There Must Be Evil

by Bernard Taylor

  Arriving at the Sandersons’ house in Miles Platting, she collected from her sister-in-law the card registering the weekly payments made to the Rational Sick and Burial Association on the policy taken out on Edith’s life, and then set off for Manchester to call on the insurance company’s representative, Mr Pickford. On their meeting she showed him the card and Edith’s death certificate, upon which he paid out to her the £11 that had come due on Edith’s death.

  While Mrs Berry had been going about her business that morning, the Manchester surgeon Dr Thomas Harris had arrived at the workhouse to join the two Oldham doctors in performing a full post-mortem on the deceased child. Working together, the three made a close examination of the body, in the course of which certain of the dead child’s organs were placed in bottles and jars to be delivered to the Manchester city analyst. It was also arranged, following a meeting with the Chief Constable, that an inquest into the child’s death would be opened – this to commence the following afternoon.

  That night, just after ten o’clock, Mrs Berry was alone in her sitting room when there was a knock at her door. She opened the door to find Mr Lawson standing on the threshold with the police officers Hodgkinson and Purser behind him. After she had been informed as to who the strangers were, she was told by Mr Hodgkinson that he had come to inquire into the circumstances of the death of her daughter.

  Edith Annie’s death certificate – on which Mrs Berry is stated, incorrectly, to have been present at the child’s death.

  In view of the fact that Dr Patterson had issued a death certificate, she must have been extremely surprised to hear the Chief Constable’s words. Nevertheless, she replied, ‘Very well,’ upon which Hodgkinson said that he would like to see the child’s body. With that, Mrs Berry put on her coat and led the men out of the building and across the snow-covered yard into the separate block opposite, and there into her bedroom in which lay the child’s remains.

  Inside, by the pale light of the gas lamp, Mr Hodgkinson moved to the body of the girl, lifted the sheet and looked down at her face. After some questioning of Mrs Berry, he told her that foul play was suspected, that she was suspected of having caused her child’s death. At his words she cried out, ‘I did nothing of the kind!’ and, turning to Mr Lawson, exclaimed, ‘Oh, Governor – why should I have killed my darling when I’ve just doubled my insurance for her in the Prudential?’

  Following her outburst, and unmoved, Mr Hodgkinson told her that an inquest into her daughter’s death was to be opened the next day, and that she would be required to be present. In the meantime, she was not to leave the premises. She was, in effect, under house arrest.

  Immediately following the departure of the police officers, Mrs Berry began to make inquiries into acquiring the services of a solicitor. Clearly, she was very much aware of the gravity of her situation.

  Pursuing his investigation, the Chief Constable, with Inspector Purser at his side, was back at the workhouse next morning to look at the child’s body again. Pulling back the sheet he once more looked down at the dead girl’s face. In the light of the cold, bright day he could see so much more clearly the ugly lesions about her lips. By the gaslight they had appeared red, but now in the daylight he saw them huge and almost black against the pale skin.

  In those moments he concluded that there should be a record made of the dead girl’s face, and to this end he went off to find a photographer.

  11

  The Inquest Opens

  The inquest was opened at 2 p.m. on that Friday, 7 January, at the Oldham workhouse, before the District Coroner, Mr F. N. Molesworth. Once the jury had been sworn in they were taken to view the body of the child, after which they took their places in the Board Room, where the inquiry was to be conducted.

  With little time to pick and choose in her urgent need for legal representation, Mrs Berry had managed to procure the services of Rochdale-born Joseph Whitaker, a thirty-six-year-old solicitor living in Wellington Street, Oldham. He in turn instructed Mr James Cottingham, a respected barrister from Manchester. Both men were already in their places when Mrs Berry, having come from her sitting room nearby, entered the room and took a seat at Mr Whitaker’s side. Wearing a black silk dress and a small hat, her hair was styled in the latest fashion, dressed close to her head with the front brushed into what was called a frizette, or Piccadilly fringe.

  And so the melancholy proceedings began.

  Following the coroner’s address to the jury the first witness was called. This was Ann Sanderson, the dead child’s aunt, who told the court that Edith, in her usual good health, had left Miles Platting along with her mother on 29 December and that she, the witness, had been with the child when she died on the morning of 4 January.

