THE CASE OF MADELINE SMITH

The case of Madeline Smith, who was charged with causing the death of L'Angelier by the administration of arsenic at Glasgow, in 1857, excited universal interest. Owing to the social position of the lady, the trial was a cause cÉlÈbre of the time, and the circumstances of the case were of an extraordinary character. Miss Smith, who was a young and accomplished woman at that time, and who resided in a fashionable quarter of Glasgow, got entangled with a French clerk named Pierre Emile L'Angelier. L'Angelier died very suddenly in an unaccountable manner, and suspicion falling on Madeline Smith, who was frequently in his company, she was arrested and charged with the crime. The Crown case was, that she poisoned her lover that she might be betrothed to a personage of high social standing. That L'Angelier died on March 23 from the effects of arsenic was amply proved, but while suspicious acts were alleged against the accused woman, no direct evidence was adduced to show that she administered the drug. The worst point against her was the fact of her having possession of the poison; and, irrespective of two previous purchases of coloured arsenic for which she had given false reasons, it was proved that the accused had purchased one ounce, as she said, "to kill rats," on March 18, only five days before the death of L'Angelier. The arsenic sold was coloured with indigo, according to the Act of Parliament. When charged with the crime, and required to account for the poison, she replied she had used the whole of it to apply to her face, arms, and neck, diluted with water, and that a school companion had told her that arsenic was good for the complexion. From the post-mortem examination and subsequent analysis eighty-eight grains of arsenic were found in the stomach and its contents. Dr. Christison, the greatest toxicological expert of the time, was called, and stated he knew of no case in which so much as eighty-eight grains of arsenic had been found in the stomach after death.

This was made a turning-point of the defence, and it was contended that so large a dose of arsenic could not have been swallowed unknowingly, and, therefore, suicide was indicated. The jury accepting this view of the case, returned a verdict of "not proven," and Madeline Smith was liberated, the trial having lasted ten days.

Some interesting particulars concerning the subsequent life of this lady were published some time ago. After the trial she decided to go abroad; but before starting she is said to have married a certain mysterious individual named Dr. Tudor Hora. With him she lived for many years in Perth, but few people ever saw her, and the doctor always declined to divulge his wife's maiden name. He kept a small surgery, and is said to have been in receipt of about £400 a year from an unnamed source. Some years after, believing that his wife had been recognized, he bought a practice at Hotham, near Melbourne, and they sailed for Australia. Shortly after their arrival, Mrs. Hora left her husband, and remained absent from Melbourne until his death. Soon afterwards she married again, but it is said her second union was not by any means a happy one. She remained unknown, and sought no society. She was an excellent musician, and spent most of her time in reading and playing. She had no children, and died at the age of fifty-five.

Six years after the trial of Madeline Smith a case was tried at the Chester Assizes, in which a woman named Hewitt or Holt was charged with poisoning her mother. Although the symptoms of irritant poisoning were very clearly marked, the country practitioner, who attended the woman at the time, certified that the cause of her death was gastro-enteritis. Eleven weeks after she had been buried, the body was exhumed and examined. An analysis revealed the presence of one hundred and fifty-four grains of arsenic in the stomach alone. The possession of a considerable quantity of arsenic was brought home to the accused, and also direct evidence of its administration, and she was found guilty. This case is interesting from the fact of proof being obtained of the administration of so large a quantity of arsenic, and if it had occurred before the trial of Madeline Smith it might have demolished her counsel's main line of defence.