CHAPTER XIII

THE FATAL NIGHT

Continuing 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 brother Julien, dated from January 4th, 1908, to May 30th, 1908. Those letters, _on the whole_, tally with your statements, especially as regards your illness at the beginning of 1908, the plans for your brother's marriage, and the intention to help him by calling on M. Dennery, and the fact that you called in Dr. Acheray to see your mother on the morning of May 30th. On the other hand, they contain remarks which contradict certain of your statements. For instance, on May 19th your mother wrote to your brother that during her forthcoming stay in Paris she would put up at M. Herr's, but the following day she mentioned that you had written and 'phoned to her, with the result that she would put up at your house for one night at least. This proves that your mother only decided to put up at the house in the Impasse Ronsin after you had pressed her?"

_Answer._ "I can only tell you that when my mother was staying with me, at the beginning of May, it was agreed between us that she would put up at my house when she returned to Paris later on. Towards May 20th she wrote to me that she felt very ill, and at the same time gave me to understand that, yielding to Mme. Herr's wishes, she would put up at her house. I told her that if she came to me I would nurse her and that she would be attended by an excellent doctor--M. Acheray, who lived almost next door to us. I added that matters would be easier as regarded the call on M. Dennery if she were staying with me. I very much wanted to have my mother at home because at my sister's house she would have to climb five flights of stairs, and, further, because I wished Dr. Acheray to examine her, as he knew her well, having on other occasions acted as her doctor."

_Question._ "In any case, there is a most striking coincidence here. It is just about May 18th--that is, at the time when you settled down at Bellevue with the young Buissons, who seem to need your permanent presence at the time when your Paris home is disorganised--that you compel your mother to promise to stay with you during the forthcoming visit!"

_Answer._ "The Buisson children were not so ill that I had to be constantly near them at Vert-Logis. The main object in having them at Bellevue was that they should enjoy the fresh air of the country; and when I was away my daughter was perfectly capable of looking after them. As for my Paris home, how could it be 'disorganised' when my husband, my daughter and myself were there frequently!"

_In reply to a Question._ "When, on the Saturday, May 30th, I returned from Bellevue, I stopped, as I have said, at the chemist's to fetch the various medicines Dr. Acheray had prescribed for my mother. At Potin's I bought a lobster, a pot of mayonnaise sauce, some cakes and some fruit. Then I walked straight home. My husband and I ate lobster, but my mother ate only a bit of it; she preferred coffee and milk and a slice of buttered toast. At Vert-Logis that evening my daughter Marthe was alone with the two little Buissons and Mariette, the old cook. The children usually went to bed at nine, and Mariette, as a rule, retired afterwards. But that night she had of course to await M. Buisson's arrival.

"At the Impasse Ronsin we dined that day at 7.30. Before dinner my mother and I had had a long chat about family affairs and plans, whilst my husband remained in his studio. The dinner was merry. My husband was unusually cheerful and content. He talked about various schemes to improve matters at the Boulogne Ceramics Company, and said he would go to Italy to copy some old _faience_. My husband drank some wine and water. After dinner none of us took any liqueurs. I went round the garden with my husband, and then we joined my mother, who was resting in the verandah. She suffered more and more in her legs; I took her shoes and stockings off and rubbed her with some vaseline. Towards 9 P.M. we all three went upstairs to bed. Before that, my husband had locked the doors--or rather the door, for he had only to close the verandah door. The door of the pantry, which it was the valet's duty to close, must, I suppose, have been closed by Couillard after we had retired. At the time when we went upstairs Couillard was washing up.

"According to the rule in force whenever we were at home, and which he had observed the previous night, Couillard was to sleep in his room on the third floor, near the attic. I supposed that, also according to custom, he had already handed back the revolver to my husband on the previous day (May 29th). But, after the drama, during the judicial investigation, I found that Couillard had not returned the revolver, for when questioned by M. Hamard (Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department) about the revolver, he, in my sight, took it from the pocket of his blue apron. I had told M. Hamard that my husband usually kept his revolver by him in his room, in the drawer of his bedside table, and it was because M. Hamard had been unable to find it that he had been led to ask Couillard some questions about it."

