The Wives’ Revenge

by Lindsey Hutchinson

  ‘I don’t know…I’m feeling bereft – I only just lost my baby! The one thing in all the world I wanted! Now the pit boss said we have to be out by Friday… we have nowhere to go and no money to go with!’ Tears ran down Joyce’s face as she spoke.

  ‘And what about Ray… what does he say?’ Violet asked very gently.

  ‘He doesn’t care; says he’s still got his job, so he’ll be alright… as for me, he says I’ll ’ave to go to the workhouse!’ The horror of the workhouse was well known to all… once in there the only way you came out was in a box!

  ‘My job at the nail making factory wouldn’t pay enough for me to rent a place so I’ll be out on the streets! I had to get back to work sharpish after… after…’ Sobs racked Joyce’s thin frame yet again.

  ‘Right,’ said Kath, ‘Violet – you nip round and fetch the other wives while Joyce and I have another cup of tea.’

  Eight

  ‘Martha… Mum says to come! A meeting is needed!’ Violet said breathlessly as she ran in through the kitchen door.

  ‘All right, bab, you go and get Annie and Mary an’ I’ll see you at home.’

  Violet ran out again as Martha plucked her shawl from the nail on the back of the kitchen door. Making her way up the road to Kath Clancy’s house, she wondered what problem the Wives would be asked to help with this time, although she suspected it might involve, in part, a man. She reflected how lucky she was compared to a lot of other women, including Kath. Her husband, Geordie, was a diamond; hard worker, good father to their eight children who were all now in work and school. Geordie enjoyed his couple of beers on a Friday night with the lads, but never came home drunk. He along with Mary’s husband Jim, and Annie’s husband Charlie, had been aware of the Wednesbury Wives from the outset. They had supported them from the off, believing that all women should have rights. Harry too, in his time had been supportive, before that brute Sligo had come along. They were way ahead of their time. Martha smiled, thinking of her good fortune in finding Geordie and the life she had with him.

  Hearing quick footsteps behind her, Martha turned as Mary, Annie and Violet caught up with her. Looking at Violet as they trudged on, she asked, ‘Who we seein’, bab?’

  ‘Joyce Clews from Brick Kiln Street,’ she said.

  ‘Oh that poor bugger!’ Mary said. ‘I told ’er to go and see Kath when she came to me in the market.’

  Martha nodded her agreement with Mary’s actions as they piled into Kath’s kitchen.

  Joyce was in no condition to relate her tale again, so Kath, holding the woman’s hand, brought everyone up to date with the situation. Violet made tea and they listened sympathetically to the sad story unfolding across the scrubbed wooden table.

  Kath’s narration ended and Martha looked at Joyce, asking, ‘Well, love, what do you want doing about this?’

  ‘There’s nowt can be done,’ Joyce said resignedly as her hand covered her belly where her long wanted child had once rested.

  To everyone’s surprise, Violet replied, ‘There’s always something can be done… we just have to decide what.’ The others smiled at her showing she had voiced their own beliefs that there was always a solution.

  Suggestions criss-crossed the table long into the morning before Joyce eventually stopped them with, ‘That bastard killed my babby even before I’d seen it! Ain’t there something in the Bible that says “an eye for an eye”?’

  Looking at Joyce, the understanding written all over her face, Martha said, ‘Ar there is that about it. Now then, let’s just say… if your Ray wasn’t around anymore… just sayin’… what would happen to you? Because the way I see it, you are in a cottage tied to the pit – with rent owing…’ Martha raised her hands as Joyce drew breath to speak, then went on, ‘So how do you propose to raise that rent? And once paid, the pit boss will still want you out as you’d be a lone woman an’ all… if Ray wasn’t around anymore. The boss would want the cottage for another family.’

  Laying her hands flat on the table showed Martha had finished speaking. She listened to the quiet mutterings of her friends in the small kitchen; then seeing a look pass between Violet and Kath, Martha instinctively knew Joyce’s accommodation problems could possibly be resolved.