  She was followed by Dr Patterson who stated that on the morning of Saturday 1 January he was asked by Mrs Berry to see her daughter whom he found in her mother’s room, lying on the sofa in front of the fire. The girl complained of pains over her stomach, and Mrs Berry told him that about breakfast time the child had begun to vomit, and that the vomit contained a considerable quantity of blood. Initially, he thought the child might be suffering from an ulcer of the stomach, and he prescribed for this. Visiting the child again that evening, he found her no better, but the next morning saw that her condition had improved. That evening, though, he found her much worse, and, forming the opinion that she was not suffering from any ordinary disease, he called on a colleague, Dr Robertson, to come to the workhouse and examine the girl. The next day, Monday, he saw the girl again. She died on the Tuesday morning, and on the Wednesday he and Dr Robertson made a post-mortem examination, in the course of which they found the stomach and intestines very much congested. On Thursday, he and Dr Robertson had assisted Dr Harris in performing a complete post-mortem, at which they had found a spot in the gullet with a black and corroded appearance, and similar but smaller marks all over the lining of the gullet.

  At this the coroner asked him: ‘What is your opinion as to the cause of death?’ to which Dr Patterson replied: ‘The corrosion of the gullet, independent of anything else, would be sufficient to cause death.’

  ‘And what is the cause of that?’

  ‘An irritant or corrosive poison had been administered to the child.’

  The doctor’s words caused a stir in the room, and Mrs Berry was heard to give a little cry. When the room was quiet again, the coroner asked: ‘This is your opinion, Doctor?’

  ‘Yes,’ Dr Patterson replied. ‘It leaves no doubt in my mind.’

  Dr Harris would have been called next, but as he had not completed his medical examination following the post-mortem, the coroner announced an adjournment. With this, many of those assembled prepared to leave, but the Chief Constable came forward to say that with regard to the gravity of the situation he wanted Mrs Berry taken to the lock-up at the Town Hall. She, who had outwardly retained some composure, was in no way prepared for this. Deeply shocked, she cried out in protest and appealed tearfully to be allowed to remain at the workhouse. After the coroner had listened to her plea he asked the workhouse master, Mr Lawson, if he would take the responsibility of having her remain on the premises. Mr Lawson said that he would, but only on condition that she was kept under surveillance. With this, Mrs Berry was allowed to return to her room.

  Edith’s funeral took place the following Monday 10 January. It was a bitterly cold day, and there would have been few people braving the icy, windswept streets. No word of the funeral had been broadcast so no one would have known that the sad little cortege making its way from the workhouse to Chadderton Cemetery carried the coffin of Edith Annie. At the graveside there were just five mourners to witness the burial of the child they had loved. They were Edith’s Uncle John and Aunt Ann; her Aunt Jane, sister of her father; and her two cousins, the Sandersons’ sons, Herbert and Arthur. As the small, cheap coffin was lowered into the grave there was much bitter weeping. With Mrs Berry unable to be present, but forced to remain at the workhouse, she was truly, as the Chro
nicle had reported, ‘not now at full liberty’.

  With the resumption of the inquest on Thursday 13 January, Mrs Berry prepared to leave her sitting-room under the watchful eye of Inspector Purser. Before leaving, however, she called in her servant Alice Alcroft and scolded her severely for leaving a small piece of coal on the carpet, and threatened her with immediate punishment on her return. This done, she was escorted to the Board Room again.

  There was no lack of curious eyes upon her as she entered and took her seat. The gossip that had been whirling about ensured that she would come in for a good deal of attention, and she was well aware of it, though whatever was going through her mind she gave nothing away. Another Oldham daily, the Standard, reporting on the proceedings, said that she was dressed as before, and that ‘with the exception of being somewhat pale, she appeared but little distressed’.

  The first witness was Dr Patterson, recalled to be questioned as to the availability of the drugs and medicines that were kept in the workhouse.

