NOTE: Antoinette Sierri’s crimes were committed in the same
region as another serial killer nurse, Rose Theyre. Both were prosecuted in the
came court in Nimes.
English language sources spell the name sometimes as
“Scierri,” and sometimes “Sierri.” French sources, presumably more reliable on
the spelling of the name of this Italian immigrant to France, use the spelling
“Sierri.” The spellings in the original published texts are, however, retained in the transcription below.
***
FULL TEXT (Article 1 of 4): Paris. May 26. – Not since the memorable Landru, known as “Bluebeard,” the wholesale murderer, has France been so startled as it has by the revelations brought out in the recent trial of Antoinette Scierri.
Landru,
the colossal murderer, hunted his victims, and robbed them, and
committed his murders to coyer up his robberies. But Antoinette killed
her victims for the sheer enjoyment of seeing them die.
“Bluebeard” Landru, the police calculated, had murdered about fifty
women whom he had married or offered to marry. Antoinette achieved,
according to the police estimate, a list of about thirty victims, but in
only one case did she take any of their belongings.
Antoinette Scierri had a most exceptional opportunity for indulging her weakness for destroying human life – she was a professional nurse. In this capacity she was able to enlist her services at the bedside of people who were under the doctor’s care and taking medicine. Thus she was left in charge of patients and had every opportunity to administer the fatal dose and cover up her crime.
When
the patient died and the doctor at his next call was surprised at the
news, Antoinette had a story to. tell him of the last moments, of the
departed patient which concealed the true facts and symptoms and
completely misled the attending physician.
In
the course of her recent trial it was proved that, she had murdered at
least a dozen persons, and one of them was the man she loved and was
engaged to marry. When the unfortunate man, Henri Rossignol, fell ill
and sent for her to nurse him back to health and strength, the impulse
was so irresistible that she mixed her usual fatal dose and sat
entranced on the edge of the bed as she watched the dying agonies of the
man she loved.
Antoinette
has now been condemned to the guillotine, but whether she will be
executed is doubtful, in spite of the enormity of her crimes.
She
came two years ago to live in the little town of St. Gilles, near the
famous old city of Nimes, in the south of France. She was an excellent
professional nurse and practiced her calling in St. Gilles and the
surrounding country. She had a remarkably winning and ingratiating
manner, both with patients and their families.
Antoinette
had a rather mysterious past. She has been married to M. Salomon, a
wealthy business man, who discovered that she had been unfaithful.
The
woman possessed a marked power of fascinating men. At. St. Giles she
became engaged to Henri Rossignol, and handsome and wealthy landowner,
somewhat younger than herself.
The
exposure of Antoinette’s crimes began on April 9 last. On that day
Madame Gouant, wife of one of the leading business men of the town, died
while under treatment for asthma. Antoinette had been acting as her
nurse.
The
police had already begun to suspect Antoinette on account of the death
of Rossignol, a powerful and healthy young man, who was merely suffering
from a serve attack of grippe. A soon as Madame Gouant died they
arrested Antoinette and began an investigation, which revealed an
astonishing trail of mysterious deaths wherever she had acted as nurse.
It is probable the total number attributable to her will never be known.
The police actually exhumed the bodies of twelve supposed victims of
Antoinette.
In
a stable connected with the Gouant house the police found a big bottle
of pyralion, a composition of arsenic, large enough to poison a hundred
people. Pyralion is generally used in vine culture to protect the vines
against disease. As there extensive vineyards in the neighborhood of St.
Gilles, the poison is always available in large quantities there.
M.
Gouant, the father-in-law of the deceased woman, is a great owner of
vineyards, and the presence of poison in his stable did not at first
seem a remarkable circumstance. When he was questioned, however, he said
that neither he nor any of his employees had purchased or used pyralion
recently.
A
considerable quantity had been taken from the bottle. Investigation
proved that Antoinette had obtained it through a vine grower of her
acquaintance. An autopsy was performed on Madame Gouant’s body and over
fifteen grains of arsenic were found in her intestines.
Several
circumstances indicated that Antoinette had been planning to poison the
elder M. Gouant, father-in-law of the dead woman, an old man in feeble
health. Antoinette, in her fascinating way, had urged the old man to let
her nurse him back to health, and he had consented just as his daughter
was nearing her end. The Gouants lived in a very beautiful house, with
splendid kitchen and wine cellars, and Antoinette, an accomplished
sensualist, enjoyed its luxuries and good cheer thoroughly.
