Reprinted with permission of the author, Douglas MacGowan

Douglas MacGowan has written two books and numerous articles on Scottish and Scottish-American history and maintains a Website about the Highland Clearances. He and his wife live in Redwood City, California. He can be contacted through the link below.

On July 9, 1857, a young woman left an Edinburgh courtroom a free woman. Charged with two attempts of murder by arsenic poisoning and one charge of murder by arsenic, she had been found "not guilty" of one of the attempted poisoning charges, and "not proven" (a uniquely Scottish verdict) of the other attempt and of the murder charge.

Madeleine Smith was free, and the details of how Emile L'Angelier met his painful death have never been discovered. But the tale of Madeleine and Emile, and their doomed love affair that began with romantic letters and late night rendezvous -- but ended in threats and imprisonment -- has lived in legend and lore to this day.