WEBVTT - Marie LaFarge: Pretty Little Poisoner 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.760 Welcome to criminal a production of Shonda Land Audio in 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:10.879 partnership with I Heart Radio. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Holly 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:13.680 Fry and I'm Maria trem Marquis. And this week we 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:16.599 are going to look into the life of Marie Lafarge, who, 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:20.160 at just twenty four years old, became the sensational central 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:24.160 figure in one of France's most notorious murder cases. Her crime, 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.280 Marie was convicted of murdering her husband by poisoning him 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:30.440 with arsenic But what's most notable about that in doing so, 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:33.480 she became the first person ever to be convicted based 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:37.199 on direct forensic toxicological evidence like on dexter or c 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:40.800 s I. She was born Marie Kapelle in France in 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:43.640 January of eighteen sixteen, and she was the daughter of 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:47.400 a colonel in Napoleon's Artillery of the Guard. Her mother's 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:51.440 lineage could be traced to France's reigning royal family. Her 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.280 grandmother was the daughter of King Louis the thirteenth, father 0:00:54.480 --> 0:01:00.080 Philippi Galte and his mistress, Comtess Stefanie Felic. Marie was 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:03.320 an aristocrat. She was beautiful, cultured woman who played the 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:06.640 piano and wrote poetry in her memoirs, which weren't published 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:09.520 until after her trial. Though she described herself as having 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:12.720 an unhappy childhood, she claimed her father had often lamented 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:15.640 not having a boy, and her younger sister, who was 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:19.440 five years younger, was at least Marie considered prettier and 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:22.520 more charming than she was, and when her father died 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:26.800 in a hunting accident in five Marie was just twelve 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:30.959 and her mother remarried very quickly, But just seven years 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:34.240 later her mother also died, and that meant that orphaned 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:36.319 Marie was sent to live with her aunt that was 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:39.200 her mother's sister. Her aunt was also the wife of 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:42.280 the Secretary General of the Bank of France. Though had 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:44.680 said she was treated well in her new home and 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:48.280 sent to the best schools. As an orphan, Marie's status 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:52.000 went from aristocrat to poor cousin. She had no dowry 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:55.720 of significance, rumored at only about ninety francs, and in 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:59.040 those days, that made her a marriage liability. Her wealthy 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:03.080 upper class he started to marry wealthy nobleman, but because 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:06.480 of her financial situation, Marie was still without a husband 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:09.880 at age twenty three, and at this time. In France, 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:14.519 marriage for aristocratic women was a serious business, and so 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.720 her uncle went to a matchmaker for help. The matchmaker 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:20.480 did manage to strike a deal for Marie. Her arranged 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.359 marriage was to Charles Lafarge, who was a robust man 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:26.320 often described his course um, and he was merely a 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:30.320 matter of expedience for both. Charles needed money to repair 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:33.440 his estate and reinvigorate his business, and Marie was in 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:36.919 desperate need of a husband. Charles had really presented himself 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:40.160 as a wealthy manufacturer and a property owner with an 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:44.120 annual income of thirty thousand francs from his iron foundry, 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:46.720 but the reality was a little bit different. He had 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.320 lost almost all of his money and his property during 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:52.440 the French Revolution, so if Charles had offered an honest 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:56.040 matchmaking profile, it wouldn't have been very appealing. He was 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:59.799 a bankrupt widower with nothing but a collapsed chateau the 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:03.600 Atto his one asset, if we're being generous, also had 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:06.600 a serious rap problem, and when Marie first met Charles 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:10.560 during a date to the opera, it wasn't exactly love 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:13.760 the first sight. She found him to be common and 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:17.080 boorish and ugly, and she really didn't like him very much, 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.960 but still a short few days later they were engaged, 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:23.720 and just a few more weeks later, in the summer 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:27.200 of eighteen thirty nine, Marie and Charles were married, and 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:30.440 not surprisingly, when she arrived at her new home at Leglandier, 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:32.839 not far from Bordeaux, it turned out to be set 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:35.240 within the ruins of a former monastery, and Marie was 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:40.960 disappointed and asked for her new in laws. Uh. They 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:44.240 were not the aristocracy that she was accustomed to rubbing 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:49.120 elbows