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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production

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Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and we

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Speaker 1: are today continuing the two part episode of the events

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Speaker 1: that led up to the last public guillotine execution in France.

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Speaker 1: If you missed part one of this story, in which

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Speaker 1: we detailed the vanishing of Gene to Covin and the

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Speaker 1: man who she was last seen with, go back and

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Speaker 1: listen to that before jumping into this one, because we're

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Speaker 1: really not reviewing here and we're kind of picking up

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Speaker 1: where we left off, so it will feel completely confusing

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Speaker 1: if you don't have the backstory. Today, we're going to

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Speaker 1: talk about the trial, the verdict, and the aftermath, including

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Speaker 1: the execution heads up just in case. Like the first part,

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Speaker 1: this episode will involve discussion of violence, specifically murder. We

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Speaker 1: will also talk a lot about capital punishment. When we

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Speaker 1: left off last time, Oigan Vidman had been captured by

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Speaker 1: police and had confessed to several murders, including the death

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Speaker 1: of the young American tourist Jeane to Covin. On December

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Speaker 1: nine seven, Jeane to Covin's body was found that was

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Speaker 1: right where Vidman had told the police that it would be.

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Speaker 1: He hadn't taken it very far. It was buried under

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Speaker 1: the front porch of the cottage he lived in. Jean's

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Speaker 1: wallet had been emptied, but most of her personal effects

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Speaker 1: were still there with her, including the new camera that

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Speaker 1: she had taken to Europe to capture memories of her travels.

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Speaker 1: When the film was developed, it showed the last photos

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Speaker 1: she took were of Oigan Vibeman in his apartment. When

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Speaker 1: they found her, she had a cord tied around her neck.

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Speaker 1: She had been strangled. Vidman had refused to accompany authorities

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Speaker 1: as they went to his home to exhume the bodies

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Speaker 1: of Jean and also of Fritz Frohmer, who was buried

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Speaker 1: in the cellar. He said that he couldn't bear the

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Speaker 1: side of it. When Oigan confessed to Jean's murder, it's

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Speaker 1: reported that this was the only one out of the

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Speaker 1: six that he exhibited regret over. He would not say

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Speaker 1: her name, but wrote it on a piece of paper,

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Speaker 1: and he is said to have wept as he told

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Speaker 1: the police quote last July, I did something horrible, he

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Speaker 1: went on. She was gentle, and unsuspecting. I enjoyed speaking

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Speaker 1: English to her, which I learned in Canada. When I

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Speaker 1: reached out for her throat, she went down like a doll.

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Speaker 1: After collecting evidence, French police transferred Jean's body to a

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Speaker 1: coffin and contacted the de Covin family to make arrangements

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Speaker 1: for her to be laid to rest. Her body was

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Speaker 1: transported back to the US on the white star liner Berengaria.

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Speaker 1: It arrived in the States on December. The family had

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Speaker 1: it taken to a mortician to prepare for a proper burial.

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Speaker 1: Although the answer was surely painful, they finally knew what

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Speaker 1: had happened to Jean. Her mother was quoted in the

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Speaker 1: Boston Globe as saying, quote that means our last ray

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Speaker 1: of hope is gone. That was quoted, of course, when

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Speaker 1: she heard the news of Vinman's confession and the exhumation

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Speaker 1: of the body. Although the family had believed that she

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Speaker 1: was dead, this still just came as a shock. On

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Speaker 1: December tenth, Viidmont's three accomplices surrendered to police for questioning.

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Speaker 1: They had been staying at the resort town of Nantua,

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Speaker 1: near the Swiss border when Jean Blanc's brother phoned them

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Speaker 1: to tell them they were wanted in connection with the

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Speaker 1: arrest of Videman. It might be tempting to suspect that

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Speaker 1: they had gone on this trip to avoid police, but

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Speaker 1: that was not the case. This was more of a

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Speaker 1: coincidence situation. They were already in Nantua when Videman was apprehended,

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Speaker 1: having gone there to scope out a possible business opportunity.

