Murder Most Foul?

Murder most foul, or was it? While scrolling through Facebook a post popped up from Lucy Worsley about her podcast ''Ladykillers'' discussing the case of Madeleine Smith, a shudder ran down my spine ….. why? Let me show you!

Madeleine Smith was a young socialite, daughter of a Glasgow architect, who lived in 7 Blythswood Square in Glasgow, it was here she allegedly poisoned her lover ''Emile'' by giving him arsenic laced cocoa. So far so good but what has that to do with me? Well, the Glasgow School of Art where I took my degree, had studios in this building and my studio was in the basement flat where the murder took place (believe me it was a very spooky place and I hated painting there!) 

This famous Scottish murder case still puzzles and fascinates experts today, why? Because it is still unsolved, and Madeleine Smith herself shocked Victorian society by her illicit affair with the victim, the French born Pierre Emile L'Angelier.

A true Victorian melodrama, Madeleine met the 33 year old nurseryman on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow.  Emile, as Madeleine called him, was working as a warehouse clerk and obviously not an appropriate partner for an upper middle class girl. The couple started writing to each other and meeting secretly, the clandestine meetings took place at a mutual friend's house but also secretly at night in Blythswood Square (the town abode of the family Smith who also had a country house in Helensburgh, where Emile also turned up on the sly to visit). 

At some point during this two year affair, Madeleine lost her virginity to Emile at the house in Blythswood Square, now don’t forget we’re in the mid 1850's here, and in the 200 letters which were found from her in Emile's lodgings (it was the letters that led to Madeleine's arrest) after his death, she very openly talks about how she enjoys Emile's caresses and that she doesn’t regret having sexual relations with him. 

Somewhere along the line, Smith’s father became aware of the connection but assumed after a strict talking to that Madeleine had broken off the relationship (perhaps a little naive of Dad?). Dad found a socially acceptable husband for Madeleine and this is where things turn nasty!

Madeleine's correspondence turns colder and after her engagement to Dad's choice, she requests Emile to stop writing to her and to return her letters and love tokens. Here Emile (in the role of the seducing villain) refuses and openly threatens to show the letters to Madeleine's father; Madeleine had promised to marry him, and perhaps he was looking for a chance to improve his social status. 

Now here comes the rub! Emile has stomach problems on a couple of occasions after (he says) meeting his ''wife'' and drinking coffee/chocolate, on the third occasion he dies and at the same time Madeleine has been buying arsenic on Sauchiehall street, which she signed the poison register for. Although seemingly  damning, she says it’s for cosmetic purposes (she tells the Chemist it’s for household purposes) but to be fair arsenic was commonly used in households, in agriculture, for dying textiles and wallpapers, it was used medicinally and cosmetically too. Unfortunately for Madeleine the timing was a bit too convenient, Emile's stomach contained 40 grains of arsenic in a seemingly dark liquid, so Madeleine is arrested for murder. 

The trial was a sensation, with crowds turning up to see the accused Miss Smith, both sides argued their case brilliantly but nobody could testify to seeing the young couple together at the time of Emile's illness. For the defense, people testified that Emile had tried to commit suicide previously and that he was an arsenic eater (young men took arsenic to improve strength and stamina), maybe he was trying to set Madeleine up because of her rejection of him; the prosecution argued that Emile’s obvious blackmail attempt and the resulting ruin of Madeleine and her family gave the accused the perfect motive. The shock of the courtroom visitors was palpable as the couple’s very risqué correspondence was read aloud and the case resulted in a sensational Scottish verdict ''Not Proven'', Madeleine had escaped the gallows and fled to England. 

Obviously, a headstrong free spirit, she then married an artist  called George Wardle and became a respected hostess entertaining the Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood under the name of Lena Wardle; whether the Bloomsbury set knew whose table they were sitting at (and if the did, did they actually eat or drink anything?) is not known but during the trial the painter Rossetti commented that Madeleine was too beautiful to hang!

 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and to be honest I don’t think that Madeleine would go down as a beauty today, her story however didn’t end in London, after a long marriage and two children she and Wardle separated, Wardle died (of natural causes) and Lena moved to New York City, re-married and died in 1928. When asked about her innocence her legal adviser paused for thought and replied that he would rather dance with her than sup with her! 

As for me, I think I was about 6 weeks in the studios at Blythswood Square, sometimes alone at night and often think about what went on in those rooms, Murder most foul, or revenge suicide? The wraiths that haunted that cellar and those rooms never revealed their secret!