WOMAN'S DIABOLICAL PLOT

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 224, 21 September 1929, Page 3 (Supplement)

WOMAN'S DIABOLICAL PLOT

CRIME OF INSANE JEALOUSY. DEATH HIDDEN IN CHOCOLATE — POISONING OF INNOCENT CHILD.

X THERE can surely be no more * % ' amazing tale in the annals of * * rrime than that of Christina * sk wmSnds-the womnn who, in a * * fit of mad Jealousy imperilled the * * lives -of a" entire population so -fc that she might possibly gain her * own end. That her vi a.nous * * frhnrne should have resulted in * death is in Itself amazing, * hut the fact that she finally ©scaped t £ fate which she richly mer.ted * $ was, perhaps, even more so. *

"Do you know that the lady you have be en dancing with is a murderess? ' The occasion was a patients' ball at Broadmoor "Criminal Lunatic Asylum, and the startling question was rut a visitor bv an official at the asylum. " "Impossible!" said the visitor incredulously. "Why she is a perfectly charming woman, and as sane, as you or I! I thought she was probably a lady guest or the wife of one of the principal officials." . , "I can quite believe you, was tna Te p]y. "But all the same, your fair and charming partner has been sentenced to death as a murderess." He then proceeded to tell the story of one t>f the most coldblooded and terrible crimes. Continuing the narrative, he said it seemed too utterly absurd, too impossible to be true. He had had one dance with this woman and had sat out another, and had found her one of the most delightful of women. She was beautiful, though no longer young; s he was exquisitively dressed, and she danced divinely. She had talked on a wide range of subjects, and he had been greatly struck by her intelligence and culture. . But what impressed most was her gentleness and her tenderness of heart, She had told me a very pathetic story oi a floor girl—whom she pointed out among the dancers —who, deserted by her lover and driven to despair by poverty, had drowned her little child. And as she told the story her voice, one of the sweetest and most musical, broke, and the tears rolled down her cheeks. And yet this refined, beautiful woman, who shed tears over a baby's death, had herself callously murdered one little boy and endangered the lives of many other children. She was, in fact, none other than Christina Edmunds, known to illfame as the "Chocolate Murderess," whose crime had sent a thrill of horror throughout England some years previously. At the time of this tragedy there was no more beautiful or enviable woman in Brighton than Christina Edmunds. She was young and rich and beautiful, with the beauty of luxuriant brown hair, blue eyes, exquisite complexion, and a tall> graceful figure. She was gifted, too, with a clever head and tongue; could speak several languages with the fluency of a native, was a clever musician and painter, skilled in games, and dowered with a great charm of manner. _ . As might be expected, a girl so gifted had no lack of lovers. She might have .picked and chosen among many eligible suitors, but to one" and'all she turned a cold shoulder, until a local doctor, whom she consulted ai) a patient, came on the scene, and, in spite of himself, succeeded where all others had failed. At their first meeting she seems to have lost her heart to the good-looking young doctor, arid each succeeding meeting added fuel'to the fire of her love until it became a consuming passion. As ill-luck would have it, however, he was already a married man, devoted to his wife, and could make no response to his, fair patient's undisguised infatuation. To a girl so accustomed to homage such a state of things was intolerable. .At any cost she determined she would have her way. The only obstacle in her path, she was convinced, was the doctor's wife. That obstacle must be removed. Then she, would have no difficulty in winning his love. Such was the idea that, entered Miss Edmunds' head. It only remained to give effect to it in some way that would escape detection, and this way quickly occurred to her. Her Narrow Escape. Her rival was fond of chocolates, she knew. What could be more simple than to poison some and offer them to her. . If anything tragic resulted no suspicion could 'attach to her, for she was known to be on most amiable terms with the lady, a constant visitor to her house; suspicion would naturally fall on the seller of the chocolates. Thus it was that one day she called on the doctor's wife, and, in the course of conversation, produced a bag of chocolate creams. "My dear," she said, "I bought some lovely chocolates at 's on my way here. Do try one!" The unsuspecting lady took one of the poisoned creams and put it in her mouth. But the moment she had bitten it she exclaimed: "Oh, what a horrid taste!" and taking the sweet out of her mouth, she flung it in the fire. On her husband's return she told him of the incident; whereupon, shrewdly suspecting that an attempt had been made to poison his wife, he forbade Miss Edmunds to enter his house again. Here was an awful predicament. The man she loved clearly suspected that she had tried to murder his wife and had closed his door against her. All hope of winning his love was now gone—unless she could convince him of her innocence. And so, in order to do this, she conceived the following diabolical plot. The doctor's wife .always bought her chocolates at a certain shop. She would endeavour to poison as many as possible of the creams sold there. If her rival chanced to buy and eat any of them, well and good.- The shopkeeper would alone be blamed. If any others ate them the shopkeeper would also be responsible and the doctor would be satisfied that, like them, she had innocently bought the chocolates she ; had offered to his wife.

