on March 13 Monsieur Caillaux was greatly upset, although the more
personal portions of the letter had been cut. On the next day, Saturday
the 14th, he stated, he received an anonymous letter saying that the
_Figaro_ was going to publish the other two letters, and the same
day he received from other sources confirmation of this. “I had told
my wife all about these things,” he said. “She was entirely in my
confidence, and she expected these stolen letters to be published.
Their publication would have affected me comparatively little, but
would have wounded my wife in her dignity as a woman, and distressed
her more than I can say.” Monsieur Caillaux then told the examining
magistrate the events of the day of the murder as he knew them,
beginning with the statement that his wife’s nerves were shattered, and
that she was and had been for some time, in a state of considerable
over-excitement. She read the _Figaro_ every morning, her general
health was bad, and the campaign had overpowered her. “At nine o’clock
on the morning of March 16 my wife walked into my dressing-room with
the _Figaro_ in her hand,” said Monsieur Caillaux. “She showed me
the paper with a headline ‘Intermède Comique—Ton Jo.’ ‘Presently,’
she said, ‘we shall see your pet name for _me_ in the public Press
like this,’ and she threw the paper angrily on a chair. ‘Can’t you
put a stop to this campaign?’ she asked me. And we decided to consult
Monsieur Monier the President of the Civil Tribunal of the Seine.”
[Illustration: _Miroir, Photo, Paris_
M. BARTHOU MOUNTING THE STAIRS OF THE LAW COURTS ON HIS WAY
TO GIVE EVIDENCE IN THE CAILLAUX CASE]
“It was my intention to go and see him that day at half-past one, but
I forgot that he would be busy at the Palace of Justice at that time.
I had to go to the meeting of the Cabinet at the Elysée, and when
Monsieur Monier called at half-past ten my wife received him alone.”
Monsieur Caillaux then repeated his conversation with his wife when
she called for him before luncheon at the Ministère de Finances.
His evidence on this point and the evidence of Madame Caillaux are
identical. From the examining magistrate’s report of the evidence given
by Monsieur Caillaux he appears to have said nothing to his wife of his
own conversation with the President of the Republic. Monsieur Caillaux
confirms his wife’s statement that he said to her, “I shall go and
smash Calmette’s face.” Their car was in the Rue Royale when Madame
Caillaux asked him whether he intended to do so that day. “I answered,”
Monsieur Caillaux said, “No, not to-day. I shall choose my own time,
but the time is not far off.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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