Found guilty, Morgan received the extremely lenient sentence of just three days’ imprisonment.
(5) George Henry Swiney, 1886
At some time after 9.30pm, on 7 June 1886, Susannah Coliver was walking along Englefield Road, pushing her sixteen-month-old baby, in a perambulator, in front of her. Then, just as she was about to push the pram across the road, a dray cart turned into the street, from Essex Road, travelling at a very high speed.
So furiously was the cart being driven, that Susannah had to pull her pram back from the edge of the kerb. The dray missed her baby by mere inches, but an old gentleman, just a few steps away from Susannah, was struck by the wheels and the shafts, and was dashed down into the road, where the dray ran over his body.
Sarah called out for the cart to stop, but the driver either didn’t hear, or simply choose to ignore her, for her carried on down the street, hardly slowing at all, until Abraham Cohen, who was further along the street, dashed out into the road and stopped him.
The dray driver, George Swiney, was escorted back to the scene of the accident, and various witnesses saw that he was very drunk. The police and a doctor were called and, when the elderly victim, Thomas Drover, was found to be dead, Swiney was taken into custody, and charged with manslaughter.
Swiney’s trial took place on 28 June, three weeks to the day after Drover had been killed. Simeon Lang had been behind the dray as it turned, at speed into Englefield Road, and saw it run over Thomas Drover. The wheels passed directly over Drover’s chest.
Emily Goodhart was in Essex Road, so did not see the accident itself, but she did see a number of people gathered around Swiney and the injured man, as she passed into Englefield Road. She believed that Swiney was very drunk, and unsteady on his feet.
Constable James Ranyard arrived at the scene of the tragedy, a little before 10.00pm. He arrested Swiney, and escorted him to the police station, where he was charged with manslaughter.
Dr Thomas Underwood Bray had his surgery at 240 Essex Road, and he was called to the scene. The location was very dark indeed, and the doctor had to make his examination by the light of matches, struck by one of the bystanders. Drover was already dead, and Dr Bray performed the post-mortem on 10 June. He found a ruptured heart and spleen, eight broken ribs on the left side, a broken sternum and a broken breast bone.
Two witnesses were called to testify to Swiney’s character. Thomas Ball said that he had known the prisoner for almost fourteen years, and knew him as a most careful and considerate driver. Ball was, however, unable to comment as to Swiney’s fondness, or otherwise, for alcohol.
The final witness was Charles William Ewin, the landlord of the Vicar of Wakefield public house, in Bethnal Green. He testified that Swiney had driven him, and his family for three years. He had also been a customer of Ewin’s pub, but he had never seen him drunk.
The jury, however, gave more credence to the witnesses at the scene and found Swiney guilty of manslaughter, though they did recommend him to mercy, on account of his previous good character. The trial judge then sentenced Swiney to eighteen months in prison, with hard labour.
Chapter 27
George Chapman
1903
At 12.30pm, on Wednesday 22 October 1902, Maud Eliza Marsh died at the Crown public house at High Street, Islington. The medical gentleman who had attended to Maud refused to issue a death certificate. The reason for this was that in 1901, Dr James Maurice Stoker had also been the physician to another lady, who had died at a public house. Both women displayed identical symptoms, and the same man had been the paramour of the deceased. The doctor was convinced that he had witnessed one, possibly two cases of poisoning, and determined that a post-mortem was necessary.
That examination was carried out the following day, 23 October, and no disease that would have caused Maud’s death was found. That made the circumstances look even more like a case of poisoning, but Dr Stoker’s tests for arsenic also proved to be negative. If, indeed, a poison had been used, it was not one of the more common ones. Dr Stoker took some tissue and organ samples from the dead woman, carefully sealed them in clean containers, and passed them on to Dr Richard Bodmer of the Clinical Research Association.
To double check, Dr Bodmer also began by testing for arsenic and found only normal, minimal traces of that substance. The tests involved slips of copper and Dr Bodmer noted that they had changed to a purple colour, suggesting the presence of antimony. Another test was tried and this confirmed that antimony was present, in much greater quantities than the arsenic. Dr Bodmer surmised that Maud Marsh had died as a result of being poisoned with tartar emetic, an antimony based poison, which usually contained small amounts of arsenic, as an impurity. Three days after Maud’s death, on Saturday 25 October, the man who had been living with Maud, as her husband, George Chapman, was arrested and charged with her murder, under his real name of Severin Antoniovitch Klosowski.