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Speaker 1: According to Jean Blanc, he and Milion were planning to

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Speaker 1: open a lumber business there, and they quickly returned to

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Speaker 1: Paris and they all turned themselves in. When Million Entrico

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Speaker 1: arrived at the Versailles police office, they already had a

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Speaker 1: lawyer with them. There were some, but not many, conflicting

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Speaker 1: accounts about exactly what happened during the murders. When Videman's

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Speaker 1: confession was compared with his friend's statements. For example, Mion

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Speaker 1: Entrico had both claimed that the plan had never been

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Speaker 1: to kill Leblan, just to rob him. Tricole had told

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Speaker 1: police that Vidman had told her he'd murder them both

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Speaker 1: if they told anybody about it. Mion admitted he was

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Speaker 1: present during Lebland's murder, but that the entire crime was

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Speaker 1: Wrigan's doing. Meon also characterized his relationship with Viedman as

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Speaker 1: having helped a down on his luck friend when Vidman

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Speaker 1: moved to Paris without any money. Because of this, for

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Speaker 1: a time, Mion was considered to be the leader of

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Speaker 1: this gang rather than Vidman. Meon was described in the

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Speaker 1: press as having quote gone completely to pieces in his cell.

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Speaker 1: Guards said he frequently broke down and fits of hysterical weeping,

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Speaker 1: moaning I've done nothing nothing. Jean Blanc claimed to have

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Speaker 1: a high degree of ignorance regarding my to what has happened,

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Speaker 1: and that actually did line up with a lot of

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Speaker 1: what Voidmon and Mill had told the police. He was,

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Speaker 1: it seems, someone that they kind of strung along, showing

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Speaker 1: him just enough danger that it kept him interested, and

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Speaker 1: of course he kept loading them money to cover rent

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Speaker 1: and other expenses. He constantly asserted to police that he

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Speaker 1: was just a small time criminal involved in things like

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Speaker 1: forgeries and counterfeiting, certainly not murder. The first few days

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Speaker 1: after five months arrest were busy for the police as

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Speaker 1: they searched the villa for evidence, and they found a lot.

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Speaker 1: Search continued for months. One thing that was noted was

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Speaker 1: how impeccably clean the house was. It was regularly dusted,

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Speaker 1: and the furniture had white covers which were described by

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Speaker 1: the police as spotless. Early on, investigators found several suitcases

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Speaker 1: filled with what papers reported as quote feminine apparel, meaning lingerie.

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Speaker 1: Several of the items were laundry marked with names. The

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Speaker 1: items marked Jeanie were presumed to have belonged to Janine Keller,

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Speaker 1: but they also found items that have been labeled with

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Speaker 1: other names, Caroline and Josephine, as well as other items

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Speaker 1: that were not marked. But we're in a range of

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Speaker 1: different sizes. That made police worry that there may have

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Speaker 1: been many more victims. They believed when they counted it

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Speaker 1: all up, that the clothing belonged to twelve different women,

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Speaker 1: and the entire garden of La Vozi the villa was

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Speaker 1: dug up, although no additional bodies were found there. Investigators

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Speaker 1: also found a lock box in which Videman had carefully

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Speaker 1: stored the pasports and other legal documents that belonged to

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Speaker 1: the victims. Just as the rest of the house was

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Speaker 1: nit as a pen, these items had been organized and

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Speaker 1: carefully stored. On December twenty, several weeks into Videman's home

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Speaker 1: still being searched. Letters from numerous women were found. Among

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Speaker 1: his things are reported five hundred letters. He had been

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Speaker 1: placing ads in English papers asking women to send him references.

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Speaker 1: Some of these ads indicated that he was hiring a

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Speaker 1: governess for his children, others that he needed an English tutor.

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Speaker 1: This was of course, really similar to the situation that

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Speaker 1: led to Madame Keller's murder, so authorities were planning to

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Speaker 1: try to track down the writers of the letters to

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Speaker 1: see if anyone was missing, and a follow up to

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Speaker 1: the letter situation that appeared in the London press, it

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Speaker 1: was announced that Scotland Yard was able to determine that

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Speaker 1: four people on its list to follow up on, which

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Speaker 1: were three men and a woman, were safe. But more

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Speaker 1: curious was the fact that there were two people and

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Speaker 1: the information that French authorities sent that just didn't seem

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Speaker 1: to exist at all. There weren't instances of people who

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Speaker 1: were missing the addresses that their letters appeared to be from.

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Speaker 1: We're not real addresses at all. They were made up. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: we have no idea what the scoop was there if

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Speaker 1: people were just trying to as a safety measure not

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Speaker 1: give a real return address or if there was something

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Speaker 1: else going on. Once Vidman was in custody, the police

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Speaker 1: were quick to release a statement that made clear that

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Speaker 1: they had not been east with the way they had

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Speaker 1: been characterized as not taking the de Covin case seriously.

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Speaker 1: The statement as related in English language papers read quote.

