Murder By Poison

"If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?" William Shakespeare

There is something very cold and devious about murder with poison - it is always pre-meditated and executed with heartless intent.

Poisoners come from all backgrounds, cultures and ages. And the poisons they use are as diverse as the murderers themselves.

"A poison in a small dose is a medicine, a medicine in a large dose is a poison." Alfred Swaine Taylor, 19th-century toxicologist.

We can find the origins of poisons being used from as far back as 4500BCE. They were probably not used for murder initially but used on weapons to hasten the death of animals hunted for meat. Later these venomous spears and arrows would be used in battle against the enemy. We see a lot more use of poison for murder in ancient Rome where it was popular as a method of assassination. The use of poisons were not limited by social class, they were familiar to the poor as well as to the nobility.

Poison became very popular as a method of murder in Medieval times even although cures were also available for some toxins. One of the reasons for the increase was the establishment of apothecaries and their shops in many towns and cities. The substances sold were for medicinal purposes but they were also purchased for more sinister aims.

“Poison is drunk out of gold." Seneca (Lucius Annaeus Seneca)

Some poisons may have a very subtle action within the body. Others cause excruitating pain and a lingering death. Perhaps it was not so much the cruelty of the murderer that prompted the choice of poison but rather how quickly it would act. For others their choice would be decided upon what poison was the easiest to find or purchase.

One of the most famous cases of murder by poison is that of the Emperor Claudius by his wife Agrippina. It is thought that his doctor, Xenophon, may also have been involved. The poison was allegedly, 'painted' on mushrooms offered to Claudius by his wife. Her motive may have been both the removal of Claudius and his son by his first wife in order that Nero, Agrippina's son, would become emperor.

It is still not clear whether or not Claudius was indeed poisoned. Some historians argue that it is just as likely that Claudius died from a cerebral vascular disease such as stroke. However, the supporters of murder point to a couple of possible toxins that may have been used.

Rather than a coating of poison being put on the mushrooms it may have been an actual lethal mushroom that looked similar to those eaten. One candidate for this is the Deathcap - Amanita Phalloides - an extremely toxic plant that is often fatal. It can take between 10 and 15 hours to work and death usually occurs by liver failure. However some authorities feel this poison would have taken too long and it was another mushroom species - Coprimus atramentarius - that was the killer. Interestingly, it is the Deathcap that is responsible for more deaths worldwide than any other mushroom.

Locusta has been called a 'Roman serial killer'. The difference between Locusta and present day seriel killers is that she was hired and paid by the imperial court. So clearly she was more of an assassin. It may have been Locusta who prepared the mushrooms that lead to the death of the Emperor Claudius. She is also alleged to have been responsible for the murders of several members of the imperial family in addition to Claudius.

She had become wealthy and lived in a beautiful house that was a gift from the Emperor Nero. Here she had a stable full of slaves that she would practice her latest venomous potions on to see how effective and quickly they killed. She was finally executed, after a previous reprieve by Nero, in AD 69. Locusta did not work alone, she had two equally famous apprentices - Martina and Canidia. Between them it is estimated that hundreds of people were murdered by the toxins they brewed.

The poisons used in Rome are known to us due to the writings of ancient authors such as Pliny the Elder, Galen and Dioscorides. The possible sources for poison were numerous and included vegetable, mineral and animal origin. However, it was mainly vegetable poisons that were used probably because of their availability. Plants such as deadly nightshade, monkshood, mandrake and hemlock were the most common. To date historians have found no evidence that the Romans were aware of toxins such as strychnine or cyanide.

Plant alkaloid poisoning begins to take effect quickly - usually within 30-60 minutes of ingestion. But can continue up to 48 hours due to the plant's effect on the digestive system. Symptoms experienced by the victim could include - dry mucous membranes and skin, photophobia, blurred vision, racing pulse, difficulty in swallowing and retention of urine, confusion, aggitation. Death often results after suffering from seizures followed by coma.

