The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-08 00:00:00

The Mysterious Deaths at Mile-end.

Yesterday afterncon Mr Humphreys, the coroner for the
eastern division of Middlesex, and a jury chosen from among
the principal inhabitants of the district, resumed and con-
cluded the inquest which was opened on Monday week at

the Crown and Leek Tavern, Mile-end New-town, on the

bodies of the women Frances Beckenham and Mary Ann

Gribbin, who were found dead on the night on Friday week

under extraordinary circumstances.
It will be recollected that the deceased were sisters, and
between 30 and 40 years of age ; that Frances resided with
her husband, a man of weak intellect and a retired Post-
office letter sorter, at 21, Albert-cottages, Mile-end N ew-
town, and that the other sister Gribbin was the widow of a

musician who at one time led the band at Astley's Amphi-
theatre. She lived in the same neighbourhood, and was in
the habit of visiting the Beckenhams. The evidence went
to show that both women were addicted to drinking, and
that the man Beckenham, who is an imbecile creature, was
completely under their control. He had a pension of 14s
a week from the Post-office, and his wife and he, who were
without family, occupied the upper floor of the cottage,
which consisted of three small rooms. Tbey had resided
there about eight years, and had paid their rent punctually
They were nevertheless under notice to quit at the time of
this affair, from some alleged scandal which the habits of
the sisters had brought upon the neighbourhood. Not

having been seen by their acquaintances for some days,
apprehensions began to be felt that something was amiss
with them, and about 10 o'clock on the night of Friday
week Mr Nicholson, the overseer of the parish, and a
brother-in-law of the Beckenhams, with some of the neigh-
bours, entered their house, and found both sisters dead in
the sitting room), and the man Beckenham almost naked,
crouching under a bed in an adjoining room. The body of
the woman Beckenham lay on its back on the floor of the
room, with the head, on which there wore certain marks of
violence, on the threshold of the bedroom, and that of the
sister was in a kneeling posture, with the head and arms
resting on a sofa. Both were dressed, that of the woman
Gribbin having a bonnet on. The room was in disorder.
and there were indications in it of a recent drinking bout.
The husband on being questioned could throw no light on
the matter. All he could say was that he had been without
food for three days. A post-mortem examination, made by
Dr. Gayton, afforded no clue to the cause of death in either
case, and there being a lurking suspicion that the woman
had died from the effects of poison, the contents of the sto-
mach, with parts of the liver and intestines, were sub-
mitted to Dr. Letheby for analysation. The principal wit•
nega on the first day of the inquest was an old woman
named Lydia Goozee, an intimate acquaintance of the
Beckenhams, and who was in the habit of visiting them.
Her evidence was to the effect that on the Tuesday morn-
ing before the Friday on which the women were found
dead the husband Beckenham called upon her and asked
her to go and see them, and that she went and found he
had got there before her. The woman Beckenham, who
appeared to have been drinking, was going about the house,
and Gribbin was in bed. The latter complained of pains
in the stomach, and ley on a sofa the rest of the day un-
dressed, except with a blanket, and retching violently at
times. Twice in the course of the day Goozee, at their re-
quest, went out and brought them first porter and then gin,
but only in trifing quantities. She saw no food in the
house. She remained with them until about 9 o'clock in
the evening. The woman Gribbin appeared then a little
better, and the other sister asked her to call and see them
in the morning, remarking that she would have " a fine
night of it." Mrs Goczee called next morning, but no one
answered the door, and she never saw the sisters again
alive. About the time she left on the Tuesday night the
man Beckenham went to a neighbouring publichouso and
took home half a gallon of beer.
Yesterday the woman Goozee was recalled, and said, in
reply to the coroner, that she did not see anything
poured into a vessel from which one of the sisters was
drinking by the ether sister on the Tuesday evening. She
denied having said so to any person since she was last
examined.
Elizabeth Wagstaff, wife of a butcher, living at 27, Al-
bert-cottages, Mile-end New-town, deposed that Lydia
Goozee, in a conversation she had with her since the first
day's inquest, told her that Mrs Beckenham offered a white
powder to her husband, who refused to take it, upon which
she took some of it herself, and gave the rest to her sister,
and that both were sick afterwards. Goozee said that took
place on the Wednesday evening, and that the powder was
put into some boer.
Mary Ann Hoare, living at 22, Arundel-street, in that