_In reply to a Question._ "I don't know at what time Rémy Couillard went to bed on the 30th May. That night my husband occupied his own bedroom. I was in my daughter's room, for I had given my bedroom to my mother so that she might be more comfortable, my daughter's bed being smaller than mine and my mother a little stout. Besides, whenever my mother stayed with us she occupied my bedroom. She slept in my daughter's room only when I was seriously ill in bed--in 1907 and 1908."

_In reply to a Question._ "On May 30th, my mother herself placed my rings, as we went to bed, in her room (my bed-room). I had taken them off downstairs on the verandah, when I rubbed my mother with vaseline. Just as we went upstairs, my husband told Couillard to bring up some 'grogs.'"

_Question._ "Was it a habit in your house to take 'grogs' at night?"

_Answer._ "No, it was not a habit. When I was tired, I took some hot water with rum, and in the evening of May 30th I was very tired. After dinner, when we chatted on the verandah, I had said I would drink a hot 'grog' before going to bed, and my husband and my mother said they would do the same. That was why my husband or I told Couillard to bring up some hot water, sugar, the bottle of rum, and three glasses. Why didn't we drink the 'grogs' downstairs? Because I wanted my mother to take hers while in bed. Rémy Couillard came up with a tray which he placed on a small table in the bath-room, and then he withdrew. When Rémy brought the tray, I was in the bath-room; my mother was in her room and already in bed. My husband was in his room, but not yet in bed. I called him. He put water and sugar in two glasses and I poured out the rum. Then my husband and I went together to my mother. She drank a little and placed the glass back on her bedside table. Before taking the 'grog' to my mother, I tasted the one my husband had prepared for himself. I thought it was too strong, and my husband added some hot water."

_Question._ "It was you who wanted a 'grog,' and now I find that no 'grog' was prepared for you, and of your husband's grog you only had a sip!"

(My counsel explained to me afterwards that the judge's idea was that I had put poison or some sleeping draught in those two grogs!)

_Answer._ "I intended preparing mine a little later, just as I was about to get into bed, so as to drink it quite hot. As a matter of fact, when I was in bed, I called my husband and he brought me my grog. He made me drink, then placed the glass--I don't remember where.

"After my mother had emptied her glass, I had sat down on her bed and we had chatted for a quarter of an hour. But as she and I were very tired and sleepy, I went to my room, and I was in bed when my husband brought me the grog."

_Question._ "Couillard has stated that your husband was already in bed when he brought up the tray. He saw that through the door of your husband's room, which was open."

_Answer._ "Couillard made a mistake. Besides, how could he have seen my husband in bed! There was no light in my husband's room."

_Question._ "There was a light in the bath-room where the valet placed the tray, and since the door of the bedroom was open, that bedroom must have been light enough."

_Answer._ "No, for the gas in the bath-room was only half turned on."

_In reply to a Question._ "At the end of my chat with my mother, I kissed her and said: 'Till to-morrow!' And when my husband brought me the grog, I bade him good-night and asked him to leave the door open, so that, if my mother felt ill during the night, she might easily be heard by us, I was dead tired and went to sleep almost at once."

_Question._ "Describe what you know of the crime."

_Answer._ "I started up out of my sleep, and felt something on my face. I then heard a man's voice saying: 'Tell us where your parents' money is....' Now, before I go any further, I would like to say that I cannot promise you to describe that terrible night in exactly the same words as I used when I described it on May 31st, a few hours after the crime.... I pulled the cloth off my head and face. There was a light in the room, and I saw three men and a woman: a dark man standing near me; a dark man by the door of the boudoir; a red-bearded man on the other side, that is, near the mantelpiece, and a red-haired woman near my bed.

