The Press.
London, England, 1857-07-04 00:00:00

THE GLASGOW POISONING CASE.

THE trial of Miss Madeline Smith for the murder,
on the 23rd of March last, of her lover, Ensile L'An-
gelier, by poison, was opened at Edinburgh on
Tuesday morning, and has every prospect of rival.
ling in interest and length the greatest poisoning
case of late years.

It would be tedious and unnecessary to go at
length into evidence so voluminous as that of thirty
witnesses (out of eighty for the prosecution) must
consist, and as there is no prospect of the case being
concluded this week, we will endeavour to give a
resume of the details already made public.
It appears that Miss Smith, the daughter of a
professional gentleman in Glasgow, about two
years since secretly made the acquaintance of
the deceased L'Angelier, who was a clerk in the
employment of Messrs. Huggins, of Glasgow. Miss
Smith is personally very attractive, and L'Angelier
soon became infatuated with her. Their acquaint-
ance ripened into passionate affection, a secret
correspondence was carried on without the knowledge
of her father or mother, and it is believed that
clandestine meetings at night frequently took place.
A sl►ght clue to the extent to which this intimacy
was carried is perhaps best found in the letters of
Miss Smith, some two hundred of which were din
covered among L'Angelier's effects. Many of them
commence as follows :—" Monday, 3rd. My dearest
Emile, bow I long to see you. It looks an age;"
"Tuesday morning, Beloved Emile, I have dreamt
all night of you ;" Wednesday morning, five o'clock,
My own my beloved husband 1 trust to God ;" a
letter, ou two pieces of paper, commencing "My
own my darling husband. To-morrow night by this
time ;" a letter, on three pieces of paper, com-
mencing " My own my dearest my kindest husband
how I have reproached myself ;" a letter, t.n two
pieces of paper, commencing, " Wednesday after-
noon, Beloved and ever dear Emile,—All by myself
so I shall write to you dear husband ;" as also a
letter commencing, " Wednesday night, eleven
o'clock, Beloved husband,—This time last night you
were with me." This intimacy appears to have lasted
up to the beginning of this year, when it gradually
got bruited about that Miss Smith was going to be
married to a Mr. Minnock, a gentleman of property.
In point of fact, Mr. Minnock had proposed to Miss
smith in January and was accepted in March.
Auguste de Mean, a friend of L'Angelier's, told him
the news. L'Angelier said "it must surely be false,
but that if it was to come to this he would forbid it,
and that he had in his possession documents that
would be sufficient to forbid the bans." Previously to
this circumstance, about Feb.l2, L'Angelier, who was
out late the previous night, and had specially asked the
landlady for alatch -key, had been found by her at eight
a.m. seriously ill. He said, "On the road coming
home I was seized with a burning pain in my bowels
and stomach, and when I was taking off my clothes
I lay down on the carpet. I thought I should have
died and no human eye seen me. I was not able to
ring the bell." After a day's rest he got better. On
the 23rd of February he experienced a precisely
similar attack, but his landlady, so far as she can
recollect, declares "that he was not out the previous
night. The attack came on about four a.m., when
he called her up. He was in great pain about the
region of the stomach, was vomiting severely, and
complained of thirst and cold." The attack was so
severe as to confine him to his lodgings for nine or
ten days. He then left Glasgow for Edinburgh. On
the l'ith of March he came home, and on the lfith
left for the Bridge of Allan. He was in the habit of
receiving several letters, and directed that they
should be forwarded to hlm at the Bridge of Allan.
The letter arrived on the Saturday, and was for.
warded at once. It is as follows :

Why, my beloved, did you not come to me? Oh, beloved,
are you ill? Come to me, sweet one. I waited and waited
for you, but you came not. I shall wait again on you to-
morrow night, same hoer and arrangement. Do come,
sweet love—my own sweet love of a sweetheart. Come,
beloved, and clasp me to your heart; come, and we shall
be h .ppy. A kiss, fond love. Adieu, with tender em-
braces. Ever believe me to be your dear fond Mtsr.
He returned from the Bridge of Allan the next daf,
on Sunday, the 22nd of March, asked his landlady
for the latch-key, went out about nine p.m., and was
seen no more, till at four o'clock on Monday morning
his landlady was moused by the street•bell ringing
with great violence :

rose and called, " Who's there ?" He said, "It is I ;
open the door." When I did so he was standing with his
arms across his stomach. He said, I'm very bad ; I'm
going to have another vomiting of that bile. I thought
would never have got home, I was so badly on the way."
Water was the first thing he asked for. I held up the
tumbler, and he drank the whole of it. He wished a little
tea. Before I got it, and before he was half undressed,
he commenced vomiting very severely. It was the same
kind of matter he had vomited before. I said, "Have you
not taken anything to disagree with your stomach ?" He
said, " Oh, no ; and I never had better health than when I