"There is poison in the fang of the serpent, in the mouth of the fly and in the sting of a scorpion; but the wicked man is saturated with it." Chanakya

In Medieval times the poisons available to people were, as in Roman times, numerous. This was not only because of the setting up of Apothecaries but because plants containing poison were growing everywhere in abundance. In addition much of the vegetation was used daily in a variety of household ways including cooking. This meant that there were many people with knowledge of a plant's toxic capabilities.

There was a number of ways that could be chosen on how to administer poison. This could be through eating and drinking, by touch or by coating an item of clothing with poison. One of the most common articles to be poisoned were gloves. Coated with toxins inside, they were given as a gift. When the victim wore them the poison would seep into the skin and finally into the blood stream. If this method was chosen then only the most potent of poisons would be effective.

Lucrezia Borgia is perhaps one of the most famous alleged poisoners of the medieval period. She is reputed to have murdered many by pouring lethal fluids into glasses of wine from a specially made ring called an 'envenoming ring'.

Another possible poisoner was Cathrine De Medici (1519-1589), Queen of Henri II of France. She was intelligent, loved science and was known to have great discussions with her astrologers. Nostradamus the famous prophet was also know to visit her. When she became Queen she retained many servants from her home in Italy. Among these were the Ruggieris, two brothers notorious for being able to brew lethal potions. Catherine is also thought to have consulted the brothers in order to prepare poisonous gloves, that would be presented as 'gifts' to the unwary victims. 

One particularly gruesome method of poisoning that Catherine is alleged to have used is 'diamond dust' or 'diamond powder'. If ingested the tiny hard splinters slowly work their way into the digestive track and internal organs, basically ripping your insides to shreds. It is also reported that Catherine's potion also contained arsenic. Many of the people she is alleged to have poisoned were those who were a threat to her childrens' ascendancy to the throne. However, there was much bias against Catherine in France as the Italians were not popular. So many of the stories about her may be propaganda. But what we do know is that the above methods of poisoning had been used on many people to lethal effect.

"The coward's weapon, poison." John Fletcher

For a long time women had used a face powder whose base was arsenic. The face powder gave the famous 'white look' that both women - and later men - favoured. One leading supplier of this face make-up was a women who was a native of Naples. Her name was Toffana and her clients were the elite of society. The rich and famous women of the city would often pay a visit to Toffana to learn the uses and secrets of the cosmetic. It wasn't until many years later, and after the mysterious deaths of a few hundred husbands, that the authorities finally caught up with Toffana. She had taught the women how to poison their rich husbands there-by leaving them free and very wealthy widows. It was Toffanna who paid the ultimate price - she was exectuted by strangulation in 1709.

Catherine Deshayes also lived in the 17th century, but in France. Her main business was as a midwife and fortune teller. Her clients included the nobility and royalty. None wanted their fortunes read, it was her reputation as a poisoner that interested them. She finally met her end when she was involved in a plot to murder King Louis XIV which failed. She was found guilty of socery and burnt at the stake in 1680.

The age of Queen Victoria not only produced poisoners in fact but many good fiction ones as well. The Victorian poisoners discussed below were cold and calculating. Unfortunately for the victims their murders were not a tale of fiction.

Scotland - 1865 - Dr Edward William Pritchard

When a fire broke out at Dr Pritchard's home in Berkley Terrace, Glasgow, investigators later found the body of a maid in the attic, where the fire had started. They became suspicious due to the fact that the maid had not made any attempt to get out of the room. It was thought that she may have been drunk, unconscious or dead. There was no real proof of foul play so Pritchard was never questioned.

To avoid rumours Dr Pritchard moved house to Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow. Soon afer, his wife Mary Jane Pritchard became seriously ill. Her symptoms included vomiting and diarrhoea and her doctor husband diagnosed a 'gastric fever'. Mary Jane then moved to her parents house in Edinburgh where she became much better. But when she returned to Pritchard the symptoms of the previous illness returned. Mary Jane's illness was so severe that her mother Jane Taylor came to stay with her daughter. It was after eating a sweet dish of tapioca that three people became very ill - Mary Jane, her Mother, Mrs Taylor. and the cook. Mrs Taylor soon after lapsed into a coma and died and Mary Jane soon afterwards.