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Speaker 1: Inspector Shaye was assigned to the de Covin search. He

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Speaker 1: speaks English, especially American English. He succeeded in listening into

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Speaker 1: telephone communications of the kidnapper and concluded he was a

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Speaker 1: German American. After inquiries, the police did not reject the

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Speaker 1: theory that Mr Covin had been murdered, and they followed

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Speaker 1: up on several clues, including one in Toulouse and another

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Speaker 1: in Switzerland. At no time was Monsieur chalets On vide

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Speaker 1: Months track. After vide Month's confession, he spent his time

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Speaker 1: in prison in France in a way that was very

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Speaker 1: much like when he had been incarcerated in Germany. He

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Speaker 1: read a great deal. One of the books that comes

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Speaker 1: up an account is Phenelon's Les Aventur de Telemark, in

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Speaker 1: which the writer used Telemachus his search for his father

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Speaker 1: Ulysses to examine political issues in the late seventeenth century France,

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Speaker 1: so not exactly light reading. Viedman also started working on

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Speaker 1: his own memoirs, which was something his lawyers suggested. Weidmann

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Speaker 1: was described in a ninety article in The New Yorker

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Speaker 1: so in between when he was apprehended and when he

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Speaker 1: went on trial as quote an exceptionally handsome male in

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Speaker 1: the medieval manner. He was reportedly dismayed to not be

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Speaker 1: able to be more fastidious in his appearance once he

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Speaker 1: was in custody, being unshaven and not being able to

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Speaker 1: wipe his face with a handkerchief, something he had been

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Speaker 1: denied out of fear he might try to kill himself with.

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Speaker 1: It is said to have made him embarrassed when he

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Speaker 1: appeared before authorities. In addition to forbidding any sort of

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Speaker 1: material that he might use to harm himself, the prison

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Speaker 1: also assigned o Agan to cell mates who were instructed

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Speaker 1: to alert the guards if he attempted self harm. That

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Speaker 1: may have been the case, and he may have been

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Speaker 1: chagrined to not be as tidy in his appearance as

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Speaker 1: he had wished, but that model behavior that he was

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Speaker 1: known for while incarcerated earlier in his life started to

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Speaker 1: fade a bit. During the trial, the multi lingual Videman

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Speaker 1: started claiming that he had forgotten how to speak French.

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Speaker 1: He would only speak German or English. He had been

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Speaker 1: charged with six murders for all the victims that we've mentioned.

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Speaker 1: The head of his defense team was Vincent the Morrow Jeoffrey,

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Speaker 1: and had worked on other high profile cases. Morrow Geoffrey's

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Speaker 1: second was Rene Jardin, who was notable because she was

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Speaker 1: a woman Avoca at a time when that was unusual.

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Speaker 1: She would remain associated with this trial throughout her career. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: she was the one that had suggested he keep that diary,

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Speaker 1: and she some quite a number of years down the road,

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Speaker 1: published it with a lot of of notation and kind

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Speaker 1: of her thoughts on what had been going on. She

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Speaker 1: really um seemed to feel that he was not in

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Speaker 1: his right mind. It took a lot longer to start

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Speaker 1: the trial than had initially been anticipated by authorities. In

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Speaker 1: early January night so a month after Vidmann was apprehended,

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Speaker 1: did the investigating magistrate. George Berry told reporters that he

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Speaker 1: really expected to have all of the evidence processed and

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Speaker 1: ready to hand off to prosecutors by the summer. He

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Speaker 1: mentioned July specifically, but there was so much evidence that

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Speaker 1: they needed far more time than six months to do

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Speaker 1: all that processing. The trial didn't start until March tenth, nine,

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Speaker 1: fifteen months after Vidmon had been arrested. In a moment,

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Speaker 1: we'll talk about the way the press turned Oigan Videman

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Speaker 1: into an almost mythic figure of dark possibility. For that,

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Speaker 1: we will take a quick sponsor break. There was a

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Speaker 1: British tabloid story that appeared in February nine, so just

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Speaker 1: before the trial, that indicated that friends of Sidman were

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Speaker 1: trying to break him out ahead of the trial by

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Speaker 1: posing a gendarme to infiltrate the prison and escort the

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Speaker 1: suspect to a waiting car. This, it was reported, was

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Speaker 1: all conveyed to Videmond by a letter which looked harmless,

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Speaker 1: but on closer inspection, was found to contain invisible ink

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Speaker 1: detailing the plan. The prison was said to have doubled

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Speaker 1: the number of guards after this escape plan was discovered.

