Baptistine Favet Philip (Phillip), French Serial Killer - 1879

Note: Some sources give the spelling as "Phillip." Her maiden name was Favet and is cited in French sources as "Baptistine Favet, nee Philip."

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FULL TEXT: One of the most remarkable cases of wholesale poisoning since the days of Brinvilliers and Palmer concluded to-day before the Assizes of the Bouches-du-Rhone. The court sat at Aix, where the affair has created the greatest sensation. The prisoner is a middle-aged woman named Baptistine Philip, and she is accused of having poisoned her mistress, her uncle, and then her husband. The first alleged crime dates as far back as 1871. At that period she was in the service of an old widow lady named Martin, who was known to possess a round sum of money. The prisoner had not been there more than a month before the aged lady was taken ill and died in convulsions.

 

The house was searched by her relatives, but nothing save a few stray francs were found. In spite of these suspicious circumstances, no proceedings were taken against the servant. The prisoner then returned to the house of her husband, who lived with his uncle, an elderly widower in possession of a small fortune. In a short time the prisoner, according to the indictment, because the uncle’s mistress, and ultimately induced him to make a will in favor of his nephew, that is to say, her husband. A few weeks after this, in June 1876, the uncle died suddenly, and although the neighbors suspected foul play, still nothing was said to the Police.

 

The prisoner now got her husband to make a will in her favor. She then formed the acquaintance of a young man in the neighborhood, a clerk to the Mayor of Lambesc, and was afterward heard to express her regret that she was not a widow so that she might get married to him. Eventually, on the 31^st of November, 1878, her husband was taken ill, and died suddenly in terrible agony. The neighbors were at last aroused to action. The Police were informed of the prevailing suspicions, and the prisoner was arrested. The body of her husband was examined, and the doctors found a quantity of arsenic in it. This led to the exhuming of the bodies of the old widow lady and the uncle, and the same poison was discovered in both.

The trial has occupied several days. On the first day the Judge questioned the prisoner, and found he had met his match in the peasant Baptistine Philip. The Judge began thus: “You knew where to look when your designs necessitated the use of the substances which you have made such a criminal use?” The prisoner replied: “I never even knew where those substances were to be found, and even if I had known” – The Judge interrupted her, and went on to state that she had poisoned the Widow Martin. To this she retorted that the village doctor had deposed that she died of choleric diarrhea, whereupon the Judge said he had since retracted that statement.

Coming to the second case of alleged poisoning, the Judge having stated that a doctor was called in to see the victim and stopped the vomiting, the prisoner quickly interrupted, and said: “Then it was not poison.” So the unequal struggle went on, till, at the end of the interrogatoire, the Judge having made the usual observation to the prisoner, “That is your system of defense,” the prisoner exclaimed, “God in Heaven! You do not need a system when you have done nothing.” The hearing of the witnesses then began.

 

Several exciting incidents took place during the examination with regard to the death of the old lady, Martin. The prisoner, on being asked what had become of the money the deceased was known to have on the premises, replied that her mistress a few days before her death paid a large sum to the washer-woman. The person was forthwith called, and she denied the statement, on which the accused called her all sorts of ugly names, and the Judge had to reprimand her. Respecting the death of her uncle she also stoutly denied that she had become his mistress and was jealous when he talked of getting married. The evidence concerning the prisoner’s husband showed him to have been a weak-minded man, passionately fond of his wife. Here the accused exclaimed, “I was the happiest of women; why should I have destroyed that happiness by killing him, as you pretend?”

