Marguerite’s father Edouard Louis Frédéric Japy was an industrialist who descended from the important Japy family. The Japy and Peugeot families were at the forefront of the industrialization of France. Her mother Emilie was an innkeeper’s daughter who found it very important to raise her daughter with the finest in education, manners, and arts.
The town of Beaucourt in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté was built around the Japy factory created in 1777 by Edouard’s grandfather. First focusing on watchmaking he also made machinery that helped create ironwork, locks, pumps, utensils, and later typewriters. Japy purchased the land and real estate and built a working-class city. The factory remained into the 19th century when pieces were sold off however the city is still vibrant today.
At 17 Marguerite was presented at the balls and quickly fell in love with a young officer, Pascal Sheffer. Her father didn’t feel he was good enough for her and quickly ended the relationship. In 1889, Marguerite visited her sister in Bayonne and met her future husband Adolphe Steinheil a young artist and nephew of historical artist Ernest Meissonier.
Adolphe was born on March 10, 1850, in Paris. His father Louis was a stained glass artist and worked on the restoration of the glass in Sainte Chapelle and for a short time Adolphe followed in his footsteps.
Adolphe and Marguerite married on July 9, 1890, in Beaucourt. The trio moved to Paris into a home her parents purchased in Montparnasse at 6 bis Impasse Ronsin. Marguerite was well connected in the capital and attracted all of the high and intellectual society including Emile Zola.
On June 25, 1891 daughter Marthe was born in Paris, The birth almost killed Marguerite and she wanted to end her marriage before it really got started. Consulting a friend of her husband’s, the attorney general of France. Who advised her to stay for her daughter’s sake. Her mother had divorced her father and his very wealthy family and had a horrific experience. The couple came to an understanding that they would stay together and live separate lives. Any requests that need to be made had to be in written form. They didn’t like each other very much and would end terribly.
Marguerite soon started an affair with the attorney general and many other men. Reading her memoirs is a who’s who of France that includes composers, generals, and diplomats.
In January of 1897, a trip to Chamonix brought a meeting between the President of France, Felix Faure, and the Steinheils. Adolphe was commissioned to do a portrait of the president which would result in numerous meetings back in Paris. At the Impasse Ronsin, President Faure arrived many times to sit for Adolphe but was also impressed with Marguerite.
The two began a close friendship which led to an affair that resulted in many private visits to Elysees Palace. She became the closest confidant of the president and he trusted her with everything including important papers. Meg as she was called was met by a private secretary and would enter through a back garden gate on the corner of Rue du Collisée and Champs Elysees and be taken to the Salon Bleu to meet with Felix.
According to her own memoirs, she was there to help the president with his biography. Faure showered her with gifts including a Lalique broach and comb. In 1898 he gave her a very expensive three-strand pearl necklace. Shortly after Faure learned the necklace had been stolen although he purchased it from a reputable seller. Faure asked her to hide it away and even break up the pearls and keep them apart from each other.
On February 16, 1899, Faure asked his secretary to invite Meg to Elysees for an important matter. She wasn’t feeling well that day and replied that she would the next day, Hours later Faure called on her himself and told her he needed her immediately. Upon her arrival, she met with Faure who had been complaining for days that he felt a bit off. Laying on the chaise he removed his pants and allowed Meg to pleasure him. Within a few moments the president in what she thought was a fit of ecstasy began to scream. He was in fact having a cerebral hemorrhage. When Meg realized she cried out for help but the doors were locked and she was trapped in his hands. When they finally entered the president was dead. Her hair had to be cut away to release his hand.
The entire matter was kept quiet and few outside the inner circle were aware of the exact manner of his death until years later.
Marguerite was heartbroken but quickly moved to other gentlemen that found her just as captivating. Cambodia’s king Sisowath and Parisian singer and the subject of Toulouse-Lautrec paintings Aristide Briand was often seen at her side. Just the popularity of being the mistress to the president had all of the town talking and watching to know more. A 1908 exhibition of her husband’s work in a gallery in the Marais drew such a crowd on the opening night that people were turned away. They were all there to catch a glimpse of Marguerite, not as much about the art itself.