with. They were peasants, and they disliked her. Immediately, 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:52.640 unhappy and disappointed with her new reality, Marie made a 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:55.800 determined effort to break loose from Charles. On her first 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:58.160 night in their new home, she locked herself in her 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:00.280 room and wrote a letter to her new husband, egging 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:02.480 him to free her from their marriage, or else, she threatened, 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:06.360 she'd poisoned herself. This was also the first time that 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.720 she invoked this idea of murder by Arsenic, although of 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:12.360 course she was threatening to take her own life and 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:16.360 not his. Writing quote, spare me be the guardian angel 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:20.120 of a poor orphan girl, or if you choose, slay 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:23.400 me and say I have killed myself, But later that 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:27.159 night she admitted to her ruse. Charles in return, agreed 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:30.440 not to act on his marital privileges at him until 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.400 he had both renovated the house and saved his failing 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:36.680 iron works business. He kept his word, and account suggest 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:38.520 that things did seem to improve between the two of 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.880 them over the next few weeks, but that didn't last. 0:04:42.360 --> 0:04:45.359 Charles really did seem to be trying. Charles spent a 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:48.200 significant amount of money on his bride during this time. 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:51.440 He really seemed to be doing his very best to 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:53.839 win her over, and he wanted her to be able 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:57.400 to pursue her intellectual interests and find some happiness. So 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:00.000 he had her piano ship from Paris, and he also 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:02.599 bought her an Arabian horse that she could ride around 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:05.240 on the grounds. Uh and he also subscribed her to 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:08.159 magazines and newspapers, and he set her up with an 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:11.640 account at the local library. It does seem to be 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.560 trying really hard, right, He's like, he's like, here's this 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:18.760 Arabian horse that I bought for you. Please don't poison yourself, honey. 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:22.880 I know what you expected, but I want to make 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.400 this palatable for you. Yet, accounts of their marriage suggests 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:29.560 Marie remained uncomfortable, feeling that his attentions toward her were 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:33.880 and we quote paid in a manner that shocked her refinement. Still, 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:36.479 in return, I mean Marie was not blind to the 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:38.760 fact that he was making an effort. She started to 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:42.280 take on her responsibilities as the mistress of the house, 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:45.080 and at the top of her list of things to 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:48.760 do is to take care of that pesky rat infestation. 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.919 Damn rats. We're gonna get into a little bit of chemistry, 0:05:53.120 --> 0:06:01.960 but first we're gonna take a quick sponsor break. Welcome 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:08.000 back to Criminalia. Let's get into a pinch of chemistry 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.520 for a moment. Arsenic is an element of the periodic 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:14.840 table and it's naturally occurring state. It's not particularly toxic. 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:18.200 It's white arsenic, which is a byproduct of the smelting 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:22.599 process of various metals. That's highly deadly poisonous um. And 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:24.720 that's what was commonly used to get rid of rodents 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.320 and weeds, and almost anybody could buy it. In the 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.279 nineteenth century, Marie got hurt from the local druggist and 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:34.000 also just as a historical cultural level set during this 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:37.480 time in France, arsenic could be founded way more household 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:40.800 products than you would probably feel comfortable with today. By 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:45.040 mixing copper, arsenic, hydrogen, and oxygen together um it produced 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.680 a brilliant green, though highly toxic pigment that was used 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:51.320 in everything from kids toys to soaps and candles and 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.760 fabric eyes, even wallpaper. Pretty Much anything that was colored 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:57.839 this this green um during this period would have been 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:00.840 laced with arsenic. It could even be found in medications 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:03.760 that were used to treat everything from asthma to malaria 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:08.040 and cancer to enhancing a waning male libido. Archnic wasn't 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:10.720 just used to kill rats and mice. During the mid 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:14.400 nineteenth century, when life insurance had gained popularity as an industry, 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:17.120 arsenic took on a new identity as people saw a 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:20.640 new chance to supplement their income. It was nicknamed the 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:23.400 inheritance powder because it was so frequently used to kill 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:25.720 off uncles and other family members who might leave behind 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.520 a chunk of cash or some other assets. And although 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:32.760 men