The Invention of Murder (73 page)

182 Hidden Guilt: Davis,
Britannia Diaries,
pp.79–80.
She is mine!:
Anon., ‘Marie de Roux, or, The Progress of Crime’, unpublished playscript, for performance at the Britannia Theatre, Hoxton, 1860, in Lord Chamberlain’s Plays, BL Add MSS 52990 (L).

183
resulted in guilty verdicts:
Ian A. Burney, ‘A Poisoning of no Substance: The Trials of Medico-Legal Proof in Mid-Victorian England’,
Journal of British Studies,
vol. 38, no. 1, 1999, p.69.
a grain of arsenic:
A. Keith Mant, ‘Science in the Detection of Crime’,
Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce Journal,
141, 1983, pp.549–55 is very useful, but while Mant discusses Eliza Fenning’s case, he is unfortunately under the impression that someone died, and that it was the contents of the stomach which, when examined, blackened the knife blade and smelt of garlic.
being honest people:
Old Bailey trial transcript, ref.: t18100919–37.
sentenced to death:
The outline of the case and the trial can be found in the Old Bailey trial transcript, ref. t18150405–18. There are scarcely any newspaper accounts of the trial itself apart from a report in the
Morning Chronicle,
15 April 1815. Most of the reports (see below) appeared during the publication war that followed. I am grateful to David Crane for the information on Mrs Fenning’s legal councel.
before a working-class one:
Patty Seleski, ‘Domesticity in the Streets: Eliza Fenning, Public Opinion and the Politics of Private Life’, in
The Politics of the Excluded, c.1500–1850,
ed. Tim Harris (Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2001), p.273.
protested her innocence: Citations from John Marshall are all from Five Cases of Recovery from the Effects of Arsenic… To Which are Annexed Many Corroborating Facts… Relative to the Guilt of Eliza Fenning (London, C. Chapple, 1815).
suffering and anxiety: The Times, 27 September 1815, p.4.
most voluptuous language: Observer:
‘Condemned Criminals in Newgate’, 23 July 1815, ‘Execution of Eliza Fenning …’ and ‘Republication of the Trial of Eliza Fenning for Poisoning a Family’, 30 July 1815; ‘Statement of the Medical Men Regarding the Guilt of Eliza Fenning’, 6 August 1815, ‘Eliza Fenning’, 24 September 1815.
written by John Watkins: Citations from John Watkins are from his The Important Results of an Elaborate Investigation into the Mysterious Case of Elizabeth Fenning… (London, William Hone, 1815).
the judicial office: Gatrell, The Hanging Tree, p.359.
would have hanged anyone.
Dickens to Walter Thornbury, 22 December 1866, Dickens,
Letters,
vol. 11, p.288.

192
notoriously guilty: British Critic, 4, December 1815, pp.631–6.
more about them than myself Anon., Elizabeth Fenning’s own Narrative of circumstances which occurred in the family of Mr. Turner, from the time of her going into their service until her apprehension … (London, no publisher, [1815]), pp.4, 7, 8.

193
did not go unnoticed:
Seleski, ‘Domesticity in the Streets’, pp.275–6.
dirtied when she knelt: T.W.W[ansbrough]., An Authentic Narrative of the Conduct of Eliza
Fenning… till her Execution … By the Gentleman who Attended Her (London, Ogles,
Duncan, & Cochran, 1815), p.19.
use of Shell: Watkins, The Important Results, p.95.
insulting language: Ibid., p.97.

194
propriety and decorum: Affecting Case of Eliza Fenning, Who Suffered the Sentence of the Law, July 26,1815 … (8th edn, John Fairburn, [1815]), p.40.
a common saying: Ibid.

195
CONSIDERABLE MEDICAL INFORMATION:
This is a single sheet, headed, ‘CORONER. The Following Letter has just been addressed to the CHAIRMAN of MR. WAKLEY’S Committee …’ (London, no publisher, 1830), in the British Library, shelfmark 74/1880.c.1.(180.).
had confessed to the crime: The Times,
‘New. CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE’, 21 July 1857.

196
Caliao, Peru: Morning Chronicle,
shipping lists, 15 October 1855. I am grateful to Jill Grey for her information on Callao and South American shipping into Queenstown.
spoon still in it:
Samuel James Arnold, trans.,
The Maid and the Magpye, or, Which is the Thief? A Musical Entertainment,
‘freely translated, with alterations, from the French … First Performed at the Theatre-Royal, Lyceum, On Monday, August 21, 1815’, music by H. Smart (London, John Miller, 1815). The other two versions were: Anon.,
The Magpie; or, The Maid of Palaiseau
. ‘Performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, on Tuesday, September 12, 1815’ (London, John Murray, 1815); and Isaac Pocock,
The Magpie or the Maid?
‘Translated and Altered from the French … First performed at the Theatre-Royal, Covent-Garden, On Friday, September 15, 1815. The Music Composed by Mr. Bishop’ (London, John Miller, 1815).