neighbourhood, said the deceased woman Gribbin had
lodged with her about a month, occupying a back room,
and was much given to drinking.
Dr Letheby, professor of chemistry at the London Hos-
pital, deposed that he had examined the contents of the
stomachs of the deceased women. The mucous coat of that
of the woman Beckenham was very much softened, and the
stomach was stained by a purple colour. It contained a
teaspoonful and a half of thickish fluid, of a deep red
colour, which was carefully analyzed for poison, but nothing
was found beyond a small quantity of potash and sulpho-
cyanogen. Portions of the intestines and liver were also ex-
amined, but no poison was found. The stomach of the
woman Gribbin contained an ounce and a half of red liquid.
The mucous coat was much softened, of a red colour, with
a purple stain at one end. There was no trace of food in the
stomach. The liquid in it had no peculiar odour, but on
being tested for poison it wes found to contain about 40
grains of carbonate of potash and a little sulpho- cyanogen.
The intestines and liver did not furnish any evidence of
poison. The result of the analysis was that potash was pre-
sent in both of the stomachs to a large extent. It existed as
carbonate of potash, and might have been taken either in the
form of caustio potash, or carbonate of potash, or cyanide of
potash. His opinion was, from the presence of sulpho-
cyanogen, that cyanide of potassium was the drug taken.
It was a deadly poison, its active principle being prussic
acid. and the 40 grains found in the stomach of the woman
Gribbin would represent about three grains and a tenth of
the cyanide of potassium, the commercial cyanide, as com-
pared with that sold by druggists, being an impure prepara-
tion, containing only about 20 per cent of cyanide. That
quantity would be quite sufficient to cause death. The not
finding prussic acid was accounted for by the decomposition
of the body, which has a tendency to destroy prussic acid.
All the appearances were those of poisoning by cyanide of
potassium, and be believed that to have been the cause of
death in both cases, It was used generally by photographers.
The witness Elizabeth Wagstaff was recalled, and in reply
to the coroner said she saw Mrs Gribbin return home drunk
on the Wednesday afternoon and sit down on the step of
the door. She threatened to burst the door in if it was not
opened, upon which the than Beckenham opened the door
and tried to pull her in, falling over her as he did so, As
she sat on the step she complained that she had lost her
money and a new dress. Witness saw Mrs Goozee go to
the house ou the Wednesday morning and try to get in, but
could not.
Ann Filcher, a neighbour of the Beckenhams, spoke to
seeing the husband Beckenham pass her door on the Wed-
nesday evening between 6 and 7, and return presently
afterwards, on his way home, with a large can of beer.
She also corroborated the witness Wagstaff as to the woman
Gribbin sitting on the doorstep drunk on the afternoon of
Wednesday. She was positive as to the day, because she
had been washing on that day.
Another of the neighbours, named Elizabeth Davis, gave
confirmatory evidence on that point, adding that she never
saw any of the three after the woman Gribbin was taken
into the house drunk.
The Coroner then summed up the evidence. The result
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proeed that both the deceased women had been confirmed
stomachs of both Dr. Letheby had found a drug which he
believed to have been taken in the form of cyanide of potas-
sium, a deadly poison, It was used very extensively by
photographers, and unfortunately, although of a deadly
nature, was mere easily obtainable in London than any
other poison. It was a white powder, but was reduced to a
liquid before being used for purposes of photography, It
was remarkable, if the deceased died from pc ison, that the
witness Goozee should have stated to neigh bour that she

had seen some powder put in their beer when she was with
them on the Tuesday, and yet had kept back that circum-
stance when she was previously called to give evidence. It
would seem that, being present when the powder was put in
the beer, but feeling now the responsibility of her position,
she shrank from adhering to the account she gave the neigh-
bour. It might be that she only stood by while that was
being done, and probably she and the Beckenhams and
Gribbin were in the same condition of intemperance at the
time. The evidence, however, of the neighbours as to see-
ing the woman Gribbin and the husband Beckenham on the
Wednesday afternoon put Mrs Goozee in a better light, for
whatever the two women might have taken on the Tuesday
in her presence could not have caused their deaths. Looking
at the medical evidence, to the effect that there was no organ
sufficiently diseased to account for death, and that the
deaths had all the appearance of being due to cyanide of
potassium, it was for the jury to say whether it was the
cause of death. If they were of that opinion it would be
for them to say under what circumstances it was taken.
The evidence on that point was very meagre. The husband
was a person of weak intellect, and that of the witness
Goozee was hardly reliable Probably, under all the circum-
stances, they would think it desirable to find an open ver-
dict in that respect.
The jury returned a unanimous verdict that the deceased
women, Fiances Beckenham and Mary Ann Gribbin, died
from the effects of poison, but under what circumstances it
was administered there was no evidence to show.