Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
Count Alfred Julien Gabriel Gérard Hippolyte Visart de Bocarmé was an insidious poisoner who came from the highest echelons of Belgian aristocracy. He was the son of Count Julien Visart de Bocarmé and Ida du Chasteler, and was born in 1818 during a stormy, tempest-tossed sea voyage to Java, where his father was due to take up the post of governor. Hippolyte grew up without any rules and, according to legend, was suckled by a lioness. After several years in Java, the family returned to Europe. When Hippolyte’s father was out of work in 1830, the family moved to Arkansas, where he worked as a trapper, before finally returning to Belgium to Bitremont Castle in the municipality of Bury. Hippolyte was a bit of a Casanova who led an extravagant lifestyle. To finance this, he married Lydie Fougnies in 1843. Although she was of middle-class background, she was the daughter of a wealthy merchant and apothecary. As Hippolyte’s father had passed away and he had inherited both the title and Bitremont Castle from him, the newlyweds lived at the castle from then on. Here they threw wild parties and organised special hunting expeditions. Naturally, neither Hippolyte’s income nor Lydie’s dowry was sufficient to fund this costly lifestyle, which is why Hippolyte accumulated more and more debt despite financial support from his father-in-law. Hippolyte’s worries – he was now the father of four – were mounting. Then Lydie’s father passed away, though he had bequeathed the bulk of his fortune to his son Gustave. However, Gustave was chronically ill and suffering from the after-effects of a foot amputation. As he was a bachelor, Hippolyte speculated that he might die young. If that were to happen, Lydie would inherit his fortune, and all his worries would be swept aside. But things turned out quite differently. For Gustave, the eternal bachelor, suddenly announced his engagement, which dashed any hopes of inheriting his fortune. Hippolyte, facing the threat of bankruptcy, had to act quickly. Hippolyte therefore invited Gustave to his castle, not only to discuss further details of the upcoming wedding, but also so that Gustave could act as lord of the manor for the next few days, as the couple allegedly had to travel to Germany at short notice. It was strange that, during the upcoming dinner, Hippolyte insisted that none of the servants should disturb them. Not even the children were allowed to join them for dinner. Shortly afterwards, the servants heard the two men arguing violently until one of them began to gasp for breath. Then there was silence. A little later, the Count opened the dining room door and informed the staff that his brother-in-law, Gustave, had suffered a stroke. The Count eagerly washed his bloodstained hands, whilst the Countess had vinegar fetched from the kitchen, with which Gustave was rubbed down. She also ordered that the floor be meticulously cleaned and that her husband’s clothes be washed and, in some cases, burnt. After news of Gustave’s death became known, the coroner Constant Heughebaert from Tournai arrived at the castle accompanied by gendarmes to investigate the circumstances of his death. The servants reported the altercation, which was confirmed by the scratch marks on Gustave’s face and the injuries to Hippolyte’s hands. It was notable that there was a chemical burn around Gustave’s mouth. To determine the cause of Gustave’s death, Coroner Heughebaert engaged the 37-year-old chemist Jean Servais Stas to carry out a toxicological examination. He took samples from the stomach and intestines. After weeks of experiments, Stas was certain that Gustave had been poisoned with nicotine. This was further supported by the fact that, during a search of the château, drops of liquid nicotine had been found on the oak floor in the dining room. This must have been forcibly poured down Gustave’s throat. According to investigations, Hippolyte had been experimenting for some time with extracting nicotine from the tobacco plants he had grown in the castle gardens. Not only had he purchased glass distillation apparatus under false names, but he had also been in frequent correspondence with a professor of chemistry whilst using an alias. To be certain of nicotine’s effects, he had carried out animal experiments on two cats and two ducks. These were exhumed and autopsied once the matter came to light. Hippolyte had eagerly read the writings of Mathieu Orfilas, who had extracted nicotine from tobacco leaves. According to Orfilas, the poison was undetectable. Once this had come to light, the evidence against the couple was so overwhelming that they were charged in court with the murder of Gustave Fougnies in Mons. Both accused each other of the murder. However, after 17 days of proceedings, Hippolyte was sentenced to death, whilst his wife was acquitted of complicity in the murder, much to the outrage of the public. On 19 July 1851, Hippolyte was executed by guillotine on the Grand-Place in Mons, in the presence of thousands of onlookers. To this day, the case is regarded as a milestone in toxicology due to the detection of nicotine; the method was modified by Professor of Pharmacy Friedrich Julius Otto, thereby immortalising the Stas-Otto separation process for the analysis of mixtures of medicinal substances.
