The Crime Book

217

See also: Phoolan Devi 46–47 ■ O.J. Simpson 246–51

G

aston Calmette’s Le Figaro

was not the only Paris

newspaper with doubts

over the integrity of Joseph

Caillaux. The left-wing politician

(and former French prime minister)

was dogged by allegations of

corruption. But no other journal

could match the zeal shown by

Le Figaro’s right-wing editor, who

led a smear campaign against him.

In December 1913, Calmette

threatened to publish love letters

exchanged between Caillaux and

his second wife, Henriette, while

he was still married to his first wife.

On 16 March 1914, Henriette went

to the newspaper’s offices and shot

Calmette six times; he died later.

During her testimony at her

trial, Henriette Caillaux skilfully

evoked the prevailing image of a

woman as a creature of emotions.

The all-male jury was convinced

that she had shot Calmette without

premeditation or criminal intent –

that when she pulled the trigger on

the Browning pistol she was a

temporary victim of “unbridled

female passions”. Perhaps her crime

had, in fact, been an act of “passive

aggression” against a potentially

restless husband. It certainly

stalled Caillaux’s public career,

and quashed any realistic chance

of a life beyond his marriage to the

woman who claimed to have risked

all to restore his reputation. ■

MURDER CASES

I WAS DRIVEN BY

A WILL THAT HAD

TAKEN THE PLACE

OF MY OWN

MADAME CAILLAUX, 1914

IN CONTEXT

LOCATION

Paris, France

THEME

Crime of passion

BEFORE

1859 US politician Daniel

Sickles shoots dead his wife’s

lover. He stands trial, but is

acquitted on grounds of

“temporary insanity”.

1906 Albert Lemaître, a

French racing driver, shoots

his wife after she files for

divorce. After an unsuccessful

attempt at suicide, he is tried

and acquitted of what is

deemed a crime of passion.

AFTER

1955 London nightclub

hostess Ruth Ellis shoots and

kills her faithless lover. Her

family unsuccessfully attempt

to have her murder conviction

reduced to manslaughter on

the grounds of provocation.

She is the last woman in

England to be executed.

Henriette shot Calmette at point

blank range. Afterwards, she told

police: “Since there is no more justice

in France... I resolved that I alone

would be able to stop this campaign.”

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