 

M. Isidore Blanc, Secretary to the Mayor of Lambesc, said he made the acquaintance of the prisoner shortly after her husband’s death. The accused denied it and ridiculed the idea of falling in love with a man old enough to be her father. Another important witness was a chemist named Girard, in whose service the prisoner had been before became the servant of the old widow lady, Martin. He said the key of her trunk opened the cupboard where he kept the poisons. A woman named Honorat declared that the prisoner when her husband was taken ill would go to the chemist and prepare the medicine herself, if the chemist was not at home. The medical evidence was then taken. Both the doctors who attended the three deceased persons, and the experts, declared that they had never come across such conclusive proofs of poisoning as those they had discovered in their post-moretem examination. The experts had, by means of the Marsh apparatus, detected in all the bodies a large quantity of arsenic, which was shown to the jury in glass tubes. Here the Judge reminded the prisoner that she was the only person who attended the deceased in their sickness, and the only person by their side when they died. To this she answered, “It is fatality; it is a mystery; I know nothing, only that I am innocent.”

 

The trial ended in the prisoner being found guilty, with extenuating circumstances, and she was sentenced to hard labor for life.

 

[“The French Female Poisoner. – How She Contradicted The Judge And Was Sent To Prison For Life.” The New York Times (N.Y.), Sep. 9, 1879, p. ?]

 

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FULL TEXT (translated from French): Baptistine Philip had listened to the indictment with an air of indifference, exhausted, sagging, as if three long audiences had shattered everything in her. One moment, however, she seemed to come out of her lethargy. The Advocate General recalled certain letters full of effusion written by Baptistine to Barthélémy at the time when the unfortunate man was fighting under the banner without suspecting that in Lambesc he was betrayed.

Me. De Séranon supplemented, as we have said, by warm eloquence the arguments, the cause of which in itself provided an essentially limited number. It was by casting doubt on the minds of the jurors that he endeavored to alleviate the horror of crimes. Widow Martin was ill, crippled; what could be more natural than his death? Laurent's death may have had drunkenness as the determining cause. Alcohol is also a poison!

As for the sad end of poor Barthélémy, if arsenic played an undeniable role in it, is it not allowed to suppose an accident? The hypothesis of an error, skilfully developed, suddenly seemed to germinate, to grow, to extend its roots in these southern minds who were sometimes quick to turn around.

When Monsieur le Conseiller de Bonnecorse began his summary, a rower spilled out into the room; deaf, but pierced here and there by the bursts of voices of a discussion. The president had to order the bailiffs to expel the disruptors.

The order is executed. Suddenly, a great movement takes place in the courtroom: Baptistine Philip struggles in the convulsions of a nervous crisis.

The hearing is suspended.

Care is provided to the accused, who is gradually recovering from her fainting. The hearing is resumed. The summary is ongoing.

But a new incident occurs. In the heavy atmosphere of the room amidst the excitement of the brains, a kind of panic emboldened the rowdy. The murmur becomes uproar. For the second time the president must intervene. From partial, the evacuation of the judicial compound is now complete.

Did the resistance of the crowd, the intersecting cries, the sound of rifle butts on the floor, impress Baptistine too violently? Or is it true that she has refused all food for two days? Or, finally, is it still a comedy?

Baptistine turns over as if she were succumbing to heat, weariness, starvation.

A doctor runs up. Further suspension of hearing; we oppose a cordial, cookies. The accused accepts nothing.

- I can't ... she stutters, compressing her chest with her pear trees, from which a short, wheezing breath escapes.

The doctors give her salts to breathe, Finally the prisoner recovers her senses.

This is the serious moment of deliberations. The jury withdraws. Between eleven o'clock and midnight, he returns to the session. A great silence precedes the reading of the verdict.

~ VERDICT ~

The verdict is affirmative on all counts: the poisoner of Lambesc killed the widow Martin, killed Laurent Philip, killed Barthélémy; the jurors, however, grant him extenuating circumstances.

Baptistine Philip, née Favet, is sentenced to hard labor for life. She was picked up rather than brought back to her cell in the detention center.

[“The poisoner of Lambesc,” La Petite Presse (Paris, France), Aug. 16, 1879, p. 4]

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FULL TEXT (translated from French): Baptistine Philip avait écouté le réquisitoire d'un air indifférent, harassée, affaissée, comme si trois longues audiences avaient brisé en elle tout ressort. Un moment, cependant, elle a paru sortir de sa lethargie. M. I'avocat général rappelait certaines lettres  pleines d'effusion écrites par baptistine à Barthélémy au temps où le malheureux combattait sous les drapeaux sans soupçonner qu'à Lambesc il était trahi.