"They repeated: 'Where is your parents' money?' Frightened, trembling, and seeing that the woman was pointing a revolver at my right temple, I said 'There'... and pointed to the boudoir; the woman remained near me, still holding the revolver against my head, and with her other hand she held my arm tightly.... I was terrified... I heard my mother cry out to me 'Meg, Meg!'... That gave me a little courage. Then the woman said, 'Come on, girl, be good. Tell us where the jewels are.' I was afraid to say they were in my mother's room (really my room), in the drawer of the wardrobe.... I said to them all 'Don't kill me! Say you won't kill any one....' Then they bound me and put a cloth on my face.... And that is all. I don't remember anything else...."

_Question._ "Have you really no other recollections?"

_Answer._ "I remember the appearance of those people. They had lanterns.... The man near the chimney had one, also the man near my bed. The man near the door of the boudoir held a revolver.... After they had bound me to the bed, one man climbed on me, stood on my body, and hurt me terribly. I could not cry because I was already gagged. They bound my hands.... At a certain moment, I don't remember when, I heard the twelve strokes of midnight.... I say midnight, but it was perhaps eleven o'clock. There were many, many strokes, that is all I can say. It was the big grandfather's clock in the hall... on the ground floor."

_Question._ "And that is all?"

_Answer._ "I can tell you what those people were like. The man near me had a long black beard. He was very pale, had dark eyes and a big nose. The man near the boudoir was also very dark, and his eyes were terrible. The one with the red beard looked rather stupid, bewildered, scared.... As for the red-haired woman, she was fearfully ugly, had black eyes, frizzy hair and a wicked mouth."

_Question._ "Is that all?"

_Answer._ "That is all I remember now."

_Question._ "What else?"

_Answer._ "Oh! their clothes, of course! They all wore long black gowns, even the woman. M. Hamard asked me if they wore smocks or ecclesiastical habits, gaberdines. I said the sleeves were flat, and the gowns were long, straight, all one piece, as it were. I saw no collars, no hands, only those black gaberdines... and then, the light of their lanterns dazzled me, and there were all those looking-glasses in the room, Marthe's room... and it all went so rapidly... I also received a blow on my head. It came from the side where the woman stood, but I could not tell if it was the woman that struck the blow.... I also heard a voice say: 'Finish her off!' They spoke.... One man said: 'No, leave the girl (_la petite_) alone. It was the woman who wanted to kill me.'"

_Question._ "Which of the men was it who spared you?"

_Answer._ "I don't know. My head was covered at the time. The man had a foreign accent. He had spoken before.... It was the man who had said: 'Tell us where your parents' money is.'"

_In reply to a Question._ "I felt them seize both my hands. They fastened them above and behind my head to the bars of the bed.... They bound my hands, separately, that is, my arms apart.... I felt a rope round my neck and there was a cloth on my head. They also bound my feet. I did not feel them bind me round the body; it was later on that I heard I had been bound round the body."

_Question._ "Did the ropes with which your hands were tied hurt you?"

_Answer._. "My hands were not tightly bound. They did not hurt me mch."

_Question._ "Did the rope round the neck hurt?"

_Answer._ "No... I don't know. I was terrified. I thought that I had been blinded, that I was dead, that it was all over...."

_Question._ "Did the ropes round your feet hurt you?"

_Answer._ "Yes, very much. But I did not feel it at the time. It was only when I came back to my senses several times, and that was terrible."

_In reply to a Question._ "They gagged me with cottonwool, but I don't remember at what precise moment. The cottonwool was forced down my mouth. It nearly choked me and I thought I was dying. When I came back to my senses, I had an awful sensation of agony. I was stifling... I moved my arms, but felt that by doing so I was strangling myself; I felt that when I moved my arms either to the right or to the left, they acted upon the rope round my neck and I felt then a terrible pressure on my throat.... But when I did not move at all, the rope round my neck did not hurt. The cottonwool made breathing almost impossible. So I began to push it forward with my tongue. It was very difficult to remove the gag... I moved my tongue; I moved my jaw... I turned and twisted the cottonwool in my mouth and it was a long time before I could remove it. I even think I had not got rid of it all when the ropes were cut. The ropes round my hands were cut by Rémy Couillard, I believe. Whilst I moved the wadding with my tongue, my mouth was quite dry... I breathed as best I could.... No, I don't know whether I breathed with my nose only. I cannot remember things quite clearly. I came back to my senses several times, but it was only at daybreak, when I recovered a little, that I was able to remove the gag...."