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Speaker 1: This is hard to verify and it comes from a

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Speaker 1: pretty dubious source, but we mentioned it to illustrate the

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Speaker 1: degree to which Oigan Videmand had become an almost mythic

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Speaker 1: boogeyman in the international press. By the time the trial

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Speaker 1: was approaching, his crimes had been reported in just horrifying

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Speaker 1: detail for more than a year. There was a constant

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Speaker 1: frenzy for more information, even after most of the facts

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Speaker 1: of the case had been disclosed and discussed over and

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Speaker 1: over in the public. There was a combination of fear

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Speaker 1: that people could easily vanish, especially tourists, and there was

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Speaker 1: the desire for some combination of justice and vengeance. So

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Speaker 1: running a story that suggested that the most rightening man

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Speaker 1: alive also had people trying to break him out of prison,

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Speaker 1: it was a sure fireway to attract readers. Yeah, we'll

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Speaker 1: talk about the press a little bit more at the end,

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Speaker 1: and then I definitely want to talk about it in

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Speaker 1: the behind the scenes this week. Uh, it was something

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Speaker 1: of a marvel as all of the various evidence and

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Speaker 1: statements were collected that it had taken an accident, really

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Speaker 1: the tracking down of the Arthur shot business card to

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Speaker 1: discover Jean to Covin's murderer, because it came out that

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Speaker 1: even beyond Million Blanc and Collette, there were other people

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Speaker 1: who knew about the murders and never said a word

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Speaker 1: about it. For example, Millon reportedly told his father about

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Speaker 1: Jeane to Covin's murder, and his father told his boss.

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Speaker 1: And there were allegedly two additional people that got information

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Speaker 1: about the Covin from million or secondhand from one of

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Speaker 1: the people that he had confided in. So while all

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Speaker 1: of these people seemed to be blabbing to each other,

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Speaker 1: authorities had never heard a word of it, but this

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Speaker 1: was all disclosed by the defendants before the trial began.

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Speaker 1: On the first day of the trial, Oigan Wiedman was

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Speaker 1: not his own best witness. He reportedly told his lawyer,

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Speaker 1: Vine Jardine, that he believed he would be executed, that

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Speaker 1: he was ready to die, and that he wanted to

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Speaker 1: quote be in order with God before that happened. Although Jardine,

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Speaker 1: who was the attorney that Origan was most comfortable speaking to,

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Speaker 1: had instructed him not to confess anything in court and

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Speaker 1: to not say anything that might endanger their chances of

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Speaker 1: claiming insanity, he did not take her advice when questions

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Speaker 1: sometimes he just strugged, but he did confirm his confession

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Speaker 1: of killing de Covin Fromer and sob. He confessed to

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Speaker 1: the rest of it during the following days. Although the

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Speaker 1: murder of Leblan was something that he and Mayo blamed

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Speaker 1: on one another. They both acknowledged being involved, but each

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Speaker 1: man said the other one had been the primary aggressor.

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Speaker 1: In mid March, prosecutors pressed Vidman for details about the

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Speaker 1: murder of Geane to COVID. On the stand, the defendant

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Speaker 1: was reticent. He refused to give any specific information about

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Speaker 1: how the knight had played out, leading the judge to

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Speaker 1: accuse him of indifference to what he had done. Oigan replied,

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Speaker 1: I am not indifferent, but I am not in a

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Speaker 1: fit state to talk. He elaborated when the judge asked

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Speaker 1: what he meant, that he was not morally fit to talk.

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Speaker 1: When the judge told Vidman that he hoped to hear

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Speaker 1: some words of at least pity for Gene from the defendant,

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Speaker 1: all Oigan said was I can only confess. But he

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Speaker 1: had given more details than his initial confession, and though

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Speaker 1: he was not willing to reflect or elaborate on that

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Speaker 1: information and court, his co defendant roge Male, did confirm

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Speaker 1: that things had happened as Widman had originally stated. Gene

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Speaker 1: and Oigan had arrived at the house in Saint Clu

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Speaker 1: between six and seven pm on July, although according to

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Speaker 1: me all she was not killed until after eleven pm.

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Speaker 1: She was buried under the porch that same night, and

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Speaker 1: the rose bushes were planted over and around the area

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Speaker 1: the next morning. The last day of Jeane Dekovin's life

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Speaker 1: actually has a few inconsistencies in terms of how the

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Speaker 1: details were confessed, at least as they were reported in

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Speaker 1: the English language press. Remember this is all being translated

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Speaker 1: as it's being reported. An article in the New York

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Speaker 1: Times just two days after Zidmann was taken into custody

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Speaker 1: indicated that he told police she had not died right away.

