Amelia Elizabeth Dyer née Hobley (1838 – 10 June 1896) was
the most prolific baby farm murderer of Victorian England. She was tried and
hanged for one murder, but there is little doubt she was responsible for many
more similar deaths—possibly 400 or more—over a period of perhaps twenty years.
She Adopted ‘unwanted’ Children , illegitimate infants for large lump-sum payments
Female Serial killer; She is the most prolific baby farm murderer of Victorian England
Number of her victims: 6 - 100 + Her Method - Strangulation
From: 1880 – 1896, In Reading, Berkshire, England, United Kingdom
She was arrested: April 4, 1896, And Executed by Hanging at Newgate Prison on June 10, 1896.
Dyer was eventually arrested on 4th April 1896. By May,
seventeen tiny bodies had been recovered from the Thames, all had the tape
around their necks and all were parceled. Three of the bodies were identified
as four-month-old Doris Marmon, thirteen-month-old Harry Simmonds and the
daughter of Elizabeth Goulding. The others were to remain unidentified. She
soon confessed, saying "You'll know all mine by the tape around their
necks." While in Reading police station she made two attempts to commit
suicide.
She came to trial at the Old Bailey in May 1896 charged with
just the murder of Doris Marmon, to which she pleaded guilty. The defense tried
to prove insanity but failed, despite her dubious mental history. The jury took
just five minutes to find Dyer guilty and she was sentenced to death. James
Billington hanged her at Newgate on 10th June 1896. Police suspected that at
least 65 other children had disappeared in a similar manner in the few months
before her arrest.
Her background:
Unlike many of her generation, Amelia Dyer was not the
product of grinding poverty. She was born the youngest of 5 (with 3 brothers,
Thomas, James and William, and a sister, Ann) in the small village of Pyle
Marsh, just east of Bristol (now part of Bristol's urban sprawl known as Pile
Marsh), the daughter of a master shoemaker, Samuel Hobley, and Sarah Hobley née
Weymouth. She learned to read and write and developed a love of literature and
poetry. However, her somewhat privileged childhood was marred by the mental
illness of her mother, caused by typhus. Amelia witnessed her mother's violent
fits and was obliged to care for her until she died raving in 1848. Researchers
would later comment on the effect this had on Amelia, and also what it would
teach Amelia about the signs exhibited by those who appear to lose their mind
through illness. Just after her mother's
death Amelia lived with an aunt in Bristol for a while, before serving an
apprenticeship with a corset maker. Her father died in 1859, her eldest brother
Thomas inheriting the family shoe business. In 1861, at the age of 24, Amelia
became permanently estranged from at least one of her brothers, James, and
moved into lodgings in Trinity Street, Bristol. There she married George
Thomas. George was 59 and they both lied about their ages on the marriage
certificate to reduce the age gap. George deducted 11 years from his age and
Amelia added 6 years to her age—many sources later reported this age as fact,
causing much confusion.
A Nursing Education:
For a couple of years, after marrying George Thomas, she
trained as a nurse, a somewhat grueling job in Victorian times, but it was seen
as a respectable occupation, and it enabled her to acquire useful skills. From
contact with a midwife, Ellen Dane, she learnt of an easier way to earn a
living—using her own home to provide lodgings for young women who had conceived
illegitimately and then farming off the babies for adoption or allowing them to
die of neglect and malnutrition (Ellen Dane was forced to decamp to the USA,
shortly after meeting Amelia, to escape the attention of the authorities). Unmarried mothers in Victorian England often
struggled to gain an income, since the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act had removed
any financial obligation from the fathers of illegitimate children, whilst
bringing up their children in a society where single parenthood and illegitimacy
were stigmatized. This led to the practice of baby farming in which individuals
acted as adoption or fostering agents, in return for regular payments or a
single, up-front fee from the babies’ mothers. Many businesses were set up to
take in these young women and care for them until they gave birth. The mothers
subsequently left their unwanted babies to be looked after as "nurse
children".
The predicament of the parents involved was often exploited
for financial gain: if a baby had well-off parents who were simply anxious to
keep the birth secret, the single fee might be as much as £80. £50 might be
negotiated if the father of the child wanted to hush up his involvement.
