Full report, extracted from the "Times", of the extraordinary and interesting trial of Miss Madeleine Smith, of Glasgow, on the charge of poisoning by arsenic of her late lover, Emile L'Angelier, including the correspondence.

Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Full report, extracted from the "Times", of the extraordinary and interesting trial of Miss Madeleine Smith, of Glasgow, on the charge of poisoning by arsenic of her late lover, Emile L'Angelier, including the correspondence. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    * From 11 The Ayrshire Express.” TnE personal appearance of Miss Smith, the central figure in this remarkable case, is the point on which most attention seems to be fixed in the court by the spectators with whom it is thronged, and which is most talked of among the less privileged outside world. Eager crowds gather in the early morning at the gaol, and in Parliament Square, to catch a glimpse of the prisoner as she is taken to the court. In the evenings thousands gather in the streets to see the cab in which she is borne back from the court-room to the prison. Every day sees hundreds at the door of the court who would willingly expend guineas in obtaining a look at the young lady. Hundreds are daily passed in for a few minutes by official friends to get a glimpse at the prisoner, and may be seen departing with the air of satisfied curiosity upon their anxious countenances. Others, who are privileged to sit in the court through the whole day, may be seen surveying the slight figure at the dock with eyes that never weary of gazing upon it, from the opening of the Diet till its close ; while the newspapers, in the second, and third, and fourth editions with which the town is deluged, stop the press to tell how she looked at a particular hour, how she was seen to blush at a certain point in the evidence, and how for breakfast she had coffee, rolls, and a mutton chop, which she ate with great apparent heartiness. In the midst of all this excitement, passing through the eager crowd from and to prison, seated at the bar with hundreds of eyes fixed steadily upon her, Madeleine Smith is the only unmoved, cool per¬ sonage to be seen. Erom the first moment to the last she has preserved that undaunted, defiant attitude of perfect repose which has struck every spectator with astonishment. She passes from the cab to the court-room, or rather to the cell beneath the dock, with the air of a belle entering a ball-room. She ascends the narrow staircase leading into the dock with a oool, jaunty air, an unveiled countenance, the same perpetual smile, or smirk rather, for it lacks ail the elements of a genuine smile —the same healthy glow of colour, and the same confident ease. The female turnkey at her side looked much more of the prisoner, for, while she is still and scarcely ever lifts her eyes, Miss Smith never ceases surveying all that goes on around her, watching evei'y word of every witness, returning every stare with compound interest, glancing every second minute at the down-turned eyes in the side galleries, and even turning right round upon the reporters immediately behind her, to see how they get along with the note-taking which is carrying her name and deeds into every British home. When judges and jurymen retire for lunch she refuses even so much as a small packet of sandwiches. Others may be thirsty amid the hot excitement, but when the female attendant offers her a glass of water she will not have it. There she sits, refusing meat and drink, or a moment’s retirement in her cell, with her smelling bottle in her dainty little hand, which she never uses—a splendid specimen of physical power, and of such endurance as only a will of terrible strength could attain. When she is called up to plead, she says, in a clear, sweet treble—no trace of huskiness or emotion perceptible in the voice, no trembling on her tongue, “ Not guilty.” The Dean of Faculty, her leading counsel, bids her good morning, or says a word to her when the proceedings close for the day, and she smiles so cheerily that you listen to hear her laugh. Whoever speaks, counsel or witness, must be sensible of the fixed, penetrating glance of her large dark eye. Her head is perpetually turning from the gentiemenof the long robe to the responsive witness- box, as the questions ai’e put and answered. She has a well-cultivated taste —that is evi¬ dent. She is elegant without show. A rich brown silk gown, with a large brooch, low set in the breast; a white straw bonnet simply trimmed with white ribbon ; a white cambric handkerchief, and a bottle of smelling salts in her kid-gloved hand ; such is the inven¬ tory, so far as I can furnish it. Her hair, of which she has a rich profusion, is quietly arranged in the fashion prevalent before the Eugenie style, although the smallness of the bonnet, which is of the most fashionable make, necessitates the leading of two ebony braids across the crown of her head. Miss Smith is about five feet two inches in height. She has an elegant figure, and can neither be called stout nor slim. She looks older than her years, which are 21. 1 should have guessed her age to be 24. Her eyes are deep-set, large, and some think beautiful; but they certainly do not look prepossessing. Her brow is of the ordinary size, and the face inclines to the oval. Her nose is prominent, but is too long to be taken as a type for the Homan, and too irregular to remind one of Greece. Her complexion, in spite of prison life, is clear and fresh. Her cheeks are well coloured, and the insinuation that a rosy hue is imparted by artificial means, made by some portions of the press, does not seem well founded. The scene in the court room is such as the High Court of Justiciary has never presented before in the present century. The whole of the Faculty of Advocates would seem to be there, filling more than their own gallery ; a goodly array of writers to the signet appear in their gowns ; upwards of a score of re¬ porters for the press ply their busy pencils; the western side gallery abounds in mous- tachiod scions of the aristocracy; ministers of the Gospel are there gathering materials for discourses ; and civic dignitaries are in abundance. A few women, who may expect to be called ladies, are mingled in the throng. Among the clergy we notice Principal Lee, William Pulsford the celebrated Independent preacher, Dr. Andrew Thomson, Professor Harper, and Mr. Hibbs, an Episcopalian priest, who ‘‘goes in” for preaching about Palmer and Dove, and will, no doubt, have a morning sermon one of these Sabbaths de¬ voted to Madeleine Smith. Lords Cowan and Ardmillan, after they are relieved from their duties elsewhere, come and sit in undress on the bench ; so does the Yen. Lord Murray, and Lords Wood, Deas, and others. The fee given to the Dean of Faculty, the senior counsel for the defence, is said to be 100 guineas, but this retainer will be supple¬ mented, likely, by a daily “ refresher ” during the trial. It is believed that he feels peculiarly interested in the case, and has so mastered it that he will leave no stone un¬ turned to secure the deliverance of his unfortunate client.