Report of the trial of Madeleine Smith : before the High Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh, June 30th to July 9th, 1857, for the alleged poisoning of Pierre Émile l'Angelier / by Alexander Forbes Irvine, advocate.
- Smith, Madeleine, 1835-1928.
- Date:
- 1857
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report of the trial of Madeleine Smith : before the High Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh, June 30th to July 9th, 1857, for the alleged poisoning of Pierre Émile l'Angelier / by Alexander Forbes Irvine, advocate. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
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![Lefore lie went on to the Bridge of Allan; and it was evident that that letter so eagerly looked for, was in some way or other to regu- late his motions. Well, a letter did come on the Friday, addressed to him at his lodgings, and was duly forwarded to him at the Bi'idge of Allan, and on the Sunday night L'Angelier unexpectedly re- turned, and when his landlady expressed sm-prise, answered, It was the letter which brought me home. He looked well, and said himself he was much better. As to the statement that he had purchased laudanum twice on the road that night, his Lordship thought the Jury would be satisfied that that w^as a mistake. L'Angelier left the house at nine o'clock at night, taking his latch- key with him, as he expected to be late. Well, he had come back with some object, and he intends going off next morning. There is nothing occurring to lead any one to imagine that he intended to remain in Glasgow, in the expectation of any illness coming on from the symptoms he had during the day. The next fact was his com- ing home ill about half-past two in the morning, and his getting worse through the night, or morning rather. He told his landlady he thought it was bile, and that was important, as showing the absence of any belief in his mind that he had received anything from the prisoner to hurt him. His landlady's question, whether he had taken anything to disagree with him, would naturally have brought to his mind having received anything from the prisoner had he been with her, but he alluded to nothing of the kind. It was of great importance that the Jury should not be led away by the notion that it was the deceased who bought the laudanum in the two shops on the Coatbridge Road, for when the doctor prescribed laudanum for his sickness, he would have been sure to have said, Oh, I've had too much of that already ; it's done me no good, and it may make me worse. While reading the portion of the landlady's evidence relating to sending for the doctor, he said they would judge whether L'Angelier's anxiety for a doctor was like the conduct of a man who had taken arsenic to accomplish his own death. His Lordship next read the evidence relating to the letter found in L'Angelier's vest- pocket in the lodgings, and which had been sent by Thuau to the Bridge of Allan, beginning, Why, my own beloved, did you not come, and fixing an appointment for the next night. After read- ing this letter, his Loi'dship said—Now, it is not proved that he got any other letter. He got this letter on the Sunday morning. He had complained in a letter to IMiss Perry on the Friday that he had lost an appointment which had been made for the Thursday even- ing, owing to not getting the note till the Friday. And that this man, ardent to see this girl again, hoping to get the satisfactory answer which she had promised to give to his questions as to form- ing an engagement with Alinnoch, should hurry home on the Sunday night, and go out from his lodgings in the hope that he would fiiid her waiting, and that there was the greatest probability of his seeing her, was, lie thouglit, the only conclusion they could come to u]')ou](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21078324_0302.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