However, it was more common for these expectant young women, whose
"immorality" even precluded acceptance, at that time, into
workhouses, to be impoverished. Such women would be charged about £5. Unscrupulous careers resorted to starving the
farmed-out babies, to save money and even to hasten death. Noisy or demanding
babies could be sedated with easily-available alcohol and/or opiates. Godfrey's
Cordial—known colloquially as "Mother's Friend", (a syrup containing
opium)—was a popular choice, but there were several other similar preparations.
Many children died as a result of such dubious practices: "Opium killed
far more infants through starvation than directly through overdose." Dr.
Greenhow, investigating for the Privy Council, noted how children "kept in
a state of continued narcotics will be thereby disinclined for food, and be but
imperfectly nourished." Death from severe malnutrition would result, but
the coroner was likely to record the death as "'debility from birth,' or
'lack of breast milk,' or simply 'starvation.'" Mothers who chose to
reclaim or simply check on the welfare of their children could often encounter
difficulties, but some would simply be too frightened or ashamed to tell the
police about any suspected wrongdoing. Even the authorities often had problems
tracing any children that were reported missing.
This was the world opened up to her by the now-departed
Ellen Danes. Amelia had had to leave nursing with the birth of a daughter,
Ellen Thomas. In 1869 the elderly George Thomas died and Amelia needed an income.
The Murders:
Amelia was apparently keen to make money from baby farming,
and alongside taking in expectant women, she would advertise to nurse and adopt
a baby, in return for a substantial one-off payment and adequate clothing for
the child. In her advertisements and meetings with clients, she assured them
that she was respectable, married, and that she would provide a safe and loving
home for the child. At some point in her baby farming career, Amelia was
prepared to forego the expense and inconvenience of letting the children die
through neglect and starvation; soon after the receipt of each child, she
murdered them, thus allowing her to pocket most or all of the entire fee.
For some time, Dyer eluded the resulting interest of police.
She was eventually caught in 1879 after a doctor was suspicious about the
number of child deaths he had been called to certify in Dyer's care. However,
instead of being convicted of murder or manslaughter, she was sentenced to six
months' hard labor for neglect. The experience allegedly almost destroyed her
mentally, though others have expressed incredulity at the leniency of the
sentence when compared to those handed out for lesser crimes at that time. Upon
release, she attempted to resume her nursing career. She had spells in mental
hospitals due to her alleged mental instability and suicidal tendencies; these
always coincided with times when it was convenient for her to
"disappear". Being a former asylum nurse Amelia knew how to behave to
ensure a relatively comfortable existence as an asylum inmate. Dyer appears to
have begun abusing alcohol and opium-based products early in her killing
career; her mental instability could have been related to her substance abuse.
In 1890, Dyer cared for the illegitimate baby of a governess. When she returned
to visit the child, the governess was immediately suspicious and stripped the
baby to see if a birthmark was present on one of its hips. It wasn't, and
prolonged suspicions by the authorities led to Dyer having, or feigning, a breakdown.
Dyer at one point drank two bottles of laudanum in a serious suicide attempt,
but her long-term abuse had built up her tolerance to opium products, so she
survived. Inevitably, she returned to baby farming, and murder. Dyer realized
the folly of involving doctors to issue death certificates and began disposing
of the bodies herself. The precarious nature and extent of her activities again
prompted undesirable attention; she was alert to the attentions of police—and
of parents seeking to reclaim their children. She and her family frequently
relocated to different towns and cities to escape suspicion, regain
anonymity—and to acquire new business. Over the years, Dyer used a succession
of aliases.
In 1893, Dyer was discharged from her final committal at Wells
mental asylum. Unlike previous "breakdowns" this had been a most
disagreeable experience and she never entered another asylum. Two years later,
Dyer moved to Caversham, Berkshire, accompanied by an unsuspecting associate,
Jane "Granny" Smith, whom Amelia had recruited from a brief spell in
a workhouse and Amelia's daughter and son-in-law, Mary Ann (known as Polly) and
Arthur Palmer. This was followed by a move to Kensington Road, Reading,
Berkshire later the same year. Smith was persuaded by Amelia to be referred to
as 'mother' in front of innocent women handing over their children. This was an
effort to present a caring mother-daughter image.
