ROMANCE FROM REAL LIFE.

Lake County Press, Issue 974, 8 August 1901, Page 7

ROMANCE FROM REAL LIFE.

[By Major A. Griffiths.]

MADELINE SMITH.

The eldest daughter of a Glasgow architect, Madeline Smith, was a girl of great beauty, bright, attractive, and much courted. But from all her suitors she singled out a certain Jersey man, Pierre Emile I’Angelier, an employe of the firm of Huggins, in Glasgow—a small, insignifi--1 cant creature, altogether unworthy of her in looks or position. The acquaintance ripened, and Madeline seems to have be--1 come devotedly attached to her lover, whom she often addressed as her “ own dar- , ling husband.” They kept up a clandestine | correspondence, and had many stolen inj terviews at a friend’s house. In the spring j of 1856 Madeline’s parents discovered the | intimacy, and peremptorily insisted that it should end forthwith. But the lovers coni tinned to meet secretly, and Madeline threw ; off all restraint, and was ready to elope with her lover. The time was indeed fixed, but she suddenly changed her mind, i Then a rich Glasgow merchant, Mr Minnock, saw Madeline, and was greatly enI amored of her. Early in January, 1857, he l offered her marriage, and she became en- ' gaged to him. It was necessary, now, to i break with I’Angelier, and, mindful of j the old adage to be off with the old love before she took on with the new, she wrote I to him begging him to return her letters I and her portrait. L’Angelier positively re- | fused to give them or her up. He had told ( many friends of his connection with Madeline Smith, and some of them had now advised him to let her go. “No; I will never surrender the letters, nor, so long as I live, shall she marry another man.” On February 9 he wrote her a letter, which must have been full ot upbraiding, and probably of threats, but it has not been preserved. * Madeline must have been greatly terrified by it, too, for her reply was a frantic appeal for mercy, for a chivalrous silence as to their past relations which he was evidently incapable of preserving. She was in despair, entirely in the hands of this mean ruffian, who was determined not to spare her; she saw all hope of a good marriage fading away, and nothing but ignominious exposure before her. Seeing that the result of the trial, when by-and-bye she was arraigned for the murder of I’Angelier, was a verdict of “ Not proven.” it is hardly right to say that she now resolved to rid herself of the man who possessed her guilty secret. But that was the case for the prosecution, the basis of the charge brought against her. She had made up her mind, as it seemed, to extreme measures. She appeared to be reconciled with I’Angelier, and had several interviews with him. What passed at these meetings of the 11th and 12th of February was never oositively known, but on the 19th he was seized with a mysterious and terrible illness, being found lying on the floor of his bedroom writhing in pain, and likely to die. He did, in fact, recover, but those who knew him said he was never the same man again. He seems to have had some suspicion of Madeline, for he told a friend that a cup of chocolate had made him sick, but said he was so much fascinated by her that he would forgive her even if she poisoned him, and that he would never willingly give her up. Rumors of the engagement and approaching marriage now reached Iris ears, and called forth fresh protests and remonstrances. Madeline replied, denying the -rumors, and declaring that she loved him alone. About this time the Smith family went on a visit to the Bridge of Allan, where Mr Minnock folowed 1 hem, and. at his urgent request, the day of marriage was fixed. They all returned to Glasgow, and missed I’Angeber, who also had followed Madeline to the Brigade of Allan. He remained at Stirling, but on receiving a letter from tier he went on to Glasgow, being in good health at the time. This was February 23, a Sunday, on which night, about eight o’clock, he reached his lodgings, had tea, and went out. As he left, he asked for a latch key, saying he “might be late.” He expressed his intention of going back to Stirling the following day. The same night, or rather in the small hours of the morning, the landlady was roused by a. violent ringing of the bell; and, uoing down to the front door, found f Angelier there, half doubled up with pain. He described himself as exceedingly ill. A doctor was sent for, who put him to bed and prescribed remedies, but did not anticipate immediate danger. The patient, however, persisted in repeating that he was ‘ worse than the doctor thought;” but he hoped if the curtains were drawn round his bed, and he were left in peace for five minutes, he would Ire better. These were his last words. When the doctor presently reappeared I’Angelier was dead. He had passed away without giving any sign ; without uttering one word to explain how he had spent his time during the evening. A search was made in his pockets, but nothing of importance was found, except a letter addressed to him signed “M’eine,” couched in passionate language, imploring him “ to return.” “Are you ill, my beloved? Adieu! with tender embraces.” The handwriting of this letter was not identified, but a friend of I’Angelier, M. de Mean, hearing of his sudden death, went at once ;o warn Madeline Smith’s father that I’Angelier had letters in his possession which should not be allowed to fall into strange hands. It was too late ; the friends of the deceased had sealed up his effects and they 'e r n:<-d to surrender the letters. Later M. de Mean plainly told Madeline Smith, whom he saw in her mother’s presence, that grave suspicion began to overshadow her. It was known that I’Angclier had come up from Bridge of Allan at her request, and he im- • plored her to sav whether or not he had been in her company that night. Her answer was a decided negative, and she stated positively that she had seen nothing of him for three weeks. She went farther and asserted that she had neither seen nor wanted to see him on Sunday evening; she had given him an appointment for Saturday, but he had not appeared, although she had waited for him some time. This appointment had been made that she might leaver her letters. All through this painful n terview with de Mean, Madeline appeared in the greatest distress. Next morning she took to flight. Madeline was pursued by her family, hut not by the police, and was overtaken on board a. steamer bound for Rowallan. Soon after her return to Glasgow the contents of her letters to I’Angelier were made public, and a post mortem had been made. The body had been exhumed, and the suspicious appearance of the mucous membrane of the stomach, together with die history of the case, pointed to poison. The various organs, carefully sealed, were handed over to experts for analysis, and it may be well to state here the result of vhe medical examination. Dr Penny stated in evidence that the quantity of arsenic found in the deceased amounted to 88 grains, or about half a. teaspoonfnl. some of it in hard, gritty, colorless, crystalline particles. It was probable that Hus was no more than half the whole amount the deceased had swallowed, for under the peculiar action < f arsenic a quantity, quite half a teaspoonful, must have been ejected. ’1 he chief difficulties in the case were whether anyone could