committed about spousal homicides, women were not above using 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:35.560 it to kill husbands. So some of this arthnic talk 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:38.760 maybe like a review for you um. And because it 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:42.280 was cheap and odorless and had no flavor. Artnic, as 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:44.679 we have mentioned before, could not be detected in food 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:47.600 or beverages, and because those symptoms that it caused, like 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:51.640 diarrhea and vomiting an abdominal pain, are all pretty common 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:56.320 for many other conditions, including cholera, a medical examiner usually 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.040 had no way to discern whether or not poison was 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:01.960 involved in a person death. The first sign that you've 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:05.720 ingested arsenic, keep this in mind, is a sharp, burning 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:08.840 pain in your stomach and esophagus, a symptom that comes 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:11.880 on any time between about thirty minutes to several hours 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:15.760 after you've swallowed that poisoned tea, and then comes the 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:19.640 nausea and the vomiting and diarrhea. Arsenic will go on 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:22.760 to damage the heart eventually, and a lot of people 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:27.520 poisoned with arsenic have lingered on in their deathbeds for weeks. 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:30.520 In fact, until the twentieth century, doctors had no idea 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:35.600 how to treat arsenic poisoning. Uh They fed patients milk, vinegar, linseed, sugar, water, 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:38.280 egg whites, you name it in order to induce vomiting 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:40.600 and find a cure. They would even go through the 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:44.120 contents of a victim's stomach, and eventually it was realized 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:46.840 that some of the reaction that happened in the human 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:50.880 body when ingesting arsenic. While arsenic had no odor, that 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:54.040 process could produce a garlic smell, so if they smelled that, 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:56.800 then they would suspect that arsenic had been involved. They 0:08:56.800 --> 0:09:00.360 also used that old standby of the time bleeding, whether 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:04.040 by incision or more often with leeches. But it wasn't 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:07.520 just difficult to prove poison as a murder weapon, it 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:10.240 was also difficult to place the murderer at the scene 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:13.920 of the crime. Dying from arsenic poisoning, as we just mentioned, 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:16.600 could take hours and far longer if the poison had 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:20.520 been administered in small doses like in your daily meals. 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:23.319 Through much of the nineteenth century, it's estimated that about 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:27.240 one third of all criminal poisoning cases involved arsenic poison. 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:31.280 And this brings us back to Marie and Charles. Shortly 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:34.000 after they were married in December of eighteen thirty nine, 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:38.319 Marie made a will bequeathing her inheritance to Charles, with 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:40.360 the agreement that he was going to do the same 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.679 thing for her, and Charles did make a will bequeathing 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:47.400 everything of his to his new bride, But then he 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:52.600 made another will, a secret will, and in that secret will, 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:55.520 he instead left his entire estate to his mother. So 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:57.439 then just a few months into the marriage as well, 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:01.400 Charles began having recurring spells of vomiting diarrhea, and while 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:03.320 he was in a business trip to Paris, he snacked 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:06.520 on a cake sent from his wife and fell violently ill. 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:08.680 I believe it was a Christmas cake, which makes it 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:13.560 somehow more cruel. I believe it was Mary Christmas. Charles 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:17.960 returned home and his condition continued to deteriorate, and his doctors, 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.240 both in Paris and a home, had diagnosed him with 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:23.560 what they believed was cholera. But his friends and relatives 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:26.720 really started to suspect that Marie might be the problem 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:29.200 and the reason for his poor health. It just said 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:32.000 that she refused to leave his bedside um In fact, 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:34.480 as his condition worse, in Marie's mother in law had 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:37.120 the remains of a glass of eggnog analyzed by the 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:40.440 local druggist, who reportedly did find traces of arsenic in 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:42.600 the beverage. There's this part of me that loves eggnog, 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:45.240 so much that I'm like, how poison is it? Because 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:50.800 maybe I'll drink in anyway. He's like, this is gonna 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:54.760 kill me. The damn it's a delicious way to go. Uh. 