had failed to remember where the residue of the poisons + had been put. He now recollected. The unused portion of the arsenic had + been put in a niche of a bottle-rack. + </p> + <p> + In view of evidence given by a subsequent witness Bailli's rather sudden + recovery of memory might have been thought odd if a friend of his had not + been able to corroborate his statement. The friend was one Rousselot, + another grocer. He testified that he and Bailli had searched together. + Bailli had then cudgelled that dull ass, his brain, to some effect, for + they had ultimately come upon the residue of the arsenic bought by + Boursier lying with the remainder of the mort aux rats. Both the poisons + had been placed at the bottom of a bottle-rack, and a plank had been + nailed over them. + </p> + <p> + Rousselot, asked why he had not mentioned this fact before, answered + stupidly, "I thought you knew it!" + </p> + <p> + The subsequent witness above referred to was an employee in the Ministere + du Roi, a man named Donzelle. In a stammering and rather confused fashion + he attempted to explain that the vacillations of the witness Bailli had + aroused his suspicions. He said that Bailli, who at first had been + vociferous in his condemnation of the Widow Boursier, had later been + rather more vociferous in her defence. The witness (Donzelle) had it from + a third party that Mme Boursier's sister-in-law had corrupted other + witnesses with gifts of money. Bailli, for example, could have been seen + carrying bags of ecus under his arm, coming out of the house of the + advocate briefed to defend Mme Boursier. + </p> + <p> + Bailli, recalled, offered to prove that if he had been to Maitre Couture's + house he had come out of it in the same fashion as he had gone in—that + was, with a bag of bay salt under each arm. + </p> + <p> + Maitre Couture, highly indignant, rose to protest against the insinuation + of the witness Donzelle, but the President of the court and the + Avocat-General hastened to say that the eminent and honourable advocate + was at no need to justify himself. The President sternly reprimanded + Donzelle and sent him back to his seat. + </p> + <p> + III + </p> + <p> + The Avocat-General, M. de Broe, stated the case for the prosecution. He + made, as probably was his duty, as much as he could of the arsenic said to + have been found in the body (that precipitated as yellow sulphur of + arsenic), and of the adultery of Mme Boursier with Kostolo. He dwelt on + the cleaning of the soup-dish, and pointed out that while the soup stood + on the desk Mme Boursier had been here and there near it, never out of + arm's reach. In regard to Kostolo, the Greek was a low scallywag, but not + culpable. + </p> + <p> + The prosecution, you observe, rested on the poison's being administered in + the soup. + </p> + <p> + In his speech for the defence the eloquent Maitre Couture began by + condemning the gossip and the popular rumour on which the case had been + begun. He denounced the action of the magistrates in instituting + proceedings as deplorably unconsidered and hasty. + </p> + <p> + Mme Boursier, he pointed out, had everything to lose through the loss of + her husband. Why should she murder a fine merchant like Boursier for a + doubtful quantity like Kostolo? He spoke of the happy relationship that + had existed between husband and wife, and, in proof of their kindness for + each other, told of a comedy interlude which had taken place on the Sunday + morning. + </p> + <p> + Boursier, he said, had to get up before his wife that morning, rising at + six o'clock. His rising did not wake his wife, and, perhaps humorously + resenting her lazy torpor, he found a piece of charcoal and decorated her + countenance with a black moustache. It was true that Mme Boursier showed + some petulance over her husband's prank when she got down at eight + o'clock, but her ill-humour did not last long. Her husband caressed and + petted her, and before long the wife joined her merry-minded husband in + laughing over the joke against her. That, said Maitre Couture, that mutual + laughter and kindness, seemed a strange preliminary to the supposed + poisoning episode of two hours or so later. + </p> + <p> + The truth of the matter was that Boursier carried the germ of death in his + own body. What enemy had he made? What vengeance had he incurred? Maitre + Couture reminded the jury of Boursier's poor physical condition, of his + stoutness, of the shortness of his neck. He brought forward Toupie's + evidence of Boursier's illness of the previous year, alike in symptoms and + in the sufferings of the invalid to that which proved fatal on Tuesday the + 30th of June. Then Maitre Couture proceeded to tear the medical evidence + to pieces, and returned to the point that Mme Boursier had been sleeping + so profoundly, so serenely, on the morning of her supposed contemplated + murder that the prank played on her by her intended victim had not + disturbed her. + </p> + <p> + The President's address then followed. The jury retired, and returned with + a verdict of "Not guilty." + </p> + <p> + On this M. Hardouin discharged the accused, improving the occasion with a + homily which, considering the ordeal that Mme Boursier had had to endure + through so many months, and that might have been considered punishment + enough, may be quoted merely as a fine specimen of salting the wound: + </p> + <p> + "Veuve Boursier," said he, "you are about to recover that liberty which + suspicions of the gravest nature have caused you to lose. The jury + declares you not guilty of the crime imputed to you. It is to be hoped + that you will find a like absolution in the court of your own conscience. + But do not ever forget that the cause of your unhappiness and of the + dishonour which, it may be, covers your name was the disorder of your ways + and the violation of the most sacred obligations. It is to be hoped that + your conduct to come may efface the shame of your conduct in the past, and + that repentance may restore the honour you have lost." + </p> + <p> + IV + </p> + <p> + Now we come, as the gentleman with the crimson handkerchief coyly showing + between dress waistcoat and shirt might have said, waving his pointer as + the canvas of the diorama rumbled on its rollers, to Riguepeu! + </p> + <p> + Some twenty years have elapsed since the Veuve Boursier stumbled from the + stand of the accused in the Assize Court of the Seine, acquitted of the + poisoning of her grocer husband, but convicted of a moral flaw which may + (or may not) have rather diminished thereafter the turnover of the + epicerie in the Rue de la Paix. One hopes that her punishment finished + with her acquittal, and that the mood of the mob, as apt as a flying straw + to veer for a zephyr as for a whirlwind, swung to her favour from mere + revulsion on her escape from the scaffold. The one thing is as likely as + the other. Didn't the heavy man of the fit-up show, eighteen months after + his conviction for rape (the lapse of time being occupied in paying the + penalty), return as an actor to the scene of his delinquency to find + himself, not, as he expected, pelted with dead cats and decaying + vegetables, but cheered to the echo? So may it have been with the Veuve + Boursier. + </p> + <p> + Though in 1844, the year in which the poison trial at Auch was opened, + four years had passed since the conviction of Mme Lafarge at Tulle, + controversy on the latter case still was rife throughout France. The two + cases were linked, not only in the minds of the lay public, but through + close analogy in the idea of lawyers and experts in medical jurisprudence. + From her prison cell Marie Lafarge watched the progress of the trial in + Gascony. And when its result was published one may be sure she shed a tear + or two. + </p> + <p> + But to Riguepeu... + </p> + <p> + You will not find it on anything but the biggest-scale maps. It is an + inconsiderable town a few miles from Vic-Fezensac, a town not much bigger + than itself and some twenty kilometres from Auch, which is the capital of + the department of Gers. You may take it that Riguepeu lies in the heart of + the Armagnac district. + </p> + <p> + Some little distance from Riguepeu itself, on the top of a rise, stood the + Chateau Philibert, a one-floored house with red tiles and green shutters. + Not much of a chateau, it was also called locally La Maison de Madame. It + belonged in 1843 to Henri Lacoste, together with considerable land about + it. It was reckoned that Lacoste, with the land and other belongings, was + worth anything between 600,000 and 700,000 francs. + </p> + <p> + Henri had become rich late in life. The house and the domain had been left + him by his brother Philibert, and another brother's death had also been of + some benefit to him. Becoming rich, Henri Lacoste thought it his duty to + marry, and in 1839, though already sixty-six years of age, picked on a + girl young enough to have been his granddaughter. + </p> + <p> + Euphemie Verges was, in fact, his grand-niece. She lived with her parents + at Mazeyrolles, a small village in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Compared + with Lacoste, the Verges were said to be poor. Lacoste took it on himself + to look after the girl's education, having her sent at his charges to a + convent at Tarbes. In 1841, on the 2nd of May, the marriage took place. + </p> + <p> + If this marriage of youth with crabbed age resulted in any unhappiness the + neighbours saw little of it. Though it was rumoured that for her old and + rich husband Euphemie had given up a young man of her fancy in Tarbes, her + conduct during the two years she lived with Lacoste seemed to be + irreproachable. Lacoste was rather a nasty old fellow from all accounts. + He was niggardly, coarse, and a womanizer. Euphemie's position in the + house was little better than that of head domestic servant, but in this + her lot was the common one for wives of her station in this part of + France. She appeared to be contented enough with it. + </p> + <p> + About two years after the marriage, on the 16th of May, 1843, to be exact, + after a trip with his wife to the fair at Riguepeu, old Lacoste was