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MY MEMOIRS
MY MEMOIRS
BY MARGUERITE STEINHEIL ILLUSTRATED New York STURGIS & WALTON COMPANY 1912 Copyright 1912 By STURGIS & WALTON COMPANY —— Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1912 Photo. by Claude Harris, London WRITING MY MEMOIRS Photo. by Claude Harris, London WRITING MY MEMOIRS...
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CHAPTER I CHILDHOOD
CHAPTER I CHILDHOOD
( "Monsieur et Madame Edouard Japy have the honour to inform you of the birth of a daughter." Beaucourt, April, 16th, 1869. ) B EAUCOURT is a village in the "Belfort Territory," not far from the Swiss and German frontiers. It was in that village, at the "Château Edouard"—all large mansions in that region are called "châteaux," and the name of the owner is added to the word—that I was born some forty years ago. Beaucourt and nearly all of the surrounding country belongs to, or is dependent upon,
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CHAPTER II YOUTH—MY FATHER'S DEATH—MY MARRIAGE
CHAPTER II YOUTH—MY FATHER'S DEATH—MY MARRIAGE
I MADE my début in society at seventeen. The circle was quite small, for there were Japys and ramifications of the Japys wherever we went, and, of course, as I knew them all, they were nothing new to me. It was only in Belfort that I met people whom I did not know. They were, however, for the most part only passing acquaintances that I made, for my parents guarded their "Puppele" most jealously.... I remember my first ball at Belfort. I wore a very simple gown, made of tulle in three shades of b
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CHAPTER III ARRIVAL IN PARIS. A SEPARATION. MARTHE. PARISIAN LIFE.
CHAPTER III ARRIVAL IN PARIS. A SEPARATION. MARTHE. PARISIAN LIFE.
I SHALL never forget that arrival in Paris. It was on a Sunday morning, M. Steinheil had warned his sister when to expect us. He talked awhile with the concierge in the lodge, then joined me in the garden, where I was patiently waiting in the pouring rain, and said: "I am extremely sorry. My sister, I hear, has gone to mass, and she has the keys of the house...." I spent half an hour in the lodge, distressed by the smell of fried onions which came from the kitchen. At last, Mlle. Marguerite Stei
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CHAPTER IV MY SALON
CHAPTER IV MY SALON
M Y drawing-room was a room about 60 feet by 80, and 18 feet high. One entered it from the verandah by doors which, when folded back, made one room of the two. At the far end there was a monumental and ancient chimney-piece of carved wood; on either side of it were cabinets filled with cameos, rare china and silver. The furniture was chiefly Louis XV. and XVI. On the left stood an organ and various stringed instruments, and on the right a grand piano. On the walls hung huge seventeenth-century G
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CHAPTER V MY SALON (continued)
CHAPTER V MY SALON (continued)
A MONGST the "faithful," I must not forget to mention Henner, "the great painter of the flesh," as he called himself in one of his rare poetical moments. Henner was dumpy, coarse-featured, and almost bald; had a shaggy grey beard, and ever-begrimed hands, and wore the shabbiest and greasiest of clothes. And it came as a shock to hear this old man, unspeakably unkempt and slovenly, talk with the worst Alsatian accent about the Beauty of the Nude, and the splendour of woman, which he did in a very
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CHAPTER VI FÉLIX FAURE
CHAPTER VI FÉLIX FAURE
B EYOND the hours of depression and the every-day troubles that fall to the lot of all human beings: disappointed dreams, thwarted ambitions, shattered illusions, financial cares and family worries, there happened nothing particularly eventful in my life until the day when I became the friend and confidante of Félix Faure, elected President of the Republic in January 1895. The political and other events of general interest which took place in France during the years immediately preceding that da
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CHAPTER VII THE DREYFUS AFFAIR—FASHODA
CHAPTER VII THE DREYFUS AFFAIR—FASHODA
I T was during the Presidency of Félix Faure that the chief phase of the Dreyfus affair, and that the Fashoda "incident" took place. Captain Alfred Dreyfus, accused of having sold military secrets to Germany, was sentenced and degraded in January 1895. Shortly afterwards the officer was conveyed to Devil's Island, north of the Guiana coast. It was in 1896 that the head of the Intelligence Department of the War Office, Colonel Picquart—whom I had often met at the Elysée—declared that the borderea
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CHAPTER VIII THE MYSTERIOUS PEARL NECKLACE—THE DEATH OF FÉLIX FAURE
CHAPTER VIII THE MYSTERIOUS PEARL NECKLACE—THE DEATH OF FÉLIX FAURE
P RESIDENT F AURE , during the summer of 1898, presented me with a pearl necklace, which afterwards played such a strange part in my life that I will relate the story of the gift and of what followed, with as many details as my memory can recall, for probably the necklace, as well as the President's papers, had something to do with the mysterious tragedy of the Impasse Ronsin. On several occasions the President expressed the wish that I should accept a token of his warm friendship. He had alread