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:57.080 Although we're being very jovial, but we get to the 0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:00.280 very grave section next, which is less than a year 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:03.359 into their marriage. It was just January of eighteen forty 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:07.920 Charles died, and although she maintained she was completely innocent, 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:13.560 Marie was suspected of having poisoned him. The evidence against 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:16.320 her centered around the food she had offered to Charles, 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:19.280 including not only the cake that she'd sent to him 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:22.800 on his business trip, but nuggets of venison and truffles 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:26.600 were in there as well. Uh. Suspicion also swirled around 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:30.200 a small, mysterious box, the powdery contents of which Marie 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:32.880 had been seen stirring into her husband's food and drink. 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.439 Enough evidence was collected that she was arrested on suspicion 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.280 of his murder. I will mention if you want an 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:42.960 entertaining read her memoirs talk about this whole box thing 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:46.920 and like accidental switcheroo of powders and oh yeah, the 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:49.920 gum arabic and she's like it's it's good for your stomach. 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:53.840 So Marie LaFarge's trial, which was held during the summer 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:57.920 of eighteen forty, became a sensation in Europe, and the 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:03.160 fascinated public quickly divide it into pro in anti Marie camps, 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:07.120 and in salons plays recreated the events of the trial. 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:10.960 No one could get enough of this story. Marie's aunt 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:13.800 had secured the best lawyer in Paris, a man named 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:18.040 Alfonse Pier, who, with his associates Charles le Shau and 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:21.199 THEEO dol Bach, would be Marie's defense team. Because of 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:24.120 daily newspaper reports, Marie's case was one of the first 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:27.560 followed closely by the public. She became the object of 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:30.880 adoration for some as much as suspicion for others, and 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:34.360 received thousands of letters and gifts and even marriage proposals. Yeah, 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:38.240 she kind of becomes one of the earliest um criminals 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:41.520 to gain that weird dual notoriety where people are just 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:44.679 obsessed with her on both sides of the belief of 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.600 her innocence or guilt. When she entered court for the 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:50.400 first time on September three of eighteen forty, she was 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:54.280 dressed completely in morning gear, and she carried a small 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:58.160 bottle of smelling salts with her throughout her child Marie 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:00.920 had a flair for the dramatic. Her lawyer played up 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:04.600 quote the excellence of her piano playing, her delightful voice, 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.680 her competence in more than one science, her fluency in 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:11.240 several languages, and her ability to compose in Italian verse. 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:13.400 It kind of goes back to that thing we've talked 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:15.480 about before, like she is such a great person, and 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:18.960 look how adorable she is. There's no way she's bad. Exactly. 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:24.680 If you've seen Chicago, she's tap dancing right now. Now. 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:26.800 There is a little bit of twist that comes into 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:30.000 the story here because while we have been talking about 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.680 her murder trial, uh, it turned out that she actually 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.880 ended up with two indictments against her. So there is 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:39.480 the one that charged her with the murder of her husband, 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:42.240 but there was a whole second charge that came up 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.880 regarding a jewel theft. So here's the story about the 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:49.520 jewel theft. A former school friend of Marie's accused her 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.560 of having stolen her diamonds while visiting one summer before 0:13:52.600 --> 0:13:56.840 she had met Charles Lafarge. Marie actually freely admitted that 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.600 the diamonds were in fact at her home, but she 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.040 refused is to admit that she'd stolen them. She claimed 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:05.000 her friend had interested the diamond necklace to her. So 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.719 people generally did start to just believe that she was 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:10.280 a thief because she had these jewels. And while some 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:14.000 people that were following this trial so closely because it 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:18.000 was a huge sort of media event, thought that, yeah, 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.200 she might be guilty of this thievery, but that doesn't 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:23.280 mean she's a murderous but other people just saw these 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:26.840 two charges as entwined in regards to her very immoral 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:30.320 character and thought that if she was capable of lying 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:33.160 about stealing diamonds, and of course she was also capable 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:35.800 of carrying out the murder of her husband, that it 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:38.680 wasn't popular opinion that she was convicted on Marie was 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:40.960 the first person convicted of murder by the use of 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:45.160 direct forensic evidence forensic sciences which applies science to the 0:14:45.200 --> 0:14:48.880 analysis of physical evidence during a criminal investigation, and it 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:52.760 was brand new at this time. Yeah. Toxicology in particular 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:56.640 is the scientific study of chemicals, including poisons, on humans 0:14:56.720 --> 0:15:01.760 and other living things. Forensic toxicologists D d detection and 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:04.880 treatment of poisons, as well as the effects poisons have 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:09.520 on the body. Again bleeding edge science at this point, Yes, 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:15.000 brand new information. So Marie never concealed her possession of arsenic. 