  ‘There is a dispensary at the infirmary,’ he said. ‘In my absence Mrs Berry is in charge of it. There is the usual store of drugs there, and the usual sort of cupboard for poisons such as opium, prussic acid, strychnine and that sort of thing. I keep the key of that myself. But not all of the poisons are kept in the cupboard.’ He went on to say that on 9 January he had made a list of all the irritant poisons that were outside the cupboard on 1 January. ‘Mrs Berry had a key of the dispensary,’ he said, ‘and she would admit a servant, Alice Alcroft, every day to light the fire and clean the room. Also on a cold morning some patients would be allowed in to sit by the fire until I came in and could attend to them. I don’t think anyone would be admitted to the dispensary unless either myself or Mrs Berry were there.’

  Dr Patterson was followed onto the stand by Dr Harris, who told the court that on 6 January he made a post-mortem of the body of the deceased. ‘The body was that of a fairly well-nourished child,’ he said, ‘ – not a robust one,’ and then went on to describe the dry patches he had found on and around the girl’s mouth. ‘Each of these patches felt dry and hard,’ he said, ‘and was of a brown colour, and quite different both in looks and feel from the surrounding skin, which was of a healthy appearance.’ Of his other findings, he said the gullet bore a black and corroded patch, an inch in diameter, and other parts of the gullet presented a number of fine black lines similar to the charred patch. He had found the whole length of the small intestine to be distinctly congested.

  He was then asked the question that was on everyone’s lips. ‘What, in your opinion,’ said the coroner, ‘was the cause of death?’

  ‘Corrosive poison,’ replied Dr Harris. He couldn’t state absolutely what the poison was, but he could give an opinion.

  ‘Well, what was it, in your opinion?’

  ‘Sulphuric acid, probably.’

  Shock in the courtroom. The coroner took this in, then asked, ‘If sulphuric acid had been taken, would it necessarily be found in the stomach or in the analysis?’

  ‘Not at all; it would depend upon the symptoms and the treatment. It is quite possible for it to have been taken and for none to remain in the stomach or the contents of the stomach.’

  ‘Is it merely your opinion that it was sulphuric acid, or are you positive of it?’

  ‘I am positive of it.’

  After Dr Harris’s sensational testimony he stepped down, and his place was taken by Beatrice Hall, the school-friend of the dead girl.

  She gave her address as Vicar Street, Miles Platting, and said she was thirteen and the daughter of John Hall. Questioned, she told the court that she had known Edith for a month, and went to Sunday school with her, and that on 29 December last received an invitation to spend a holiday with her and her mother at the workhouse. ‘Mrs Berry fetched us,’ she said, ‘and we got here about six o’clock in the evening. We all three slept in Mrs Berry’s bed, and took our meals in Mrs Berry’s sitting room. The day after we arrived we went out and bought some chocolate, and on Friday we went to the market.’

  Asked about the events on the Saturday, she said that she got up at nine o’clock and had her breakfast, adding: ‘Annie didn’t take any because she was ill. She didn’t eat or drink anything at that time. Mrs Berry gave her a seidlitz powder* and that and some ice was all I saw her take.’ Asked about her movements on the Sunday, she said that she was with Edith for part of the day, and read to her, then in the afternoon left her to go and have tea with the nurse Sarah Anderson. The last time she saw her was about ten o’clock on the Monday morning. ‘But I didn’t speak to her then,’ she said.

  Questioned by Mr Cottingham, she said that as well as the chocolate they bought on the Thursday they also bought a pennyworth of biscuits and some coconut chips. Asked whether they had made her sick, she said they had not. ‘We bought some fish on the Friday,’ she said, ‘and had it for tea.’ She couldn’t remember what they ate for supper. ‘So far as I remember Annie and I ate the same things.’ Asked about the seidlitz powder that Mrs Berry had given to Edith, she said, ‘Mrs Berry gave it to her after she was sick. She brought it in already mixed in a glass.’

  Dr Robertson, called next, told the court that he had assisted Dr Patterson in a partial post-mortem examination of the body of the deceased girl, and was present at the full investigation made by Dr Harris on the 6th. As to the cause of the girl’s death, he said he agreed with Dr Harris in his opinion that it was due to poisoning with sulphuric acid.