197
tippytoeing behind:
This particular version is in the Bodleian Library, John Johnson Collection, Miniature Theatres, 2, 46–52.
making people
thieves: Anon.,
Dolly and the Rat, or, The Brisket Family. A Burlesque, Tragic, Comic, Operatic Parody on The Maid and the Magpie
(London, Duncombe, 1823). Allardyce Nicoll,
History of Early Nineteenth Century Drama,
vol. 1, p.426, lists [Anon.],
The Brisket Family; or, The Running of the Rat,
also at the Olympic, in 1822. There appears to be no surviving copy of this title, and it is not therefore clear if this is an earlier version, the same play with a different title, or possibly not based on Eliza Fenning at all.
wondered the
Satirist:
Satirist,
‘The Theatres’, 8 October 1837.

198
judge by appearances:
George Dibdin Pitt, ‘Charlotte Hayden, the Victim of Circumstance, or, The Maid, the Master and the Murderer’, unpublished playscript, for performance at the Britannia, Hoxton, June 1844, Lord Chamberlain’s Plays, BL Add MSS 42976 (11) ff.385–464.
of the comic man:
Jerome K. Jerome,
Stage Land: Curious Habits and Customs of its Inhabitants
(London, Chatto & Windus, 1889), pp.14, 3.

199
I am innocent:
Playbill, Pavilion Theatre, 22 July 1854, Victoria and Albert Museum Theatre Collection.
so many dumplings:
Anon., ‘Eliza Fenning, The Victim of Circumstances’, unpublished playscript, for the Britannia Saloon, September 1855, Lord Chamberlain’s Plays, BL Add MSS 52956E; Anon., ‘Eliza Fenning’, unpublished playscript, performed at the Victoria Theatre, August 1857, Lord Chamberlain’s Plays, BL Add MSS 52967 (W).

200
White was one:
Wybert Reeve,
From Life
(London, George Robertson, 1891), p.4.
disrepute is repeated:
Wilkie Collins, ‘Cases Worth Looking At. II. The Poisoned Meal’, in
My Miscellanies
(London, Samson, Low, Son, 1863), vol. 2, pp.114–72.

201
to leave immediately:
Charles Dickens,
Little Dorrit,
ed. John Holloway ([1857], Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1985), p.774.

202
butler was Courvoisier’s uncle:
This detail is reported in Simpson,
Witnesses to the Scaffold,
p.98, but without a source. I have seen it in none of the newspaper reports, but it would explain how a valet could afford such a high-flying barrister.
verdict followed swiftly:
The outline of Courvoisier’s crime, trial and execution has been taken from the Old Bailey trial transcript, ref. t18400615–1629, and the following newspaper reports:
Bell’s Life,
10, 17, 31 May, 21, 28 June, 12 July 1840;
Era,
17, 24 May, 12 July 1840;
Examiner,
17, 24, 31 May, 21, 28 June, 12 July 1840;
John Bull,
10, 17, 24, 25, 31 May, 21, 22 June, 6 July 1840;
Morning Chronicle,
7, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 20, 23, 25, 28 May, 1, 8, 19, 25 June, 7 July 1840;
The Times,
7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 28 May, 8, 19, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27 June, 6, 7 July 1840. A twentieth-century summary is Yseult Bridges,
Two Studies in Crime
(London, Hutchinson, 1959).

203
vigilantly employed: Satirist,
5 July 1840, p.5. Dickens,
Letters,
vol. 2, pp.86–8.

204
There goes the reward:
Arthur Conan Doyle,
The Sign of Four
([1890], Harmondsworth, Penguin, 2007), p.121.
father was killed:
Dickens,
Bleak House,
p.250; Braddon,
One Life, One Love,
vol. 2, p.168.
that dreary date:
Elizabeth Barrett to Miss Mitford, April 1840,
Elizabeth Barrett to Miss Mitford,
ed. Betty Miller (London, John Murray, 1954), p.99.
I like murders:
Cited in Senelick, ‘The Prestige of Evil’, p.95.

205
SKETCHES IN NEWGATE: Odd Fellow, 27 June 1840, p.104.
five guineas each: Morning Chronicle,
‘Execution of Courvoisier’, 7 July 1840.

206
in Shrewsbury:
David D. Cooper,
The Lesson of the Scaffold
(London, Allen Lane, 1974), pp.21–2.
Hangs the hangman: Mayhew,
London Labour,
Vol. 3, p.57.
strangled to death:
Cooper,
Lesson of the Scaffold,
pp.22–3.

