Madame Caillaux and "De Figaro."

 

Joseph Caillaux, a french politician of the third republic, was inundated with accusations of corruption, but the newspaper "De Figaro" was defiantly zealous in it, and started a full smear campaign. 

In December 1913 the editor of "De Figaro," Gaston Calmette threatened to publish love letters written between Joseph Caillaux and his second wife, Henriette. These letters were written whilst Joseph was still married to his first wife.

On the 16th of March 1913, Henriette Caillaux went to the newspaper offices and shot Gaston Calmette six times, he died of his injuries later. 

During her trial she convincingly portrayed a woman full of emotion, and the all-male jurors were convinced she had shot him without pre-meditation or intent, and that she pulled the trigger because of a surge of unbridled female emotion. 

This in turn stalled Joseph Cailleux's public career and quashed any realistic chance of life beyond his marriage to Henriette, who risked all to win back his reputation.