taken + suddenly ill, ultimately becoming violently sick. Eight days later he + died. + </p> + <p> + By a will which Henri had made two months after his marriage his wife was + his sole beneficiary, and this will was no sooner proved than the widow + betook herself to Tarbes, where she speedily began to make full use of her + fortune. Milliners and dressmakers were called into service, and the widow + blossomed forth as a lady of fashion. She next set up her own carriage. If + these proceedings had not been enough to excite envy among her female + neighbours the frequent visits paid to her in her genteel apartments by a + young man did the trick. The young man came on the scene less than two + months after the death of the old man. It was said that his visits to the + widow were prolonged until midnight. Scandal resulted, and out of the + scandal rumour regarding the death of Henri Lacoste. It began to be said + that the old man had died of poison. + </p> + <p> + It was in December, six months after the death of Lacoste, that the + rumours came to the ears of the magistrates. Nor was there lack of + anonymous letters. It was the Widow Lacoste herself, however, who demanded + an exhumation and autopsy on the body of her late husband—this as a + preliminary to suing her traducers. Note, in passing, how her action + matches that of Veuve Boursier. + </p> + <p> + On the orders of the Juge d'instruction an autopsy was begun on the 18th + of December. The body of Lacoste was exhumed, the internal organs were + extracted, and these, with portions of the muscular tissue, were submitted + to analysis by a doctor of Auch, M. Bouton, and two chemists of the same + city, MM. Lidange and Pons, who at the same time examined samples of the + soil in which the body had been interred. The finding was that the body of + Lacoste contained some arsenical preparation. + </p> + <p> + The matter now appearing to be grave, additional scientific assurance was + sought. Three of the most distinguished chemists in Paris were called into + service for a further analysis. They were MM. Devergie, Pelouze, and + Flandin. Their report ran in part: + </p> + <p> + The portion of the liver on which we have experimented proved to contain a + notable quantity of arsenic, amounting to more than five milligrammes; the + portions of the intestines and tissue examined also contained appreciable + traces which, though in smaller proportion than contained by the liver, + accord with the known features of arsenical poisoning. There is no + appearance of the toxic element in the earth taken from the grave or in + the material of the coffin. + </p> + <p> + As soon as Mme Lacoste was apprised of the findings of the autopsy she got + into her carriage and was driven to Auch, where she visited a friend of + her late husband and of herself. To him she announced her intention of + surrendering herself to the Procureur du Roi. The friend strongly advised + her against doing any such thing, advice which Mme Lacoste accepted with + reluctance. + </p> + <p> + On the 5th of January a summons to appear was issued for Mme Lacoste. She + was seen that day in Auch, walking the streets on the arm of a friend. She + even went to the post-office, but the police agents failed to find her. + She stopped the night in the town. Next day she was at Riguepeu. She was + getting out of her carriage when a servant pointed out gendarmes coming up + the hill with the Mayor. When those officials arrived Euphemie was well + away. Search was made through the house and outbuildings, but without + result. "Don't bother yourself looking any further, Monsieur le Maire," + said one of the servants. "The mistress isn't far away, but she's in a + place where I could hide a couple of oxen without you finding them." + </p> + <p> + From then on Mme Lacoste was hunted for everywhere. The roads to Tarbes, + Toulouse, and Vic-Fezensac were patrolled by brigades of gendarmes day and + night, but there was no sign of the fugitive. It was rumoured that she had + got away to Spain, that she was cached in a barrel at Riguepeu, that she + was in the fields disguised as a shepherd, that she had taken the veil. + </p> + <p> + In the meantime the process against her went forward. Evidence was to hand + which seemed to inculpate with Mme Lacoste a poor and old schoolmaster of + Riguepeu named Joseph Meilhan. The latter, arrested, stoutly denied not + only his own part in the supposed crime, but also the guilt of Mme + Lacoste. "Why doesn't she come forward?" he asked. "She knows perfectly + well she has nothing to fear—no more than I have." + </p> + <p> + From the 'information' laid by the court of first instance at Auch a + warrant was issued for the appearance of Mme Lacoste and Meilhan before + the Assize of Gers. Mme Lacoste was apparently well instructed by her + friends. She did not come into the open until the last possible moment. + She gave herself up at the Auch prison on the 4th of July. + </p> + <p> + Her health seemed to have suffered little from the vicissitudes of her + flight. It was noticed that her hair was short, a fact which seemed to + point to her having disguised herself. But, it is said, she exhibited a + serenity of mind which consorted ill with the idea of guilt. She faced an + interrogation lasting three hours without faltering. + </p> + <p> + On the 10th of July she appeared before the Gers Assize Court, held at + Auch. The President was M. Donnoderie. Counsel for the prosecution, as it + were, was the Procureur du Roi, M. Cassagnol. Mme Lacoste was defended by + Maitre Alem-Rousseau, leader of the bar of Auch. + </p> + <p> + The case aroused the liveliest interest, people flocking to the town from + as far away as Paris itself—so much so that at 6.30 in the morning + the one-time palace of the Archbishops of Auch, in the hall of which the + court was held, was packed. + </p> + <p> + The accused were called. First to appear was Joseph Meilhan. He was a + stout little old boy of sixty-six, rosy and bright-eyed, with short white + hair and heavy black eyebrows. He was calm and smiling, completely master + of himself. + </p> + <p> + Mme Lacoste then appeared on the arm of her advocate. She was dressed in + full widow's weeds. A little creature, slender but not rounded of figure, + she is described as more agreeable-looking than actually pretty. + </p> + <p> + After the accused had answered with their names and descriptions the acte + d'accusation was read. It was a long document. It recalled the + circumstances of the Lacoste marriage and of the death of the old man, + with the autopsy and the finding of traces of arsenic. It spoke of the + lowly household tasks that Mme Lacoste had performed with such goodwill + from the beginning, and of the reward for her diligence which came to her + by the making of a holograph will in which her husband made her his sole + heir. + </p> + <p> + But the understanding between husband and wife did not last long, the acte + went on. Lacoste ardently desired a son and heir, and his wife appeared to + be barren. He confided his grief to an old friend, one Lespere. Lespere + pointed out that Euphemie was not only Lacoste's wife, but his kinswoman + as well. To this Lacoste replied that the fact did not content him. "I + tell you on the quiet," he said to his friend, "I've made my arrangements. + If SHE knew—she's capable of poisoning me to get herself a younger + man." Lespere told him not to talk rubbish, in effect, but Lacoste was + stubborn on his notion. + </p> + <p> + This was but a year after the marriage. It seemed that Lacoste had a + melancholy presentiment of the fate which was to be his. + </p> + <p> + It was made out that Euphemie suffered from the avarice and jealousy of + her old husband. She was given no money, was hardly allowed out of the + house, and was not permitted even to go to Vespers alone. And then, said + the accusation, she discovered that her husband wanted an heir. She had + reason to fear that he would go about getting one by an illicit + association. + </p> + <p> + In the middle of 1842 she overheard her husband bargaining with one of the + domestics. The girl was asking for 100 pistoles (say, L85), while her + husband did not want to give more than 600 francs (say, L24). "Euphemie + Verges had no doubt," ran the accusation, "that this was the price of an + adulterous contract, and she insisted on Marie Dupuys' being sent from the + house. This was the cause of disagreement between the married pair, which + did not conclude with the departure of the servant." + </p> + <p> + Later another servant, named Jacquette Larrieux, told Mme Lacoste in + confidence that the master was trying to seduce her by the offer of a + pension of 2000 francs or a lump sum of 20,000. + </p> + <p> + Euphemie Verges, said the accusation, thus thought herself exposed daily, + by the infidelity of her husband, to the loss of all her hopes. Also, + talking to a Mme Bordes about the two servants some days after Lacoste's + death, she said, "I had a bad time with those two girls! If my husband had + lived longer I might have had nothing, because he wanted a child that he + could leave everything to." + </p> + <p> + The acte d'accusation enlarged on the situation, then went on to bring in + Joseph Meilhan as Euphemie's accomplice. It made him out to be a bad old + man indeed. He had seduced, it was said, a young girl named Lescure, who + became enceinte, afterwards dying from an abortion which Meilhan was + accused of having procured. It might be thought that the society of such a + bad old man would have disgusted a young woman, but Euphemie Verges + admitted him to intimacy. He was, it was said, the confidant for her + domestic troubles, and it was further rumoured that he acted as + intermediary in a secret correspondence that she kept up with a young man + of Tarbes who had been courting her before her marriage. The counsels of + such a man were not calculated to help Mme Lacoste in her quarrels with + her unfaithful and unlovable husband. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile M. Lacoste was letting new complaints be heard regarding his + wife. Again Lespere was his confidant. His wife was bad and sulky. He was + very inclined to undo what he had done for her. This was in March of 1843. + </p> + <p> + Towards the end of April he made a like complaint to another old friend, + one Dupouy, who accused him of neglecting old friends through + uxoriousness. Lacoste said he found little pleasure in his young wife. He + was, on the contrary, a martyr. He was on the point of disinheriting her. + </p> + <p> + And so, with the usual amount of on dit and disait-on, the acte + d'accusation came to the point of Lacoste at the Riguepeu fair. He set out + in his usual health, but, several hours later, said to one Laffon, "I have + the shivers, cramps in the stomach. After being made to drink by that + —— Meilhan I felt ill." + </p> + <p> + Departing from the fair alone, he met up with Jean Durieux, to whom he + said, "That —— of a Meilhan asked me to have a drink, and + afterwards I had colic, and wanted to vomit." + </p> + <p> + Arrived home, Lacoste said to Pierre Cournet that he had been seized by a + colic which made him ill all over, plaguing him, giving him a desire to + vomit which he could not satisfy. Cournet noticed that Lacoste was as + white as a sheet. He advised going to bed and taking hot water. Lacoste + took the advice. During the night he was copiously sick. The old man was + in bed in an alcove near the kitchen, but next night he was put into a + room out of the way of noise. + </p> + <p> + Euphemie looked after her husband alone, preparing his drinks and + admitting nobody to see him. She let three days pass without calling a + doctor. Lacoste, it was true, had said he did not want a doctor, but, said + the accusation, "there is no proof that he persisted in that wish." + </p> + <p> + On the fourth day she sent a summary of the illness to Dr Boubee, asking + for written advice. On the fifth day a surgeon was called, M. Lasmolles, + who was told that Lacoste had eaten a meal of onions, garlic stems, and + beans. But the story of this meal was a lie, a premeditated lie. On the + eve of the fair Mme Lacoste was already speaking of such a meal, saying + that that sort of thing always made her husband ill. + </p> + <p> + According to the accusation, the considerable amount of poison found in + the body established that the arsenic had been administered on several + occasions, on the first by Meilhan and on the others by Mme Lacoste. + </p> + <p> + When Henri Lacoste had drawn his last breath his wife shed a few tears. + But presently her grief gave place to other preoccupations. She herself + looked out the sheet for wrapping the corpse, and thereafter she began to + search in the desk for the will which made her her husband's sole heir. + </p> + <p> + Next day Meilhan, who had not once looked in on Lacoste during his + illness, hastened to visit the widow. The widow invited him to dinner. The + day after that he dined with her again, and they were seen walking + together. Their intimacy seemed to grow daily. But the friendship of Mme + Lacoste for Meilhan did not end there. Not very many days after the death + of Lacoste Meilhan met the Mayor of Riguepeu, M. Sabazan, and conducted + him in a mysterious manner into his schoolroom. Telling the Mayor that he + knew him to be a man of discretion, he confided in him that the Veuve + Lacoste intended giving him (Meilhan) a bill on one Castera. Did the Mayor + know Castera to be all right? The Mayor replied that a bill on Castera was + as good as gold itself. Meilhan said that Mme Lacoste had assured him this + was but the beginning of what she meant to do for him. + </p> + <p> + Meilhan wrote to Castera, who called on him. The schoolmaster told Castera + that in return for 2000 francs which she had borrowed from him Mme Lacoste + had given him a note for 1772 francs, which was due from Castera to Henri + Lacoste as part inheritance from a brother. Meilhan showed Castera the + original note, which was to be renewed in Meilhan's favour. The accusation + dwelt on the different versions regarding his possession of the note given + by Meilhan to the Mayor and to Castera. Meilhan was demonstrably lying to + conceal Mme Lacoste's liberality. + </p> + <p> + Some little time after this Meilhan invited the Mayor a second time into + the schoolroom, and told him that Mme Lacoste meant to assure him of a + life annuity of 400 francs, and had asked him to prepare the necessary + document for her to sign. But there was another proposition. If Meilhan + would return the note for 1772 francs owing by Castera she would make the + annuity up to 500. What, asked Meilhan, would M. le Maire do in his place? + The Mayor replied that in Meilhan's place he would keep the Castera note + and be content with the 400 annuity. Then Meilhan asked the Mayor to draw + up for him a specimen of the document necessary for creating the annuity. + This M. Sabazan did at once, and gave the draft to Meilhan. + </p> + <p> + Some days later still Meilhan told M. Sabazan that Mme Lacoste did not + wish to use the form of document suggested by the Mayor, but had written + one herself. Meilhan showed the Mayor the widow's document, and begged him + to read it to see if it was in proper form. Sabazan read the document. It + created an annuity of 400 francs, payable yearly in the month of August. + The Mayor did not know actually if the deed was in the writing of Mme + Lacoste. He did not know her fist. But he could be certain that it was not + in Meilhan's hand. + </p> + <p> + This deed was later shown by Meilhan to the cure of Riguepeu, who saw at + least that the deed was not in Meilhan's writing. He noticed that it + showed some mistakes, and that the signature of the Widow Lacoste began + with the word "Euphemie." + </p> + <p> + In the month of August Meilhan was met coming out of Mme Lacoste's by the + Mayor. Jingling money in his pocket, the schoolmaster told the Mayor he + had just drawn the first payment of his annuity. Later Meilhan bragged to + the cure of Basais that he was made for life. He took a handful of louis + from his pocket, and told the priest that this was his daily allowance. + </p> + <p> + "Whence," demanded the acte d'accusation, "came all those riches, if they + were not the price of his share in the crime?" + </p> + <p> + But the good offices of Mme Lacoste towards Meilhan did not end with the + giving of money. In the month of August Meilhan was chased from his + lodgings by his landlord, Lescure, on suspicion of having had intimate + relations with the landlord's wife. The intervention of the Mayor was + ineffective in bringing about a reconciliation between Meilhan and + Lescure. Meilhan begged Mme Lacoste to intercede, and where the Mayor had + failed she succeeded. + </p> + <p> + While Mme Lacoste was thus smothering Meilhan with kindnesses she was + longing herself to make the most of the fortune which had come to her. + From the first days of her widowhood she was constantly writing letters + which Mme Lescure carried for her. Euphemie had already begun to talk of + remarriage. Her choice was already made. "If I marry again," she said, a + few days after the death of Lacoste, "I won't take anybody but M. Henri + Berens, of Tarbes. He was my first love." + </p> + <p> + The accusation told of Euphemie's departure for Tarbes, where almost her + first caller was this M. Henri Berens. The next day she gave up the + lodgings rented by her late husband, to establish herself in rich + apartments owned by one Fourcade, which she furnished sumptuously. The + accusation dwelt on her purchase of horses and a carriage and on her + luxurious way of living. It also brought forward some small incidents + illustrative of her distaste for the memory of her late husband. It dealt + with information supplied by her landlord which indicated that her + conscience was troubled. Twice M. Fourcade found her trembling, as with + fear. On his asking her what was the matter she replied, "I was thinking + of my husband—if he saw me in a place furnished like this!" + </p> + <p> + (It need hardly be pointed out, considering the sour and avaricious ways + of her late husband, that Euphemie need not have been conscience-stricken + with his murder to have trembled over her lavish expenditure of his + fortune. But the point is typical of the trivialities with which the acte + d'accusation was padded out.) + </p> + <p> + The accusation claimed that a young man had several times been seen + leaving Euphemie's apartments at midnight, and spoke of protests made by + Mme Fourcade. Euphemie declared herself indifferent to public opinion. + </p> + <p> + Public opinion, however, beginning to rise against her, Euphemie had need + to resort to lying in order to explain her husband's death. To some she + repeated the story of the onion-garlic-and-beans meal, adding that, in + spite of his indigestion, he had eaten gluttonously later in the day. To + others she attributed his illness to two indigestible repasts made at the + fair. To others again she said Lacoste had died of a hernia, forced out by + his efforts to vomit. She was even accused of saying that the doctor had + attributed the death to this cause. This, said the indictment, was a lie. + Dr Lasmolles declared that he had questioned Lacoste about the supposed + hernia, and that the old man denied having any such thing. + </p> + <p> + What had brought about Lacoste's fatal illness was the wine Meilhan had + made him drink at Rigeupeu fair. + </p> + <p> + With the rise of suspicion against her and her accomplice, Mme Lacoste put + up a brave front. She wrote to the Procureur du Roi, demanding an + exhumation, with the belief, no doubt, that time would have effaced the + poison. At the same time she sent the bailiff Labadie to Riguepeu, to find + out the names of those who were traducing her, and to say that she + intended to prosecute her calumniators with the utmost rigour of the law. + This, said the accusation, was nothing but a move to frighten the + witnesses against her into silence. Instead of making good her threats the + Widow Lacoste disappeared. + </p> + <p> + On the arrest of Meilhan search of his lodgings resulted in the finding of + the note on Castera for 1772 francs, and of a sum of 800 francs in gold + and silver. But