_Question._ "When you moved your head, you say that those movements tightened the rope round your neck?"

_Answer._ "I felt I was strangling myself; but I tried to be brave.... I also tried to free my hands, but found it was impossible, for when I moved them the ropes tightened round my neck.... I did not know if the men were still there.... My mind was in a whirl.... But I had courage, for they had said they would not kill any one."

_Question._ "At what moment?"

_Answer._ "When they asked where the jewels were I had beseeched them to kill no one."

_Question._ "And they said they would not kill any one?"

_Answer._ "No, they didn't reply; but as they did not kill me I thought they had spared the lives of the others. I had heard no noise, and I did not think that either my husband or my mother was dead. I thought they had been gagged and bound like myself.... I called them I don't know how many times. They did not answer, and I waited for some one to come, and I was almost mad.... When did I call them? I don't know.... As soon as I could breathe, as soon as I began to realise that I was there, that I was alive... I had no strength left... I called as best I could...."

_Question._ "How did Rémy Couillard come to you in the morning?"

_Answer._ "I don't remember having called him.... When I saw him I was afraid of him.... When I saw him come near my bed I thought he was going to strangle me, and I don't remember having talked to him.... All I remember is that I saw him go to the window and shout '_Au voleur!_' ('Thief, thief!')."

_Question._ "In what way do you suppose people might have entered your house on the night of May 30th-31st, 1908?"

_Answer._ "I suppose they entered by the gate in the Impasse, perhaps with the key which Couillard had lost. Then they must have passed through the pantry door. I suppose so, as I have since been told that that door had not been locked that night (for when M. Lecoq, a neighbour, heard Couillard's cries in the morning and came to the rescue, he had only to push that door to enter the house!); or perhaps they passed through the little kitchen window, for Couillard stated--and this also I heard later on--that he merely pulled that window to, without closing it, a thing he should never have done.... I have also been struck by the fact that a ladder was seen against the kitchen. None of us had seen that ladder there on May 30th."

_Question._ "Explain to us why there were hardly any traces of acts of violence on the bodies of the victims--that is, of your mother and your husband?"

_Answer._ "I cannot tell... I heard no struggle, no noise, that night...."

_Question._ "How do you explain that your husband was found with his legs bent under his thighs, in a kneeling position, and his arms stretched along his body, and that your mother had her arms resting on her breast--that is, in an attitude quite contrary to an attitude of defence?"

_Answer._ "How can I explain all this?... So much the better if they have not suffered too much...."

_Question._ "How do you explain that you were not made to share the fate of your mother and your husband?"

_Answer._ "Ah! I cannot understand that. In any case, I regret with all my heart that I was not killed.... My mother did not suffer much, it appears.... But I have been through constant agonies; and then there was that awful night of the tragedy, when I felt I was dying.... And all the time I was wondering what had happened to my mother and my husband.... Perhaps those people thought I would pull on the ropes and strangle myself... I don't know...."

_Question._ "How do you explain the fact that they could spare you when you were a dangerous witness--one who would be the more formidable, more implacable and relentless because the victims were your own mother and husband?"

_Answer._ "I don't know that they wanted me to live.... The way they had bound me meant death to me at the slightest movement. It needed a woman with my strong will--I was thinking of my Marthe--and also with my good health, to stand what I went through and live...."

_Question._ "On May 31st, at 6 A.M., Rémy Couillard saw that you were bound, but the ropes were tied in so indifferent a manner that they left on your wrists and ankles only superficial marks, marks that were not lasting. It was also found that the rope round your neck was rather loose."

_Answer._ "There is nothing extraordinary in the fact, since I did not move...."

(Quoted from _Dossier_, Cote 3239.)