A Case study - the murder of Doris Marmon:
In January 1896, Evelina Marmon, a popular 25-year-old
barmaid, gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, Doris, in a boarding house in
Cheltenham. She quickly sought offers of adoption, and placed an advertisement
in the "Miscellaneous" section of the Bristol Times & Mirror
newspaper. It simply read: "Wanted, respectable woman to take young
child." Marmon intended to go back to work and hoped to eventually reclaim
her child. Coincidentally, next to her own, was an advertisement reading:
"Married couple with no family would adopt healthy child, nice country
home. Terms, £10". Marmon responded, to a "Mrs. Harding", and a
few days later she received a reply from Dyer. From Oxford Road in Reading,
"Mrs. Harding" wrote that "I should be glad to have a dear
little baby girl, one I could bring up and call my own." She continued: “We
are plain, homely people, in fairly good circumstances. I don't want a child
for money's sake, but for company and home comfort. ... Myself and my husband
are dearly fond of children. I have no child of my own. A child with me will
have a good home and a mother's love.” Evelina Marmon wanted to pay a more
affordable, weekly fee for the care of her daughter, but "Mrs.
Harding" insisted on being given the one-off payment in advance. Marmon
was in desperate straits, so she reluctantly agreed to pay the £10, and a week
later "Mrs. Harding" arrived in Cheltenham.
Marmon was apparently surprised by Dyer's advanced age and
stocky appearance, but Dyer seemed affectionate towards Doris. Evelina handed
over her daughter, a cardboard box of clothes and the £10. Still distressed at
having to give up care for her daughter, Evelina accompanied Dyer to Cheltenham
station, and then on to Gloucester. She returned to her lodgings "a broken
woman". A few days later, she received a letter from "Mrs.
Harding" saying all was well; Marmon wrote back, but received no reply. Dyer
did not travel to Reading, as she had told Marmon. She went instead to 76 Mayo
Road, Willesden, London where her 23-year-old daughter Polly was staying.
There, Dyer quickly found some white edging tape used in dressmaking, wound it
twice around the baby's neck and tied a knot. Death would not have been
immediate. (Amelia later said "I used to like to watch them with the tape
around their neck, but it was soon all over with them") Both women
allegedly helped to wrap the body in a napkin. They kept some of the clothes
Marmon had packed; the rest was destined for the pawnbroker. Dyer paid the rent
to the unwitting landlady, and gave her a pair of child's boots as a present
for her little girl. The following day, Wednesday 1 April 1896, another child,
named Harry Simmons, was taken to Mayo Road. However, with no spare white
edging tape available, the length around Doris' corpse was removed and used to
strangle the 13 month-old boy.
On April 2, both bodies were stacked into a carpet bag,
along with bricks for added weight. Dyer then headed for Reading. At a secluded
spot she knew well near a weir at Caversham Lock, she forced the carpet bag
through railings into the River Thames.
Amelia's downfall
The gruesome discovery of very small corpses:
Unknown to Dyer, on 30 March 1896, a package was retrieved
from the Thames at Reading by a bargeman. It contained the body of a baby girl,
later identified as Helena Fry. In the small detective force available to
Reading Borough Police headed by Chief Constable George Tewsley, a Detective
Constable Anderson made a crucial breakthrough. As well as finding a label from
Temple Meads station, Bristol, he used microscopic analysis of the wrapping
paper, and deciphered a faintly-legible name—Mrs. Thomas—and an address. This
evidence was enough to lead police to Dyer, but they still had no strong
evidence to connect her directly with a serious crime. Additional evidence they
gleaned from witnesses, and information obtained from Bristol police, only
served to increase their concerns, and D.C. Anderson, with Sgt. James, placed
Dyer's home under surveillance. Subsequent intelligence suggested that Dyer
would abscond if she became at all suspicious. The officers decided to use a
young woman as a decoy, hoping she would be able to secure a meeting with Dyer
to discuss her services. This may have been designed to help the detectives to
positively link Dyer to her business activities, or it may have simply given
them a reliable opportunity to arrest her.