A Dr Paterson also attended both women and was very suspicious of the illnesses that the two women had. He refused to sign the death certificates but did not take any further action. However, when an anonymous letter was sent to the Procurator-Fiscal he immediately ordered the police to exhume the two bodies. They both had very high levels of antimony in their systems and in Mary Jane's case the pathologist showed that she had been poisoned over a very long period of time.

Dr Pritchard was charged with murder and executed by hanging on 28th July, 1865. He was the last man to be publicly hanged in Glasgow. The motive for the murders remains unknown.

Antimony - a naturally occuring metalloid mineral. It was once used as an Emetic in the 19th-century, but its use goes back to ancient times. An emetic would be used to induce vomiting if a person has ingested something that is harmful. Antimony in pill form, also used to be given in the 19th-century to 'clean out the system and rejeuvinate the bowels'. It is highly toxic and lethal in a large dose.

England - Mary Ann Cotton - 1887

Mary Ann Cotton was reputedly a seriel killer from County Durham, North-East England. Her motive was insurance money taken out on the lives of her husbands. Not only did she poison her unwary spouses, but it is believed she may also have murdered her children. What her motive was for killing her children is unclear. We can speculate that perhaps her love of money was so great that because children are 'expensive' she got rid of them? Or does her killing instincts point to a deeper and more disturbing cause? We may never know. Witnesses claim that she was 'cold and reserved' but their judgement can't be an impartial one as she was on trial at the time the comments were made. In all it is estimated that she may have killed as many as 21 people. Her choice of poison was the famous arsenic.

Victim number one was probably her first husband, William Mowbray who married Mary Ann when she was twenty years of age. They first of all lived in Devon where Mary Ann gave birth to five children. She later had three more when they moved back to County Durham. Soon after, not only did William die of 'gastric fever' but four of the couple's children also died with the same illness and the three later children also died. On Mowbray's death Mary Ann collected £35 in insurance money - a nice sum in the 19th-century. Her next husband was George Ward - within 14 months he was dead. Although a doctor who attended on Ward was surprised at his death, nothing was done and Mary Ann once again collected insurance money.

Mary Ann then became house keeper to a widower named James Robinson. His wife had died and left him with five young children. Within one week of starting employment, Robinson's baby son died at the age of 10 months. The death was certified as 'gastric fever'. Robinson apparently turned to Mary Ann for comfort obviously unaware of her true nature. Two more of the children died, including Mary Ann's daughter from her marriage to first husband William Mowbray. Mary Ann's mother also died around this time, believed to have been poisoned by her daughter who was caring for her. Despite all these deaths Robinson married Mary Ann in 1867. Their first daughter together died within a few months of her birth. In addition to this the marriage was not a happy one and the couple finally split. It is said that Robinson became suspicious of Mary Ann whe she insisted that he take out life insurance. But in addition he had found out that she was £60 in debt and had also stolen £50 that she was supposed to have put in the bank for him. Robinson threw her out of the house.

In 1870 she bigamously married Frederick Cotton. She had met Cotton by being introduced to him by his sister Mary. First on Mary Ann's death list was Cotton's sister Mary. Mary Ann then promptly took out life insurance on Cotton and his two sons by his first wife. Within a year Frederick Cotton became seriously ill with stomach pains. She also took a lover, Joseph Nattrass, who moved into the house that she shared with Cotton. Frederick Cotton then died. Despite the insurance she claimed Mary Ann still had to work and she took employment with a gentleman called Quick-Manning. She became involved with Quick-Manning and within a matter of weeks, Nattrass, Cotton's son and one of Mary Ann's surving sons all died. She moved in with Quick-Manning but he refused to marry her.

