ABSTRACT
In 1857 Madeleine Smith, the 21 year old daughter of a well to do Scottish family, was tried for murdering her lover, Emile L’Angelier. L’Angelier, a 31 year old clerk from Jersey, had died of arsenic poisoning. Shortly before his death, he told a friend that Madeleine wished to break off their illicit engagement; he had heard that she had become engaged to a man approved by her father. When Madeleine asked L’Angelier to return her letters, which revealed the intimate nature of their relationship, he threatened to give them to her father. Although her father was advised to secure the letters before the police did, he simply questioned his daughter, who denied the relationship. After the police discovered the letters, Madeleine was arrested and tried for murder, a capital offence. Due to public interest in the trial, the court was forced to issue orders that no money be taken at the door.
