Mon 02 Feb

Tues 03 Feb

Still awaiting a reply from L'Angelier, Madeleine writes again, this time allowing herself the luxury of addressing him with a hint of the contempt she had, in reality, felt for him for some months past (posted today - deliverable Tuesday). "I attribute it to your having a cold that I had no answer to my last note. On Thursday evening you were, I suppose, afraid of the night air. I again appoint Thursday night first - same place - street gate, 7 o'clock." 

She writes again (Posted Tues morn. - delivered 1.30 - 3.00) "Emile, I have just had your note. Emile, for the love you once had for me, do nothing till Isee you... tomorrow night - one line, for the love of God."

This, Tuesday 10th February, is the most important and pivotal day of the entire case.

Today, Emile receives both of  Madeleine's letters. He realizes that he has miscalculated. His blackmail threat has not produced the expected result in that Madeleine now fears that she will be thrown out of the house. He knows today, for the first time, that there is no chance of his marrying into the Smith family. He knows today that everything he had dreamed of for the last two years has been snatched away. He was not a man who took disappointment in his stride. This day pushed him over the edge.

Madeleine writes, "Oh, it is kind of you to write to me..."  

Some psychopaths plan murder in such a way as to avoid detection. In Emile's case, just as much thought went into creating the illusion that he was being poisoned. From this point onwards, he was thinking in terms of evidence, testimony and the death sentence. He thought about the motive, the means and the opportunity. He was no genius - he made mistakes - but, as it transpired, speaking literally, there were no geniuses in the courtroom either.

* (Pocket-book) - "Saw Mimi - gave her a note and rec'd one."

L'Angelier starts to build up the pressure. He writes to Madeleine: "...Mimi, I insist in having an explicit answer to the questions you evaded in my last. If you evade answering them this time, I must try some other means of coming to the truth. If not answered in a satisfactory manner, you must not expect I shall again write you personally or meet you when you return home. I do not wish you to answer this at random. I shall wait a day or so if you require it. I know you cannot write me from Stirlingshire, as the time you have to write me a letter is occupied in doing so to others. There was a time you would have found plenty of time. Answer me this, Mimi - …Is it true that you are, directly or indirectly, engaged to Mr Minnoch or to any one else but me?"

In 1857, arsenic was used in the Glasgow Botanic Gardens as a weedkiller and pesticide. L'Angelier used to lodge there.

Either today or on the 5th, Emile visits the Botanic Gardens and, according to Mrs Clark's testimony, he takes away some gold or silver fish. 

Madeleine (with Mary Buchanan) buys arsenic from Curries (Currie's arsenic was stained with indigo). 
The family go to Bridge of Allan.

Madeleine buys arsenic from Curries. 

She writes to L'Angelier making an appointment for Friday (20th). This Friday appointment is much more important than it might seem. It has always been assumed that the appointment was for Thursday.

She returns on Wednesday. She is extremely anxious to see him and it might seem natural that she would see him at the first opportunity, Thursday night, but that was not an option. She can't appoint Thursday because she and her parents already have a Thursday appointment for a dinner party at Minnoch's. The street entrance to Minnoch's flat is right beside her bedroom window. When the party finishes - and she has no way of knowing how late it will finish (the Smiths' dinner parties never finished early) - she, together with her mother and father, will walk out into Main Street exactly at the spot where L'Angelier would normally wait. Her anxiety to see L'Angelier is precisely because she wants to keep him away from her parents. This is yet another piece of crucial evidence that was overlooked and its significance will become apparent when, as happens to many psychopaths, reality doesn't turn out to be exactly as planned.

Having established his well of suspicion, Emile now puts the last element of his scheme into action. The idea is to go away for a "holiday" and to let everyone know that he will be away until at least the middle of the following week. He also cranks up the pressure on Madeleine, increasing her fears that, unless she can convince him that she is not going to marry Minnoch, he is going to show the letters to her father. As soon as she returns from Bridge of Allan, she will write, begging him to visit her, whereupon he will return "prematurely" from his holiday. When he then becomes ill, her letter will appear to prove that he returned early to see her and therefore it will prove that a meeting has taken place.

He has put a lot of thought into the question of Madeleine's "opportunity" to administer the poison and this thoroughly transparent nonsense of his going away and coming back early was actually necessary to overcome the problem of his not being able to rely on there being any witnesses to their meeting. Her written invitation, set against the testimony of many witnesses who will remember that he intended to remain until Wednesday or Thursday, will be enough to establish that he came back to see her, ergo there was a meeting, ergo she had the opportunity to poison him.

Before he leaves for Bridge of Allan, he asks Mrs Jenkins if a letter he is expecting has arrived. He gives Thuau instructions to forward it to him. He then leaves for Bridge of Allan (via Edinburgh) ... calls at stationers in Leith St Edinburgh, looking for letter... returns to his lodgings - 16:15, Emile leaves Edinburgh for Bridge of Allan. By the time he has arrived at his Bridge of Allan lodgings, Madeleine's letter had arrives at Franklin Place and Thuau has forwarded it to Emile.

