The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-04
THE LITTLE WHITE VICTIM

duced by the prosecution at the trial and
all of it was SO trfling as to be abs,rd
Great stress, for instance, was laid upon
the TACT that Elizabeth had repeatedly
aked permission to make apple DUNN
| iings This was consderec conclusive
proof that she had contemplated thu
crime long time. 1t didn't occur 10
anybody that dumplings were not neces-
sary to the administering of arsenic
Had she been anxious to poison the Tur-
hers she had opportunities every day
Mrs. Turner testified at great length.
and in every sentence showed her hatred
of the girl She testified that there had
been paper of arsenic in the drawer OF
the kitchen table, and when she recoy.
cred from her sickness she looked for tbes
paper, but it was gone. This made a
deep impression upon the jury and seemed
to stick in their minds, to the exclusion
of the story of one of the clerks who
swore that the package of arsenic had
been missing before Elizabeth went to
work for the Turner's. It was taken for
granted that arsenic had been used be-
cause ignorant doctor and {: more
ignorant druggist said so. In after yea q Z
an eminent British scientist wrote a pa.
per on this case and demonstrated con-
| clusively that the Turner's were not pofS>-
oned with arsenic, whatever caused their
sufferings. None of the symptoms #
arsenical poisoning was present. I
All evidence against the girl was freely
admitted, but whenever witness for IA
defense was ON the stand his eviderN
was ruled out on one pretext or another''
and the unfortunate girl was found guilty
and sentenced to death Had she been
convicted of making bad dumpIings and,
fined five shillings there would be nNt
cause for complaint but the girl really
was hanged for making poor dumplinss.
Nobody outside the courtroom and thai
Turner family ever believed she was
poisoner.
Nothing could be more pitiful than the
fate of Elizabeth Fenning Such detes-
mined efforts were being made in he, Lex
haif by great men and women that
seemed almost certain her sentence would
be committed But all the efforts failed.
and on the morning of July 26. 1915. she
was told to prepare herself for trausla-
ton. She came from her cell wearingss
white muslin dress and a snowy cap. Her
pretty, gentle face was untroubied. her
eyes undismayed. Hardened criminals
and men accustomed to horrible scenes
had tears on their cheeks while the ex-
ecutioner bound her hands distin-
guished citizen of London, who had
worked night and day to save her.
stepped up to her, sobbing, and said:
| Tell me. Elizabeth in the name of
| God. that you are INNOCENT"
| In the name of God, then, I am inno-
| cent" replied the girl and they were her
| last words She died at the age Of 2I.
and no gallows was ever put to mare
barbarous use.
| Next day, and for several days there
after, crowds collected in the street whore
| the Turner'S lived, and bombarded the
house with rocks, and it was a long time
before any of the Turner'S could appear
| in public with safety. Islizabeth's par
ents had bankrupted themselves trying to
secure justice for her and fund was
raised for their relief and the fact tlfat
the money for that fund came from all
over Europe shows how intense was the
| Indignation over the murder of this ua-
| fortunate girl.