In order to make ends meet Mary Ann took in lodgers and then received another offer of work. This last employment would be her undoing. Initially she had refused the position offered to her by Thomas Riley. Mary Ann explained that she could not do so while she still had her son Charles and requested that he be taken into a work house while she looked after the patient. But Riley told her that she would have to accompany her son to the work house as well. Mary Ann told Riley not to worry and was alleged to have made some form of remark that indicated Charles would not be a problem for much longer. Riley was shocked and suspicious when a week later he heard that Charles had died and he reported the matter to the police.

Mary Ann's life then went under investigation. Her numerous husbands throughout County Durham. The children and other people who had died. The collecting of insurance money.During a post-mortem, Charles was found to have arsenic in his organs as did a number of other victims. Mary Ann Cotton was hanged at Durham jail on 23rd March 1887, but only for the murder of her son Charles.

arsenic also known as the 'king of poisons due to its powerful toxin. Arsenic was used as a medicine in Victorian times to treat syphilis and other diseases. Arsenic occurs in many minerals usually combined with sulphur and metals. Symptoms of poisoning starts with headaches and drowsiness and then confusion. As the poison begins to develop within the body systems convulsions usually occur and also a change in the pigment colour of the fingernails. In the acute stage various symptoms can arise such as diarrhoea, vomiting, muscle cramps, hair loss and further convulsions. The organs most affected by the toxins are the liver, skin, kidneys and lungs. The eventual outcome of arsenic poisoning is coma and death.

England - 1881 - Dr Henry George Lamson

It is one of the oldest stories in history - how a person can be turned from good to evil because of a greed for money. Dr Henry George Lamson was one of them. An American who practiced in Bournemouth, England. After graduation, within the next few years, he became a veteran of the Franco-Prussian war and saw active service in the Balkans. He received honours from both the governments of Romania and Serbia. In 1879 he marrried a rich ward of chancery called Kate John.

After this exemplary and succesful start, his life became sour. Initially brought on by an addiction to morphia, his medical career breaking down - he was now in severe financial difficulty. Much of his financial problems were also due to his foolish prospecting with his wife's money. He was desperate and decided to get rid of his wife's brother in order to gain the inheritance which would come through his wife. The brother was only 18 and a hemi-plegic and did not stand much chance against the plotting doctor. The poison used was aconite. It was put into a 'dundee cake' given to the lad while Dr lamson visited him at boarding school. The murderous doctor also gave him a capsule containing the poison. It was the capsules that was his undoing. The rest of the batch were tested when located in Dr Pritchard's medical bag and found to contain aconite.

The doctor was hanged on 28th April, 1882 at Wandsworth prison. There was also rife speculation that Lamson also murdered another brother-in-law, Herbert John in 1879, but this has never been proven and Dr Lamson denied this.

Aconite - aconitine - a neurotoxin. Known as the 'Queen of poisons' it is a highly dangerous alkaloid found widely throughout nature. Ingesting this poison will lead to a tingling sensation in the mouth that spreads to the rest of the body. Alternative bouts of sweating and cooling is often followed by vomiting. Finally the neurotoxins cause respiratory paralysis, caridac arrest and death.

The 20th-century saw no end to murders by poison and the murderers were as cold and calculating as previous centuries had produced.

London, England - George Chapman - 1903.

His real name was Seweryn Antonowicz Klosowski. He later took his English name from one of his wives. One of his main claims to fame is that he has been investigated as a potential candidate for another seriel killer, 'Jack the Ripper'. But he has largely been dismissed from being involved in any of the crimes of 1888 in Whitechapel. However, it is an eerie co-incidence that one of his wives was called Annie Chapman - this was also the name of one of 'Jack the Ripper's' victims.

