Alice de Janzé
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Alice de Janzé, née Silverthorne (28 September 1899 – 30 September 1941[1]), also known as Alice de Trafford, was an American heiress who spent several years in Kenya, where she was involved in a famous murder case. She was also tried for attempted murder once.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Alice was born in Buffalo, Erie County, New York, the only child of wealthy shoe manufacturer William Edward Silverthorne (of Scottish origin) (3 February 1867 – 30 January 1941) and his wife, Julia Belle Chapin, an heiress to the family that owned one of the most well-known meatpacking companies of the time, Armour and Company. The couple were married in Chicago on 8 June 1892 but settled in Buffalo. Alice's mother died in 2 June 1907 of tuberculosis. Alice herself was infected with it ever since her birth, although, throughout her life, it remained an asymptomatic latent infection.
Alice was introduced to wild social life ever since her early adolescence. She was one of the most prominent socialites of Chicago during the late 1910s and early 1920s, frequenting the most fashionable nightclubs of the time, with the encouragement of her father. Her father also took her to several travels around Europe and further encouraged his daughter's introduction to the wild nightlife. However, her wild adolescent years had left Alice with a chronic depression that was to accompany her for the rest of her life.
After her mother's death, she was raised by a German governess, due to the fact her father was frequently absent by reason of his professional obligations. While she was still a teenager, her father was involved in an inexplicable and mysterious accident, which was possibly owing to his chronic alcoholism. After that, her father lost custody on her and an uncle of hers assumed the role of legal guardian.
Due to her glamorous lifestyle and extraordinary life, Alice herself had grown eccentric and unconventional. Her two great passions, based on her own words, were cocktails and animals. Her temperament had also become highly unpredictable, ranging from deep melancholy to sudden fits of rage.
[edit] 1920-1927: Paris and marriage with de Janzé
When she was 21 years old, she travelled to Paris, where she met Count of Janzé alias Comte Frederic Victor de Janzé, a well-known French racing driver of the time and heir to an old aristocratic family of Bretagne. Frederic also used to frequent literary circles, having personally met people such as Marcel Proust and Anna de Noailles. The couple married in 21 September 1921 in Chicago. Their marriage produced two daughters, Nolwén Louise Alice de Janzé (20 June 1922 – 7 March 1989) and Paola Marie Jeanne de Janzé (born 1 June 1924). Nolwén would later marry famous art historian Kenneth Clark.
Alice was not a good mother and was perfectly aware of that. She consciously neglected her daughters by handing them over to governesses. Eventually, the children would end up being raised by Frederic's sister in their family chateau in Normandy. Alice would only see her children occasionally in the following years, during her rare visits to Paris, (after having permanently set in Kenya). Years later, Nolwén would state that she did not feel bitterness or hostility for her mother during their brief meetings together but would actually be fascinated by this virtually unknown woman who brought with her an air of mystique, owing to her permanent stay in Africa.
Alice and Frederic would first travel to Kenya in 1925. There, they spent some time in the so-called Happy Valley, Kenya, a community located in Wanjohi Valley that consisted mainly of British colonials. The community was located in the Aberdar mountains and had become notorious among socialites in England for being a paradise for all those seeking an hedonistic lifestyle, including drugs, alcohol and various sexual affairs between the members of the community. Frederic de Janzé himself documented his time in Happy Valley and all the various eccentric personalities he met there in his book, Vertical Land, which was published in 1928.
The de Janzés were essentially among the founding members of this newly-formed community of expatriates. The house where they lived was next to the house of the founders of Happy Valley, namely, Josslyn Victor Hay, Earl of Erroll, and his wife, Idina. According to author Errol Trzebinski, Frederic and Alice had already met with Hay and Idina while in Montparnasse, some time earlier, though this meeting was discrete and widely unknown to the public [2].
Alice caused a sensation to the people of Happy Valley, due to her wild personality, sarcastic sense of humour, natural beauty and unique sense of fashion. She would often speak passionately about animal rights or play ukulele. Alice would also soon fall in love with Erroll himself, arguably one of the most famous residents of Happy Valley and a notorious philanderer. The two of them enjoyed a secret love affair for some time. After Alice and Frederic returned to Happy Valley in 1926, she started another love affair, this time with British nobleman Raymond Vincent de Trafford (1900 – 1971), son of Sir Humphrey de Trafford, 3rd Baronet. Frederic soon became aware of his wife's infidelity, though he did not became extremely preoccupied by that, as the de Janzés had already acclimated in the libertarian atmosphere that prevailed in the community. However, Alice's infatuation with de Trafford was so great that the couple attempted to elope at some point, though they promptly returned. Frederic then returned to Paris with Alice, in a desperate attempt to save his marriage, but it was already too late. Alice, madly in love with de Trafford, soon returned to Kenya and eventually she and de Janzé divorced in Paris on 16 June 1927. Frederic died on 24 December 1933, in Baltimore, of septicaemia.