When the police investigated Klosowski’s antecedents they found that he had certainly led a chequered life. Born in Poland on 14 December 1865, he had left school when he was fourteen, and been apprenticed to a surgeon for four and a half years. In October 1885 he had moved to Warsaw, where he was employed as an assistant surgeon until November 1886.
By 1888, he was living in London, and working in a barber’s shop below the White Hart, at 89 Whitechapel High Street. In August 1889 he had married a woman named Lucy Baderski, and she had given birth to a son soon afterwards. The family moved to the United States in May 1890, where their young son died.
By 1891, the couple were back in London, where, on 12 May, Lucy gave birth to their second child, a daughter. The relationship was, however, already in trouble, mainly due to Klosowski’s fondness for other women and, in April 1893, Lucy left her husband.
By 1895, Klosowski was living with a woman named Annie Chapman, and although that relationship also did not last for very long, Klosowski started using her surname, and from that time onwards, called himself George Chapman. That same year, Chapman became an assistant hairdresser at the shop of William Wenzel, at 7 Church Lane, Leytonstone. One of his customers, John Ward, offered Chapman a furnished room, and it was in his house that Chapman met a widow, Mary Isabella Spink, a woman who preferred to use her second name.
Chapman soon started a relationship with Isabella and the couple, now living as man and wife, moved to Hastings in 1896, where he set up a hairdresser’s, at 10 Hill Street. By February 1897, the couple had returned to London, and Chapman had decided on a new trade. He took on the licence of the Prince of Wales public house, in Bartholomew Street, off Old Street, Finsbury. It was there, on 25 December, that same year, that Isabella died after a short illness.
In 1898, Chapman had advertised for a new barmaid, and the woman who obtained the position, was Elizabeth Taylor, known to her friends as Bessie. Chapman was soon involved in a relationship with Bessie, and there was much gossip about the improper behaviour at the Prince of Wales. That was why Chapman took a new lease, on The Grapes, at Bishop’s Stortford, but the couple returned to London the following year.
On 23 March 1899, Chapman and Bessie took a lease on the Monument in Union Street, Islington. Less than two years later, on 13 February 1901, Bessie died. She too had suffered a short illness, and the attending doctor had been Dr James Maurice Stoker, the same gentleman who had grown suspicious when a second woman, Maud Marsh had died, in a similar manner.
The more the police discovered, the more certain they were that there now might, possibly, be three cases of murder to consider. Tests had already shown that Maud Marsh had been poisoned with tartar emetic, and Chapman was in custody on a charge of murdering her. Two other women, Isabella Spink and Bessie Taylor, had died in very similar circumstances and so, might also have been poisoned. The police decided that both bodies would have to be exhumed.
On 22 November 1902, Bessie Taylor’s body was exhumed. Some two weeks later, on 9 December, Isabella’s body was also exhumed. Both bodies were found to be r
emarkably well preserved, and the subsequent examinations of their remains, led to the conclusion that both had indeed been poisoned with antimony. On 31 December 1902, Chapman was charged with two more murders.
The trial of George Chapman opened on 18 March 1903, before Mr Justice Grantham. During the four days the proceedings lasted, Chapman was defended by Mr George Elliott, Mr Arthur Hutton and Mr V Lyons. The case for the Crown was led by the Solicitor General, Mr Sutton, who was assisted by Mr Charles Mathews and Mr Bodkin.
At the very start, Mr Elliott, for the defence, asked the judge to rule that only evidence relating to the offence Chapman was being tried for, the murder of Maud Marsh, should be heard, and the prosecution should make no reference to the other two charges, as they were separate indictments. After considering the opposing legal arguments, Mr Justice Grantham ruled that evidence on all three cases could be used.