It transpired that Dyer was expecting her new client (the
decoy) to call, but instead she found detectives waiting on her doorstep. On
April 3 (Good Friday), police raided her home. They were apparently struck by
the stench of human decomposition, although no human remains were found. There
was however, plenty of other related evidence, including white edging tape,
telegrams regarding adoption arrangements, pawn tickets for children's
clothing, receipts for advertisements and letters from mothers inquiring about
the well-being of their children. The police calculated that in the previous
few months alone, at least twenty children had been placed in the care of a
"Mrs. Thomas", now revealed to be Amelia Dyer. It also appeared that
she was about to move home again, this time to Somerset. This rate of murder
has led to some estimates that Mrs. Dyer may, over the course of decades, have
killed over 400 babies and children, making her one of the most prolific
murderers ever, as well as the most prolific murderess ever.
Helena Fry, the baby removed from the River Thames on March
30, had been handed over to Dyer at Temple Meads station on March 5. That same
evening, she arrived home carrying only a brown paper parcel. She hid the
package in the house but, after three weeks, the odor of decomposition prompted
her to dump the dead baby in the river. As it was not weighted adequately, it
had been easily spotted. Amelia Dyer was
arrested on April 4 and charged with murder. Her son-in-law Arthur Palmer was
charged as an accessory. During April, the Thames was dragged and six more
bodies were discovered, including Doris Marmon and Harry Simmons—Dyer's last
victims. Each baby had been strangled with white tape, which as she later told
the police "was how you could tell it was one of mine". Eleven days
after handing her daughter to Dyer, Evelina Marmon, whose name had emerged in
items kept by Dyer, identified her daughter's remains.
The inquest and trial:
At the inquest into the deaths in early May, no evidence was
found that Mary Ann or Arthur Palmer had acted as Dyer’s accomplices. Arthur
Palmer was discharged as the result of a confession written by Amelia Dyer. In
Reading gaol she wrote (with her own spelling and punctuation preserved):
Sir will you
kindly grant me the favor of presenting this to the magistrates on Saturday the
18th instant I have made this statement out, for I may not have the opportunity
then I must relieve my mind I do know and I feel my days are numbered on this
earth but I do feel it is an awful thing drawing innocent people into trouble I
do know I shall have to answer before my Maker in Heaven for the awful crimes I
have committed but as God Almighty is my judge in Heaven a on Hearth neither my
daughter Mary Ann Palmer nor her husband Alfred Ernest Palmer I do most
solemnly declare neither of them had anything at all to do with it, they never
knew I contemplated doing such a wicked thing until it was too late I am
speaking the truth and nothing but the truth as I hope to be forgiven, I myself
and I alone must stand before my Maker in Heaven to give an answer for it all witness
my hand Amelia Dyer. —April 16, 1896
On 22 May 1896, Amelia Dyer appeared at the Old Bailey and
pleaded guilty to one murder, that of Doris Marmon. Her family and associates
testified at her trial that they had been growing suspicious and uneasy about
her activities, and it emerged that Dyer had narrowly escaped discovery on
several occasions. Evidence from a man who had seen and spoken to Dyer when she
had disposed of the two bodies at Caversham Lock also proved significant. Her
daughter had given graphic evidence that ensured Amelia Dyer's conviction. The only defense Dyer offered was insanity:
she had been twice committed to asylums in Bristol. However, the prosecution
argued successfully that her exhibitions of mental instability had been a ploy
to avoid suspicion; both committals were said to have coincided with times when
Dyer was concerned her crimes might have been exposed. It took the jury only
four and a half minutes to find her guilty. In her 3 weeks in the condemned
cell, she filled five exercise books with her "last true and only
confession". Visited the night before her execution by the chaplain and
asked if she had anything to confess, she offered him her exercise books,
saying, "isn't this enough?" Curiously she was subpoenaed to appear
as a witness in Polly's trial for murder, set for a week after her own
execution date. However it was ruled that Amelia was already legally dead once
sentenced and that therefore her evidence would be inadmissible. Thus her
execution was not delayed. On the eve of her execution Amelia heard that the
charges against Polly had been dropped. She was hanged by James Billington at
Newgate Prison on Wednesday, 10 June 1896. Asked on the scaffold if she had
anything to say, she said "I have nothing to say", just before being
dropped at 9am precisely.