[edit] 1927: Murder attempt and trial
On 25 March 1927, while in Paris Raymond informed Alice that his family, fanatic Catholics, threatened to disinherit him were he to marry her. A few hours later, in the Gare du Nord, while he was about to leave the city by train, within the compartment, Alice kissed him, pulled a revolver from her purse, shot him and then shot herself. Raymond was gravely injured near the heart, whereas she was superficially injured to her stomach. It was later revealed that after Raymond had announced his decision and the couple had lunched in a restaurant, they had visited a gunshop where Alice, unbeknownst to Raymond, bought the fatal revolver that she was determined to use.
The incident made headlines all over the world. Fort Covington Sun reported the following[3]:
America, France and England were all threatened in the tragedy in the Gare du Nord, Paris, when Countess de Janze, estranged wife of Frenchman, shot Raymond V. de Trafford, scion of a prominent British family, and then put a bullet through her own body. The countess was Alice Silverthorne of Chicago, cousin of J. Ogden Armour and well-known in American social circles. Her relations with De Trafford recently led her husband to file suit for divorce. For several days after the shooting it was believed both the countess and De Trafford would die, but latest reports are that they are out of danger.
In her own words, this is how it happened [4]:
... The whistle of London Express blew, and I realized that he was going away from Paris - and from me forever - I suddenly changed my mind and resolved to take him away with me into the Great Beyond. Slowly - very slowly - I loosened my grip around his neck, placed the revolver between our two bodies, and, as the train started, fired twice - into his chest and my own body.
After the incident, Alice found herself imprisoned in the famous Saint Lazare, a women-only prison in Paris [5], held on a charge of attempted murder. Her cell had hosted several notorious female criminals in the past, including Mata Hari, Marguerite Steinheil and Henriette Caillaux. The scandal assumed enormous proportions in the United States of America, England and of course France. However, Raymond refused to testify against her in trial, attempting to alter the events to her favour:
As we were about to part – she was kissing me -- I told her that I loved her, and again whispered to her not to take my decision as irrevocable. I even told her that we would meet again. As she was leaving me she attempted suicide. But a movement on my part caused the weapon to be deflected. I am sure that she did not intentionally fire at me. The accident was due to my imprudence.
During the much-discussed trial, it became increasingly obvious that public view was sympathetic towards Alice. In the eyes of the crowd, Alice was the tragic heroine of a true crime of passion and the judge was apparently influenced by public view. In the end, she received a very small penalty, in analogy to her crime. She was handed down a suspended sentence of six months in prison before being released. In 1929 she received a full presidential pardon from President of France Gaston Doumergue[6]. During the trial, it was revealed that, throughout her life, Alice had attempted suicide a total of four times.
[edit] 1928-1941: Second marriage and return to Kenya
In early 1928, Alice returned to Kenya but was ordered by the state to abandon the country, being declared a persona non grata. In the few more weeks she spent there, she resumed her old affair with Josslyn Hay. She also met Karen Blixen, who was a friend of Hay. She then returned to the French capital and later resumed her affair with Raymond de Trafford. The couple married on 22 February 1932 in Neuilly-sur-Seine and had plans of buying a house in London. However, they split only three weeks after the wedding. Reportedly, they had a quarrel while being in a café, which ended when Raymond threw his drink in Alice's face. They never saw each other again. The divorce was not finalised up until 25 October 1937 in London, and was granted to Alice decree nisi on grounds of adultery[7]. In 1939, Raymond would be sentenced to a three-year imprisonment after killing a passerby with his car, which he was driving under the infuence of alcohol. Several years later, Alice would discuss with her friends and humorously refer to the railway station incident and how she had tried to kill one of her husbands but "sadly had botched it up"[8].
After permanently splitting with Raymond, Alice was re-admitted to Kenya and returned to Happy Valley where she settled on a permanent basis. Alice spent the following years reading a lot and taking care of her animals. Her farmhouse housed all kinds of animals, including lions and tigers. She would often be seen wandering around with a panther she kept as a pet. At the time, she was no longer the stunning beauty she used to be several years ago, mainly due to her abuses of alcohol and drugs, namely morphine. She had also grown more reclusive and melancholic. Many people in the community regarded her as dangerous and half-insane, still recounting the Gare du Nord episode.
[edit] 1941: Murder scandal and suicide
On 24 January 1941, Josslyn Hay aka Lord Erroll was found murdered (shot) in his car, in an intersection outside Nairobi. Police started investigations in order to solve the crime and Alice was initially considered one of the basic suspects. Alice herself had an alibi, having spent an intimate night with a fellow member of the community, Dickie Pembroke. Alice went on to become emotionally attached to Pembroke and start a regular relationship with him, although he was never committed to this affair as much as Alice. He would later be transferred by the military service he worked for in Cairo and Alice would keep on sending him letters in the following months.
On the morning after Hay's corpse was discovered, Alice went to the morgue with a friend of hers (and onetime lover), Julian Lezzard, a notorious British gambler, also a member of the community. According to eyewitnesses, Alice, who was constantly in love with Hay ever since she had first met him, left a tree branch on the dead man's body, kissed his lips, pulled the sheet back and subsequently grabbed Hay's hand, whispering "Now you are mine forever". After this story was circulated, many people considered Alice as being Hay's murderer, having committed yet another crime of passion. It was also rumoured that Alice had confessed killing Hays to Lezzard.