of the deed creating the annuity of 400 francs there was + no trace. + </p> + <p> + Meilhan denied everything. In respect of the wine he was said to have + given Lacoste he said he had passed the whole of the 16th of May in the + company of a friend called Mothe, and that Mothe could therefore prove + Meilhan had never had a drink with Lacoste. Mothe, however, declared he + had left Meilhan that day at three o'clock in the afternoon, and it was + just at this time that Meilhan had taken Lacoste into the auberge where he + lived to give him the poisoned drink. It was between three and four that + Lacoste first showed signs of being ill. + </p> + <p> + Asked to explain the note for 1772 francs, Meilhan said that, about two + months after Lacoste's death, the widow complained of not having any ready + money. She had the Castera note, and he offered to discount it for her. + This was a palpable lie, said the accusation. It was only a few days after + Lacoste's death that Meilhan spoke to the Mayor about the Castera note. + Meilhan's statement was full of discrepancies. He told Castera that he + held the note against 2000 francs previously lent to the widow. He now + said that he had discounted the note on sight. But the fact was that since + Meilhan had come to live in Riguepeu he had been without resources. He had + stripped himself in order to establish his son in a pharmacy at + Vic-Fezensac. His profession of schoolmaster scarcely brought him in + enough for living expenses. How, then, could he possibly be in a position + to lend Mme Lacoste 2000 francs? And how had he managed to collect the 800 + odd francs that were found in his lodgings? The real explanation lay in + the story he had twice given to the Mayor, M. Sabazan: he was in + possession of the Castera note through the generosity of his accomplice. + </p> + <p> + Meilhan was in still greater difficulty to explain the document which had + settled on him an annuity of 400 francs, and which had been seen in his + hands. Denial was useless, since he had asked the Mayor to make a draft + for him, and since he had shown that functionary the deed signed by Mme + Lacoste. Here, word for word, is the explanation given by the rubicund + Joseph: + </p> + <p> + "My son," he said, "kept asking me to contribute to the upkeep of one of + his boys who is in the seminary of Vic-Fezensac. I consistently refused to + do so, because I wanted to save what little I might against the time when + I should be unable to work any longer. Six months ago my son wrote to the + cure, begging him to speak to me. The cure, not wishing to do so, sent on + the letter to the Mayor, who communicated with me. I replied that I did + not wish to do anything, adding that I intended investing my savings in a + life annuity. At the same time I begged M. Sabazan to make me a draft in + the name of Mme Lacoste. She knew nothing about it. M. Sabazan sent me on + the draft. It seemed to me well drawn up. I rewrote it, and showed it to + M. Sabazan. At the foot of the deed I put the words 'Veuve Lacoste,' but I + had been at pains to disguise my handwriting. I did all this with the + intention of making my son believe, when my infirmities obliged me to + retire to his household, that my income came from a life annuity some one + had given me; and to hide from him where I had put my capital I wanted to + persuade M. Sabazan that the deed actually existed, so that he could bear + witness to the fact to my son." Here, said the accusation, Meilhan was + trying to make out that it was on the occasion of a letter from his son + that he had spoken to the Mayor of the annuity. + </p> + <p> + The cure of Riguepeu, however, while admitting that he had received such a + letter from Meilhan's son, declared that this was long before the death of + Henri Lacoste. The Mayor also said that he had spoken to Meilhan of his + son's letter well before the time when the accused mentioned the annuity + to him and asked for a draft of the assignment. + </p> + <p> + The accusation ridiculed Meilhan's explanation, dubbing it just another of + the schoolmaster's lies. It brought forward a contradictory explanation + given by Meilhan to one Thener, a surgeon, whom he knew to be in frequent + contact with the son whom the document was intended to deceive. Meilhan + informed Thener that he had fabricated the deed, and had shown it round, + in order to inspire such confidence in him as would secure him refuge when + he had to give up schoolmastering. + </p> + <p> + These contradictory and unbelievable explanations were the fruit of + Meilhan's efforts to cover the fact that the annuity was the price paid + him by the Widow Lacoste for his part in the murder of her husband. It was + to be remembered that M. Sabazan, whose testimony was impeccable, had seen + Meilhan come from the house of Mme Lacoste, and that Meilhan had jingled + money, saying he had just drawn the first payment of his annuity. + </p> + <p> + The accusation, in sum, concentrated on the suspicious relationship + between Meilhan and the Widow Lacoste. It was a long document, but + something lacking in weight of proof—proof of the actual murder, + that is, if not of circumstance. + </p> + <p> + V + </p> + <p> + The process in a French criminal court was—and still is—somewhat + long-winded. The Procureur du Roi had to go over the accusation in detail, + making the most of Mme Lacoste's intimacy with the ill-reputed old fellow. + That parishioner, far from being made indignant by the animadversions of + M. Cassagnol, listened to the recital of his misdeeds with a faint smile. + He was perhaps a little astonished at some of the points made against him, + but, it is said, contented himself with a gesture of denial to the jury, + and listened generally as if with pleasure at hearing himself so well + spoken of. + </p> + <p> + He was the first of the accused to be questioned. + </p> + <p> + It was brought out that he had been a soldier under the Republic, and then + for a time had studied pharmacy. He had been a corn-merchant in a small + way, and then had started schoolmaster. + </p> + <p> + Endeavour was made to get him to admit guilty knowledge of the death of + the Lescure girl. He had never even heard of an abortion. The girl had a + stomach-ache. This line failing, he was interrogated on the matter of + being chased from his lodgings by the landlord-father, it would seem, of + the aforementioned girl. (It may be noted that Meilhan lived on in the + auberge after her death.) Meilhan had an innocent explanation of the + incident. It was all a mistake on the part of Lescure. And he hadn't been + chased out of the auberge. He had simply gone out with his coat slung + about his shoulders. Mme Lacoste went with him to patch the matter up. + </p> + <p> + He had not given Lacoste a drink, hadn't even spoken with him, at the + Riguepeu fair, but had passed the day with M. Mothe. Cournet had told him + of Lacoste's having a headache, but had said nothing of vomitings. He had + not seen Lacoste during the latter's illness, because Lacoste was seeing + nobody. + </p> + <p> + This business of the annuity had got rather entangled, but he would + explain. He had lodged 1772 francs with Mme Lacoste, and she had given him + a bill on Castera. Whether he had given the money before or after getting + the bill he could not be sure. He thought afterwards. He had forgotten the + circumstances while in prison. + </p> + <p> + Meilhan stuck pretty firmly to his story that it was to deceive his son + that he had fabricated the deed of annuity. He couldn't help it if the + story sounded thin. It was the fact. + </p> + <p> + How had he contrived to save, as he said, 3000 francs? His yearly income + during his six years at Riguepeu had been only 500 francs. The court had + reason to be surprised. + </p> + <p> + "Ah! You're surprised!" exclaimed Meilhan, rather put out. But at + Breuzeville, where he was before Riguepeu, he had bed and board free. In + Riguepeu he had nothing off the spit for days on end. He spent only 130 + francs a year, he said, giving details. And then he did a little trade in + corn. + </p> + <p> + He had destroyed the annuity deed only because it was worthless. As for + what he had said to the Mayor about drawing his first payment of the + pension, he had done it because he was a bit conscience-stricken over + fabricating the deed. He had been bragging—that was all. + </p> + <p> + The President, having already chidden Meilhan for being prolix in his + answers, now scolded him for anticipating the questions. But the fact was + that Meilhan was not to be pinned down. + </p> + <p> + The first questions put to Mme Lacoste were with regard to her marriage + and her relations with her husband. She admitted, incidentally, having + begun to receive a young man some six weeks after her husband's death, but + she had not known him before marriage. Meilhan had carried no letters + between them. She had married Lacoste of her own free will. Lacoste had + not asked any attentions from her that were not ordinarily sought by a + husband, and her care of him had been spontaneous. It was true he was + jealous, but he had not formally forbidden her pleasures. She had + renounced them, knowing he was easily upset. It was true that she had + seldom gone out, but she had never wanted to. Lacoste was no more + avaricious than most, and it was untrue that he had denied her any + necessaries. + </p> + <p> + Taken to the events of the fair day, Tuesday, the 16th of May, Mme Lacoste + maintained that her husband, on his return, complained only of a headache. + He had gone to bed early, but he usually did. That night he slept in the + same alcove as herself, but next night they separated. In spite of the + contrary evidence of witnesses, of which the President reminded her, Mme + Lacoste firmly maintained that it was not until the Wednesday-Thursday + night that Lacoste started to vomit. It was not until that night that she + began to attend to him. She had given him lemonade, washed him, and so on. + </p> + <p> + The President was saying that nobody had been allowed near him, and that a + doctor was not called, when the accused broke in with a lively denial. + Anybody