Dr. Morphine

Morphine was invented in 1804 by pharmacist Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Sertürner, who was able to extract the substance from opium, the milky sap of the opium poppy. Since it was an effective painkiller that calmed the injured, he named his discovery morphine, derived from Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams. It was probably first used as a murder weapon by Dr. Edme Samuel Castaing. He was a French doctor who was born in Alençon during the French Revolution in 1789 as the youngest of three sons of a general inspector in the forestry department. Edme grew up in a middle-class family and won several prizes for his outstanding achievements during his school years in Angers. He then began studying medicine in Paris, where he concentrated entirely on experimenting with plant toxins, which he tested on numerous animals. Edme was a handsome young man with blond hair and a high forehead, who was considered a kind-hearted person and even treated the sick free of charge. When his good friend fell on hard times in 1818, he vouched for his loan of 600 francs. However, when the sum became due for repayment in 1820, his friend was unable to pay it, so Edme was asked to pay up. Edme had been in a relationship for some time with a Parisian widow who already had three children and with whom he fathered two more, whom he now had to provide for. The guarantee caused Edme, who graduated as a doctor from the Paris Faculty in 1821, to fall into serious financial difficulties. Edme lived at 31 Rue de l’Enfer in Paris. The wealthy Ballet family also lived on this street. Edme became friends with the family’s two sons, Hippolyte and Auguste. After their parents and uncle died one after the other, the fortune went to the two lawyer brothers and their married sister, Madame Martignon. As Hippolyte suffered from tuberculosis, he sought treatment from Edme, who died in his arms on October 5, 1822. The autopsy performed by Edme and another doctor revealed that he had died of tuberculous pleurisy. Only 17 days earlier, Edme had purchased 10 grains of morphine acetate. Shortly before his death, Hippolyte had told several people that he wanted to disinherit his wasteful brother. After his death, his estate was divided between Auguste and his sister, as no will had been found. Two days after Hippolyte’s death, Auguste sold shares worth 100,000 francs. He gave the money to Edme. This money was to be used to bribe the lawyer Lebret to destroy his brother’s will, which favored his sister. But instead, Edme took 66,000 francs to his banker on October 10 to invest the money. He sent his mother 30,000 francs on October 11 and gave his mistress 4,000 francs on October 14. A year passed before Auguste drew up a will on December 1, 1822, in which he named Edme as his sole heir. His sister was to receive nothing. This will was deposited with Edme’s cousin, who was a notary, on May 29, 1823. On the same day, Edme and Auguste took a trip to Saint-Cloud, where they rented a room with two beds for the night at the Auberge de la Tête Noire. In the evening, Edme served his friend warm wine, which he refined with sugar and lemon. During the night, Auguste developed severe colic and was unable to get out of bed. Edme seized the opportunity. He pretended to go for a morning walk in the park, but instead drove to Paris to buy 12 grains of morphine acetate from a pharmacist. He then drove back to Auguste, whom he gave cold milk to drink. Auguste then vomited violently. Edme called two doctors, who confirmed his diagnosis of cholera. That same evening, Edme took the prescription from one of the two doctors to give Auguste a spoonful of bitter syrup. Shortly afterwards, Auguste died around noon on June 1. The two doctors informed the gendarmerie of Auguste’s sudden death, whereupon Auguste’s body was autopsied. The autopsy revealed that Auguste’s death could have been due to natural causes. However, it could also have been poisoning with morphine acetate. Edme was arrested on June 2 and taken to prison in Paris, where he pretended to be mentally ill for three days. When he gave up his act, he was transferred to prison in Versailles. On November 10, 1823, his trial began before the Paris Assize Court for the murders of the brothers Hippolyte and Auguste Ballet and the destruction of Hippolyte’s will in front of countless onlookers. Edme had hired two lawyers. One was his former school friend, Roussel, and the other was the legendary criminal defense attorney Pierre-Antoine Berryer, who stated at the beginning of the trial that it was impossible to mask the bitter taste of morphine. He himself had put 2 milligrams in a tablespoon of milk and immediately spat it out because the taste was so bitter. Edme, who vehemently protested his innocence, stated that his motive for buying the poison was to use it on the dogs and cats in the street, whose noise was simply unbearable. However, he said he had not used it, but had disposed of it in the latrine. After two hours of deliberation by the 12-member jury, Edme was sentenced to death after eight days. After a failed appeal and a suicide attempt, 27-year-old Dr. Edme Samuel Castaing was executed by guillotine on December 6, 1823, at the Place la Gréve in Paris. Since Dr. Edme Samuel Castaing had used morphine, which had only been discovered 18 years earlier, as a murder weapon, he thus immortalized himself forever in criminal history.