Chapman was a womaniser and had many mistresses who would pose as his wife. Three of these unfortunate women were poisoned by Chapman. The first was Mary Spink who died on Christmas Day 1897. The second victim was Elizabeth Taylor, also known as 'Bessie', who died on 14th February 1901. His third and last victim was Maud Marsh who died on October 22nd 1902. It was the death of his third victim that aroused suspicion and finally led to his arrest and execution for murder. To date there is no clear motive for the murders. In one case he did stand to inherit £500 but with the other two victims there was no inheritence. Some incidents in his past do indicate that he was a brutal man. One of his former mistresses claimed that Chapman had tried to strangle her and only stopped when he heard another person entering their premises.

The poison he used was tartar-emetic that he purchased from a local chemist. When Maud Marsh died suspicions arose and an examination of her body followed. Traces of poison were found. His two other victims were exhumed and traces of poison were also found in their bodies.

However, Chapman was only tried for the murder of Maud Marsh. Found guilty he was hanged on 7th April 1903 at Wandsworth Prison.

Tartar-emetic contains the poison antimony. Tartar emetic was used for inducing vomiting and treating fungal and helminthic (parasitic worms) infections. Used improperly it causes a very painful death with symptoms similar to arsenic.

London, England - Graham Young - 1962 &1971

Graham Young was fascinated with poison. He began his 'career' as a murderer at the age of 14 when he started experimenting with poisons on his family. He was sent to Broadmoor where a few years later he was released after being confirmed as 'cured'. Not long after this he murdered again.

In 1961 at the age of 14 he began experimenting with poisons and used members of his family as guinea pigs. Several of the family became violently ill. He had managed to build up a significant stock of various substances by buying very small amounts over a long period of time. He also lied about his age and also said that the poisons were for experiments at school. In 1962 his first victim was his stepmother, Molly. By this time he had managed to amass stocks of antimony and digitalis. It was never discovered what poisons he had used on his stepmother since her remains had been cremated. But after the family became ill his Aunty Winnie, suspicious of his infatuation with poisons, contacted the police. Young confessed to the murder of Molly and the attempted murder of his father, sister and a friend. He was sent to the secure criminal psychiatric hospital Broadmoor, under the Mental Health Act, for a term of 15 years but was released after 9 years having been declared 'cured'.

When Young was freed, under his rehabilitation scheme, his prospective employers did not know the circumstances of his crimes. Therefore, when a sudden out break of illness occured at the premises where Young had began work, no one suspected that poison was involved and blamed the outbreak on a virus.

Over the next few months at least 70 people became ill at the workplace due to Young lacing his work mates drinks of tea with thallium. Bob Egle a foreman died and a few months later his replacement also became very ill, but he quit the job. Another of Young's workmates, Fred Biggs, became seriously ill and died in great pain at the London National Hospital for Neurological Diseases. He was Young's third and final victim. On later investigation police discovered more thallium and aconitine in Young's flat. In addition they found a journal that contained what doses had been given and to what person. What was more chilling was that the journal also had notes about which of the victims were marked out to die.

His trial started on 19th June, 1971 and it was at this time he was nicknamed 'the teacup poisoner'. He was sentenced to life imprisonment but died at the age of 42 in Parkhurst Prison. The official cause of death was myocardial infarction, (heart attack), but there had been rumours that some prison inmates were responsible.

Thallium - a metal that is highly toxic, even contact with the skin can be dangerous. Was commonly used as a rat poison. Symptoms can be loss of hair and damage to the peripheral nervous system, causing severe pain. It was often a choice for murder until the anti-dote Prussian Blue was discovered.

There are of course hundreds of other poisoners that could have been mentioned. Some famous ones have even been left out. In particular Dr. Crippen. This was deliberate on my part as his case is now under review. Who knows, perhaps if Dr. Crippen is eventually proved innocent how many other convicted poisoners are also free of guilt? For some the cases are too far back in history to ever be sure. For others there is perhaps no point as the evidence does seem solid.

Murder by poison has a long and tragic history but how much longer will this method of murder last? With scientific advances and modern medical intervention, could murder by poison become a thing of the past?