Jasper Banner, Volume 4, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 August 1857 — Romance and Crime—Love and Arsenic. [ARTICLE]

Romance and Crime—Love and Arsenic.

From the Londoa Times.

A case of alleged poisoning of a young Frenchman by a young Englishwoman, is just now occupying the attention more or less of all England. The trial is now in course before the High Court of Judiciary of Edinburgh. Miss Madeline Smith stands charged with the murder of M. L’Angellier, whom she had encouraged in a secret attachment. Her parents occupy a good position at Glasgow, and the young man, who was a clerk, with insufficient means, ivould not have been accepted by them. The girl, however, met him clandestinely, and corresponded with him, and professed her afFection in the most unqualified and extravagant terms. It now appears that, after Borne of their latest meetings, the young man was frequently attacked ivith agonizing symptoms, which at last resulted in death. Among his effects were found the letters of Miss Smith, one of which had urged him to a private meeting a few hours previously. An examination of the body developed abun- . dant traces of arsenic. Miss Smith is proved to have purchased arsenic, and openly admits the fact, as she used it for her complexion. She bought it in company with friends, and unhesitatingly affixed her name in the register of the chemists, who were told by her that it was to poison rats. After her intimacy and correspondence with the young Frenchman, her family arranged a match for her with a person in a much better position. She accepted this new offer, but the Frenchman was of an impulsive and dangerous disposition, and would be likely to expose her when the‘affair became known to him. This, indeed, he ultimately threatened. Miss Emith vainly implored him to return her letters. She then renewed her expressions of affection, and invited him to meet her. The allegation is that this was a snare to enable her t|o destroy him. Site is charged with administering arsenic in chocolate or coffee. A multitude of witnesses, medical and others, will be called—Bo for the erosecution alone, of whom only 35 ave as yet been examined. THE LATEST. From the Scotsman. The Lord Advocate addressed the jnry for the prosecution. He said that he knew of no case in which snob large indulgence had been granted to the prisoner. She had chosen to run her letters, but could have obtained delay of trial if required. They had 280 letters of the prisoner's yet; though the correspondence showed that up to the 7th of Februrary L’Angeliier’s letters were not destroyed, nor a scrap of : those in the custody of the prisoner had been found. An attachment , arose, was forbidden by the parents, was resumed, and led to a criminal connection. She implores the Return'

of her letters—then buys arsenic—her letters resume all the ardor of passion; she is engaged to another man, aud L’Angellier dies of poison. The fact of there being no eye-witnesses to the giving of the poison goes for nothing. Four days after she was engaged to Minnoch she desired her letters to be ruturned,thinking L’Angellier would fly off indignantly. She felt he had her in his power. He refused, threatening to show the letters to her father. She then writes the falsehood that she cared for no one else, accompanied with a despairing remonstrance, The Lord Advocate never had to bring before any audience the outpouring of such a despairing spirit as that of this miserable girl. In the second week of February she 'sent a boy for prussic acid. She wanted this poison before the meeting she had appointed for the 12th ; but, at this meeting, the feud was made up. She went on with the show of love and affection towards L’Angellier, and, at the same time, she prepared for marriage with Midnoch. Deceased told Miss Perry that he was to see prisoner on the 19th of February, and afterwards told her that he had kept the appointment. He was taken ill with symptoms of arsenic poisoning. She purchased arsenic on the 21st. He saw her on the 22d, and was again ill as before. He said he was ill after taking cocoa, which the prisoner admitted giving him. There was an appointment for Thursday, the 19th of March. On Wednesday, the 18th, she bought the third ounce of arsenic. He did not get this letter till 9 a. m., on the Sunday, at Sterling, and started for Glasgow, arrived at his lodgings perfectly well, was seen sauntering in the direction of the prisoner’s house. Was it possible that, after coming from Bridge of Allan, he would give up his purpose of her when so near the house? It must be recollected she denied having seen him that night. When seen next, he was at his door, doubled up with agony. He allowed a doctor to be sent for, and asked to see, not Miss Smith, but Miss Perry. The prisonor showed no agitation on hearing of his death. If shq was capable of the murder, she was capable of this. On the Thursday after, she was missing from seven in the mornihg till three in the afternoon. Noohe knew where she had been. It had been indicated that L’Angellier had committed suicide. He found nothing in the evidence to show it. It seemed to be said he was an eater of arsenic, and had poisoned himself with an overdose. The- evktence waa triftiwg, and it was impossible that he could so overdose himself that 129 grains should be found in his stomach. His talk of suicide was nothing. He said, if any lady jilted him, he would stab himself. He was jilted, and did not do it. There did not appear, on his part, any-desire for death, but the contrary. If he did not see the prisoner as she stated, what could induce him to commit suicide? If he did see her, no link was wanting in the chain of evidence. The Dean of Faculty will reply at ten o’clock to-morrow. INCIDENTS OF THE TRIAL. 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 catch a glimpse of the prisoner, and may he seen departing with an air of satisfied curiosity upon their anxious countenances. Others who are privileged to sit in the court through the 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 tdvvri is hourly 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 hnttdreds of eyes fixed steadily upon her, Madeline Smith is the only unmoved, cool personage to be seen. From the first mo- . meat to the last she preserved that

-| undaunted, defiant attitude of perf feet repose which has struck every ‘ spectator with astonishment. She passes from the cab to the court > room, or, rather, the cell beneath the i dock, with the air of a belle euterr ing a ball room. She ascends the ■ narrow staircase leading into the s dock with a cool, jaunty air and unveiled countenance, the same perpetual smile—or smirk, rather, lor it , | lacks all the elements of a genuine ‘smile—the same healthy glow of color, 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 every 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 her 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 a smelling bottle in her dainty little hand, which she never lises, 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 of 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 Bmiles so cheerfully 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 gentleman of the long robe to the responsive witness box, as the questions are put and answered. She has a well cultivated taste, that is evident. She is elegant without show. A rich brown silk gown, with a large brooch, low set in the breast; a white Btraw bonnet simply trimmed ivith white ribbon; A white cambric handkerchief, and a bottle of smelling salts in her kid-gloved hand, such is the inventor}' 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 Eugene style, although the smallness of the bonnet, which is of the most fashionable nlake, necessitates the leading of two ebony braids across the crown of the 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. I should have guessed her age to be 24. Her eyes are deep-set, and some think beautiful; but they certainly do not look prepossessing. Her brow is of the ordinary size, and her face inclines to the oval. Her nose is. prominent, but is too long to be taken as a type for the Roman, and too irregular to remind one of Greece. Her complexion, in spite of prison life, is clear and fresh.