who wanted to could see him, and a doctor was called. This was + towards the last, the President pointed out. Mme Lacoste's advocate + intervened here, saying that it was the husband who did not wish a doctor + called, for reasons of his own. The President begged to be allowed to hear + the accused's own answers. He pointed out that the ministrations of the + accused had effected no betterment, but that the illness had rapidly got + worse. The delay in calling a doctor seemed to lend a strange significance + to the events. + </p> + <p> + Mme Lacoste answered in lively fashion, accenting her phrases with the use + of her hands: "But, monsieur, you do not take into account that it was not + until the night of Wednesday and the Thursday that my husband began to + vomit, and that it was two days after that he—he succumbed." + </p> + <p> + The President said a way remained of fixing the dates and clearing up the + point. He had a letter written by M. Lacoste to the doctor in which he + himself explained the state of his illness. It was pointed out to him that + the letter had been written by Mme Lacoste at her husband's dictation. + </p> + <p> + The letter was dated the 19th (Friday). It was directed to M. Boubee, + doctor of medicine, in Vic-Fezensac. Perhaps it would be better to give it + in the original language. It is something frank in detail: + </p> + <p> + Depuis quelque temps j'avais perdu l'appetit et m'endormais de suite quand + j'etais assis. Mercredi il me vint un secours de nature par un vomissement + extraordinaire. Ces vomissements m'ont dure pendant un jour et une nuit; + je ne rendais que de la bile. La nuit passee, je n'en ai pas rendu; dans + ce moment, j'en rends encore. Vous sentez combien ces efforts reiteres + m'ont fatigue; ces grands efforts m'ont fait partir de la bile par en bas; + je vous demanderai, monsieur, si vous ne trouveriez pas a propos que je + prisse une medecine d'huile de ricin ou autre, celle que vous jugerez a + propos. Je vous demanderai aussi si je pourrais prendre quelques bains. + [signe] + </p> + <p> + LACOSTE PHILIBERT + </p> + <p> + Je rends beaucoup de vents par en bas. Pour la boisson, je ne bois que de + l'eau chaude et de l'eau sucree. (Il n'y a pas eu de fievre encore.) + </p> + <p> + The Procureur du Roi maintained that this letter showed the invalid had + already been taken with vomiting before it was considered necessary to + call in a doctor. But Mme Lacoste's advocate pointed out that the letter + was written by her, when she had overcome Lacoste's distaste for doctors. + </p> + <p> + The President made much of the fact that Mme Lacoste had undertaken even + the lowliest of the attentions necessary in a sick-room, when other, more + mercenary, hands could have been engaged in them. The accusation from this + was that she did these things from a desire to destroy incriminating + evidences. Mme Lacoste replied that she had done everything out of + affection for her husband. + </p> + <p> + Asked by the court why she had not thought to give Dr Boubee any + explanations of the illness, she replied that she knew her husband was + always ill, but that he hid his maladies and was ashamed of them. He had, + it appeared, hernias, tetters, and other maladies besides. It was easy for + her to gather as much, in spite of the mystery Lacoste made of them; she + had seen him rubbing his limbs at times with medicaments, and at others + she had seen him taking medicines internally. He was always vexed when she + found him at it. She did not know what doctor prescribed the medicaments, + nor the pharmacist who supplied them. Her husband thought he knew more + than the doctors, and usually dealt with quacks. + </p> + <p> + Mme Lacoste was questioned regarding her husband's will, and on his + longing to have an heir of his own blood. She knew of the will, but did + not hear any word of his desire to alter it until after his death. With + regard to Lacoste's attempts to seduce the servants, she declared this was + a vague affair, and she had found the first girl in question a place + elsewhere. + </p> + <p> + Her letter to the Procureur du Roi demanding an exhumation and justice + against her slanderers was read. Then a second one, in which she excused + her absence, saying that she would give herself up for judgment at the + right time, and begged him to add her letter to the papers of the process. + </p> + <p> + The President then returned to the question of her husband's attempts to + seduce the servants. She denied that this was the cause of quarrels. There + had been no quarrels. She did not know that her husband was complaining + outside about her. + </p> + <p> + She denied all knowledge of the arsenic found in Lacoste's body, but + suggested that it might have come from one or other of the medicines he + took. + </p> + <p> + Questioned with regard to her intimacy with Meilhan, she declared that she + knew nothing of his morals. She had intervened in the Lescure affair at + the request of Mme Lescure, who came to deny the accusation made by + Lescure. This woman had never acted as intermediary between herself and + Meilhan. Meilhan had not been her confidant. She looked after her late + husband's affairs herself. She had handed over the Castera note to Meilhan + against his loan of 2000 francs, but she had never given him money as a + present. Nor had she ever spoken to Meilhan of an annuity. But Meilhan, it + was objected, had been showing a deed signed "Euphemie Lacoste." The + accused quickly replied that she never signed herself "Euphemie," but as + "Veuve Lacoste." Upon this the President called for several letters + written by the accused. It was found that they were all signed "Veuve + Lacoste." + </p> + <p> + The evidence of the Fourcades regarding her conduct in their house at + Tarbes was biased, she said. She had refused to take up some people + recommended by her landlady. The young man who had visited her never + remained longer than after ten o'clock or half-past, and she saw nothing + singular in that. + </p> + <p> + The examination-in-chief of Mme Lacoste ended with her firm declaration + that she knew nothing of the poisoning of her husband, and that she had + spoken the truth through all her interrogations. Some supplementary + questions were answered by her to the effect that she knew, during her + marriage, that her husband had at one time suffered from venereal disease; + and that latterly there had been recrudescences of the affection, together + with the hernia already mentioned, for which her husband took numerous + medicaments. + </p> + <p> + Throughout this long examination Mme Lacoste showed complete + self-possession, save that at times she exhibited a Gascon impatience in + answering what she conceived to be stupid questions. + </p> + <p> + VI + </p> + <p> + The experts responsible for the analysis of Lacoste's remains were now + called. All three of those gentlemen from Paris, MM. Pelouze, Devergie, + and Flandin, agreed in their findings. Two vessels were exhibited, on + which there glittered blobs of some metallic substance. This substance, + the experts deposed, was arsenic obtained by the Marsh technique from the + entrails and the muscular tissue from Lacoste's body. They could be sure + that the substances used as reagents in the experiments were pure, and + that the earth about the body was free from arsenic. + </p> + <p> + M. Devergie said that science did not admit the presence of arsenic as a + normal thing in the human body. What was not made clear by the expert was + whether the amount of arsenic found in the body of Lacoste was consistent + with the drug's having been taken in small doses, or whether it had been + given in one dose. Devergie's confrere Flandin later declared his + conviction that the death of Lacoste was due to one dose of the poison, + but, from a verbatim report, it appears that he did not give any reason + for the opinion. + </p> + <p> + At this point Mme Lacoste was recalled, and repeated her statement that + she had seen her husband rubbing himself with an ointment and drinking + some white liquid on the return of a syphilitic affection. + </p> + <p> + Dr Lasmolles testified that Lacoste, though very close-mouthed, had told + him of a skin affection that troubled him greatly. The deceased dosed + himself, and did not obey the doctors' orders. It was only from a farmer + that he understood Lacoste to have a hernia, and Lacoste himself did not + admit it. The doctor did not believe the man poisoned. He had been + impressed by the way Mme Lacoste looked after her husband, and the latter + did not complain about anyone. M. Lasmolles had heard no mention from + Lacoste of the glass of wine given him by Meilhan. + </p> + <p> + After M. Devergie had said that he had heard of arsenical remedies used + externally for skin diseases, but never of any taken internally, M. + Plandin expressed his opinion as before quoted. + </p> + <p> + The next witness was one Dupouy, of whom some mention has already been + made. Five days before his death Lacoste told him that, annoyed with his + wife, he definitely intended to disinherit her. Dupouy admitted, however, + that shortly before this the deceased had spoken of taking a pleasure trip + with Mme Lacoste. + </p> + <p> + Lespere then repeated his story of the complaints made to him by Lacoste + of his wife's conduct, of his intention of altering his will, and of his + belief that Euphemie was capable of poisoning him in order to get a + younger man. It was plain that this witness, a friend of Lacoste's for + forty-six years, was not ready to make any admissions in her favour. He + swore that Lacoste had told him his wife did not know she was his sole + heir. He was allowed to say that on the death of Lacoste he had + immediately assumed that the poisoning feared by Lacoste had been brought + about. He had heard nothing from Lacoste of secret maladies or secret + remedies, but had been so deep in Lacoste's confidence that he felt sure + his old friend would have mentioned them. He had heard of such things only + at the beginning of the case. + </p> + <p> + The Procureur du Roi remarked here that reliance on the secret remedies + was the 'system' of