The
old man’s fatal course of treatment would have begun on the day of his
daughter-in-law’s death. Antoinette’s arrest just saved him.
The
poisoning of Henri Rossignol, her fiancé, was the most remarkable and
dramatic of Antoinette’s deeds. The young man was laid up last March
with a severe attack of grippe, accompanied by violent pains in the
chest, fever and headache. The doctor called in gave him the usual
treatment to overcome the bacterial infection and restore his strength.
Antoinette
immediately hurried to the bedside of her suffering lover and began to
nurse him in the tenderest manner. She scarcely left him day and night,
and her devotion was really beautiful to see. Under her care the
headache and painful symptoms from which he had been suffering subsided.
He attributed his improvement to his fiancée and begged her not to
leave him for a moment.
One
of the strangest features of the case was that Antoinette seemed really
affectionate and unselfish toward Rossignol except when she had an
opportunity of poisoning him. The pleasure of watching the dying agonies
of a victim was more than she could resist, even though he was her
lover when well.
Antoinette
had a wonderfully gentle bedside manner, as everybody who met her in
the sickroom found. She watched over a patient like a mother over a sick
child, and seemed to be counting every breath, every movement, every
change in the sufferer’s face. She was tireless and was always willing
to sit up and watch by the “bedside longer than the rules of her calling
required. It seemed that she enjoyed at all times a deep pleasure from
watching the face of a sick person.
But
Rossignol did not grow stronger under the treatment which made him feel
happier and more comfortable. On the contrary, he grew weaker and
weaker, and on March 18 passed away, still believing firmly in the devotion of his dear nurse and sweetheart.
The
autopsy on Rossignol’s body once more revealed the presence of arsenic
in the intestines. There was no probability that the dead man committed
suicide. The doctor had not proscribed any medicine with arsenic in it.
Antoinette had had plenty of opportunities to give him the poison in
small quantities. Therefore it was almost a certainty she poisoned him.
This
discovery placed her in a difficult position. Hitherto she had pleaded
that she never gave poisons or drugs to her patients at all. Now she
made a surprising and ingenious defence. She declared that Rosalie Gire,
an older woman who had been associated with her in nursing Rossignol
and other persons, had taught her to use pyralion in the medicine of her
patients.
“Rossignol
was suffering cruelly at first,” said Antoinette, “and I was anxious to
do something to relieve him. Rosalie told me that the medicine the
doctor had given him was an excitant and was greatly increasing his
suffering. She told me that the medicine she gave me was a sedative and
would stop his pain. She told me to put a little in the medicine at
first.
“I
tried it on him and was delighted to find that it acted as Rosalie said
it would. I gave it to him quietly several times when the pains
returned and it always stopped them.’’
This
declaration placed Rosalie Gire in a difficult situation, as she
undoubtedly had worked with the other woman. The police promptly
arrested her and questioned her. She denied absolutely that she had ever
supplied poison to Antoinette or made any statement like that
attributed to her by the other woman.
Then
Rosalie Gire made what was perhaps the most astounding revelation of
the whole case. She said that on the night of Rossignol’s death she
returned to his house, knowing that his condition was critical and that
Antoinette was exhausted.
“I went quietly into the sickroom,” said Rosalie, “and an astonishing sight, which I shall never forget, met my eyes.
The
dying man was lying on his back gasping, just breathing his last.
Antoinette was seated at a table near the bedside, enjoying a great
bottle of champagne, a cold pheasant with truffles and other delicacies.
“Just as Rossignol expired, she seated herself on the bed and leaned over him and peered into his eyes as one entranced.
“She
was so excited that she did not notice that I was present. On her face
was an expression of delirious joy, although the man I supposed she
loved deeply was living.
“I
asked her what was the meaning of this banquet, and she answered that
she had been obliged to take some refreshment to save herself from a
collapse, as she had been up for three nights and days.”
The police could find no evidence to connect Rosalie Gire of complicity in the poisonings and they released her.
It
appeared that Antoinette was in the habit of dropping a teaspoonful of
the arsenical mixture in a patient’s medicine. French doctors often
prescribe a medicine called a “tisane” in large quantities, and a
teaspoonful of the poisonous mixture was not likely to be noticed in
this.
Antoinette
could make the death of a patient as quick or slow as she pleased. As a
rule, it suited her wicked plans to be present at a long-drawn-out
agony.