Having come to this decision slie proceeded to carry it into effect. One day, while walking along Portland Street, she accosted a small boy and asked him if lie would run an errand for her. "Certainly, naiss,'" answered the boy. "I want you," continued Miss Edmunds, "to go to —'s sweets shop round the corner and buy me sixpennyworth of large chocolate creams. Here is the sixpence, and when you return you shall have a penny for yourself." The boy ran off, and in a few minutes returned with a packet, which he handed to the lady, who put..it.in her muff and began to walk away. Then she suddenly turned round, produced a bag from her muff, and opened it to inspect the contents. "Oh, how foolish!" she exclaimed with a look of annoyance, "they have given .vou the wrong kind. These are large Irench chocolates and I wanted the smaller English ones. Just run back and change them, will you?" The boy did as he was told, and brought back the chocolates required, whereupon the lady handed him the promised penny, and he walked away ignorant that the packet the lady gave him to exchange Was not the one he had handed to her. but another which contained creams of the same kind which she had bought previously at the same shop and impregnated with strychnine.

This process she repeated six times, thus adding six packets of poisoned creams to the sweets seller's stock, until at last the curiosity of the assistant was aroused. One day he followed the boy (a different boy was employed on each occasion) and saw him deliver the packet to a beautiful, well-dressed young lady who was waiting for him in Portland Street, little suspecting, howaver, the diabolical game she was playing. Innocent Child Dies. It was not long, however, before a tragic development followed this mysterious exchange of 6weets. A visitor called one day at the shop and bought an ounce of chocolate creams for her son, a boy of four. The child ate one of them and threw the rest away, declaring that they "tasted horrid." Half an hour later the boy was dead. The sudden death of a child after eating a chocolate naturally caused considerable excitement in Brighton; and at the inquest several people gave evidence that, after eating chocolate creams purchased at the same shop, they had been taken seriously ill. So strong and strange, in fact, Wap the evidence that the coroner adjourned the inquest in order that an examination should be made of the stock of chocolates in the shop. . Among the witnesses at this adjourned inquiry was Miss Christina Edmunds, who testified that she had often bought chocolates at this sliop, and that, eating them, she "felt ill and had a burning sensation her throat." She had complained to the proprietor, she said, but he had indignantly denied that there was anything wrong with the creams. "V ery startling evidence was given by the next witness, a Dr. Lethaby, who declared that the boy, Sidney Barker, had died of strychnine poisoning, and that he had found the same poison in many of the chocolate creams in the shop at which the deadly sweets had been bought, y ■ ■ . In spite of" this evidence, however, the coroner's jury returned a verdict of accidental death; and probably no more would have been heard of the mysterious incident but for one of those strange lapses which have brought bo many murderers to the gallows. Shortly after the inquest, the father of the dead boy received three anonymous letters—one signed "A Lqndon Tradesman, another from "A Seeker of Justice, and the third bearing initials only all urging him to institute proceedings against the shopkeeper for criminal negligence. Police Suspicions. These letters the father handed to the police, who had already heard from the shopkeeper of the lady (whom the assistant had since identified as Miss Edmunds) who had sent a succession of boys to exchange chocolates bought for her. Acting on this information. Inspector Gibbs wrote to Miss Edmunds asking her to arrange a time when he could ■ see her, and on receipt of her reply he was not altogether surprised to see that her handwriting strongly resembled that of the anonymous letters. His suspicions confirmed, he proceeded to make further inquiries, which placed her guilt beyond doubt, for he discovered that Miss Edmunds had made several purchases of strychnine from a chemist under the pretence that she wanted it for destroying cats. Thus it was that one day while Miss Edmunds was anxiously expecting her beloved doctor to call to apologise to her for his unjust suspicions she was horrified to see an inspector of police walk into her presence and to hear him say: "1 arrest you on a charge of murdering Sidney Barker by administering poison to him." Thus at last did Nemesis overtake Christina Edmunds, who was committed for trial at the Central Criminal Court. And seldom has a trial been more sensational or has' roused greater popular excitement and indignation. The evidence' against the prisoner was so strong and conclusive that it left no loop-hole for escape. The chemist testified that Miss Edmunds, under the name of. Mrs. Wood, had rnede several purchases of strychnine from him. She was identified by one boy after another as the Ijidy who had sent them to exchange the chocolates. It was proved that the same poison was found in the body of the dead boy, and also in many of the chocolates found in the shop, and finally the doctor told the story of the attempt to poison his wife and of the prisoner's mad infatuation for him and lier jealousy. In. vain did counsel put in a plea of insanity. The plea was ignored and Christina Edmunds was sentenced to be "hanged by the neck until she was dead" —a sentence which was endorsed throughout the United Kingdom. But Christina Edmunds was not fated to end her days on the scaffold. A tender-hearted Home Secretary, in spite of the decision of the judge and jury, came to the conclusion that she was not responsible for her acts, and she was consigned to Broadmoor Asylum, where for many years she played the fine lady among her fellow-prisoners and -flfhere she ended her days not long ago.