the defence. + </p> + <p> + That seemed to be the case. The 'system' of the prosecution, on the other + hand, was to snatch at anything likely to appear as evidence against the + two accused. The points mainly at issue were as follows: + </p> + <p> + (1) Did Meilhan have a chance of giving Lacoste a drink at the fair? + </p> + <p> + (2) Did Lacoste become violently sick immediately on his return from the + fair? + </p> + <p> + (3) Did Lacoste suffer from the ailments attributed to him by his wife, + and was he in the habit of dosing himself? + </p> + <p> + (4) Did Meilhan receive money from Mme Lacoste, and, particularly, did she + propose to allow him the supposed annuity? + </p> + <p> + With regard to (1), several witnesses declared that Lacoste had complained + to them of feeling ill after drinking with Meilhan, but none could speak + of seeing the two men together. M. Mothe, the friend cited by Meilhan, + less positive in his evidence in court than the acte d'accusation made him + out to be, could not remember if it was on the 16th of May that he had + spent the whole afternoon with Meilhan. It was so much his habit to be + with Meilhan during the days of the fair that he had no distinct + recollection of any of them. Another witness, having business with + Lacoste, declared that on the day in question it was impossible for + Meilhan to have been alone with Lacoste during the time that the latter + was supposed to have taken the poisoned drink. Lescure, in whose auberge + Lacoste was supposed to have had the drink, failed to remember such an + incident. The evidence that Meilhan had given Lacoste the drink was all + second-hand; that to the contrary was definite. + </p> + <p> + For the most part the evidence with regard to (2), that Lacoste became + very ill immediately on his return from the fair, was hearsay. The + servants belonging to the Lacoste household all maintained that the + vomiting did not seize the old man until the night of Wednesday-Thursday. + Indeed, two witnesses testified that the old man, in spite of his supposed + headache, essayed to show them how well he could dance. This was on his + return from the fair where he was supposed to have been given a poisoned + drink at three o'clock. The evidence regarding the seclusion of Lacoste by + his wife was contradictory, but the most direct of it maintained that it + was the old man himself, if anyone, who wanted to be left alone. On this + point arises the question of the delay in calling the doctor. Witness + after witness testified to Lacoste's hatred of the medical faculty and to + his preference for dosing himself. He declared his faith in a local vet. + </p> + <p> + On (3), the bulk of the evidence against Lacoste's having the suggested + afflictions came simply from witnesses who had not heard of them. There + was, on the contrary, quite a number of witnesses to declare that Lacoste + did suffer from a skin disease, and that he was in the habit of using + quack remedies, the stronger the better. It was also testified that + Lacoste was in the habit of prescribing his remedies for other people. A + witness declared that a woman to whom Lacoste had given medicine for an + indisposition had become crippled, and still was crippled. + </p> + <p> + With regard to (4), the Mayor merely repeated the evidence given in his + first statement, but the cure', who also saw the deed assigning an annuity + to Meilhan, said that it was not in Mme Lacoste's writing, and that it was + signed with the unusual "Euphemie." This last witness added that Mme + Lacoste's reputation was irreproachable, and that her relations with her + husband were happy. + </p> + <p> + Evidence from a business-man in Tarbes showed that Mme Lacoste's handling + of her fortune was careful to a degree, her expenditure being well within + her income. This witness also proved that the Fourcades' evidence of + Euphemie's misbehaviour could have been dictated from spite. Fourcade had + been found out in what looked like a swindle over money which he owed to + the Lacoste estate. + </p> + <p> + The court then went more deeply into the medico-legal evidence. It were + tedious to follow the course of this long argument. After a lengthy + dissertation on the progress of an acute indigestion and the effects of a + strangulated hernia M. Devergie said that, as the poison existed in the + body, from the symptoms shown in the illness it could be assumed that + death had resulted from arsenic. The duration of the illness was in accord + with the amount of arsenic found. + </p> + <p> + M. Flandin agreed with this, but M. Pelouze abstained from expressing an + opinion. He, however, rather gave the show away, by saying that if he was + a doctor he would take care to forbid any arsenical preparations. "These + preparations," he said moodily, "can introduce a melancholy obscurity into + the investigations of criminal justice." + </p> + <p> + Some sense was brought into the discussion by Dr Molas, of Auch. He put + forward the then accepted idea of the accumulation of arsenic taken in + small doses, and the power of this accumulation, on the least accident, of + determining death. + </p> + <p> + This was rather like chucking a monkey-wrench into the cerebration + machinery of the Paris experts. They admitted that the absorption and + elimination of arsenic varied with the individual, and generally handed + the case over to the defence. M. Devergie was the only one who stuck out, + but only partially even then. "I persist in believing," he said, "that M. + Lacoste succumbed to poisoning by arsenic; but I use the word 'poisoning' + only from the point of view of science: arsenic killed him." + </p> + <p> + VII + </p> + <p> + The speech of the Procureur du Roi was another resume of the acte + d'accusation, with consideration of that part of the evidence which suited + him best. + </p> + <p> + This was followed by the speech of Maitre Canteloup in defence of Meilhan. + The speech was a good effort which demonstrated that, whatever rumour + might accuse the schoolmaster of, there were plenty of people of standing + who had found him upright and free from stain through a long life. It + reproached the accusation with jugglery over dates and so forth in support + of its case, and confidently predicted the acquittal of Meilhan. + </p> + <p> + Then followed the speech of Maitre Alem-Rousseau on behalf of the Veuve + Lacoste. Among other things the advocate brought forward the fact that + Euphemie was not so poorly born as the prosecution had made out, but that + she had every chance of inheriting some 20,000 francs from her parents. It + was notorious that when Henri Lacoste first broached the subject of + marriage with Euphemie he was not so rich as he afterwards became, but, in + fact, believed he had lost the inheritance from his brother Philibert, + this last having made a will in favour of a young man of whom popular + rumour made him the father. This was in 1839. The marriage was celebrated + in May of 1841. Henri Lacoste, it is true, had hidden his intentions, but + when news of the marriage reached the ears of brother Philibert that + brother was so delighted that he destroyed the will which disinherited + Henri. It was thus right to say that Euphemie became the benefactor of her + husband. Where was the speculative marriage on the part of Euphemie that + the prosecution talked about? + </p> + <p> + Maitre Alem-Rousseau made short work of the medico-legal evidence (he had + little bother with the facts of the illness). Poison was found in the + body. The question was, how had it got there? Was it quite certain that + arsenic could not get into the human body save by ingestion, that it could + not exist in the human body normally? The science of the day said no, he + knew, but the science of yesterday had said yes. Who knew what the science + of to-morrow would say? + </p> + <p> + The advocate made use of the evidence of a witness whose testimony I have + failed to find in the accounts of the trial. This witness spoke of + Lacoste's having asked, in Bordeaux, for a certain liquor of + "Saint-Louis," a liquor which Mme Lacoste took to be an anisette. "No," + said Lacoste, "women don't take it." Maitre Alem-Rousseau had tried to + discover what this liquor of Saint-Louis was. During the trial he had come + upon the fact that the arsenical preparation known as Fowler's solution + had been administered for the first time in the hospital of Saint-Louis, + in Paris. He showed an issue of the Hospital Gazette in which the + advertisement could be read: "Solution de Fowler telle qu'on l'administre + a SAINT-LOUIS!" The jury could make what they liked of that fact. + </p> + <p> + The advocate now produced documents to prove that the marriage of Euphemie + with her grand-uncle had not been so much to her advantage, but had been—it + must have been—a marriage of affection. At the time when the + marriage was arranged, he proved, Lacoste had no more than 35,000 francs + to his name. Euphemie had 15,000 francs on her marriage and the hope of + 20,000 francs more. The pretence of the prosecution, that her contentment + with the abject duties which she had to perform in the house was dictated + by interest, fell to the ground with the preliminary assumption that she + had married for her husband's money. + </p> + <p> + Maitre Alem, defending the widow's gayish conduct after her husband's + death, declared it to be natural enough. It had been shown to be innocent. + He trounced the Press for helping to exaggerate the rumours which envy of + Mme Lacoste's good fortune had created. He asked the jury to acquit Mme + Lacoste. + </p> + <p> + The Procureur du Roi had another say. It was again an attempt to destroy + the 'system' of the defence, but by making a mystery of the fact that the + Lacoste-Verges marriage had not taken place in a church he gave the wily + Maitre Alem an opportunity for following him. + </p> + <p> + The summing-up of the President on the third day of the trial was, it is + said, a model of clarity and impartiality. The jury returned on all the + points put to them a verdict of "Not guilty" for both the accused. + </p> + <p> + VIII + </p> + <p> + Another verdict may now