have taken so much as a whole teaspoonful of arsenic unknowingly, and how this amount could have been administered. The question was keenly debated, and it was generally admitted that the poison could have been given in chocolate, cocoa, gruel, or some thick liquid, or mixed with solid food in the shape of a cake. This was ict inconsistent with the conjectures finned that I’Angelier had met Madeline Smith on the Sunday night. The case against her became formidable when it was ascertained that she had been in the habit of buying arsenic, but with the alleged intention of taking it herself, for her complexion. Sue was now arrested, and sent for trial at Edinburgh on a charge of poisoning I’Angelier. Her purchases of arsenic were proved by the chemist’s books under date of February 21, and again on March 6 and 18, this late date being four days before the murder. It was also proved that she wanted to buy prussic acid a few weeks before her arrest. There was nothing to show that she had obtained or possessed any arsenic at the time of I'Angelier's first illness, on February 19. But it was proved in evidence that on the night of his death, Sunday, March 22, I’Angelicr had been seen in the neighborhood of Blyths Wood square, where the Smiths lived; again that he had himself bought no arsenic in Glasgow. Madeline’s plucky demeanor in court gained her much sympathy ; she never once gave way ; only when her impassioned letters were being read aloud did she really lose her composure. She stepped into the dock as though she was entering a ballroom, and although she was under grave suspicion of having committed a dastardly crime, the conduct of I’Angelier had set the public strongly against him, so that a vague feeling of “ served him right ” was present in the large crowd assembled to witness the trial. The case for the prosecution was strong, but it failed to prove the actual administration of poison, or, indeed, that the accused had met the deceased on the Sunday night. The Judge, in summing up, pointed out the grave doubts that surrounded the case, and the verdict of the jury was “Not proven,” by a majority of votes. This result was received with much applause in court, and generally throughout Glasgow, although a dispassionate review of all the facts in this somewhat mysterious case must surely point clearly to a failure of justice However, Madeline triumphed, and won great favour with the crowd. The money for her defence was subscribed in Glasgow twice over, and even before she left the court she received several offers of marriage. Since writing the foregoing 1 have had an interesting communication from a lady who has told me the impressions of one who was present in court during the whole of Madeline Smith’s trial. This gentleman was an advocate, trained and practised in the law, and according to his opinion, unhesitatingly expressed, there could be no shadow of doubt hut that Madeline I’Angelier’s wife, by the law of Scotland. As be has put it, in Scotland two people who ought to be married can generally be joined together, and there was little doubt that the sanction of matrimony was needed for this connection. Both Madeline and I’Angelier were in the habit of addressing each other as husband and wife. This explains I’Angelier’s insistence on the point that “ so long as he lived Madeline should never marry another man.” The verdict “ not proven ” was brought in by the juryon the grounds that it was not established that the two had actually met on the Sunday night preceding I’Angelier’s last illness. Nevertheless, it is certain that a pocket book of I’Angelier’s was offered as evidence to the Judge, Lord Fullerton, who examined it, but ruled it out because it was not a consecutive diary and the entries had been made in pencil. This book was placed, after the proceedings, in the hands of the legal gentlemen above-men-tioned, and he saw in it an unmistakeable entry- made by I’Angelier to the effect that he had been in Madeline’s company on the Saturday night. Full corroboration is given by my informant of the engaging and attractive appearance of Madeline Smith. She was so excessively pretty and bewitching that, to use his own words, no one but a hard-hearted old married man could have resisted her fascinations. ‘He had no doubt whatever in his own mind of her guilt.