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CHAPTER IX AFTER PRESIDENT FAURE'S DEATH: THE DOCUMENTS—THE NECKLACE
CHAPTER IX AFTER PRESIDENT FAURE'S DEATH: THE DOCUMENTS—THE NECKLACE
I HAD been seriously ill for six weeks and had only just recovered when the death of Félix Faure occurred. The shock caused a relapse, and I was unable to attend the President's funeral, which took place on Thursday, February 23rd. I had lost a great friend, and France a great patriot. It was said that President Faure was a lighthearted optimist, that he had no control worth speaking of over the various political parties striving around him, and finally that he was a mere figure-head, a chief of
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CHAPTER X 1899-1908
CHAPTER X 1899-1908
M. É MILE L OUBET , President of the Senate, followed Félix Faure as President of the Republic on February 18th, 1899. As every one knows, stones were showered upon the new President as he passed on his way from Versailles, where the "Congress" had elected him, to the station where he entrained for Paris. He was called "Panama the First"—though he had had nothing to do with the Panama frauds—insulted and besmirched as few men have been. I was only a few yards from M. Loubet at the Auteuil Steepl
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CHAPTER XI EVENTS THAT PRECEDED THE CRIME
CHAPTER XI EVENTS THAT PRECEDED THE CRIME
A T the beginning of the year 1908, my little Marthe became engaged to young Pierre Buisson, son of an intimate friend of mine. Shortly afterwards she renounced the Protestant faith and joined the Catholic Church. This suited her somewhat mystical nature. She loved the immensity of cathedrals, the light through stained-glass windows, the beautiful services, the incense and the little bells, the plain-chant and the vestments of the priests. She loved to be guided; she shirked responsibilities; sh
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CHAPTER XII MAY 1908
CHAPTER XII MAY 1908
I N April I made the acquaintance of M. Bdl.... through a common friend, the Director of the Paris Mont de Piété. Mr. Bdl. was a widower with several children, and although his residence was in the Ardennes, he frequently came to Paris. We met at a time when I was greatly depressed, and also vaguely alarmed. I felt myself surrounded by invisible dangers, and life had become almost unbearable. M. Bdl. was a strong, straightforward, very intelligent and very refined man. He had a great regard for
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CHAPTER XIII THE FATAL NIGHT
CHAPTER XIII THE FATAL NIGHT
C ONTINUING my story, I shall still quote the more important passages from the evidence I gave to M. André concerning the fatal night of May 30th-31st, 1908, and various facts more or less connected with the murder. That will enable the reader to see clearly how it all happened, but also, incidentally, to get some idea of the methods of a French examining magistrate. Question. "Since your last interrogation, a number of letters have been handed to us: twenty-four letters from your mother to your
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CHAPTER XIV AFTER THE MURDER
CHAPTER XIV AFTER THE MURDER
I NEED hardly say that on Sunday, May 31st, I was in a terrible state of mind, and even on the verge of utter collapse. At 6 A.M. , it appears, Rémy Couillard came down, saw what had happened, went to the window and cried for help, and M. Lecoq, a neighbour, then joined him. Then the police came, also Dr. Acheray, and many others.... I was in bed, after that night of horror and what I had gone through. I could hardly move or breathe. Everything seemed to whirl around me, and yet I had two though
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CHAPTER XV THE BLACK GOWNS
CHAPTER XV THE BLACK GOWNS
"A N extraordinary event has taken place, a series of facts have been discovered, every one of them of such importance in the 'Impasse Ronsin Affair,' that the mystery is bound very soon to be cleared, and the three men in the black gowns and the red-haired woman you saw that night will be found and arrested.... We hold the clue of clues!" These words were spoken to me at Bellevue on June 19th, 1908, three weeks after the crime, by one of the inspectors who almost daily called on me. "What have
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CHAPTER XVI INVESTIGATIONS
CHAPTER XVI INVESTIGATIONS
A CURIOUS thing happened while I was at Bellevue. I received from my notary, who had received it from the judicial authorities, a package which contained a number of things found at my house: a few letters from President Faure, some letters from M. B., and the President's talisman! If these objects are returned to me, I thought, it is evidently because it is not desired that anything concerning the late President of the Republic and the Attorney-General be brought up in the "Affair of the Impass