  It was Violet who spoke. ‘Mum, Mrs Clews could come and stay with us… I mean, I don’t mind giving up my bed…’

  God love the girl! Martha thought. Violet was respectful, quick-witted, courteous, kind and thoughtful. She was going to fit in with them right well; already showing signs of leadership.

  ‘Oh I couldn’t do that… I couldn’t impose on yer both like that!’ said Joyce.

  Kath picked up, ‘Joyce, it’s no imposition. I agree with Violet, so here’s what I propose…’

  Kath then laid out her plan; she would lend Joyce the money to pay the owed rent, to be paid back in instalments from her work as a nail maker. Joyce would then collect her belongings and move into Violet’s room – board and lodging to be agreed between the three of them. Violet would sleep in with her mother.

  Once all that was agreed, Martha turned again to Joyce, ‘Right, now that’s settled, what do we do about Ray Clews?’

  ‘That swine killed my babby! I know it hadn’t been born and wasn’t breathin’ yet, but he made sure it never would!’ The force of the explosion from Joyce rocked everyone. ‘I don’t think he should be allowed to breathe himself one minute longer than is necessary! I want that bugger dead an’ I’d be happy to do the job myself!’

  At a round of applause from the occupants of the table, Joyce stood and took a little bow. Nervous laughter took them all before order was called once more by Martha.

  “You’d be caught Joyce, so don’t even try it.” The others nodded in agreement. Martha lowered her voice saying, ‘This is murder we’re talking about here. It’s hardly the same as threatening to give the man a slapping! So I ask you, is there any way around this that doesn’t involve Ray Clews’ death?’

  ‘The idea is very drastic,’ Annie conceded.

  ‘There must be something we can do though,’ Violet added.

  ‘Fair enough,’ Joyce intervened, ‘this is something I should never have asked of you, but I will say this, it was Ray’s fault I lost my baby!’

  ‘All right if that’s decided, how do we go about it?’ Her stomach roiled at the thought of taking a life and glancing around the table she guessed the others were feeling the same.

  ‘He’d be in a Gin pit if he were mine!’ Mary muttered almost to herself, looking into her empty cup. ‘He’d never be found if we pushed him down one of those besides the fall alone would kill him!’ Mary’s nerves jangled as she thought about what she’d suggested.

  The ‘gin pits’ were holes left behind after coal mines had been worked out and were left scattered all over the heath. They were very deep, making walking the heath dangerous. Few walked there at night unless they were extremely well versed with the tracks. All were aware that anyone falling into one would never be found.

  ‘It’s an idea,’ Annie said, ‘but how do we get him out on the heath at night? We all know the safe tracks, so that wouldn’t be a problem, but Ray Clews ain’t daft… he would know the heath and gin pits – he’s a miner at the Monway Colliery after all!’

  Kath provided a loaf of freshly baked bread and some cheese with more tea for their dinner while they hatched out a plan. She felt sick at the thought of deliberately sending someone to meet their maker, but then hadn’t she done just that with John Sligo, albeit by accident?

  Joyce was to tell Ray she was leaving him. She would pack her few paltry things and meet Mary at the bridge by the canal where they had met once before. Ray would fume at Joyce’s decision to leave; she would tell him she was meeting someone who was going to look after her. Ray’s jealousy would not allow him to not discover who was to be at the clandestine meeting with his wife, late at night, out on the canal towpath; he would, no doubt, follow her to the bridge.

  Annie, Kath, Violet and Martha would
wait in the dark shadow of the bridge for his arrival, with rope to bind his wrists and ankles and a rag to be used as a gag. When he was bound and gagged, they would throw him down the deep gin pit not far from the bridge, never to be seen again. Great care would have to be taken to ensure they did not endanger their own lives in the process.

  Joyce would then go home and unpack her things again, making everything appear normal. The following day she would take Ray’s lunch box to the pit office, saying he’d forgotten it and that would be when she would learn he had not turned in for work.

  Naturally the office would know they were in arrears with the rent and were due for eviction by the end of the week, so it would be quickly surmised Ray Clews had disappeared into the night so as not have to pay the owed rent. He would be seen to have done ‘a moonlight flit’.

  Very apt, Martha thought.