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Speaker 1: He had tried and failed to strangle her, and had

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Speaker 1: to do so a second time, using two handkerchiefs knotted

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00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:40,840
Speaker 1: together to do so, but that still placed it very

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Speaker 1: near their arrival at the Saint clu villa, not at

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Speaker 1: the later hour mentioned a moment ago. The earlier death

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00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:49,480
Speaker 1: is the more common version of the story, and there

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00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:52,080
Speaker 1: are mentions of the handkerchiefs being found at the villa

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00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:56,400
Speaker 1: while the home was being combed for evidence. Regardless though

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Speaker 1: of which set of specifics had truly played out, there

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00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:01,520
Speaker 1: was no debate that Jean had been killed by Vidmon

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00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:05,639
Speaker 1: that night. One thing that became less mysterious and shut

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00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:09,760
Speaker 1: down the speculation about fetishes was the reveal during the

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00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:13,240
Speaker 1: trial of the reason that Oigan Videman usually took personal

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00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:15,800
Speaker 1: effects things like clothes and shoes and wigs or other

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00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:19,600
Speaker 1: accessories from the victims. He wasn't just keeping those for

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00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:23,480
Speaker 1: himself or hoarding them away somewhere. He was distributing them

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00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:26,160
Speaker 1: to his accomplices so they could use them as disguises.

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00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:31,000
Speaker 1: Jean's aunt, Ida Sackheim, wanted very badly to testify in

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Speaker 1: the trial. She had hoped that the police would call

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00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,240
Speaker 1: her to Versilles so she could do so, but they

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00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:40,280
Speaker 1: never did. She actually sent a telegram protesting the family's

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Speaker 1: lack of representation at the trial, but she really didn't

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Speaker 1: need to have done that, and they really didn't need

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00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:48,760
Speaker 1: her because even if she had testified, it probably would

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00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:51,639
Speaker 1: not have changed the outcome at all. In an effort

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Speaker 1: to avoid the death penalty, Videmont pleaded not guilty by

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Speaker 1: reason of insanity, but the prosecution made the case that

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Speaker 1: the methodical name nature of his preparation for the crimes

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00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:07,560
Speaker 1: indicated otherwise. On March thirty one, nine, the case concluded

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Speaker 1: and the jury went into deliberations. It took five hours,

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Speaker 1: not because there was much to debate on the matter.

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Speaker 1: Viedman had confessed there really wasn't any doubt regarding his guilt,

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Speaker 1: but they had before them eighty different questions for many

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00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:26,480
Speaker 1: different crimes, including thefts and levels of premeditation that they

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Speaker 1: believed were involved. Weidmann was of course convicted for gene

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Speaker 1: to Covin's death. He was found guilty of murder without

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00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:39,280
Speaker 1: premeditation in the cases of Les Bras and Frommer's murders.

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Speaker 1: He was found guilty with extenuating circumstances. For the remaining

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Speaker 1: three charges, the murders of Jeanine Keller, Joseph Kuffie, and

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Speaker 1: roche LeBlanc, they found Widman guilty of murder with premeditation.

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Speaker 1: He was also found guilty of attempting to extort ransom

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Speaker 1: from Ida Sackheim. After the verdicts were read, Videman was

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00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:02,919
Speaker 1: asked if he'd like to say anything, and he just

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00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:06,840
Speaker 1: shook his head no. As for his accomplices, they mostly

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00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:11,760
Speaker 1: fared better. Blanc had never been as trusted by Vidman

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Speaker 1: as Meal was, so he really didn't know a lot. Additionally,

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Speaker 1: he had not killed anyone. He was found guilty of

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Speaker 1: harboring criminals and was sentenced to twenty months in prison.

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Speaker 1: Collectrico had also not committed any murder. She was charged

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Speaker 1: with receiving the proceeds of murder, but was acquitted. Her

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00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:33,080
Speaker 1: defense throughout the investigation and the trial was that she

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00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:36,240
Speaker 1: knew the goods she received were stolen, but did not

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00:19:36,359 --> 00:19:39,040
Speaker 1: know that any of it had come from murder victims.

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00:19:39,680 --> 00:19:43,320
Speaker 1: Meal was found guilty of attempted extortion of ransom and

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Speaker 1: for his participation in the murders of Keller and Leblon.

