Marguerite Steinheil

Case record: Marguerite Steinheil

Background

Marguerite Jeanne “Meg” Japy Steinheil was a French woman born in Beaucourt on 16 April 1869, to a wealthy family named Japy. She married Adolphe Steinheil, an artist, and they lived in Paris. After gaining prominence in Parisian society, she ran a salon that was frequented by men of eminence in French political and social circles, including Gounod, Ferdinand de Lesseps, René Lalique, Jules Massenet, François Coppée, Émile Zola, and Pierre Loti.

She became intimate with President Félix Faure. Gossip connected her to the president’s sudden death, but no proof was produced. She later became the subject of rumours involving a mysterious pearl necklace said to have been given to her by President Faure. After her acquittal, she lived in England in retirement.

She authored My Memoirs (New York 1912). After the trial she lived in London, where she was known as Mme de Serignac. On 26 June 1917, she married Robert Brooke Campbell Scarlett, 6th Baron Abinger, who died in 1927. She lived at 24 Adelaide Crescent in Hove from that year and died in a nursing home in Hove.

The offence

On the night of 30–31 May 1908, Marguerite Steinheil’s husband, Adolphe Steinheil, and her mother, Mme. Japy, were murdered and robbed in their residence in the Impasse Ronsin, off the Rue de Vaugirard. Marguerite Steinheil was found bound and gagged upon a bed.

It was later stated that both victims had died of suffocation. Her husband was said to have died by strangling, while her mother was said to have died by choking on her false teeth.

Investigation

Marguerite Steinheil initially stated that she had been tied up by four black-robed strangers: three men and a woman.

Some newspapers speculated that the strangers had come to her house in search of certain secret documents that President Faure had entrusted to her keeping, possibly relating to the Dreyfus affair. The police immediately regarded her as a suspect in the killings but had no hard evidence and made a pretense of abandoning the investigation.

Marguerite Steinheil attempted to frame her manservant, Rémy Couillard, by concealing a small pearl that she affirmed had been stolen at the time of the murder in a pocketbook belonging to Couillard. After that fabrication was discovered, she blamed Alexandre Wolff, the son of her old housekeeper, but he was able to establish an alibi.

Arrest

Marguerite Steinheil was arrested in November 1908 and taken to St. Lazare prison.

Trial

The crime created a sensation in Paris. It was revealed that she had had a great number of admirers, including even King Sisowath of Cambodia.

Opponents of the government attempted to make political capital of the affair. The anti-Semitic Libre Parole charged her with having poisoned President Faure. A sensational trial ended in her acquittal.

During the trial, the judge called her stories “tissues of lies”. After a strange man dressed in a red wig and black cloak appeared in court to testify about breaking into the Steinheil home, the case was described as having been ruined. The jury deliberated for 2 1/2 hours.

On 14 November 1909, the jury announced Marguerite Steinheil’s acquittal.

Outcome

Marguerite Steinheil was acquitted on 14 November 1909.

Other details

Marguerite Steinheil was present at the death of President Félix Faure, and she was suspected in some quarters of involvement. It had been alleged in connection with the president’s death that a seizure occurred while he had sexual contact with her, and rumours spread soon after his death. For several years, it was believed that his partner at the time of his death was actress Cécile Sorel. No proof was produced.

Félix Faure was introduced to Marguerite Steinheil at Chamonix in 1897, while he was giving an official contract to Adolphe Steinheil. Because of this, Félix Faure came often to their home on the Impasse Ronsin. On 16 February 1899, Félix Faure called Marguerite Steinheil by telephone, asking her to come to the palace at the end of the afternoon. Shortly afterward, servants were rung for and they found the president lying on the couch while Marguerite Steinheil adjusted her disordered clothing. Félix Faure died several hours later.

Legends attached to the circumstances of Félix Faure’s death included claims that she was performing oral sex on him when he had a fit and that he died with his convulsed hands tangled in her hair; these claims were described as not officially announced, while rumours started spreading immediately.

On 16 February 1899, the president’s death was later described as having been diagnosed as a cerebral haemorrhage. Eyewitness accounts and later historians’ discussions included assertions that Faure and Steinheil were involved in some kind of embrace, and that his aides hacked her hair with clumsiness. Pierre Darmon argued that it was unlikely the president died while having sex with her and said his first convulsions were very unlikely to have been spasms of satisfaction. Other discussion linked Far-right press suggestions to the Dreyfus Affair.

Marguerite Steinheil was nicknamed la pompe funèbre after Félix Faure’s death. She also acquired the nickname “the Red Widow” after she came under suspicion of killing her husband.

Her mother’s name was given as Emilie Japy, and it was said she died of a heart attack. It was also stated that Adolphe Steinheil was strangled.

Margins of press description included the claim that scandals involving politicians’ private and public life appeared for the first time in the press with the L’affaire Steinheil.

While being tried, it was said that the courtroom was packed on every day of the trial and that when Marguerite Steinheil took the stand, the obsession with her case reached a fever pitch. She was described as weeping, gnashing her teeth, and wailing about her innocence and her grief over the tragedy.

It was also said that after the trial she promptly quit France for England.