  The women sat around the table and discussed their plan. Questions were raised again as to whether there was any other way of dealing with this problem. This was the first time they had considered murder and if at all possible they wanted to avoid it, but after much debate, it seemed it would be their only course of action. Joyce, they knew, would find a way of disposing of her husband on her own if it came to the put to, and in her haste would almost definitely be caught by the police.

  Martha secretly prayed there would be no moonlight the following night when they would put their plan into action.

  Hugs all round saw them off about the rest of the day’s business. Each woman was scared witless. Their ‘Wives’ club had agreed to commit murder. This was the first time a death would be the solution to a problem faced. They prayed that if their plan worked, they would not be caught, but such a lot could go awry. Not one of them wished to take the life of Ray Clews, and had done their best to dissuade Joyce from this plan, but they knew Joyce would have no other outcome. She would not settle for the ‘Wives’ running him out of town, after all – he might return to give her another severe beating. No, Joyce wanted that man dead and that was all there was to it. At least this way the poor woman might be saved a jail sentence to be rid of her abusive husband – safety in numbers.

  The women had given their word to help and they would keep it no matter how bad they felt about committing the act.

  Violet thought it all seemed so simple as it had been discussed. However, she was extremely worried the actual act of disposing of Ray Clews could go badly wrong and see them all behind bars.

  *

  The following night as darkness fell, they all kept to the shadowed Portway Lane and headed for the bridge. Seeing Mary waiting for Joyce, Martha whistled softly and a gentle whistle came back in the reply. Joyce was hurrying towards Mary with a bag containing a few of her belongings in her hand. They also saw, trying his best to keep from being seen, Ray Clews. Dodging from one shadow to another, he followed along behind Joyce.

  ‘Oh my God, Mary,’ Joyce whispered. ‘I was so scared he’d beat me again!’

  ‘It’s all right now. Don’t look round but he’s followed you. I saw him a minute ago; he’s trying to hide.’ Mary gave Joyce a hug and felt her body shaking with fear. ‘Come on, let’s get moving.’

  When Ray saw the two women hug then start to walk across the heath, he rushed forward, shouting, ‘So, it’s a woman you are meeting! You dirty cow!’

  Mary and Joyce turned to face him as the barrage went on.

  ‘Wait ‘til the people of Wednesbury hear about this one! I always thought you to be a whore, Joyce Clews, but another woman…!’

  ‘Actually it’s more than one woman!’ Annie said, stepping out of the darkness. ‘And we’d like a word with you Ray Clews.’

  ‘Come on then!’ he challenged. ‘Joyce you tell me what the hell you are doin’ and you tell me right now!’ Ray’s blood was up as he glared at his wife through the semidarkness.

  ‘I’ve had enough of you! That’s what is going on!’ Joyce spat back.

  Kneeling behind a nearby bush, Violet clutched the rock tightly in her hand. She was scared beyond belief and shaking. She had agreed to her part in the plan because she was the quickest and most agile, but now she wasn’t so sure she could go through with it. However, her anger swiftly mounted as she saw Ray take a step towards his wife, his arm raised ready to strike her.

  Violet rushed behind him. Seeing her movement in his peripheral vision, Ray began to turn her way in surprise and she swung her arm with all her might and let go of the stone. The rock caught Ray on his right temple and he faltered in his footing. Clutching his head, he turned fully to face her as the others stepped forward.

  As they surrounded him, Ray began to laugh, still unsteady on his feet. ‘What do you lot think you are doin’?’

  ‘This!’ Mary said quietly as she swung her rock at the back of his head. Spinning in her direction, extremely wobbly now, Ray’s body faltered again. Touching his head, his fingers came away covered in blood.

  ‘You’re all mad!’ he said as he turned within the circle of women bearing down on him. Raising his fists like a bare-knuckle fighter helped little as another rock caught him on his left temple… Annie’s aim was true.

  Ray Clews fell to his knees shaking his head as another rock came down again on the back of his head. Throwing a punch Violet’s way caught her sharply in her stomach and she went down gasping for breath.