seem to have been hardly possible. The accusation + was built up on the jealousy of neighbours, on chance circumstances, on + testimonies founded on petty spite. But, combined with the medico-legal + evidence, the weight of circumstance might easily have hoisted the accused + in the balance. + </p> + <p> + It will be seen, then, how much on foot the case of the Veuve Lacoste was + with that of the Veuve Boursier, twenty years before. + </p> + <p> + It is on the experience of cases such as these two that the technique of + investigation into arsenical poison has been evolved. In the case of Veuve + Boursier you find M. Orfila discovering oxide of arsenic where M. Barruel + saw only grains of fat. Four years previous to the case of the Veuve + Lacoste that same Orfila came into the trial of Mme Lafarge with the first + use in medical jurisprudence of the Marsh test, and based on the + experiment a cocksure opinion which had much to do with the condemnation + of that unfortunate woman. In the Lacoste trial you find the Parisian + experts giving an opinion of no greater value than that of Orfila's in the + Lafarge case, but find also an element of doubt introduced by the country + practitioner, with his common sense on the then moot question of the + accumulation, the absorption, and elimination of the drug. + </p> + <p> + Nowadays we are quite certain that our experts in medical jurisprudence + know all there is to know about arsenical poisoning. What are the chances, + however, in spite of our apparently well-founded faith, that some + bristle-headed local chemist with a fighting chin will not spring up at an + arsenic-poisoning trial and, with new facts about the substance, blow to + pieces the cocksure evidence of the leading expert in pathology? It may + seem impossible that such a thing can ever happen again—a mistake + regarding the action of arsenic on the human body. But when we discover it + becoming a commonplace of science that one human may be poisoned by an + everyday substance which thousands of his fellows eat with enjoyment as + well as impunity—a substance, for instance, as everyday as porridge—who + will dare say even now that the last word has been said and written of + arsenic? + </p> + <p> + But that, as the late George Moore so doted on saying, is quelconque. M. + Orfila, sure about the grocer of the Rue de la Paix, was defeated by M. + Barruel. M. Orfila, sure about the death of Charles Lafarge, is declared + by to-day's experts in criminal jurisprudence and pathology to have been + talking through his hat. According to the present experts, says "Philip + Curtin," Lafarge was not poisoned at all, but died a natural death. + Because of M. Devergie it was for the Veuve Lacoste as much 'touch and go' + as it was for the Veuve Boursier twenty years before. Well might + Marie-Fortunee Lafarge, hearing in prison of the verdict in the Lacoste + trial, say, "Ma condamnation a sauve Madame Lacoste!" + </p> + <p> + In all this there's a moral lesson somewhere, but I'm blessed if I can put + my finger on it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + INDEX + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Abbot, George, Archbishop of Canterbury + Alem-Rousseau, Maitre; on arsenic + Amos (Great Oyer of Poisoning) + Ansell, Mary + Aqua fortis—see Poisons + Armstrong, poisoner + Arsenic—see Poisons + Artois, Comte d'—see Charles X + Aumale, Duc d' + + Bacon, Sir Francis + Balfour, Rev. James + Ballet, Auguste + Barruel, Dr. + Barry, Philip Beaufroy + Berry, Duchesse de + Bidard, Professor; evidence against Helene Jegado + Black, Mrs (Armagh) + Blandy, Mary + Bordeaux, Duc de + Bordot, Dr. + Borgia, Cesare + Borgia, Lucretia + Borgia, Rodrigo, Pope Alexander VI + Borrow, George + Boubee, Dr. + Boudin, Dr. + Bourbon, Louis-Henri-Joseph, Duc de, afterwards Prince de Conde + Bourbon, Louise-Marie-Therese-Mathilde d'Orleans, Duchesse de + Boursier, Veuve; case compared with Veuve Lacoste's + Bouton, Dr. + Briant, Abbe + Brock, Alan + Broe, M. de, Avocat-General + Brownrigg, Elizabeth + Bruce, Rev. Robert + Burke and Hare + Burning at the stake + + Canteloup, Maitre + Cantharides—see Poisons + Carew, Edith Mary + Carr, Robert + Cassagnol, M., Procureur du Roi, Auch + Castaing, poisoner + Cecil, Robert, Lord Salisbury + Chabannes de la Palice, Marquise de + Charles X, King of France; flight from France + Cleopatra + Coke, Sir Edward, Lord Chief Justice + Conde, Louis-Henri-Joseph, Prince de—see Bourbon, Duc de Conde, + Louis-Joseph, Prince de + Cotton, Mary Ann + Couture, Maitre; speech in defence of Mme Boursier + Cream, Neill + "Curtin, Philip" + + Dawes, James, made Baron de Flassans + Dawes, Sophie, + Devergie, M., chemist + Diamond powder—see Poisons + Diblanc, Marguerite + Dilnot, George + Donnoderie, M., Assize President, Auch + Dorange, Maitre; defence of Helene Jegado + Dubois, Dr, his account of the Prince de Conde's death + Dunnipace, Laird of—see Livingstone, John + Dyer, Amelia + + "Egalite"—see Orleans, Louis-Philippe + Elwes, Sir Gervase + Enghien, Duc d' + Essex, Countess of—see Howard, Frances + Essex, Robert Devereux, third Earl of + + Farnese, Julia + Feucheres, Adrien-Victor, Baron de; marriage with Sophie Dawes; + separation + Feucheres, Baronne de—see Dawes, Sophie + Flanagan, Mrs. poisoner + Flandin, M., chemist + Flassans, Baronde—see Dawes, James + Fly-papers, for arsenic + Forman, Dr + "Fowler's solution" + Franklin, apothecary + + Gardy, Dr + Gendrin, Dr + Gibbon, Edward + Gowrie mystery + Gribble, Leonard R. + Gunness, Belle + + Hardouin, M., Assize President, Seine + Harris, Miss + Henry, Prince of Wales, son of James VI and I + Higgins, Mrs, poisoner + Hogarth, William + Holroyd, Susannah, poisoner + Howard family + Howard, Frances, Countess of + Essex, Countess of Somerset; early marriage; attracted to Robert + Carr; begs Essex to agree to annul marriage; administers poison to + husband; annulment petition presented; nullity suit succeeds; + enmity to Overbury inexplicable; arrest and trial; death; portrait + Howard, Thomas, Earl of Suffolk + + Jack the Ripper + Jael + James VI and I, cruelty and inclemency of; double dealing + of; share in Overbury's murder + Jegado, Helene + Jesse, Tennyson + Jones, Inigo + Judith + + Kent, Edward Augustus, Duke of + Kincaid, John, Laird of Warriston + Kipling, Rudyard + Kostolo (the Boursier case) + + Lacenaire, murderer and robber, his verses against King Louis- + Philippe + Lacoste, Henri + Lacoste, Veuve + Lacroix, Abbe Pelier de, his evidence re death of Prince de Conde + refused + Lafarge, Marie-Fortunee + Lambot, aide-de-camp to last Prince de Conde + Lapis costitus—see Poisons + Lavaillaut, Mme + Lecomte, valet to last Prince de Conde + Lesieur, chemist + Lidange, chemist + Linden, Mme van der + Livingstone, or Kincaid, Jean + Livingstone, John, of Dunipace + Locusta + Logan, Guy + Lombroso, Cesare + Loubel, apothecary + + MACE, PERROTTE (Jegado victim) + "Maiden," the + Mainwaring, Sir Arthur + Malcolm, Sarah; portraits of + Malgutti, Professor, his evidence re arsenic in Jegado trial + Manoury, valet to last Prince de Conde + "Marsh technique," arsenic + Maybrick, Mrs, poisoner + Mayerne, Sir Theodore + Meilhan, Joseph + Mercury—see Poisons + Messalina + Moinet, Paul + Molas, Dr, arsenic theory + Monson, Sir Thomas + Montagu, Violette + Murdo, Janet + 'Mute of malice,' + + Northampton, Henry Howard, Earl of + Norwood, Mary + + O'Donnell, Elliot + Orfila, Professor; change of opinions re arsenic; intervention in + Lafarge case + Orleans, Louis-Philippe, Duc d', (King of the French); bourgeois + traits of; elected King + Orleans, Louis-Philippe ("Egalite"), Duc d' + Orleans, Louise-Marie-Therese-Mathilde d'—see Bourbon, Louise- + Marie-Therese-Mathilde d'Orleans, Duchesse de + Overbury, Sir Thomas + + Parry, Judge A. E. + Partra, Dr + Pasquier, M. + Paul III, Pope + Pearcy, Mrs, murderess + Pearson, Sarah + Pelouze, chemist + Perrin, Maitre Theo. + Phosphorus—see Poisons + Piddington, Rev. Mr. + Pinault, Dr. of Rennes + Pitcairn's trials + Pitois, Dr. his estimate of character of Helene Jegado + Poisons: aqua fortis; arsenic (from fly-papers),(white),(from a + vermicide); cantharides; diamond powder; great spiders; lapis + costitus; mercury (metallic),(corrosive sublimate); phosphorus; + porridge; "rosalgar"; strychnine + Poisons, reasons murderesses are inclined to use + Pons, chemist + Porridge, poisoning—see Poisons + Porta, Guglielmo della + Pritchard, Dr, poisoner + + Rachel, MME + Rais, Gilles de + Rochester, Viscount—see Carr, Robert + Rohan, the Princes de, their lawsuit v. Sophie Dawes + "Rosalgar"—see Poisons + Roughead, William + Row, breaking on—see Wheel + Rully, Comtesse de + Rumigny, M. de, aide-de-camp to Louis-Philippe + + Sabatini, Rafael + Saint-Louis, Liquor of—see + "Fowler's solution + Sarrazin, Rosalie (Jegado victim) + Sarzeau, Dr, his evidence re arsenic in Jegado case + Seddon, poisoner + Smith ("brides in the bath") + Somerset, Countess of—see Howard, Frances + Somerset, Earl of—see Carr, Robert + Spara, Hieronyma + Spiders, great—see Poisons + Strychnine—see Poisons + Suffolk, Countess of + Suffolk, Earl of—see Howard, Thomas + + Tessier, Rose (Jegado victim) + Toffana, poisoner + Turner, Anne; as beauty specialist; her lover; relations with + Countess of Essex; a spy for Northampton (?); causes poisoned food + to be carried to Overbury in the Tower; arrest; trial; condemnation + and execution + Turner, Dr George + + Vigoureux, La + Voisin, La + + Wade, Sir Willlam + Wainewright, poisoner + Walpole, Horace + Warriston, Lady—see Livingstone, Jean + Webster, Kate + Weir, Robert + Weissmann-Bessarabo, Mme + Weissmann-Bessarabo, Paule Jacques + Weldon, Antony + Wheel,Breaking on the + Winchilsea, Earl of + + Zwanziger, Anna +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_FOOT" id="link2H_FOOT"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + FOOTNOTES: + </h2> + <p> + <a name="linknote-1" id="linknote-1"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 1 (<a href="#linknoteref-1">return</a>)<br /> [ Bles, 1934.