The later developments:
It is uncertain how many more children Amelia Dyer murdered.
However, inquiries from mothers, evidence of other witnesses, and material
found in Dyer’s homes, including letters and many babies' clothes, pointed to
many more.
The Dyer case caused a scandal. She became known as the
"Ogress of Reading", and she inspired a popular ballad:
The old baby
farmer, the wretched Miss Dyer
At the Old Bailey
her wages is paid.
In times long ago,
we'd 'a' made a big fy-er
And roasted so
nicely that wicked old jade.
Subsequently, adoption laws were made stricter, giving local
authorities the power to police baby farms in the hope of stamping out abuse.
Despite this and the scrutinizing of newspaper personal ads, the trafficking
and abuse of infants did not stop. Two years after Dyer's execution, railway
workers inspecting carriages at Newton Abbot, Devon found a parcel. Inside was
a three-week-old girl, but though cold and wet, she was alive. The daughter of
a widow, Jane Hill, the baby had been given to a Mrs. Stewart, for £12. She had
picked up the baby at Plymouth—and apparently dumped her on the next train. It
has been claimed that "Mrs. Stewart" was Polly, the daughter of
Amelia Dyer.
Some of the identified victims:
Doris Marmon, 4
months old
Harry Simmons, 13
months old
Helena Fry, Age
unknown, 1 year old or less
And the Jack the Ripper Speculation
Because she was a murderer alive at the time of the Jack the
Ripper killings, some have suggested that Amelia Dyer was Jack the Ripper, who
killed the prostitutes through botched abortions. This suggestion was put
forward by author William Stewart, although he preferred Mary Pearcey as his
chosen suspect. There is, however, no evidence to connect Dyer to the Jack the
Ripper murders.
“The Official Record of Amelia Dyer:” (published in circa. 1939)
Mrs. Dyer was 56 years old when she moved from Bristol to
Caversham in Reading in 1895 and began advertising for babies to look after. On
the 30th of March of 1896, a bargeman recovered the corpse of 15-month old
Helena Fry from the river Thames at Reading. Helena's body was wrapped in a
brown paper parcel which had the name of a Mrs. Thomas and her address on it –
Piggott’s Road Lower Caversham. Mrs. Thomas was one of Mrs. Dyer's aliases. It
took the police some time to trace Mrs. Dyer as she had already moved on,
changing her address quite frequently and also using various aliases. In the
meantime, a Cheltenham barmaid, 23 year old Evelina Marmon, had answered a
newspaper advert from a "Mrs. Harding" seeking a child for adoption.
She met "Mrs. Harding" and paid her a £10 fee to take her four month
old baby daughter Doris on the 31st of March 1896. She felt comfortable with
the arrangement as "Mrs. Harding" appeared to be a respectable and
motherly person. The following day Mrs. Dyer “adopted” another child, Harry
Simmons. The police finally located Mrs. Dyer, who they kept under surveillance
for several days before mounting a “sting” operation using a young woman to
pose as a potential customer. She was arrested on April the 4th, 1896 when she
opened the door to the person she thought would be this customer only to find
two policemen standing there.
The two tiny bodies of Doris and Harry were found in the
Thames on April the 10th, 1896, both wrapped in a carpet bag and both white
tapes round their necks. In all, the corpses of seven babies, all of whom had
been strangled, were recovered from the Thames and each one had the same white
tape around their neck. She soon confessed saying, "You’ll know all mine
by the tape around their necks." She made two attempts to commit suicide
in Reading police station. She came to trial before Mr. Justice Hawkins at the
Old Bailey on the 21st and 22nd of May 1896 charged with Doris' murder in the first
instance, so that if she was acquitted, she could be tried for another. This
was standard practice until recently in cases of multiple murder. Miss Marmon
identified Mrs. Dyer in court as "Mrs.
