Miss Smith's trial was a sensation
I have yet to be convinced over the existence of ghosts, although Northamptonshire is supposed to have its share, of course, and I have often written with gleeful cynicism about various grey ladies and things that go bump in the night.
One of my favourite stories concerns yet another grey lady who, to be frank, has very little to do with Northamptonshire at all.
And indeed, sightings of her here have been verified as often as sightings of the Lock Ness Monster.
The difference is that unlike Nessie, this young woman really did exist and she had a real life. And what a life!
The woman in question was a Scottish lassie called Madeleine Smith and it is said that she walks the quiet village of Scaldwell.
So why Scaldwell? Well she apparently came to the village to get away from the publicity that followed her throughout her long life.
Madeleine's story really began when she was 20 years old and she was introduced to Emile L'Angelier by a mutual friend.
Within weeks they had embarked on a wild affair.
They met in secret and wrote passionate letters to each other.
Actually she was a bit of a tease because, knowing that her father would never approve of Emile, she accepted a proposal of marriage from another chap called William Mannoch while still carrying on her secret liaison with the Frenchman.
Realising that she was getting into deeper and hotter hot water, she wrote to Emile and asked for her letters back "I trust your honour as a gentleman that you will not reveal anything that may have passed between us".
Silly girl.
Emile wrote back saying that unless she agreed to marry him he would pass the letters to her father.
Nasty business, blackmail!
They carried on meeting even though things were a bit tense and Emile started to write a diary in which he noted that he was growing ill.
He also wrote to friends saying that he thought he was being poisoned.
"I can't think why I feel so unwell after having coffee with her (Madeleine) but if she were to poison me, I would forgive her."
By March 23, 1857, he was dead.
Naturally there was a post-mortem and, lo and behold, his stomach was like an arsenic mine!
The police searched his rooms and found all the letters from Madeleine and discovered that she had, indeed, bought some arsenic.
They arrested Madeleine and charged her with murder.
She was tried in Edinburgh and the nation held its breath.
It caused a huge sensation and every paper gave graphic details as the days went on.
Imagine the outcry when a verdict was returned, "not proven".
Madeleine Smith, 22-year-old coffee-maker extraordinaire, was a free woman.
Free that is, apart from the paparazzi.
So she travelled south to stay with the Hon Rev Arthur Gascoigne Douglas, son of the 18th Earl of Morton, a relation of Madeleine who happened to be the Rector of Scaldwell.
You see, it took a long time, but we've got there!
How long she stayed is not recorded, but it was long enough for her to want to return in spirit form 71 years later!
She assumed the name Lena Smith and moved to London and married George Wardle, one of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of painters.
They divorced and she went to live in New York.
She married again, this time to a New Yorker called William Sheehy and they lived in considerable style on 8th Avenue.
She died at 93.
But did she do it?
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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