Eugénie Fougère (demimondaine)
Eugénie Fougère | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Cover of Le Petit Journal of October 4, 1903, about the murder of Fougère in Aix-les-Bains | |
| Born | March 17, 1861 Chambon-sur-Voueize, France |
| Died | September 20, 1903 (aged 42) Aix-les-Bains, France |
| Cause of death | Strangled |
| Body discovered | Aix-les-Bains |
| Nationality | French |
Eugénie Fougère (Chambon-sur-Voueize, March 17, 1861[1] - Aix-les-Bains, September 20, 1903[2][3]) was a French frequenter of the demi-monde. She was notorious for her luxurious jewelry and costumes.[4]
She should not be confused with the vaudeville actress also named Eugénie Fougère,[4] although the two knew each other, mixed in the same circles, and even lived in the same street in Paris for a while.[2]
Life[edit]
Fougère was born in 1861 in Chambon-sur-Voueize, a small town in the Limousin region in central France. In 1880, she left Chambon-sur-Voueize at the age of 19 and went to Montluçon where she began to work as a waitress and maid. Quickly, her beauty was remarked and she received some nicknames, such as Miss chocolate. Soon she followed a lover to live in Paris and became a model of a major fashion house.[1][3]
She started to frequent the demi-monde in Paris, Monaco, Biarritz, Nice and even South America. She spent her winters at the casino in Monte Carlo and her summers in the posh spa Aix-les-Bains. Eventually she started using opium and ether.[2]
Murder[edit]
In the morning of September 20, 1903, she was murdered along with one of her housemaids in the luxury guest house Villa Solms in Aix-les-Bains, a fashionable water cure with a casino at the time. The crime was supposedly committed by thieves who wanted to obtain her jewelry.[2][4] A female servant was also murdered, and another was "so maltreated that she had lost her reason".[2][4]
Police investigations revealed that the suffering female servant, Victorine Giriat, in fact organised the murder with one Henri Bassot, who acted as the mastermind.[4]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Carriat, Amédée & Andrée Louradour (1987). Glanes d'archéologie, d'histoire et de littérature creusoises, Société des sciences naturelles et archéologiques de la Creuse, pp. 106-109. (in French)
- ^ a b c d e Bossy, Anne-Marie (2007). Les Grandes Affaires Criminelles de Savoie, Romagnat: Editions de Borée, ISBN 978-2-84494-503-7, pp. 81-104. (in French)
- ^ a b Gravier, Frédéric (2006). La Creuse 1900-1920, Romagnat: Editions de Borée, ISBN 978-2-84494-401-6, p. 146. (in French)
- ^ a b c d e Scientific Methods of Assassination; Latest Development of Crime in the French Capital – Fougere Case, The New York Times, November 8, 1903