The
deaths among Antoinette’s patients, for several months prior to her
arrest, ran at the rate of one a week. Basing their calculations on this
figure, many people are inclined to believe that she had killed as many
as a hundred victims during the last two years in this populous region
of Southern France. Others again believe that her frenzy for murder had
only reached its height in the past few months, and that the total in
the St. Gilles locality would not be over thirty.
On
March 24, six days after the death of Rossignol, Mlle. Martin, a pretty
young girl, daughter of the leading- lawyer of the town, died while
being nursed by Antoinette. The next death, as far as has been traced,
was that of Madame Gouant, on April 9, already referred to.
Just
before the death of Rossignol. The victims among Antoinette’s patients
had died fast. On Christmas Day occurred one of the most dramatic
tragedies in which she was involved. M. and Madame La Chapelle, two of
the most distinguished members of St. Gilles society, both died, one
within three hours of the other.
Investigation
showed that Antoinette had deliberately planned that this devoted and
interesting husband and wife should both die on the greatest festival of
the Christian year. She had planned for herself the supreme joy of
watching them expire in agony while the rest of the world was rejoicing.
Madame
La Chapelle was the first to fall sick from quinsy. Her husband, who
was devoted to her, spent most of his time at her bedside helping
Antoinette to nurse her. As a result, he became dangerously ill himself
of the same disease.
The
husband was confined to his bed. in the next room to his wife. With
great apparent kindness, Antoinette offered to nurse him, too. so that
no additional nurse need be brought into the house. The wife died first,
and Antoinette kept the husband constantly informed of her approach to
the end.
As soon as the wife died. Antoinette went into the next room and watched with dreadful joy the dying agonies of the husband.
Just
before this, on December 11, Mlle. Marie Drouard, a young girl much
admired in St. Gilles society, had died under the care of Antoinette.
One after another the deaths of those she had nursed in St. Gilles and
the neighborhood were traced back for two years.
Dr.
Max Vincent, one of the medical witnesses, testified that Antoinette
had lost all sense of right and wrong, but it was simply the wilful
wickedness of a normal mind and not a case of mental disease. He
considered her fully responsible for her acts from the legal no hit of
view.
The
trial in the city of Nimes aroused intense excitement and it was
difficult, to approach the courthouse. There was an almost interminable
procession of witnesses describing how they had lost their nearest and
dearest relations after they had been attended in their sickness by
Antoinette.
One
young woman, Mme. Mirman whom Antoinette had attended, survived her
treatment. The accused gave poison to her for an entire year without
killing her. She suffered cruelly and will probably continue to do so
for the rest of her life. With death-like, face and trembling hands, the
unfortunate woman described the details of her treatment by the nurse.
The
jury required one hour to decide the case of Antoinette Scierri, and
unanimously found her guilty. The judge then promptly sentenced her to
be guillotined.
[“Poisoned Her Patients - The
Guillotine Now Awaits Antoinette, the French Nurse, Who Couldn’t Resist
Mixing Arsenic in the Medicines as She Hurried 30 Victims to Their
Graves,” The American Weekly (San Antonio Light) (Tx.), Jun. 6, 1926, p.
7]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 4): Paris, May 29. – The only motive which the French police now hold in the mysterious poisoning of six persons by Antoinette Scierri, a nurse, is that she liked to see her victims’ death struggles. Although small sums of money were taken in several instances, it is believed that this was not the basic death motive. The nurse made wreaths for the graves of her victims and showed tender care during their last moments.
[“Poisoned Victims to Watch Them Squirm,” Prescott Evening Courier (Az.), May 29, 1925, p. 1]
***
EXCERPT (Article 3 of 4): Her last crime was to poison an elderly couple with whom she had lived, after stealing their entire savings. On three occasions she volunteered to nurse sick women friends, whose deaths she caused by introducing poison into the drugs prescribed for them by their physicians. Her first and most revolting murder was accomplished when she poisoned her fiance, "for the pleasure of watching his death agony," and celebrated over his corpse the dread "Mass of Satan." It was the latter which made France shiver. [“France: Extraordinary Murderess,” Time Magazine, May 10, 1926, p. ?]
***
FULL TEXT (Article 2 of 4): Paris, May 29. – The only motive which the French police now hold in the mysterious poisoning of six persons by Antoinette Scierri, a nurse, is that she liked to see her victims’ death struggles. Although small sums of money were taken in several instances, it is believed that this was not the basic death motive. The nurse made wreaths for the graves of her victims and showed tender care during their last moments.
