Alfred de Marigny

Alfred de Marigny (29 March 1910 – 28 January 1998) was a French Mauritian acquitted of the murder of his father-in-law, Sir Harry Oakes.

Alfred de Marigny
Born29 March 1910
Mauritius
Died28 January 1998(1998-01-28) (aged 87)
Houston, Texas
ChildrenMorgan de Marigny, Philip de Marigny, John de Marigny

Biography

Marie Alfred Fouquereaux de Marigny,[1] whose real name was Alfred Fouquereaux, "de Marigny" being his mother's name, was born on 29 March 1910, in Mauritius to a well-off French family. He let people address him as Count, but it is clear that he was not part of a noble family.[2][3] De Marigny assumed the French title of count from his mother's side of the family.[4]

Sir Harry Oakes murder case

De Marigny married Sir Harry Oakes's daughter, Nancy, the day after her 18th birthday.[5] It was de Marigny's third marriage; both of the first two were also to wealthy women who broke off those relationships soon after marriage. When Sir Harry was murdered on 7 July 1943, de Marigny was the main suspect and was arrested shortly after.[6] At his trial, detectives which the Duke of Windsor, then Governor of the Bahamas, had brought in from Miami claimed to have found de Marigny's fingerprint near the bed of Sir Harry Oakes.[7] The defense argued that the fingerprint had been lifted and placed in the bedroom.[8] Nancy Oakes supported her husband throughout the trial and testified on his behalf.[9]

The jury acquitted de Marigny of the murder charge but gave a recommendation that he was an "undesirable alien" and should be removed from the island. The deportation recommendation is rumored to have been influenced by his unpopularity among the ruling class on the island. (The Duke of Windsor had described de Marigny as "an unscrupulous adventurer [with] an evil reputation for immoral conduct with young girls".[10]) Following his deportation, the de Marignys settled in Cuba[11] before separating in 1949.

Several books have been written about the case, including one by de Marigny himself. Many theories have been advanced, including suspected mob involvement, but the Nassau newspaper editor John Marquis insisted in his book Blood and Fire (published in 2005) that the murder was strictly a local affair, planned by wealthy Nassau whites to prevent Oakes from moving his money to Mexico. It implicated Sir Harold Christie in the plot and blamed the Duke of Windsor for orchestrating a cover-up by importing two crooked Miami detectives to conduct the investigation.

He was portrayed by Eric Murphy in "Rex v De Marigny", a 1993 dramatization of his murder trial for the Canadian drama anthology series Scales of Justice.[12]

Marriage and children

De Marigny was married four times:

  1. Lucie-Alice Cahen for four months in 1937[1]
  2. Ruth Fahnestock Schermerhorn (1937-?)[13]
  3. Nancy Oakes (1942–1949)[14]
  4. Mary Morgan-Taylor (1952–1998)[3]

His fourth marriage was the only one to produce children (three sons).

Later life

De Marigny went to Canada toward the end of World War II and enlisted in the Canadian Army in July 1945. He lived in Quebec for three years before being deported. He spent various amounts of time in the United States, Jamaica, Haiti and the US again before finally moving to Central America.[15]

He died in Houston, Texas,[16] He was survived by his wife, Mary; sons Morgan and John; grandchildren William, Alexandra, Elizabeth, George, Charlotte, and Mary Catherine. He was preceded in death by his son, Philip deMarigny.[17]

Published works
  • More Devil Than Saint (Bernard Ackerman, 1946)[18]
  • A Conspiracy of Crowns with Mickey Herskowitz (Bantam/Crown, 1990)

Biography
  • Blood and Fire by John Marquis (LMH Publishing, 2005)
  • A Serpent in Eden by James Owen (Little, Brown, 2005)

References
  1. "Faith and Circumstance". Time. 6 September 1943. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2008.
  2. Bourrie, Mark (1998). Flim Flam: Canada's Greatest Frauds, Scams, and Con Artists. Toronto: Dundurn Press. p. 24. ISBN 0-88882-201-4. The issue of whether de Marigny was a bona fide member of the nobility is a matter of some speculation. ... Later, in court, he would deny that he had ever described himself as a count, but both his first wife Ruth, whom he divorced after a few months, and Nancy Oakes called themselves countesses.
  3. Alain Mathieu, Dictionnaire de biographie mauricienne, p.2063
  4. King of Fools, by John Parker (author), New York 1988, St. Martin's Press.
  5. "Nancy Oakes von Hoyningen-Huene". The Times. London. 21 January 2005. Retrieved 15 September 2008.
  6. "The Great Oakes". Time. 19 July 1943. Archived from the original on 14 December 2008.
  7. Boyd, William (21 August 2005). "Trouble in paradise". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  8. "Expert Challenges De Marigny Print". The Washington Post. 9 November 1943. Capt. Maurice B. O'Neil, of the New Orleans police department, testifying in the Oakes slaying case, declared yesterday that a fingerprint offered to connect Alfred de Marigny with the slaying of his father-in-law did not come from the bedscreen on which Crown witness said it was found.
  9. "De Marigny's Wife Weeps on Stand". The Washington Post. 10 November 1943. Nancy de Marigny, in tearful testimony, pleaded, in substance, with the jury trying her husband. Alfred de Marigny, that he did not murder her multimillionaire father ... and when she finished the defense abruptly rested its case.
  10. Bennetto, Jason (19 January 2006). "Great unsolved crimes: The ex-King, the conman and a millionaire's murder". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 22 April 2008. Retrieved 15 September 2008.
  11. "De Marigny and Wife Arrive in Cuba to Make New Home". Los Angeles Times. 6 December 1943.
  12. Tony Atherton, "Oakes murder mystery an alluring TV drama". Ottawa Citizen, October 31, 1993.
  13. "Milestones, Jun. 1, 1942". Time. 1 June 1942.
  14. "Nancy Oakes a Bride; Wed in Nassau to Baron Ernst von Hoyningen Huene". The New York Times. 30 December 1952. Her marriage to Count Alfred de Marigny in New York in 1942 was annulled by the New York Supreme Court in 1950.
  15. Bourrie [1998]. Flim Flam, 37.
  16. Houston Chronicle 22 February 1998 Section A, Page 33
  17. Houston Chronicle, 30 January 1998, 26A.
  18. "untitled". Time. 22 April 1946. Archived from the original on 2 December 2007. Retrieved 15 September 2008. Count Alfred de Marigny, acquitted in 1943 of the unsolved Bahamas murder of his father-in-law, wealthy Sir Harry Oakes, turned author with a personal history: More Devil Than Saint (Bernard Ackerman; $3).
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