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.640 She bought it openly to kill rats, she stated. And 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:21.560 that suspicious white powder she was seen stirring into her 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.600 husband's food and drink, she insisted that was just gum arabic, 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:28.120 which at the time was commonly used relief stomach complaints. Yeah, 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:29.920 he he doesn't feel well. I'm trying to fix it. 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:34.560 Unlike today, when autopsies are fairly common anytime foul play 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:37.600 is suspected, in the nineteenth century, that was not really 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:41.280 a standard procedure to interfere with a dead body. Often 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:45.320 there were religious reasons for that. So although a post 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:48.680 mortem was made on her husband's corpse, that was not 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:51.080 done until some time after the fact, when it was 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:55.040 insisted upon as all of these suspicions came up. Now, 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:58.520 before we jump into uh, sort of the development of 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:01.280 the tests that really damned Marie, we're gonna have a 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:05.640 little sponsor break. During the first half of the nineteenth century, 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:09.280 Parisian academics were debating which tests and practices for arsenic 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:13.200 detection were authentic and which were just bunk. But before 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:16.120 they settled on one they were, there were big disagreements 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:19.920 over the test's conclusiveness, and the debates became known as 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:22.840 the Arsenic wars. One of the ways to test for 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:25.520 arsenic was a procedure called the Marsh test that was 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:30.200 invented by chemist James Marsh in the early eighteen thirties. Marsh, 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:32.680 who was British, had first used this test in his 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:35.480 lab in eighteen thirty two in a court case that 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:40.000 involved a grandson accused of poisoning his grandfather. And while 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:44.400 Marsha's test of the evidence did produce precipitate of arsenic sulfide, 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:47.720 that compound was unstable and it broke down before the 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:51.840 trial so it couldn't be used. That propelled Marsh to 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:55.200 develop a much more robust version of his test, which 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:58.240 he successfully did in eighteen thirty six, that being just 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:01.000 a few years before Marie's came. And when it comes 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:03.320 to Marie's case, it was the first time the local 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:06.600 doctors had performed, or you know, frankly even heard of 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.400 the Marsh test, which was, as we mentioned, still really 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:13.000 quite new to scientists UM, and even in its refined version, 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:17.320 it was also notoriously finicky UM. Ultimately, the local doctors 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:21.399 performed it incorrectly anyway, and found no evidence of arsenic 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.479 in the corpse. Um. The food that had been served 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:27.520 to Charles, however, did test positive for the poison, and 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:30.199 when all of these results were revealed in court, Marie 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:34.000 in response fainted dead away and had to be carried out, 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.720 very dramatic, but not everyone believed there was no poison 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:40.080 in that corpse. It wasn't until one of the most 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:42.359 prominent scientists of the time was called in by the 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:44.760 defense team to help out in the case that evidence 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.960 was found that Charles had indeed been poisoned with arsenic 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:52.080 through his meals. That prominent scientist with Matteo or Phila. 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:55.040 And or Phila was the dean of the Paris Faculty 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:58.960 of Medicine and the premier toxicologist of the time. He 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:01.520 actually went on to be recognized as the founder of 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:05.280 the science of toxicology, and because he was living in France, 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:09.200 he was considered France's foremost expert on the Marsh tests. 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:13.240 The Marsh test was capable of accurately detecting minute quantities 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:18.560 of arsenic as little as one fifth, yet as little 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:21.720 as one of a milligram, and he could be used 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:25.159 on bodies that had been long dead. Orphela, asked to 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:28.439 verify that there was no arsenic in the corps, was 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:31.440 able to prove conclusively to the court that there indeed 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:35.199 was arsenic in Charles's exhumed body, which was said to 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:40.240 resemble a quote paste rather than flesh. Also, because soil 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:43.560 can naturally contain arsenic, he wanted to be very thorough, 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:47.240 so he also tested the soil around the burial site 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:49.960 to make sure that the corpse had not been contaminated 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:53.080 by that, and none of that soil that was adjacent 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:56.800 to his burial tested positive for arsenic. Things aren't looking 0:18:56.840 --> 0:18:59.480 good for our hero. While this was one of the 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:02.080 first is where the Marsh test was successfully used to 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:04.959 identify poisoning by arsenic, it was far from the last. 