[“Poisoned Victims to Watch Them Squirm,” Prescott Evening Courier (Az.), May 29, 1925, p. 1]
***
EXCERPT (Article 3 of 4): Her last crime was to poison an elderly couple with whom she had lived, after stealing their entire savings. On three occasions she volunteered to nurse sick women friends, whose deaths she caused by introducing poison into the drugs prescribed for them by their physicians. Her first and most revolting murder was accomplished when she poisoned her fiance, "for the pleasure of watching his death agony," and celebrated over his corpse the dread "Mass of Satan." It was the latter which made France shiver. [“France: Extraordinary Murderess,” Time Magazine, May 10, 1926, p. ?]
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VICTIMS
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FULL TEXT (Article 4 of 4): Paris, Aug. 12, -- president
Doumergue has commuted the death sentence of “La Sierri” [sic], the woman
poisoner of Nimes, thus refusing to break the precedent of 40 years’ standing
against execution of a French woman on the guillotine.
Word was sent to President Gouy of the Nimes court of
assizes instructing him that the woman convicted of murdering six persons for
the pleasure of killing was to be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Condemned murderers in France are not known by conventional
forms of address. And so Madame Sierri, upon her conviction last April for a
series of the most brutal crimes in the modern history of the county, became
“La Sierri.”
The last woman to be executed on the guillotine was “La
Thomas” mother murderer whose life was claimed by the state in 1886.
~ ‘Most Heartless Killer’ ~
Word from Nimes indicates that the convicted murderer
received word that her life had been spared with the same disinterest she
expressed during her trial. It would be hard to find in the annals of French
crime a more cynical woman prisoner than “La Sierri.” While 60 gendarmes were
required to keep back the crowds at her trial, she took little interest in the
proceedings, appearing content to bask in the glory of popular curiosity. She
even smiled when the judge scored her as “the most heartless killer in the
history of crime.”
“They call you a monster,” cried President Gouy at her. “But
that word does not fit you; you are worse. You possess every vice. You are
lazy, a hard drinker, vicious, a hypocrite. I don’t think there have ever been
a half dozen such criminals as you.”
La Sierri killed for the pleasure of killing, rather than
for the motive of robbing. Her victims were of all ages. She held a sick girl
of 18 to her breast, crooned hopeful phrases and pressed to her lips a poison
so deadly that 10 drops would kill a man.
~ One Lived to Accuse Her ~
She filled the coffee of an infirm man with arsenic, but the
old man had a constitution of iron and lived through the ordeal to enter court
and give evidence against her.
She went into homes to nurse the sick and left a trail of
deaths in her wake, most of which were traced to her poisons. She was tried on
the specific charge of having killed six persons with poison, one of whom was
her lover.
It was testified at her trial that she held orgies around
the bodies of her victims. She was said to have danced over the bodies or sat beside
them while she drank the strongest liquor she could obtain. These orgies lasted
throughout the night and then with dawn came sober thoughts and the woman
murderer cried as she responded to the families that her patients had died.
[Ralph Heinzen, “Woman Poisoner Not To Die On The Guillotine
– ‘La Sierri’ (sic), France’s Monster Killer, Given Life Imprisonment –
Murdered For The Sheer Pleasure Of Taking Life – Her Lover One of Last Six
Poisoned; Held Orgies Over Bodies of Victims,” Syndicated (United News) The
Evening Independent (St. Petersburg, Fl.), Aug. 12, 1926, p. 19]
***
Maria Audouard, died Dec. 1924
Joseph Rossignol, common-law husband, died Mar. 1925
M. & Mme. La
Chapelle, died Dec. 25, 1924
Mme. Marie
Martin, died
Mme. Boyer
(Doyer), died dec. 11, 1924
Mme.
Gouin-Criquet, died
Mme. Mirman, a young woman, survived, but permanently and seriously impaired
Mme. Mirman, a young woman, survived, but permanently and seriously impaired
***
***
BOOK: Emile Margraf, L'empoisonneuse de Saint-Gilles,
Editorial: Nimes, imp. Pujolas, 1926,, in-8 de 64 pp., texte sur 2 colonnes,
dessins de Paul Vaschalde et Emile Privat, photos ; br., couverture illustrée
par Paul Vaschalde. Antoinette Sierri, dite "l'Empoisonneuse de
Saint-Gilles" (Gard), qui avait empoisonné six personnes fût condamnée à
mort, puis graciée par le président de la république Gaston Doumergue. André
Breton la cite dans son ouvrage: "Nadja".
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What a sadist!!!
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