She was given several minutes to compose herself, then driven from the Conciergerie to the Château de Vincennes where reporters and military officers were waiting. Among those present was Edouard Clunet. Witnesses said that as they embraced for the last time, Edouard became hysterical. At 5:45 a.m., Mata Hari was taken behind the château and tied to a wooden stake that had been placed in the ground. Twelve men aimed rifles at her chest. She nodded her head when she was ready and, at 6:00 a.m., the twelve men fired. Only three of the trained riflemen hit their mark, but one of the bullets pierced her heart. Mata Hari died at 6:06. She had refused a blindfold. When the execution was over, no one was allowed to claim her body. In accordance with tradition, an officer emptied his pistol into Mata Hari’s ear. Afterward, her body was brought to the University of Paris for medical research and experimentation. Mata Hari’s daughter, Jeanne Louise MacLeod, did sail to Java a few weeks shy of her twenty-first birthday.
