Smith, Madeleine Hamilton (1835–1928)

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Smith, Madeleine Hamilton (1835–1928)

Scottish woman tried for murder. Born 1835 in Glasgow, Scotland; died in US, April 12, 1928; daughter of socially prominent Glasgow architect; m. George Wardle (artist-publisher), 1861; married once more.

Became lovers with packing clerk, Pierre Emile L'Angelier (June 1856), to whom she wrote passionate letters; when her ardor cooled, demanded letters back, but he refused and threatened to disclose them; after Emile took ill (Feb 1857) and died of arsenic poisoning (Mar 23), her letters to him were discovered; arrested (Mar 31), was tried in Edinburgh, but freed under a cloud of suspicion after a verdict of "not proven" (July 9); moved to London, where she was a popular social figure, then immigrated to US. Known as trial of the century, the case made headlines in London, Paris and New York, and debate over her innocence continues to this day.

See also Douglas MacGowarn, Murder in Victorian Scotland (Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999).

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Smith, Madeleine Hamilton (1835–1928)

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