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CHAPTER XVII THE THRONE-ROOM
CHAPTER XVII THE THRONE-ROOM
A T the end of October—on the 25th, I believe—we left Bellevue, Marthe and I, and returned to Paris, to the house in the Impasse Ronsin. The chief alterations were completed, but there was still a great deal to do in the way of decoration, plumbing, and so on, and the workmen came every day. I had been told the only way to stimulate investigations was to let the Press take the matter in hand.... But before I did that I wished to make one more attempt at interesting the law in the Impasse Ronsin
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CHAPTER XVIII M. CHARLES SAUERWEIN AND THE ROSSIGNOL AFFAIR
CHAPTER XVIII M. CHARLES SAUERWEIN AND THE ROSSIGNOL AFFAIR
T HE next day M. de Labruyère came with a gentleman I had never seen before. "This is M. Charles Sauerwein, who is a relation of yours and who knows you very well...." M. Sauerwein, whom I did not know at all, interrupted his colleague: "I have often met you in Society, Madame. I married Mlle. K., who is a cousin of yours." He spoke in a tone which very much displeased me. I told him he was mistaken: "Mlle. K. is not my cousin; she is only a close friend of my sister, Mme. Seyrig." "Had I not be
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CHAPTER XIX THE PEARL IN THE POCKET-BOOK
CHAPTER XIX THE PEARL IN THE POCKET-BOOK
M AÎTRE A UBIN grew daily more alarmed at the turn events were taking. He read a number of the anonymous letters I received, went carefully through every newspaper, felt the pulse of the Public, and shook his head in dismay. One morning he said to me: "Go to my friend Goron, the ex-Chief of the Sûreté . He has founded a private agency, and he may be able to assist you. I have the greatest confidence in his ability and his flair ." I followed this advice. M. Goron, a small, smart man, with white
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CHAPTER XX THE SO-CALLED "NIGHT OF THE CONFESSION" (NOVEMBER 25-26, 1908)
CHAPTER XX THE SO-CALLED "NIGHT OF THE CONFESSION" (NOVEMBER 25-26, 1908)
E ARLY in the morning, journalists came as usual to "find out the latest," and as usual they followed the workmen into the house. At 10 A.M. detectives arrived to continue their searching, and once more, I hoped that they would make some discovery that would lead to "the truth." Mariette was in a state of frenzy and said to me, the moment she saw me: "The crowd is against you. Couillard is arrested. They will arrest my son and me, next, I bet. You're going to tell the Sûreté what happened the ot
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CHAPTER XXI MY ARREST
CHAPTER XXI MY ARREST
To resume my own recital. Marthe rested in my arms during the hour of sleep which we snatched out of the mad turmoil of that night. When I was awakened everything came back to me. It was decided that I should go to M. Hamard, and I kept repeating to myself: "I must tell him exactly what the journalists told me, I must not change a word. Otherwise, they have said, I shall be lost and Marthe too." I had suffered so much that I was numb, and had hardly any feeling in my body. I was calm. Nothing ma
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CHAPTER XXII THE THREE CELLS
CHAPTER XXII THE THREE CELLS
I AWOKE the next morning—in a cell. The women were still there. I felt as if I had been beaten all over my body and my head. At first I did not realise where I was, or what I was doing there.... I saw the slabs of the floor, the dirt, the door with the peep-hole, through which, after lifting a small wooden shutter, people from the outside could see what was going on in the cell, the iron bedstead with the rough straw mattresses, the pillow filled with dried sea-weed, and the sheets made of some
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CHAPTER XXIII ALBA GHIRELLI, MARGUERITE ROSSELLI AND THE "MATIN"
CHAPTER XXIII ALBA GHIRELLI, MARGUERITE ROSSELLI AND THE "MATIN"
J UDGE A NDRÉ'S Instruction began in December 1908. But before dealing with it, I wish to acquaint the reader with a series of amazing and painful incidents, in which the two prisoners Ghirelli and Rosselli, Marie Anne Jacq—whose cell I shared for two days and three nights—and M. Charles Sauerwein of the Matin , were the chief actors, whilst, as usual, alas, I was the powerless central figure, the victim. Maître Aubin, my counsel, came to me on two or three occasions in a state of great constern
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CHAPTER XXIV SAINT-LAZARE
CHAPTER XXIV SAINT-LAZARE
T OWARDS the end of December 1907, after I had been about one month in prison, I had a long conversation with Maître Aubin and also with M. Desmoulin. I told them all I knew about the dreadful mystery. When M. Desmoulin heard all the details concerning the mysterious personage whom my late husband and I had always called the "German," the pearl necklace given me by President Faure, and about the "documents," he eagerly said to me: "I will speak to the Prime Minister about this, and within a few
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CHAPTER XXV. THE "INSTRUCTION"
