Friday, July 20, 2007
This Day in the History of Historical Distractions
On this day in 1914, the sensational trial of Madame Henriette Caillaux began in Paris. She was being tried for the murder of Gaston Calmette, editor of the newspaper Le Figaro, whom she had shot at 6 times with four hitting home. Calmette had repeatedly threatened to publish the love letters of Caillaux's husband, Joseph Caillaux, a cabinet member and former Prime Minister of France. The trial lasted 8 days and resulted in the acquittal of Madame Caillaux for a crime of passion. The day of the verdict, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and the Great War had begun.
Labels: WWI pre history
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 6:55 AM 
