Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 01.pdf/445

402 an immediate acquittal. But the advocate-general called upon the court to require the attendance of some eminent Parisian experts in order that there might be still another investigation; this request was complied with, and MM. Orfila, Bussy, and Olivier were ordered to come at once to Tulle.

M. Orfila and his two colleagues arrived on the 13th. The same evening they commenced their analysis, and completed it on the afternoon of the 14th. The result was that on their return to court M. Orfila said: "I will demonstrate that there exists arsenic in the body of Lafarge; that the arsenic does not proceed from the reactives which we have used, nor from the earth which surrounded the coffin; that the arsenic extracted by us is no part of that quantity of arsenic which exists naturally in the human body; and, in the last place, I will show that it is not impossible to explain the discrepancy of the results and opinions of the different operators." He declared, therefore, in the name of himself and his colleagues, that there was arsenic in the body of the deceased, though in the minutest quantity.

By the testimony of M. Orfila the whole aspect of the case was changed. This woman, whom science had almost absolved, science now condemned. The innocence of yesterday, proclaimed by the spectators at Tulle and by all Europe, which was following with an intense interest the progress of the trial, became the guilt of to-day. The science of yesterday was one thing, the science of to-day another,—a frightful turning about, which threw all hearts into consternation, and shocked all intelligent minds by the thought that life and honor could hang upon so slight a thing as a no yesterday, a yes to-day.

The day on which M. Orfila made his report, the hair of Madame Lafarge turned white as snow. From that day her health and strength were completely shattered, and it was necessary to carry her to the courtroom in an arm-chair during the remainder of the trial.

Madame Lafarge was most ably and eloquently defended by M. Paillet. Before the jury retired, the President asked the prisoner if she had anything to add.

Rising painfully from her chair, Marie Lafarge replied, in a feeble voice, "Monsieur President, I am innocent, I swear it!"

The jury deliberated for an hour, and on their return rendered a verdict of "Guilty, with extenuating circumstances;" and Marie Lafarge was sentenced to penal servitude for life, and to be exposed upon the public square of Tulle.

Thus ended this famous trial, which at the time excited a degree of interest almost unparalleled. The question may still be asked, "Guilty or not guilty?" There is but little doubt that, upon the evidence, the verdict in England or America would have been.