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Speaker 1: Like Videman, he was sentenced to death. Unlike Videman, who

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00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:54,040
Speaker 1: was quite calm when his verdicts were announced, Meal and

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00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:57,359
Speaker 1: was reported to have screamed his innocence. He begged the

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00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:00,240
Speaker 1: magistrate quote, don't convict me. I am in a sent

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00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:04,159
Speaker 1: I was an instrument in vide months hands. The jury

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00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,280
Speaker 1: in the case also awarded a hundred and twenty thousand

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00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:10,800
Speaker 1: francs to the Dekovian family. It's considerably less than the

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00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:14,720
Speaker 1: two thousand they had asked for. This financial penalty was

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00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,480
Speaker 1: to be shouldered by the entire group that was charged,

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00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:21,280
Speaker 1: although papers noted that since only Jean Blanc had any money,

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00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,440
Speaker 1: the burden would likely all fall to him. I never

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00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:27,359
Speaker 1: found anything that indicated whether this award was ever paid

351
00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:29,560
Speaker 1: out or not. It was like literally mentioned as a

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00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:32,960
Speaker 1: weird coda in one of the trial wrap ups. For

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Speaker 1: the next several months, Videmont and Millon waited in prison

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Speaker 1: for their sentences to be carried out. And we will

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00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,159
Speaker 1: talk about that after we hear from the sponsors that

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00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:54,400
Speaker 1: keep Stuffy missing history glass going. On June fourteenth, two

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00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:57,840
Speaker 1: and a half months after the sentencing, the lawyers representing

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00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:01,320
Speaker 1: both Videmont and Million went to the Elise Palace to

359
00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:05,520
Speaker 1: formally plead for clemency for their clients. Both men were

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00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:08,240
Speaker 1: hoping their sentences would be reduced to life in prison,

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00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:11,200
Speaker 1: although the prevailing opinion of both the public and legal

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00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:15,040
Speaker 1: experts was that Widemand had no chance at a commuted sentence.

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00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:18,400
Speaker 1: He was older than Million and very clearly the ringleader.

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Speaker 1: On June sevent nine, thirty nine, at four thirty two

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00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:27,840
Speaker 1: am Oigan, Videmand was executed by guillotine on a scaffold

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Speaker 1: that was erected outside Versailles Men's Prison in Louis Bartow Square.

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Speaker 1: The Monsieur de Paris. The public executioner was Jules des Fourneaux,

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00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,159
Speaker 1: who had inherited the job from his uncle. It was

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00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:44,680
Speaker 1: a massive draw for spectators, many of whom had spent

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00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:47,440
Speaker 1: the night before partying in Paris before making the driver

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00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:50,280
Speaker 1: taking the train out to Versailles to see the man

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00:21:50,359 --> 00:21:52,720
Speaker 1: who had become the most frightening figure of the day

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00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:56,840
Speaker 1: put to death. Estimates for attendance usually put it around

374
00:21:56,840 --> 00:22:00,560
Speaker 1: three thousand people. Police had to be stationed around the

375
00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:03,000
Speaker 1: guillotine to maintain a border that the crowd could not

376
00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:07,320
Speaker 1: push past. In attendance, among others, was the mother of

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00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:11,240
Speaker 1: Roger LeBlanc. Initially, Vidman resisted as he was let out

378
00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:14,199
Speaker 1: of the prison to his sentence, and was, according to

379
00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:17,680
Speaker 1: write ups in the US press, quote snarling in fury.

380
00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:20,560
Speaker 1: He was angry that he was to be killed while

381
00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:24,840
Speaker 1: his close accomplice, Roget Millon had been spared his death

382
00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:28,639
Speaker 1: sentence commuted to life in prison two days earlier. But

383
00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:31,840
Speaker 1: the closer Oigan got to the scaffold, the less he resisted.

384
00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:35,840
Speaker 1: According to press reports, his attorneys gave a statement that

385
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:39,720
Speaker 1: Voidmont quote lived like a monster and died like a saint.

386
00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:43,680
Speaker 1: There was no end of coverage about this execution. Three

387
00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:47,200
Speaker 1: days after it happened, the Midland Daily Telegraph of Coventry

388
00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:52,000
Speaker 1: published a lengthy piece titled eye Witness a public execution.