In the evening Madeleine and Mr & Mrs Smith dine at Wm Minnoch's.

Friday Morning - Emile gets Madeleine's letter but something in its contents renders it useless. He destroys the letter, keeping only the envelope. This letter, in which she appoints a meeting for Friday night, is the one which was intended to "prove" that he came back early to visit Madeleine - but something she wrote spoiled it. (Could have been any of a number of things, the most obvious being a reference to her having bought arsenic). Whatever spoiled the letter, it's quite immaterial. The most important thing to bear in mind is that she sent it, that Thuau forwarded it, that L'Angelier received it and that this was the letter that he made the fuss about, the letter that was intended to show that he came back early for no purpose other than to meet Madeleine. Forgive the repitition of these points but it is important to understand the significance of this letter. He intended this letter to be produced in evidence. It was intended to convict Madeleine but placed in its proper context, it has entirely the opposite efeect. Had the letter not been spoiled, he would have returned for a meeting on Friday night. Because it was spoiled, it could not be produced in evidence and, therefore, he could not keep the appointment. Had it not been his intention to have the letter produced in evidence, he would have returned for the Friday night meeting.

He now has to improvise. Friday morning - he writes,as originally intended, to Miss Perry and others, making sure everyone knows not to expect him back before Wednesday but in Miss Perry's letter, he also says, "I should have come to see someone last night, but the letter came too late, so we are both disappointed." This was overlooked by both the Defence and the Prosecution. It was a lie. The letter could only have appointed Friday. By pretending that the letter appointed Thursday night, he can now remain in Bridge of Allan and wait for her next letter but, had he not planned the whole scenario, had the letter not been part of his plan to frame Madeleine for attempted murder, there was absolutely nothing to prevent his returning for the Friday night meeting. The letter arrived on Friday morning. he had ample time to return to Glasgow. The fact that he had to lie, that he remained in Bridge of Allan and waited for her next letter, proves intent. It demolishes the idea that he innocently returned on account of the letter that he received on Sunday.

The central question, therefore, is whether it is possible that the meeting was, as he maintained, appointed for Thursday. If it was, he didn't lie to Miss Perry and it is much more difficult (though not impossible) to prove that he intended to frame her for his attempted murder.

Madeleine, in her declaration, said she waited for him on Friday night. Mrs Smith, in her precognition, said that, "after Miss Perry left, Madeleine admitted that the last letter she had sent to L'Angelier was on Friday." The letter was posted on Saturday morning. Even putting aside the virtual impossibility of a Thursday meeting because of the dinner party at Minnoch's, Thursday makes no sense at all. The only suggestion that the meeting was for Thursday, came from Emile's own hand - the letter to Miss Perry.

It is also inconceivable that Madeleine, now absolutely at her wits end, could have waited for him on Thursday night and then, he having failed to appear, she then waits a full day, until Saturday, to post this second desperate letter. The letter could only have been written on Friday night after waiting for him on Friday night, as arranged. (The key to solving the riddle of the Madeleine Smith Story is to simply to avoid making the assumption that the "victim" is telling the truth).

Friday Night - Madeleine waits for Emile but he doesn't show. She is now desperately worried that his failure to appear means that he has decided to show the letters to her father and to Minnoch. In the early hours of Saturday morning, she writes again: "Why my beloved did you not come to me? Oh, beloved, are you ill? Come to me sweet one. I waited and waited for you but you came not. I shall wait again tomorrow night same hour and arrangement. Do come sweet love, my own dear love of a sweetheart. Come beloved and clasp me to your heart. Come and we shall be happy. A kiss, fond love. Adieu, with tender embraces, ever believe me to be your own, ever dear fond Mimi." Armchair students of the case have taken this letter at face value, believing that the excesssive terms of endearment betoken her fiendish desire to lure the innocent L'Angelier to his death. Only someone who has absolutely no understanding of what has been going on between Madeleine and L'Angelier could make that mistake. For the last few weeks, she has been doing everything in her power to avoid him. She can hardly bring herself to write to him and when she does it is to procrastinate and make all manner of excuses as to why she can't meet him. But now she believes that, unless she can persuade him otherwise, he is about to revert to his earlier intention to show the letters to her father. She appoints a meeting for Friday. He doesn't turn up. She is absolutely terrified. She writes in the most extreme affectionate terms and she appoints a meeting for the following night, Saturday. The subtext of this second letter is nothing other than abject terror.

It was written on Friday night and posted on Saturday morning. It arrives at Franklin Place later on Saturday and it is forwarded by Thuau to Bridge of Allan where it arrives on Sunday morning.

Saturday night - Madeleine waits for a second time but Emile doesn't show.

7:00:am, Mrs Jenkins calls Doctor Steven.  Emile now makes no mention of "poison" For the last few weeks, he's been telling people that he believes he is being poisoned but now he has to remain silent on the subject. Any mention of poison and the question would have immediately arisen: "but, if you thought you were being poisoned, why did you take more?"  He needs to play the part of the innocent victim and he needs someone else (Miss Perry) to point the finger.
9:00:am, Emile asks to see Miss Perry 
12:00: Miss Perry turns up (too late).