  ‘Aha…’ Ray spluttered at his small triumph, ‘come on then, let’s be havin’ you – one at a time or all at once – makes no difference to me.’

  Breathing easier, Violet dragged herself to her feet and quite suddenly everyone lunged at Ray who was trying to maintain his stance but fell again to his knees. Mary strode forward and, stamping a foot hard down on his shoulder, pressed him to a lying position. With Ray now lying face down on the ground trying in vain to punch and kick out at them, they piled onto him struggling to hold him in place.

  With Annie sitting on his one arm, Martha sat on the other. Mary sat on one leg and Violet on his other, Kath sat on his back. Joyce picked up a huge rock and moved in close.

  Raising his head slightly, Ray saw the look of pure hatred on Joyce’s face, and with their faces so close together, she said quietly, ‘Ray Clews, you will never hit another woman, nor kill another babby! I hope you rot in hell!’ With that she brought the rock down full force onto the back of his head, and now filled with fury, hit her husband time and again until his struggles finally ceased.

  Joyce was exhausted and dropped to sit on the heath as the others scrambled off the man. She looked at the bloodied rock in her hand then at her clothes and said breathlessly, ‘Christ! That’s another frock ruined!’ Standing, she gave her husband a final swift kick in the ribs. ‘That’s for my dress!’

  Surprise formed on the faces of the ‘Wives’ in the darkness at Joyce’s renewed anger. Then they began to drag Ray Clews to the edge of the gin pit before pushing him down into the bowels of the earth. Gathering the rocks used, they were sent in after him.

  ‘Joyce,’ Violet said, still holding her stomach from Ray’s punch, ‘you must burn your clothes as soon as you get home, do you understand?’

  Nodding, Joyce looked at each of them in turn and muttered, ‘Thanks wenches.’

  Curt nods given in return, they turned to leave, making their way back to the bridge before returning to their homes.

  The plan had been executed flawlessly and Joyce took them all by surprise as she asked quietly, “Can I join your club ladies… please?” It was surreal as a silent vote was called for out in the darkness and as hands were raised, they found themselves with another member of the ‘Wives’ club.

  But as the days passed, each member of the club relived the incident over and over again in their minds. They had taken a life. They were now murderers. A meeting was called and the conversation centred solely on the deed.

  ‘I can’t believe we actually did it,’ Mary said. ‘I feel so bad about it.’

  ‘It was necessary,’ Martha took up, ‘you know as wel
l as I that Joyce would not have had it any other way, but I have to say I feel really bad about it too. I just hope God forgives us.’

  Violet shuddered. ‘I hope we never have to do that again.’

  ‘You can bet your life we may have to face this at some point in the future, but I think we should do our utmost to avoid it at all possible costs. We would have to find another way of dealing with problems.’ Kath said.

  ‘At least Ray Clews can’t hurt Joyce, or any other woman or child, again,’ Annie said quietly.

  ‘Well, it’s done now,’ Martha said sternly, ‘and there’s nothing we can do to make ourselves feel better about it. We chose to take that path and we have to suffer the consequences of living with it for the rest of our lives. I just hope we don’t have to endure jail time as well.’

  Nine

  Joyce had moved into Kath’s house and rumours were rife about the disappearance of Ray Clews until eventually everyone in the town had agreed he had run off, owing rent and leaving poor Joyce to face the music alone.

  Listening to her mother’s breathing beside her, Violet again thought on her life over the last few years. She had become a murderer along with her mother and the ‘Wives’. She did not kill randomly like a crazy person though; she felt it was justice. The police and courts almost always found in favour of men in domestic disputes. Women could be beaten and raped within a marriage, there was no law to say otherwise… except the law of the Wednesbury Wives. This kind of treatment of women would not be tolerated by their little group but they had to be very careful in their dealings and the punishments that followed. For the women of Wednesbury to be safe, it was imperative the ‘Wives’ remain anonymous to the law and authorities. God only knew what would happen were they to be discovered.

  Violet felt remorse at what she had done; she felt shame also but certainly no pity for the man she had helped to dispose of. She felt strong in the belief that no man would judge her – she felt only God had that right.