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00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:56,119
Speaker 1: The attribution for it was simply our Paris correspondent, and

390
00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:59,439
Speaker 1: it's surprising how nonsensational it is. It opens with quote,

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Speaker 1: I want to described soberly and exactly what a public

392
00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:05,320
Speaker 1: execution is like. I don't want to take sides for

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00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,359
Speaker 1: or against the execution of murderers, or to discuss the

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00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:12,040
Speaker 1: propriety or otherwise of executions in public. And the rite

395
00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:14,840
Speaker 1: up stays fairly true to that, and it does describe

396
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:19,480
Speaker 1: the whole situation in detail. The crowd immediately near the prison,

397
00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:22,159
Speaker 1: so right up near the scaffold, was mostly eighteen to

398
00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:24,840
Speaker 1: twenty year olds who had taken the midnight train from

399
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:28,760
Speaker 1: Paris to Versailles. The cafes in the block surrounding the

400
00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:31,720
Speaker 1: prison were described as also open all through the night

401
00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:34,960
Speaker 1: and filled with more diverse age ranges of people, many

402
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:39,000
Speaker 1: of whom were debating the merits of capital punishment even

403
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,719
Speaker 1: hours before the actual execution. The police had difficulty with

404
00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:46,440
Speaker 1: the crowd. At two a m. When the guillotine arrived

405
00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,560
Speaker 1: police had to force onlookers to move so that the

406
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:53,040
Speaker 1: cart could pass through the crowd. Several fights broke out

407
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:56,320
Speaker 1: among the onlookers. Several people were reported to have fainted.

408
00:23:57,080 --> 00:24:00,520
Speaker 1: The arrival of the executioner was accounted or and then

409
00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:04,520
Speaker 1: the moment of execution. The Midland Daily Telegraph does not

410
00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:08,760
Speaker 1: describe by Demant as snarling, but rather entirely silent even

411
00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:11,879
Speaker 1: as he tried to break away from his escorts. And

412
00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:15,600
Speaker 1: this account's conclusion it mentions that it's inherently upsetting for

413
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:18,360
Speaker 1: someone to witness such a thing, regardless of their position

414
00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:21,520
Speaker 1: on the issue of the death penalty. Quote. The violent

415
00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:25,159
Speaker 1: assault of physical horror upon the tempt onlooker is not

416
00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:29,159
Speaker 1: to be described in measured terms, and cold print and

417
00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:33,040
Speaker 1: the frenzy of the crowd in attendance at Viidmont's execution

418
00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:36,119
Speaker 1: was a major factor in the end of public guillotine ing.

419
00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:39,640
Speaker 1: There had been some very real concerns that police might

420
00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:42,240
Speaker 1: not be able to maintain the peace, and the French

421
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:47,240
Speaker 1: government moved swiftly to address the problem. On June nine,

422
00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:50,439
Speaker 1: the following brief article appeared in the New York Times. Quote.

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00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:53,920
Speaker 1: The Cabinet issued a decree today abolishing the age old

424
00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:58,760
Speaker 1: French custom of holding executions in public. This makes Oigan Weidmann,

425
00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:01,320
Speaker 1: executed last week for the murder of gene To Covin

426
00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:06,880
Speaker 1: Brooklyn Dancer, the last criminal to undergo decapitation in the open. Indeed,

427
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:10,399
Speaker 1: it is believed the cabinet's decision was prompted by objectionable

428
00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:15,119
Speaker 1: publicity and incidents surrounding the guillotining of Weidmund. The article

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Speaker 1: goes on to describe the general atmosphere of mayhem around

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Speaker 1: the prison. The crowd reportedly got really out of hand

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00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:26,040
Speaker 1: when the execution was delayed, briefly stamping their feet and yelling.

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Speaker 1: But perhaps more than any issue with the crowd, the

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00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:32,480
Speaker 1: French government was horrified with the day after the execution,

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00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:36,160
Speaker 1: candid photographs of the event ran in a number of papers.

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00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,399
Speaker 1: According to the article quote, these had been taken in

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00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:43,520
Speaker 1: defiance of a strict ban on photographs. The determination of

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00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:47,280
Speaker 1: the French cabinet was that executions would take place inside

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00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:51,320
Speaker 1: prisons going forward, clergyman and magistrates would be the only

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00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:55,800
Speaker 1: attendees alone. In nineteen seventy seven, France held its last

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00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:59,680
Speaker 1: execution by guillotine, when Hamina Jambouti was put to death

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00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:04,160
Speaker 1: for the murder of Elizabeth Bouquet in The death penalty

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00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:08,520
Speaker 1: was abolished in France after efforts of Robert bad, Minister

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00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:13,000
Speaker 1: of Justice during the presidency of francoelzer Home. The abolition

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00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:16,360
Speaker 1: of the death penalty became incorporated into the French constitution

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00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:18,760
Speaker 1: after it passed a vote in the Congress of the

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00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:23,000
Speaker 1: French Parliament in two thousand seven. Oh, there's so much