_In reply to a Question._ "Marthe had wished to send a little present to Lucie Ch.--on the occasion of her marriage which took place at the beginning of June (1908) (Lucie was the daughter of M. Ch., who had been for several years my most intimate friend). During the evening of May 30th (a few hours before the crime) either before or after dinner, I sent Couillard to M. Cher., with a card of Marthe's and a little Sèvres vase which I had in the cabinet of the drawing-room. I went upstairs to my room and packed the vase in some cottonwool. As a rule, I kept cottonwool in a small cabinet opposite the bed. I used all the cottonwool, then finding there was not enough to wrap up the vase properly, I fetched some more which was in a large boxroom on the same first floor. I had a great deal of cottonwool at home, on account of the fancy-work I did, especially small cushions...."

_Question._ "What was that cottonwool which on May 31st was found on the floor in the room where you were in bed?"

_Answer._ "I don't know.... I saw no cottonwool that morning. I only saw many people around me. In any case, there was no cottonwool in my room when I went to bed...."

_In reply to a Question._ "On the evening of May 30th, I don't remember who served out the soup, whether it was Couillard or myself.... Usually it was Couillard who did so."

_Question._ "In his report, Dr. Balthazard (the Home Office medical expert) has demonstrated that the gag was taken from the sheet of cottonwool which was found near the mantelpiece, in the room where you spent the night!"

_Answer._ "I have nothing to say on that point. It was only long after the drama that I was told that some cottonwool had been found in the room."

_Question._ "Dr. Balthazard further demonstrated by 'physical' and chemical processes, that the gag could not have been in your mouth not even for a few seconds, for it contained no traces of saliva!"

_Answer._ "Then the gag which Dr. Balthazard examined was not the one which had been so long in my mouth."

(Quoted from _Dossier_, Cotes 3308-3310.)

* * * * *

(And here I would quote a passage from the speech made by my counsel, Maître Antony Aubin, at my trial):

"In order to demonstrate that Mme. Steinheil was never gagged at all and that she lies, this is the argument used: There never was in Mme. Steinheil's room but one piece of cottonwool that might have been a gag, the piece that was on the pillow, on the right side of it. Now this gag was at once put under seal, on the spot, without any possible mistake. Handed later on to Dr. Balthazard, he found that it had never been wetted with saliva; therefore, the 'gag' on the pillow had never been in Mme. Steinheil's mouth.

"But an important question now arises. How many pieces of cottonwool were placed under seal, on the Sunday morning (May 31st)? Four. There was cottonwool everywhere, so much so that some one present remarked: 'One seems to walk on cottonwool.'

"Seal number one containing the gag '_which the criminals forced into Mme. Steinheil's mouth_,' for those were the words written on the label attached to it--was put together without it being known by whom it (the gag) was picked up, who handed it to the Police Commissary, without its identity being ascertained if only by a question asked of Mme. Steinheil. No precaution was taken, there was no supervision--so that it is impossible to say whether the piece of cottonwool, placed under the seal, as '_having been forced into Mme. Steinheil's mouth_,' is really the one which had been seen on her pillow, and which she herself pointed out.

"To demonstrate that the piece of cottonwool from the pillow and the one examined by Dr. Balthazard are not the same one is easy enough.

"The gag, which was seen by one or two witnesses near the pillow, was also seen by three or four other witnesses in various places--on the floor, on a chiffonier, on a small table! The gag wanders about. But how can one wonder that, in the excitement which upset everybody--and everything--some mistake as to all those pieces of cottonwool occurred?

"There is another point. In what terms do the witnesses describe the wandering gag? As _a gag made of one single piece (pear-shaped), as big as the fist_. If then the one examined by the expert contains _one single piece_ and answers to the description given, one will be able to admit that this gag, _pear-shaped, and in one piece_, is really the piece of wadding found on the pillow. But Doctor Balthazard himself described the piece of cottonwool he examined as follows: 'This gag is made of two pieces, one _rectangular_, the other _triangular_ and almost equilateral.'

"How disastrous for the Prosecution.... Besides, gentlemen, if the whole thing had been a sham, Mme. Steinheil, knowing of course the difference in appearance between dry cottonwool and moistened cottonwool, would not have failed to wet it, if only for a few seconds, especially as it was she who drew attention to the gag!"