  Ellen Thompson, then called, said she was an inmate at the workhouse, and employed as an assistant nurse in the female infirmary. ‘On Saturday,’ she said, ‘I saw the two girls in the corridor, between nine and nine-thirty. Edith appeared all right then. I next saw her at eleven when she was ill in Mrs Berry’s room. I asked Mrs Berry what was the matter with her, and she said she thought it was a bilious attack. Edith was sick while I was there and vomited blood. I saw her again that night, between ten and eleven. I wanted to sit up with her, but Mrs Berry said she could manage. The next time I saw Edith was between ten and eleven in the morning, and she said she felt a little better. I saw her again about two o’clock. She was in bed asleep, and Beatrice Hall was in bed with her. I noticed a little white blister on her upper lip, and I said to Mrs Berry that the child would be better soon, as the cold I thought she was suffering from was breaking out. Mrs Berry replied that she thought the blister was caused by an orange that Edith had had with some sugar.’ The witness said she was with Mrs Berry the next morning, Monday, when she tried to give the child some medicine, but that the child couldn’t take it.

  Mr Charles Estcourt, the city analyst, was then called and asked whether he had completed his chemical analysis of the body parts delivered to him. When he replied that he had not yet done so, the coroner said the inquest would have to be adjourned again, to allow time for Mr Estcourt to complete his analysis. One of the jurymen spoke up here, saying there was no need to wait for the analyst’s report as he thought everyone was agreed that the girl’s death was due to poisoning. The coroner replied that it was the duty of the jury to hear all the evidence before giving their opinion, and that the inquest would be adjourned for a further week.

  Throughout the day Elizabeth Berry had appeared little affected by the evidence that had been presented, and with the coroner’s call for an adjournment she must have felt some relief, believing that for a week at least she could retire to the privacy of her rooms and have some respite from her ordeal. It was not to be. She was rising, ready to leave, when Chief Constable Hodgkinson got up to speak. To Mrs Berry’s horror, he said that the Guardians were no longer willing to take the responsibility for her remaining at the workhouse, and asked that she be formally arrested on the murder charge. All her self-control vanished at this, and she screamed out, ‘I didn’t do it! I didn’t do it!’ and a moment later collapsed headlong on the floor. Warders were immediately at her side. After some minutes she was helped to her feet, and, with difficulty as she struggled, take
n from the room. Shortly afterwards, escorted by Inspector Purser, she was conveyed to the police cell that was to be her home for the rest of the month.

  Meanwhile, back at the workhouse, Alice Alcroft, in Mrs Berry’s bad books for leaving coal on the carpet, and dreading the threatened dressing down, must have learned with some relief that her mistress would not be coming back.

  *

  Seidlitz powder: a generic name for a widely sold digestive and laxative aid. To be mixed with water, the powder was composed of tartaric acid, sodium bicarbonate and potassium sodium tartrate.

  12

  The Wheels Turn

  The law is the law, and having been charged with the murder of her daughter, Elizabeth Berry was now required to come before the magistrates in order for them to determine whether there was enough evidence to warrant sending her for trial at the Assizes.

  So it was that on Saturday, 15 January, she was brought from her cell to the Oldham Police Court to face the bench, led by the Chief Magistrate, Mr W. Knox. The proceedings were brief. As the medical analyst’s report was not yet available, the hearing was adjourned for a week, Mrs Berry being remanded for the period.

  Before the magistrates’ hearing was due to be resumed, the inquest was set to continue, and shortly after one o’clock on the 20th, Mrs Berry, escorted by Inspector Purser, left her cell at the Town Hall to set out for the workhouse. The cab ride, though short, proved an eventful one. As if there was not drama enough already connected with the proceedings, the prisoner’s journey was to be at the centre of a dramatic happening. As the cab drew near the bottom of Barker Street, a child ran out into the road. The cab couldn’t be stopped in time, and its splinter bar struck the child on the head. The little one was injured, but fortunately not severely so. A crowd gathered and the crying child was lifted up and carried home. Having no knowledge of the cab’s notorious passenger, the solicitous neighbours dispersed and the cab continued on its way.