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00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:27,000
Speaker 1: to unpack here. Yeah, do you have maybe some less

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00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:30,440
Speaker 1: heavy listener mail? Oh? Yes, you know when I do

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00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:34,560
Speaker 1: a a horrible one. Um, I got him do some

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00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,320
Speaker 1: fun things, so I have to. They're both fairly short,

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00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:41,960
Speaker 1: and they're both about food. The first one is from

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00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:45,280
Speaker 1: our listener Maria, who writes, Hello, ladies, I'm currently four

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00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,400
Speaker 1: months pregnant, getting caught up in the last few months

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00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:51,400
Speaker 1: of podcasts. When I listened to the eponymous food episode,

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00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,199
Speaker 1: I had to make fettuccini Alfredo after you're talking about it.

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00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:56,480
Speaker 1: I'm at that stage where if I hear something I want,

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00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:58,080
Speaker 1: I need to eat it, or I will fixate on

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00:26:58,119 --> 00:27:01,160
Speaker 1: it for days until it is resolved. Sadly, I don't

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00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:03,159
Speaker 1: currently have the energy to make it from scratch, but

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00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:05,679
Speaker 1: thankfully I had a jar in the pantry. Had to

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00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:07,879
Speaker 1: share my funny story with y'all and hope you appreciate it.

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00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:09,760
Speaker 1: Thank you for all you do. I wanted to read

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00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:12,000
Speaker 1: this so I could say I do not have the

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00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,160
Speaker 1: pregnancy excuse. I worked the same way. If I think

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00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:17,040
Speaker 1: about a food, I have to have it. Uh. And

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00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:19,840
Speaker 1: also I just want to say congratulations Maria and wish

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00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:23,119
Speaker 1: you good health and a smooth rest of your pregnancy.

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00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:26,479
Speaker 1: I'm very excited and I hope it all goes well. Uh.

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00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:29,440
Speaker 1: And then my other one is about waffles, so it's

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00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:31,560
Speaker 1: a little bit of a throwback to an earlier episode

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00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:35,320
Speaker 1: from our listener, Christian, who writes, Hello, Holly and Tracy.

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00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:37,560
Speaker 1: I've been listening to your podcast for many years and

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00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:40,400
Speaker 1: love how informative you are. I've been meaning to write

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00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:42,439
Speaker 1: you for more than a year about the episode on

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00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:44,560
Speaker 1: the history of waffles, but I usually listen to you

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00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:46,399
Speaker 1: when I'm out and about, so I kept forgetting to

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00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,399
Speaker 1: do it when I was home. I'm originally from Columbia

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00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:52,760
Speaker 1: but live in Vancouver, Canada. After listening to your podcast,

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00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,560
Speaker 1: I realized that a popular Columbian snack that we have

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00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:58,960
Speaker 1: called Obelias had the same origin as waffles. I was

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00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,080
Speaker 1: in shock when you mentioned that name in your episode.

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00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:03,760
Speaker 1: At the same time of listening to that episode, I

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00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:06,280
Speaker 1: had formed a pandemic bubble with a guy from Belgium

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00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:09,680
Speaker 1: who had just moved to Vancouver. I realized that Obelia

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00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:12,840
Speaker 1: is called fret in French, and I knew that we

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00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:14,960
Speaker 1: were both going to be good friends. But after listening

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00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:18,080
Speaker 1: to your podcast, we felt like long lost brothers. Thanks

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00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:20,000
Speaker 1: so much for all of the work you do. Listen.

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00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:23,719
Speaker 1: Food brings people together and it's important. And now I

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00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:26,800
Speaker 1: want waffles and fantasyd op rad now, so it's gonna

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00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:30,199
Speaker 1: be an interesting lunch time. Uh. If you would like

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00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:32,840
Speaker 1: to write to us again, keep sending these light things

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00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:35,720
Speaker 1: because they're good for the strangely depressing things I keep

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00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:39,120
Speaker 1: focusing on as a little save at the end. You

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00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:42,400
Speaker 1: could do that at History Podcast at iHeart radio dot com.

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00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:44,680
Speaker 1: You can also find us on social media as a

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00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:47,440
Speaker 1: Missed in History and you can subscribe to the podcast

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00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:49,840
Speaker 1: on the I heart Radio app or wherever you listen

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00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:57,800
Speaker 1: to your favorite podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class

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00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:00,920
Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radio. Are more podcasts

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00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:04,480
Speaker 1: from I Heart radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts,

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00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:07,560
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H