In the early years, Adolphe painted his wife and the president even commissioned a painting for himself but after that, the two could rarely spend any amount of time together. It didn’t stop other artists including Jean-Baptiste Hugues (OOG) who used her as the model for Muse de la Source which is in the collection of the Musée d’Orsay but not on display.
On May 31, 1908, Marguerite’s mother came for a visit. She intended to arrive the day before but pushed it off a day. That evening they all went to bed, Marguerite slept in her daughter Marthe’s bedroom who was away, and her mother slept in her room.
The next morning when Rémy Couillard came down from his servant’s quarters in the attic he noticed the front door was open. Marguerite’s muffled screams were heard and Rémy discovered her tied to her bed with a rag in her mouth. Then the ghastly discovery was next. Adolphe was in the bathroom and had been strangled and the cord was still around his neck. In her own bedroom, they found her mother tied up and had died of a heart attack after being choked and strangled.
The police arrived and Marguerite told them it was four people, three men all dressed in black, one with a red beard. A woman in red stood in the back as they asked her where her mother’s money was. The police thought she had something to do with it at first but little evidence at the scene pointed in her direction. It was her actions after the event that caused more issues.
Frustrated the police hadn’t made any arrests she decided to float theories to them herself. At first, she thought it was Rémy and even hid one of those expensive pearls in his wallet. They quickly saw through that story. The son of her former cook Mariette, Alexandre Wolff was next but he wasn’t even there that evening.
On November 8, 1908, Marguerite was arrested and sent to Saint Lazarre prison for 352 days while they investigated her role in the crime. And it was then that the relationship with President Felix Faure was uncovered.
One year later on November 3, 1909, the trial began at the Assize court. While in prison Marguerite was telling anyone that would listen to her many versions of the event including the fact that she had killed them. At trial, she was also blamed for the death of the president suggesting that she had poisoned him during their act of passion.
On November 14 after a seven-hour deliberation, the jury came back and announced that she was not guilty. The judge remarked that they may have acquitted her but she was “full of lies”. Some suggest that it was from influence much higher up in Elysees palace that helped in her verdict.
Following the trial, Marguerite moved to London and changed her name to Madame de Serignac. Spending the first year writing her memoirs telling her side of the story of her life. You can find it online here but be prepared as it is pretty indulgent and full of name-dropping and a very guarded view of events. Author Hargrave Adams also published a book about the Steinheil case and under his investigation, Marguerite was guilty and lied under oath.
Marguerite petitioned to have the court interview and was able to have the book banned and removed in England.
She did find love again and was married on June 26, 1917, to Lord Robert Scarlett who was also the 6th Baron Abinger making Meg an official Lady. Their marriage lasted just 10 years until he died in 1927.
Margerite and her daughter Marthe had a very strained relationship after the death of her father and grandmother. Once her mother was arrested the other sides of her life were made public. Marthe never knew about her mother’s affair with the president or the lavish gifts he gave her. She also never knew of all the other men and had to see their photos and stories on the front of the paper each day.
In 1908 Marthe was engaged to Pierre Buisson. After the murder and press attention Marthe broke off the engagement in hopes he would avoid any embarrassment to his family. As her mom was taken away, Marthe broke off all contact with her until many years later after she left for London.
On July 25, 1911 Marthe married Italian Raphael Séraphin del Perugia. She had to give up her French heritage to marry him.
On December 2, 1912, a newspaper, it said she asked to be separated by the Italian government.
Raphael died on May 7, 1915
In Marguerite’s memoir, she notes that they had repaired their relationship and at the time of writing Marthe was sitting with her and pregnant. No info could be found after that or a death date for Marthe,
Marguerite died alone in a retirement home on July 18, 1954