The first witness was Wolff Levisohn, a traveller in hairdresser’s appliances. He testified that he had known Chapman since 1888, but at the time, Chapman was using the name Ludwig Zagovski. The two men encountered each other, in the course of their business, on a fairly regular basis until 1890. Both men had served as faldschers, or doctor’s assistants, and it was natural that they sometimes talked about medicine. At one stage, around about 1890, Chapman had asked Wolff if he could get him some tartar emetic. Wolff had refused to cooperate, saying that he did not wish to get twelve years in jail.
Stanislaus Baderski was a tailor living in Walthamstow, and he had known Chapman for some thirteen years. Stanislaus told the court that he had two sisters, one of whom was named Lucy. Chapman had met Lucy at the Polish Club in St John’s Square, Clerkenwell, and after walking out together for just a few weeks, they got married, on the August Bank Holiday in 1889. The relationship lasted until April 1893, when Lucy left him due to his womanising ways.
Detective Inspector George Godley told the court that he had arrested Chapman, at the Crown in Islington. Afterwards, Godley had searched the premises and taken away a number of documents, written in Polish. These documents had been handed to a translator.
That translator was the next witness, Joseph Betrikowski. The first document was a copy of Chapman’s birth certificate, which showed that, on 14 December 1865, Antonio Klosowski, a carpenter, and his wife, Emilie had had a son whom they had named Severin. Another document, a reference of some sort, dated 16 November 1882, stated that Severin Klosowski, a resident of the village of Zvolen, was a well-behaved man, and had never been found guilty of any crime. Other documents referred to Klosowski’s medical training, and all stated that he had carried out his duties with zeal and accomplishment.
William Henry Davidson was a retired chemist, now living at 49 Upper Lewes Road, Brighton, but in 1897 he traded from a shop at 66 High Street, Hastings. Davidson had run the Hastings shop for eighteen years and during his time there, had frequented a certain barber’s shop for his haircuts and shaves. That shop was run by Klosowski who, at the time, was living with a woman calling herself Isabella Chapman, who was, of course, Mary Isabella Spink.
As part of the legal requirements, Davidson kept a poisons register and this was now produced in court. One entry, dated 3 April 1897, showed that a man signing his name G Chapman, had purchased one ounce of tartar emetic, for which he paid two pence. This was the only sale of tartar emetic within the entire volume.
Davidson had also sold, to the same man, two medical books. He also pointed out that when he had handed the poison over to Chapman, he had marked it with a red label reading poison. Inspector Godley was now recalled to state, that when he had searched the Crown, after Chapman’s arrest, he had found the two medical books Mr Davidson had referred to. Inside one of the books, was a red label which read ‘Poison’.
The next few witnesses gave testimony relating directly to the death of Maud Eliza Marsh. The first of these was Eliza Marsh, the dead woman’s mother.
Eliza began by stating that Maud had been born on 17 February 1882. In the early part of the century she had been employed as a barmaid, in Croydon, but lost her position in August 1901. Maud placed an advertisement for a new position and Chapman had replied to it, from the Monument public house. An interview was arranged, and Maud had been successful in obtaining the position, which included accommodation.
In the middle of September 1901, Maud and Chapman went to visit Eliza at her home in Croydon, and he said that they were very fond of each other and wished to marry. As a proof of his wish to provide adequately for Maud, Chapman showed Eliza a will, in which he had written that in the event of his death, all his property was to pass to Maud.
On 13 October, Eliza visited Chapman at the Monument. She saw that there was a good deal of confetti scattered about. She was then informed, that the couple had married that morning but, curiously, when she asked to look at the marriage certificate, she was told that it was now locked away with Chapman’s other papers.
Towards the end of that same year, there was a mysterious fire at the Monument, and the insurance company refused to pay out. This did not seem to bother Chapman, who simply took the lease on the Crown public house. He and Maud moved there just before Christmas.
For some time, Eliza did not see her daughter until, in July 1902, she received a letter from her, saying that she had been ill, and was now in Guy’s Hospital. Eliza visited Maud there a number of times, and was pleased when she made a full recovery, from whatever had been bothering her, and returned to the Crown, and Chapman. In October, Maud wrote again to say that she was ill, and Eliza visited her at the Crown on 20 October.