CHAPTER XXV. THE "INSTRUCTION"
F ROM December 5th, 1907, to March 13th, 1909, my "Instruction" took place in the Palace of Justice, in the Cabinet of M. André, the Examining Magistrate.... I am not superstitious, but I state for the sake of those interested in such coincidences, that the cell to which I was taken after my arrest was cell No. 13, that my Instruction lasted 13 weeks, that my final interrogatory took place on March 13, and that the jury returned to decide my fate on November 13 (1909). As I have already explaine
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CHAPTER XXVI THE LAST "INSTRUCTION"
CHAPTER XXVI THE LAST "INSTRUCTION"
I WILL now quote almost in full the final Instruction , which took place on March 13th, 1909. I cannot well conceive a more intensely poignant and dramatic document, and after over two years, when I re-read it, I can hardly believe that those Questions were put to me, and that the Answers were those I made, in the room of an Examining Magistrate, who accused me of having murdered my husband and my mother. "On March 13th, 1909, before us, André, has been brought the widow Steinheil." Question. "W
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CHAPTER XXVII THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE DAYS IN PRISON
CHAPTER XXVII THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE DAYS IN PRISON
When I returned to "my" cell at the Saint-Lazare prison, I had not lost all hope. Maître Aubin, as I was on my way to the Dépôt , declared: "There is absolutely nothing against you. You may be released at any time, now. Never mind M. André! When the dossier of the Instruction is read by those who have power to decide whether you are to be set free or tried in the Court of Assize, they will realise your innocence. The fact that you did not obtain a favorable reply to your recent petition, proves
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CHAPTER XXVIII THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE DAYS IN PRISON (continued)
CHAPTER XXVIII THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THREE DAYS IN PRISON (continued)
A FEW days later, my counsel came and said to me: "We are to receive the dossier, all the documents of your case, and we shall then be able to read the evidence of all the witnesses, follow, page by page, the various clues in their reports, and learn all that has been done—and not been done.... Only, you will have to pay for that dossier." "Pay!" I exclaimed. "Pay to know why I am accused of having murdered my husband and my mother! Pay to be able to defend myself! You must have lost your reason
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CHAPTER XXIX THE TRIAL
CHAPTER XXIX THE TRIAL
I WAS at last taken to the guards' room, close to the Court of Assize. Whilst I sat in a corner I heard a municipal guard say to another: "Look at her dress! The papers are wrong!" Later, I discovered the meaning of this remark. It appears that some well-intentioned newspaper had informed its readers that I had had a wonderful mourning-dress made by Worth or Paquin especially for the trial! As a matter of fact, I wore the very dress and the same toque in which I had arrived at Saint-Lazare a yea
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CHAPTER XXX THE SPEECH FOR THE PROSECUTION—THE SPEECH FOR THE DEFENCE
CHAPTER XXX THE SPEECH FOR THE PROSECUTION—THE SPEECH FOR THE DEFENCE
D USK has fallen. An attendant clicks the switches on, one after the other, with a sharp, dry sound of rattling bones, and the Court is flooded with light. That little noise and the sudden light jar my nerves and hurt me.... I am no longer a normal human being. I do not know, at times, who I am or where I am, or what is going on around me.... Still, I know this tall man opposite, and I can read in his bloodshot eyes that he means to do me all the harm he can. I hold tight to the wooden partition
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CHAPTER XXXI AFTER THE VERDICT
CHAPTER XXXI AFTER THE VERDICT
T HE nursing home to which I had been taken was that of Dr. Raffegeau and Dr. Mignon. My sister, Mme. Seyrig, had been there as a patient during a period of complete nervous prostration. In despair and anguish, I asked Dr. Raffegeau where my daughter was, but he could not tell me, alas; he merely said: "Your brother-in-law telegraphed to me asking that I should reserve a room for you here where you would be able to recover. I am going to put you up in a pretty little pavilion, in the park of my
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CHAPTER XXXII CONCLUSION
CHAPTER XXXII CONCLUSION
M Y Memoirs have come to an end. I have tried not to be bitter or revengeful, and it is only when I have had to justify myself or vindicate my daughter that I have mentioned certain facts, certain documents, or certain names; and I have no doubt that the reader will agree with me that I have done this only when it has been absolutely necessary. I have been asked, time after time, for my theory of the crime. I have turned that terrible problem over and over in my mind ever since the awful night o
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