Harding". The defense tried to prove insanity but failed to convince the
jury who took just 5 minutes to find her guilty. Although there was strong
evidence of her dubious sanity, her crimes were also appalling and the jury
seemed to give far more weight to that aspect. Mr. Justice Hawkins sentenced
her to death. During her three weeks in the condemned cell, she filled five
exercise books with her "last true and only confession." In a
compassionate move the authorities removed her from Newgate for a few hours so
that she would not have to hear the hanging of Milsom, Fowler and Seaman the
day before her own execution. The chaplain visited her on the evening of the
9th and asked her if she had anything to confess - she offered him her exercise
books saying "isn't this enough?"
She was hanged the following morning (10th of June 1896) by
James Billington, becoming at 57, the oldest woman to be executed since 1843.
She was given a drop of five feet as she weighed some 15 stones. Her ghost was said to haunt Newgate prison.
No one will ever know the exact number of her victims but at the time of her
arrest, she had been carrying on her trade for 15 to 20 years. She may have murdered as many as 400 babies
in all.
Book: ‘The Untold
Story of England’s Baby Killer’ (1965)
Amelia Elizabeth Dyer was perhaps the best known and most
prolific murderous baby farmer. She was convicted of the murder of 4 month old
Doris Marmon who had been entrusted to her care, having received £10 to look
after her. Doris' tiny body was found in the Thames on April the 10th 1896,
together with that of one year old Harry Simmons, both wrapped in a carpet bag
and both with her trade mark white tapes round their necks. The Crown decided
to proceed only with Doris' murder in the first instance, so that if Mrs. Dyer
was acquitted they would be able to try her for another. This was standard
practice until recently.
Mrs. Dyer who was fifty-seven years old at the time of her
arrest moved to Reading in 1895 where she began advertising for babies to look
after. On the 30th of March of 1895 a bargeman recovered the corpse of 15 month
old Helena Fry from the river Thames at Reading. Helena's body was wrapped in a
brown paper parcel which had Mrs. Dyer's address on it. It took the police some
time to trace the identity of the owner of the parcel as Mrs. Dyer had moved
on, changing her address quite frequently and also using various aliases. They
eventually caught up with her and she was arrested on April the 4th 1896. The
corpses of seven babies, all of whom had been strangled had been recovered from
the Thames, all had the same white tape around their necks. She soon confessed,
saying "You’ll know all mine by the tape around their necks." While
in Reading police station she made two attempts to commit suicide. She came to
trial at the Old Bailey the 21st of May 1896, the trial lasting two days. The defense
tried to prove insanity but failed to convince the jury who took just five
minutes to find her guilty. Although there was strong evidence of her dubious
sanity her crimes were also appalling and the jury seemed to give far more
weight to that aspect. Mr. Justice Hawkins sentenced her to death and while in
the condemned cell she filled five exercise books with her "last true and
only confession." She decided not to appeal and so her execution was set
for three weeks after sentence. The chaplain visited her the night before her
execution and asked her if she had anything to confess - she offered him her
exercise books saying "isn't this enough?"
She was hanged the following morning (10th June 1896) by
James Billington at Newgate, becoming the oldest woman to be executed since
1843. No-one will ever know the exact number of her victims, but at the time of
her arrest she had been carrying on her trade for fifteen to twenty years.
DYER, Amelia Elizabeth (England)
[Quoting: Amazing True Stories of Female Executions by Geoffrey Abbott]
That a man should kill a child is appalling; that a woman
should kill a child is unthinkable; but a woman who killed eight children and
perhaps many more . . .
Amelia Dyer was known as the Reading Baby-farmer; having
once been a member of the Salvation Army, she was a figure of trust to those
parents or guardians who, over the years, accepted her offer to adopt unwanted
children, and were more than happy to pay her the regular boarding fees for
their upkeep. But their trust was badly shaken when in 1885 a boatman on the
Thames noticed something unusual floating in the water. Rescuing it, he was
shocked to find that, wrapped in a brown paper parcel, was a dead baby, with a
tape tied tightly round its neck. The parcel bore an address: Mrs. Thomas, Piggott’s
Road, Lower Caversham. The police immediately went to the address, only to
discover that their quarry had moved away and had, moreover, changed her name.