207
our land of blood:
‘WMT’ [William Makepeace Thackeray], ‘Going to See a Man Hanged’,
Fraser’s Magazine,
22, 128, August 1840, pp.150–58.

208
boy-bandits: The Times,
25 June 1840, p.14; [letter] 7 July 1840, p.7;
Morning Chronicle,
11 July 1840, p.5.

209
carefully curled hair
‘Awful Murder of Lord William Russell, M.P.’ (London, Paul & Co., [1840]), Bodleian Library, John Johnson Collection, Broadsides: Murders and Executions, Large Folder;
Penny Satirist,
23 May 1840, p.1.

211
recommendation to mercy:
Sarah Thomas’s crime, inquest, trial and execution details are compiled from:
Bristol Mercury,
10, 17, 24 March, 7, 14, 21 April, 1849;
Daily News,
9, 15, 16 March, 21, 23 April 1849;
Manchester Guardian,
14, 17 March, 25 April 1849;
Morning Chronicle,
5 April 1849;
Observer,
12, 18 March 1849.
petition for mercy:
Number of signatories:
Daily News,
‘The Execution at Bristol’, 23 April 1849; I have extrapolated the number of women in Bristol from the 1851 census. The population of Bristol was c.135,000 at the time, and about 32 per cent were children under fifteen years of age; my figure has been reached by assuming that women made up 50 per cent of the population.

212
defence of the murderer: Era,
‘More Murder. One Servant Too Many’, 18 March 1849;
Manchester Guardian,
25 April 1849, p.5;
Observer,
12 March 1849, p.6.
6,000 handbills: Bristol Mercury,
‘Abolition of the Punishment of Death’, 21 April 1849;
Bristol Mercury,
‘Police Intelligence’, 12 May 1849;
Bristol Mercury,
‘Bristol Religious Tract Society’, 2 March 1850. It is not clear from this report if the Society was giving the tracts away or selling them.
25,000: Liverpool Mercury,
‘Public Executions’, 24 April 1849.

213
disgusting that he ever saw: Daily News,
‘The Execution at Bristol’, 23 April 1849; ‘Death Punishment’, 21 April 1849;
Liverpool Mercury,
‘Public Executions’, 24 April 1849. The report from the
Liverpool Mercury
was a reprint from another, unnamed newspaper; it is not therefore clear whether ‘our reporter’ belongs to the
Mercury
or the original newspaper.
[legal] murder: Daily News,
[letter], 23 April 1849. The square brackets are in the original newspaper report.

215
lynched as they left court:
The case of Mary Anne Parsons, the inquests and trials, can be found in:
Bell’s Life,
31 March, 20 April, 11 August 1850;
Examiner,
30 March 1851;
The Lady’s Newspaper,
15 February 1851;
Liverpool Mercury,
21 February 1851;
Northern Star and National Trades’ Journal,
30 March 1850;
The Times,
24, 26 March, 7 August 1850;
Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post,
17 January 1850, 30 January 1851.

216
without hard labour:
The case of Jane Wilbred and the Sloanes can be found in:
Bell’s Life,
22 December 1850, 5 January, 9 February 1851;
Daily News,
9 January 1851;
Era,
15 December 1850;
John Bull,
14 December 1850, 8 February 1851;
Lloyd’s,
8, 15 December

1850, 12 January 1851;
Morning Chronicle,
9, 14 December 1850, 9 January, 6 February

1851.
JANE WILBRED’S box: Punch, 15 February 1851, p.72.

217
daughter of a baronet:
Subscription for Jane Wilbred:
Northern Star and National Trades’ Journal,
31 May 1851, p.3; racehorse:
Bell’s,
15 February 1852, p.4, and
Racing Times,
27 December 1853, p.522; broadside-sellers: Mayhew,
London Labour,
vol. 1, pp.225–6, 232; ‘Bertha Gray’:
Reynolds’s Miscellany,
‘Bertha Grey, The Parish Apprentice-Girl; or, Six Illustrations of Cruelty’, by Edwin F. Roberts, 6, March 1851, pp.137–9. H. Young, ‘Bertha Gray, the Pauper Child, or, The Death Fetch’, unpublished playscript, for performance at the Bower Saloon, July 1851, Lord Chamberlain’s Plays, BL Add MSS 43036; ‘Bertha Gray’, a later version, with no author named on the script, appears in the same archive for
performance at the Standard Theatre, August 1859. This play is a seemingly cobbled-together revival of the 1851 version: the characters mostly have the same names, and although the general plot is more or less followed, in the 1859 version the scenes are sketchy. If the audience had no knowledge of the previous version, it would have been impossible to follow.