Eventually, it was Sir Henry John "Jock" Delves Broughton who was accused of Hay's murder. Sir Jock was the most obvious suspect, since it was quite known that his young wife, Diana, was openly Hay's mistress, an affair that was humiliating for Delves Broughton, to say the least. Eventually, Delves Broughton was acquitted due to lack of evidence (following testimonies that reportedly involved a great deal of perjury). Years later, White Mischief author James Fox claimed that Jock Delves Broughton was in fact the murderer and that he had confessed the murder to a 15-year old girl, Juanita Carberry, whose parents were friends with Hay, though the girl did not admit the story until decades later.
Alice paid regular visits to Delves Broughton in prison. On August 1941, she was submitted to hysterectomy, after being diagnosed with uterine cancer. Shortly afterwards, she attempted suicide by overdosing on Pentobarbital but was rescued by a friend of hers, who called on a doctor to perform gastric lavage. On 30 September 1941 she again attempted suicide. She shot herself. This time she was successful. She was found dead in her farmhouse in Gilgil, Kenya, two days after turning 42. She left three suicide notes, one aimed to the police (whose content was never disclosed), one to her daughters and one to Pembroke. She reportedly asked her friends to throw a cocktail party above her grave. Delves Broughton also committed suicide on 5 December 1942.
[edit] Movie adaptation
The events surrounding the murder of Lord Erroll were the basis of the book White Mischief, written by James Fox and published in 1983. The book was later made into a 1987 movie, starring British actress Sarah Miles as Alice. The film adaptation focuses heavily on Alice's eccentric traits, namely her obsession with animals, drug habits and nymphomania. As such, Miles' role was among the most memorable of the film. Miles generally received positive reviews. There are numerous notorious scenes involving Alice's character, such as a scene where she is shown watching a polo match with a python draped around her shoulders or the infamous encounter with Lord Erroll's body, as well as over-the-top lines delivered by Miles' character (arguably the most famous line of the movie comes from Alice: "Oh God, not another f*****g beautiful day").
[edit] Tender is the Night inspiration
The railway station incident which became an international scandal also inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald in his novel Tender is the Night (1934). In Book 1, Chapter XIX, a character, Maria Wallis, who is an acquaintance of the Divers (the protagonists in the novel) is talking to a man who is about to depart from Paris by train. While on the platform, Maria takes a distance from the man, pulls a revolver from her purse and shoots him. The train stops and, minutes later, the man is carried away on a stretcher whereas the woman is taken away by gendarmes. Dick Diver, who rushes to the crime scene to help, announces to his company that Maria Wallis has shot an Englishman through his identification card. The whole sequence (which doesn't play an important role in the novel) was allegedly inspired by the 1927 incident, with Maria modelled after Alice. The railway station where the event takes place is chosen to be Gare Saint Lazare.
[edit] Miscellanea
- Alice's oldest daughter, Nolwén, was born in Paris but spent several years in London. She became a fashion designer and was president of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers in the 1950s[9]. Nolwén was married three times and had two children, a son, Frederic Arnand-Delille and a daughter, Angelique. Her first marriage was with Lionel Arnand-Delille (they married in 23 November 1948). Her second husband was Edward Rice. In 1977 she was married to famous art historian Kenneth Clark. He died in 1983. Nolwén herself died on 7 March 1989 in Parfondeval, France, at the age of 67, after undergoing a heart surgery.
- Alice was cousin to Armour and Company meatpacking magnate J. Ogden Armour (1863 – 1927).
- Following his wife's death, William Edward Silverthorne remarried a total of four times. He had five children with his second wife, many of which died at infancy. At the time of her death, only two of Alice's half-siblings were alive: William Edward Silverthorne Jr (1912 – 1976) and Patricia Silverthorne (born 1915).
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Her birth and death date according to http://www.ancestry.com/trees/awt/main.aspx. The website reports History of the Silverthorn Family (1982) by Frank Fremont Reed, published in Chicago, as the source of information. The death date reported by another site (http://www.thepeerage.com/p7729.htm) is obviously incorrect as shown by obituaries and articles published on several newspapers on 30 September 1941 (including Reno Evening Gazette and The Kansas City Star) which confirm Alice's death on that day.
- ^ "Dirty Work at the Crossroads", The Spectator, March 18, 2000
- ^ Fort Covington Sun, 14 April 1927
- ^ The Best Jail Cell in Paris
- ^ "Lazare Day", Time, August 22, 1923
- ^ The Kansas City Star, 30 September 1941
- ^ Winnipeg Free Press, Wednesday, October 27, 1937
- ^ Hero on Three Continents, p. 210
- ^ "Nolwen de Janze Clark, Fashion Designer, 65", The New York Times, March 9, 1989
[edit] References
- Fox, James (1983). White Mischief. New York: Random House, 1983.
