Sarah Horowitz - The Red Widow: The Scandal that Shook Paris and the Woman Behind it All

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Books . Change . Lives .

For Lucie, toujours

Copyright 2022 by Sarah Horowitz

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This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. From a Declaration of Principles Jointly Adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations

Published by Sourcebooks, an imprint of Sourcebooks

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Horowitz, Sarah, author.

Title: The red widow : the scandal that shook Paris and the woman behind it all / Sarah Horowitz.

Description: Naperville, Illinois : Sourcebooks, [2022] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021055947 (print) | LCCN 2021055948 (ebook) | (hardcover) | (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Steinheil, Marguerite, 1869-1954. | Mistresses--France--Biography | Faure, Flix, 1841-1899--Death and burial. | Sex scandals--France--History--19th century. | Widows--France--Biography | Female offenders--France--Biography. | Murders--France--Paris--History--20th century.

Classification: LCC DC342.8.S82 H67 2022 (print) | LCC DC342.8.S82 (ebook) | DDC 944.081092 [B]--dc23/eng/20211123

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021055947

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021055948

CAST OF CHARACTERS

B EAUCOURT

Marguerite Meg Steinheil, born Marguerite-Jeanne Japy

douard Japy, her father

milie Japy, ne Rau, her mother

Juliette Herr, Megs older sister

Julien Japy, Megs older brother

milie Mimi Seyrig, Megs younger sister

Lieutenant Gustave-douard Sheffer, Megs first love

M EGS HOUSEHOLD IN P ARIS

Adolphe Steinheil, a painter

Marthe Steinheil, Meg and Adolphes daughter

Mariette Wolff, the cook

Rmy Couillard, the valet

L OVERS AND FRIENDS

Camille-Joseph Bouchez, Adolphes best friend and Megs first lover, a former magistrate

Berthe Lefvre, a relative of Bouchez, a friend of Meg, and possibly her lover

Paul Bertulus, a judge and Megs lover

Joseph Lemercier, a judge and Megs lover

Lon Bonnat, a painter and friend of the Steinheils

Antony Aubin, a lawyer and occasionally a guest at Megs salon

Andr Paisant, another lawyer and friend of Meg and Adolphe

Louis Lpine, the head of the Parisian police and a guest at Megs salon

Flix Faure, president of the Republic from 18951899 and Megs lover from 1897 until his death

Berthe Faure, his wife

mile Chouanard, an industrialist and Megs long-term lover in the 1900s

Monsieur and Madame Buisson, family friends

Pierre Buisson, their son and Marthes fianc

Dominique-Marie-Joseph de Balincourt, a grifter

Maurice Borderel, a wealthy landowner

Roger de Chateleux, a journalist and the ghostwriter of Megs memoirs

Monsieur and Madame Chabrier, cousins who moved into the Impasse Ronsin after the murders

Madame Thors, the wife of a banker and maybe one of Megs lovers

Robert Scarlett, Lord Abinger, Megs second husband

T HE INVESTIGATION

Alphonse Bertillon, the crime scene photographer

Octave Hamard, Pariss top detective

Joseph Leydet, the examining magistrate for the double murder

Pouce, a detective

Burlingham, an American journalist

Davidson, an American artist

Noretti, a singer and Burlinghams mistress

Marcel Hutin, a journalist for Lcho de Paris

Georges de Labruyre, a journalist for Le Matin

Henri Barby, another journalist for Le Matin

Souloy, Megs jeweler

Alexandre Wolff, Mariettes son and a horse trader

Jean-Louis Andr, the second examining magistrate for the double murder

S AINT -L AZARE

Sister Lonide, a nun

Firmin, Megs cellmate

T HE TRIAL

Bernard-Thodore-Mdric de Valles, the presiding judge at Megs trial

Paul-Adolphe Trouard-Riolle, the prosecutor

PREFACE

AS THE MORNING LIGHT shone through the large windows of her drawing room on Impasse Ronsin in Paris, Marguerite Steinheil, more commonly known as Meg, was surrounded by men. She was used to male attention and had received presidents, royalty, and many of Frances most powerful men in this room. Usually, the men around her were paying her court, begging for the attention of this beautiful, charming woman. Usually, they were wealthy, urbane, and in search of a night or more of pleasure. Not this time, though. On the morning of May 31, 1908, the men around her were dressed for a day of police work as opposed to a society event. They werent engaging in witty, flirtatious banter but besieging her with questions.

What had she seen? What had she heard? What had she done?

Meanwhile, she could hear the footsteps of other detectives searching for clues upstairs. One floor above, the corpse of her husband, Adolphe, lay on the threshold between his bedroom and the bathroom. He was on his back, his knees bent underneath him, with a rope around his neck. In another room, Megs mothers body was sprawled on her bed with her legs dangling off it, her mouth stuffed with cotton wadding. A cord was also tied around her neck and her eyes were still open, staring blankly at the detective taking photographs of the crime scene.

Meg was the only survivor of the attackand the only witness. The police wouldnt let her see the dead bodies, partly out of a sense of delicacy. Society women like her needed to be shielded from the harsher realities of life. Later that day, the two corpses were whisked away to the morgue for autopsies. She wouldnt get the chance to say a last goodbye.

That morning, she was racked with fear and anxiety. How could she explain what had happened? She also remembered how she had been tied to a bed for much of the night. Her urine stains were still on the mattress, serving as a humiliating reminder of her powerlessness as she lay bound and had no choice but to relieve herself on the white sheets.