The letters, or copies of them, exist, or were in existence just before
the crime. They are popularly believed to be highly scandalous in
content and in tone. It is, however, only fair to Monsieur Calmette’s
memory and to the writer of the letters, Monsieur Caillaux, and his
unhappy wife to whom he wrote them, to put on record the protest
of Madame Madeleine Guillemard, who wrote on April 8, 1914, to the
examining magistrate declaring that she knew the whole text of the
letters, that they were intimate and tender, but that “their tone was
that of letters written by a gentleman to a lady whom he respects.”
President Poincaré’s evidence, however, shows that Monsieur and Madame
Caillaux feared that the letters would be printed, and this fear is
made more emphatic by Monsieur Caillaux’s own evidence before Monsieur
Boucard, which, with the curious habit which is prevalent in France,
the examining magistrate summarized and communicated immediately to
the Press.
[Illustration: _Miroir Photo, Paris_
MONSIEUR CAILLAUX LEAVING THE LAW COURTS
(The man on the right is a detective)]
IV
MONSIEUR CAILLAUX’S EXAMINATION
The principal witness for the defence of Madame Caillaux will be her
husband, and as is usual in France where every witness is allowed and
is expected to tell the examining magistrate who collects evidence
before the trial everything he knows which bears in any way upon the
case, Monsieur Caillaux has gone at length into his wife’s motives
for the crime, and has described very fully the happenings on March
16, 1914, when the murder was committed. He was examined by Monsieur
Boucard in his room at the Palace of Justice on April 7 and 8,
immediately after the evidence of the President of the Republic had
been taken. Monsieur Joseph Caillaux is the son of Monsieur Eugène
Alexandre Caillaux, who was Inspector of Finance and Minister of State.
He has been married twice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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