When Eliza saw Maud, on the 20th, she complained of pains in the lower part of her stomach, and excessive thirst. Chapman seemed to be ministering well to Maud, and kept giving her drinks of either iced-water or water and brandy. After each such drink, Maud would vomit violently, and Eliza noticed that the vomit had a greenish tinge to it.
Eliza then stated that whilst she was at the house, she took a drink of brandy herself, and added some of the iced water to it. An hour or so later she felt sick and had pains in her stomach. Later she had diarrhoea, and vomited a number of times. Finally, Eliza was able to confirm that Maud had died on 22 October.
Robert Marsh was Eliza’s husband and Maud’s father, and he had also visited the Crown in the days before his daughter died. Robert had also given Maud some of the water which seemed to make her sick immediately after taking it, and noticed that the liquid seemed to be a little discoloured.
On 21 October, at Robert’s request, their family doctor, Dr Francis Gaspard Grapel, had called to see Maud, and when Robert saw her later that same day, she appeared to be slightly better. Seeing Chapman downstairs in the bar later, Robert had remarked: ‘I think my daughter will pull through now, George.’ Chapman had replied: ‘She will never get up no more.’
Louisa Sarah Morris was the married sister of Maud Marsh. She was in the habit of visiting Maud at the Monument, and recalled her being admitted to Guy’s Hospital in July and August 1902. Louisa recalled a conversation she had had with Chapman, when they had moved to the Crown. Maud was back in hospital, and had asked her sister to bring some personal things for her, from the pub. Whilst she was at the Crown, Louisa voiced her puzzlement to Chapman, over the illness, which seemed to be recurring. Chapman said: ‘She should have done as I had told her.’ Whem Louisa asked him what he meant, he replied: ‘She should have took [sic] the medicine I told her.’
Later in that same conversation, Louisa said that it was strange that the doctors could not find out what it was that had made Maud so ill. Chapman smiled and replied: ‘I could give her a bit like that,’ snapping his fingers, ‘and fifty doctors would not find out.’
During her final illness, Louisa had spent a good deal of time with Maud. On Saturday 11 October, Louisa went to stay at the Monument, and made some Bovril for her sister. That seemed to make her feel better, and she was not sick after taking it. Half an hour later, when Maud said she was thirsty, Louisa gave her s
ome ginger beer that Chapman had sent up from the bar. As soon as she had drunk some of it, Maud was violently sick.
Alice May Marsh was another of Maud’s sisters. She had visited Maud at the Crown when she first became ill. As she went into the bar, she saw Chapman and asked where Maud was. He replied: ‘In bed, dying fast.’ It was Alice who took her sister to Guy’s Hospital. Chapman did not seem very pleased with this, and complained that the doctors would only ‘mess her about.’
Jessie Toon was a regular at the Crown, and when Maud fell ill, Chapman asked Jessie if she would nurse her for him. Jessie agreed, and started ministering to Maud on 16 October. During the time she was there, Maud complained constantly of thirst. Various drinks were provided for her, but all were brought up from the bar by Chapman himself.
On 22 October, the day that Maud died, she had asked Jessie for another drink. Chapman brought up some brandy from the bar and added a good deal of water to it, from a jug in the hallway. When this was given to Maud she complained that it burned, so Jessie gave her some water but that seemed to make her sick. Jesie thought that the original brandy might have been too strong a measure for Maud so took a sip herself, to test it. The liquid burned her throat and left a foul taste. So bad was it, that Jessie had to go to the kitchen, and eat some bread and butter to take the taste away.
Louisa Beatrice Cole was a servant at the Crown, and she did all of the cooking in the establishment. Louisa recalled one day, in early October, when she had prepared some potatoes and meat for lunch. She and Chapman ate together, but he put some of the potatoes aside for Maud to have later. When Maud did eat them, she was very sick afterwards.
Dr James Henry Targett was a surgeon at Guy’s Hospital. He recalled Maud being admitted on 28 July 1902. She remained as a patient until 20 August. When she was admitted she complained of terrible pains in her lower stomach. These were so bad that she could not even bear to be touched during the initial examination. Dr Targett treated her, but she grew worse for the first couple of weeks. It was not until 10 August, that her condition began to improve, and her temperature fell. She was in perfectly good health, at the time she was discharged.
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