Marie LaFarge

Marie-Fortunée LaFarge, née Capelle (January 15, 1816 - November 7, 1852) was a Frenchwoman who was convicted of murdering her husband by arsenic poisoning in 1840. Her case became notable because it was one of the first trials to be followed by the public through daily newspaper reports as well as the first person convicted largely on direct forensic toxicological evidence. However, questions about her guilt had divided French society to the extent that it is often compared to the better-known Dreyfus affair.

Charles LaFarge

Charles Pouch-LaFarge was a big, coarse man of twenty-eight, a son of Jean-Baptiste LaFarge, justice of the peace in Vigeois. In 1817 his father bought a maison chartreuse ("charterhouse") previously ran by Carthusian monks since the 13th century in the town of Le Glandier in Corrèze, which had fallen into disrepair due to the depredations bought about the French Revolution. In an effort to make it profitable, Charles turned it into a foundry, a venture that unfortunately plunged him into debt. In 1839, bankrupt, he saw a good marriage as the only way to pay his creditors. He engaged the same marriage broker who was hired to find a husband for Marie. Charles advertised himself as a wealthy iron master with property worth more than 200,000 francs with an annual income of 30,000 from the foundry alone. He also carried letters of recommendation from his priest and local deputy. To hide the fact that a marriage broker was involved in this, Marie's uncle passed off Charles as a "friend" and arranged a "fortuituous" meeting with Marie at the opera. Marie found Charles common and repulsive, but since he advertised himself as the owner of a palatial estate she agreed to marry him. Thus four days after the meeting her aunt announced their engagement, and they were married on August 10, 1839. The couple then left Paris for Le Glandier to live at the foundry.

Related Topics:
Vigeois - 1817 - Carthusian - 13th century - Le Glandier - Corrèze - French Revolution - 1839 - August 10

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