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:08.959 Marsh continued to refine his revolutionary detection process, and with 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:11.720 modifications along the way, it was usual reliably for about 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.800 d and fifty years so, along with the enactment of 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:18.439 divorce laws that made domestic homicide less tempting, the Marsh 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:21.600 test and its ability to trace the murder weapon directly 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:25.879 contributed to arsenic poisoning falling out of fashion, and for 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:27.880 a little science on this test, it worked a little 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:31.040 bit like this. A sample containing arsenic would be combined 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:33.919 with sulfuric acid and zinc in an apparatus that was 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:37.760 made up of tubes and rods and stopcocks and nozzles, 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:39.760 just to name a few of its components. It was 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:44.880 complicated and reacting with the zinc, the arsenic would turn 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:47.280 to gas, and then when the gas was heated to 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:51.240 a certain temperature, it left behind a film of metallic arsenic. 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:54.879 That arsenic would appear as a black streak after it 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:57.720 was allowed to cool on a piece of glass or porcelain, 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:00.520 and that presentation came to be known in the court 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:04.360 as the arsenic mirror. To counter the test damning results 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:08.240 in Marie LaFarge's case, the defense team tried to debunk 0:20:08.400 --> 0:20:13.360 or Fiela's findings with another expert witness. This was Francois Spy, 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:16.159 who also happened to be or Fila's enemy in the 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:19.320 Arsenic War. So there's a whole secondary drama playing out here. 0:20:19.960 --> 0:20:23.240 But Respy actually got to the whole event too, late, 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:25.600 the verdict had already been given and he wasn't even 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:28.520 wanted by the time he got in the end. Uh. 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:30.879 The jerry deliberated for just an hour, and Marie was 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:34.119 found guilty. She was sentenced to life in prison. She 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:37.200 was also sentenced to two years imprisonment for the theft 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:40.359 of that diamond necklace UH time, which was merged with 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:44.280 her life sentence. Considered a murderous yet still a respectable 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:47.760 female criminal, and that respectable refers to her background of 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:51.800 aristocratic birth. Marie was not sentenced too hard labor or 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:54.199 to public pillory. In fact, she actually made use of 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:56.960 the downtime that came with her sentence. UM. While Marie 0:20:57.000 --> 0:21:00.920 was incarcerated, she wrote two volumes of her memoirs. In them, 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:03.560 she describes her arrival at the prison by saying, my 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:07.879 arrival was expected. The populace crowded around my carriage. Shouts, laughter, 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:10.960 gross and insulting words fell on my ears. The prison 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:15.040 door opened. At the sound of the bolts, I involuntarily recoiled. 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:18.280 I made two steps backwards. Then, collecting all my strength, 0:21:18.359 --> 0:21:21.280 with desperate courage, I crossed the threshold of my tomb. 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:28.440 She's so dramatic she's such a writer. She is. This 0:21:28.520 --> 0:21:34.920 is why you like her. She's been my favorite. So 0:21:35.000 --> 0:21:37.879 in June of eighteen fifty two, after twelve years in 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:42.640 prison and reportedly suffering from tuberculosis, Marie was finally released 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:45.720 by Napoleon the Third. She died just five months later. 0:21:46.240 --> 0:21:49.520 In seven Marie's memoirs were adapted into the novel The 0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:52.760 Lady and the Arsenic, and her story also got cinematic 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:54.840 treatment a year later with the release of the film 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:58.000 La Fair Lafarge. And in nineteen fifty three, more than 0:21:58.040 --> 0:22:02.600 one years after her trial, CBS radio series Crime Classics 0:22:02.840 --> 0:22:05.800 broadcast a version of the story of Marie called The 0:22:05.920 --> 0:22:10.359 Seven Layered Arsenic Cake of Madame Lafarge. So as we 0:22:10.359 --> 0:22:13.320 look at Marie LaFarge's case, it's worth noting that her 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:16.240 crime seems born of a feeling on her part that 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:19.240 she had no voice or no recourse in her own life. 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:23.600 If you read her memoirs, one of the pieces of 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:26.840 advice that she had received from a friend, incidentally the 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:30.399 friend entangled in that whole Necklace drama not long before 0:22:30.400 --> 0:22:33.879 being introduced to Monsieur Lafarge, lays bare her fraught situation. 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:37.560 She was told quote. You have no fortune and are 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:41.720 almost twenty three. A good marriage can alone confer in 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:47.040