Worse was to follow, for within the next few days two more bodies were found
floating in the river, each in a separate parcel, each having been strangled by
the tape around its throat.
In the widespread hunt that ensued, Mrs. Dyer, alias Thomas,
alias Harding, alias Stanfield, was found, and when arrested on a charge of
murdering a little girl named Fry, admitted her guilt, adding, ‘You’ll know all
mine by the tapes around their necks.’ That
statement was tragically borne out when no fewer than a further four small
corpses were fished out of the Thames, and it was suspected that there could
have been many more similarly strangled over the years during which she had
been a baby farmer, four more children having recently disappeared.
It would appear that she would place an advertisement in
local papers, worded as follows:
I should be glad to have a dear little baby girl, one I
could bring up and call my own. First I must tell you we are plain, homely
people, in fairly good circumstances. We live in our own house. I have a good
and comfortable home. We are out in the country and sometimes I am alone a good
deal. I do not want a child for money’s sake but for company and home comfort.
Myself and my husband are dearly fond of children. I have no child of my own. A
child with me will have a good home and a mother’s love and care. We belong to
the Church of England. Although I want to bring the child up as my own, I
should not mind the mother or any other person coming to see the child at any
time. It would be a satisfaction to see and know the child was getting on all
right. I only hope we can come to terms.
The latter offer of access was impossible, of course, Amelia
Dyer repeatedly changing her name and address. Women who responded to the
advertisement usually handed over a parcel of clothes, ten pounds in cash, a
considerable sum in those days, and the baby – which she never saw again.
When her house was searched by the police, no less than
three hundredweight (336 lb.) of children’s clothes were found, together with a
large number of pawn tickets for baby clothes.
In May 1896 Amelia appeared in court charged with murdering
a four-month-old baby girl named Doris Marmon and a boy, Harry Simmons. Her
plea, that she was insane, was not accepted, the jury taking only five minutes
to find her guilty, and she was sentenced to death. Confident of a reprieve,
doubtless because of her age – she was 57 – she spent her time in the condemned
cell praying and writing poems, one of which survives:
By nature, Lord, I know with grief,
I am a poor fallen leaf
Shriveled and dry, near unto death
Driven with sin, as with a breath.
But if by Grace I am made new,
Washed in the blood of Jesus, too,
Like to a lily, I shall stand
Spotless and pure at His right hand.
And not content with the hypocritical tone of the verse, she
had the appalling gall to sign it ‘Mother’.
In accordance with the regulations, which stipulated that
executions should take place at 8 a.m. on the first day after the intervention
of three Sundays from the day on which the sentence was passed – in this case
10 June 1896 – Amelia herself was taken into care, James Billington, the public
executioner, a muscular ex-coal miner, having temporarily adopted her. He
escorted her up the steps of the scaffold behind the high walls of Newgate
Prison and there guided her on to the trapdoors, where he hooded her. The
prison bell had already been tolling for the past fifteen minutes and would
continue to do so for the same length of time after the execution had taken
place. Crowds had gathered outside, waiting to see the regulatory black flag which
would be raised on the prison’s flagpole at the moment the trapdoors opened,
and also, within the next few minutes, to read the Certificate of Death which
had to be displayed near the principal entrance to the prison. They did not
have long to wait, for Billington, never one to linger, and no doubt recalling
the manner in which Amelia Dyer had strangled her helpless charges, positioned
his version of a tape, the noose, around her neck and swiftly operated the drop
– sending the cold-blooded killer plummeting into the depths of the pit.
Whether Amelia’s spirit departed with her, though, is
another matter, it being rumored that her ghost haunted the chief warder’s
office for some years following her execution.
For one to become adept at no becoming a victim, then you
must have the information by which you can make decisions to avoid people such
as this.
As always, stay safe.
bird
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