Me. de Séranon a suppléé, comme nous l'avons dit, par une éloquence chaleureuse aux arguments dont la cause en elle-même fournissait un nombre essentiellement restreint. C'est en jetant le doute dans l'esprit des jurés  qu'il s'est efforcé d'alténuer l'horreur des crimes. La veuve Martin était malade, infirme; quoi de plus naturel que sa mort? La mort de Laurent a pu avoir l'ivrognerie pour cause déterminante. L'alcool aussi est un poison!

Quant à la fin si triste du pauvre Barthélémy, si l'arsenic y a joué un rôle indéniable, n'est il pas permis de supposer un accident? L'hypothèse d'une erreur, habilement développée, a paru subitement germer, pousser, étendre ses racines dans ces esprits méridionaux âi prompts parfois aux revirements.

Quand M. le conseiller de Bonnecorse a commencé son résumé, une rameur s'est répandue dans la salle; sourde, mais trouée çà et là par les éclats de voix d'une discussion. Le président à dû ordonner aux huissiers l'expulsion des perturbateurs.

L'ordre est exécuté. Tout à coup, un grand mouvement se fait dans le prétoire: Baptistine Philip se débat dans les convulsions d'une crise nerveuse.

L'audience est suspendue.

Des soins sont prodigués à l'accusée, qui revient peu à peu de son évanouissement. L'audience est reprise. Le résumé suit son cours.

Mais un incident nouveau se produit. Dans l'atmosphère lourde de la salle au milieu de la surexcitation des cerveaux, une sorte d'affolement enhardit les tapageurs. Le murmure devient tumulte. Pour la seconde fois le président doit intervenir. De partielle, l'évacuation de l'enceinte judiciaire est maintenant totale.

Les résistances de la foule, les cris qui s'entre-croisent, le bruit des crosses de fusils sur le parquet ont-ils trop violemment impressionné Baptistine? Ou bien est-il exact qu'elle ait, depuis deux jours refusé toute nourriture? Ou bien, enfin, est ce une comédie encore?

Baptistine se renverse comme si elle succombait à la chaleur, à lab lassitude, a l'inanition.

 Un-médecin accourt. Autre suspension d'audience; on oppose un cordial, des biscuits. L'accusée n'accepte rien.

— Je ne peux pas... bégaye-t-elle en comprimant de ses poiriers serrés sa poitrine, d'où une haleine courte et sifflante s'échappe.

Les docteurs lui donnent des sels à respirer, Enfin la prisonnière recouvre ses sens.

C'est l'instant grave des délibérations. Le jury se retire. Entre onze heures et minuit, il revient en séance, Un grand silence précède la lecture du verdict.

~ VERDICT ~

Le verdict est affirmatif sur tous les chefs: l'empoisonneuse de Lambesc a tué la veuve Martin, a tué Laurent Philip, a tué Barthélémy; les jurés, néanmoins, lui accordent les circonstances atténuantes.

Baptistine Philip, née Favet, est condamnée aux travaux forcés à perpètuité. On la remporte plutôt qu'on ne la ramené vers sa cellule de la maison de détention.

[“L'empoisonneuse de Lambesc,” La Petite Presse (Paris, France), Aug. 16, 1879, p. 4]

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Feb - Mar 10, 1871 – Widow Martin, employer, poisoned; died. 

Jun. 30 – Jul. 2, 1876 – uncle Bathelemy Philip, poisoned; dies. 

Dec. 31, 1878 – Laurent “Celestin” Philip poisoned, dies. (Nov. 31 in some sources) 

Aug. 14, 1879 – Baptistine convicted, sentenced to life of hard labor.

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[612-8/7/20]

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