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-2" id="linknote-2"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 2 (<a href="#linknoteref-2">return</a>)<br /> [ A stanza in one ballad + runs:] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-3" id="linknote-3"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 3 (<a href="#linknoteref-3">return</a>)<br /> [ "And haifing enterit within + the faid chalmer, perfaving the faid vmqle Johnne to be walknit out of his + fleip, be thair dyn, and to preife ouer his bed ftok, the faid Robert cam + than rynnand to him, and maift crewallie, with thair faldit neiffis gaif + him ane deidlie and crewall straik on the vane-organe, quhairwith he dang + the faid vmqle Johnne to the grund, out-ouer his bed; and thaireftir, + crewallie ftrak him on bellie with his feit; quhairvpoun he gaif ane grit + cry: And the faid Robert, feiring the cry fould haif bene hard, he + thaireftir, maift tyrannouflie and barbarouflie, with his hand, grippit + him be the thrott or waifen, quhilk he held faft ane lang tyme quhill he + wirreit him; during the quhilk tyme, the faid Johnne Kincaid lay + ftruggilling and fechting in the panes of daith vnder him. And fa, the + faid vmqle Johnne was crewallie murdreit and flaine be the faid Robert."] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-4" id="linknote-4"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 4 (<a href="#linknoteref-4">return</a>)<br /> [ Men convicted of certain + crimes were also subject to the same form of execution adulterating and + uttering base coins (Alan Napier, cutler in Glasgow, was strangled and + burned at the stake in December 1602) sorcery, witchcraft, incantation, + poisoning (Bailie Paterson suffered a like fate in December 1607). For + bestiality John Jack was strangled on the Castle Hill (September 1605), + and the innocent animal participator in his crime burned with him.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-5" id="linknote-5"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 5 (<a href="#linknoteref-5">return</a>)<br /> [ The Memorial is fully + entitled: A Worthy and Notable Memorial of the Great Work of Mercy which + God wrought in the Conversion of Jean Livingstone Lady Warristoun, who was + apprehended for the Vile and Horrible Murder of her own Husband, John + Kincaid, committed on Tuesday, July 1, 1600, for which she was execute on + Saturday following; Containing an Account of her Obstinacy, Earnest + Repentance, and her Turning to God; of the Odd Speeches she used during + her Imprisonment; of her Great and Marvellous Constancy; and of her + Behaviour and Manner of Death: Observed by One who was both a Seer and + Hearer of what was spoken.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-6" id="linknote-6"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 6 (<a href="#linknoteref-6">return</a>)<br /> [ A 'row' is a wheel. This is + one of the very few instances on which the terrible and vicious punishment + of 'breaking on a wheel' was employed in Scotland. Jean Livingstone's + accomplice was, according to Birrell's Diary, broken on a cartwheel, with + the coulter of a plough in the hand of the hangman. The exotic method of + execution suggests experiment by King Jamie.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-7" id="linknote-7"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 7 (<a href="#linknoteref-7">return</a>)<br /> [ Hutchinson, 1930.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-8" id="linknote-8"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 8 (<a href="#linknoteref-8">return</a>)<br /> [ Edinburgh, W. Green and + Son, Ltd., 1930.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-9" id="linknote-9"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 9 (<a href="#linknoteref-9">return</a>)<br /> [ Antony Weldon, The Court + and Character of King James (1651).] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-10" id="linknote-10"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 10 (<a href="#linknoteref-10">return</a>)<br /> [ Fisher Unwin, 1925.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-11" id="linknote-11"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 11 (<a href="#linknoteref-11">return</a>)<br /> [ State Trials (Cobbett's + edition).] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-12" id="linknote-12"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 12 (<a href="#linknoteref-12">return</a>)<br /> [ Antony Weldon.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-13" id="linknote-13"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 13 (<a href="#linknoteref-13">return</a>)<br /> [ State Trials.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-14" id="linknote-14"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 14 (<a href="#linknoteref-14">return</a>)<br /> [ Probably started by + Michael Sparke ("Scintilla") in Truth Brought to Light (1651).] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-15" id="linknote-15"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 15 (<a href="#linknoteref-15">return</a>)<br /> [ Sabatini, The Minion.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-16" id="linknote-16"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 16 (<a href="#linknoteref-16">return</a>)<br /> [ According to one account. + The Newgate Calendar (London 1773) gives Mrs Duncomb's age as eighty and + that of the maid Betty as sixty.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-17" id="linknote-17"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 17 (<a href="#linknoteref-17">return</a>)<br /> [ One account says it was + Sarah Malcolm who entered via the gutter and window. Borrow, however, in + his Celebrated Trials, quotes Mrs Oliphant's evidence in court on this + point.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-18" id="linknote-18"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 18 (<a href="#linknoteref-18">return</a>)<br /> [ Or Kerrol—the name + varies in different accounts of the crime.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-19" id="linknote-19"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 19 (<a href="#linknoteref-19">return</a>)<br /> [ Peter Buck, a prisoner.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-20" id="linknote-20"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 20 (<a href="#linknoteref-20">return</a>)<br /> [ Born 1711, Durham, + according to The Newgate Calendar.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-21" id="linknote-21"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 21 (<a href="#linknoteref-21">return</a>)<br /> [ This confession, however, + varies in several particulars with that contained in A Paper delivered by + Sarah Malcolm on the Night before her Execution to the Rev. Mr Piddington, + and published by Him (London, 1733).] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-22" id="linknote-22"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 22 (<a href="#linknoteref-22">return</a>)<br /> [ In Mr Piddington's paper + the supposed appointment is for "3 or 4 o'clock at the Pewter Platter, + Holbourn Bridge."] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-23" id="linknote-23"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 23 (<a href="#linknoteref-23">return</a>)<br /> [ One Bridgewater.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-24" id="linknote-24"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 24 (<a href="#linknoteref-24">return</a>)<br /> [ On more than one hand the + crime is ascribed to Sarah's desire to secure one of the Alexanders in + marriage.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-25" id="linknote-25"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 25 (<a href="#linknoteref-25">return</a>)<br /> [ It was once done by the + parish priest. (Stowe's Survey of London, p. 195, fourth edition, 1618.)] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-26" id="linknote-26"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 26 (<a href="#linknoteref-26">return</a>)<br /> [ The bequest of Dove + appears to have provided for a further pious admonition to the condemned + while on the way to execution. It was delivered by the sexton of St + Sepulchre's from the steps of that church, a halt being made by the + procession for the purpose. This admonition, however, was in fair prose.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-27" id="linknote-27"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 27 (<a href="#linknoteref-27">return</a>)<br /> [ Thanks to my friend Billy + Bennett, of music-hall fame, for his hint for the chapter title.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-28" id="linknote-28"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 28 (<a href="#linknoteref-28">return</a>)<br /> [ Sophie Dawes, Queen of + Chantilly (John Lane, 1912).] + </p> + <p> + <a name="linknote-29" id="linknote-29"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 29 (<a href="#linknoteref-29">return</a>)<br /> [ Lacenaire, the notorious + murderer-robber in a biting song, written in prison, expressed the popular + opinion regarding Louis-Philippe's share in the Feucheres-Conde affair. + The song, called Petition d'un voleur a un roi son voisin, has this final + stanza: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Sire, oserais-je reclamer? + Mais ecoutez-moi sans colere: + Le voeu que je vais exprimer + Pourrait bien, ma foi, vous deplaire. + Je suis fourbe, avare, mechant, + Ladre, impitoyable, rapace; + J'ai fait se pendre mon parent: + Sire, cedez-moi votre place."] +</pre> + <p> + <a name="linknote-30" id="linknote-30"> + <!-- Note --></a> + </p> + <p class="foot"> + 30 (<a href="#linknoteref-30">return</a>)<br /> [ Or, simply, kermes—a + pharmaceutical composition, containing antimony and sodium sulphates and + oxide of antimony—formerly used as an expectorant.] + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of She Stands Accused, by Victor MacClure + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHE STANDS ACCUSED *** + +***** This file should be named 488-h.htm or 488-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/8/488/ + +Produced by Mike Lough and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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