Everybody loves a good mystery from time to time, and, like many others
before me, I have been intrigued by the case of Adelaide Bartlett. Hers is one
that galvanized the British murder-reading public during the closing years of
the Victorian Era. There were several crowd-pleasing features: the accused woman,
at thirty, was still young and presentable, born in France, and the widow of a
prosperous grocer ten years older than she was.
Murder hath charms, we must
confess, for those of us not too closely brushed against it; and how much more
so when a lady’s involved – those delicious pouter-pigeon ladies who so closely
followed each other into the dock in the latter half of the 19th
century: with their bosoms and their bustles and their tight little waists, all
starry-eyed. And when, furthermore, the truth of their innocence or guilt must
now be forever in doubt – did she or didn’t she? Adelaide, dear, sweet
Adelaide, with her great big brown eyes and her great big brown bottle of chloroform – did she or didn’t she?
We shall never know now.
It was in 1875 when 19 year old
Adelaide Blanche de la Tremoille married a grocer in the person of Edwin
Bartlett. But Edwin, having a reverential “regard for advanced learning” of which he himself had very little, sent
Adelaide off to boarding school for three years and only then received her into
his home.
There she remained, poor young creature,
very friendless, occupying herself with needlework, music, and the care of some
Newfoundland dogs which Edwin bred for show. Adelaide’s closest companion at
the time was her age father-in-law, who, devoted to Edwin, had disapproved of
their marriage and henceforward disliked and distrusted her.
After two years of this she
petitioned for a baby of her own; and at last, Edwin relented and “a single act”
took place. Adelaide became pregnant and in due course, delivered a child. But the
baby was stillborn. She went through a bad time and declared herself unwilling
to have more children after that.
Enter Reverend George Dyson – a reverend
attached to a Wesleyan chapel – who soon spent more and more time with
Bartletts, who both doted on him. Soon, he had undertaken to promote even
further the “advanced learning” for which Edwin had so much regard. The lessons
took place in the front room at Claverton Street and often lasted all day; not
surprising that sometimes Adelaide was so exhausted as to have to take them
sitting on the floor, her head resting on Dyson’s knee… (This went on for so
long that Dyson actually had to confess that he was becoming “too interested” on
Adelaide)
However, Edwin was unperturbed,
so he convinced Dyson to continue the lesson, and soon enough, a somewhat queer
situation emerged, which certainly was understood and respected by all three –
in which it was agreed that Edwin had some obscure condition which gave him not
much longer to live and that Adelaide was, more or less, made over to Dyson in
advance – to become his wife.
Fast forward to December 1885,
the eleventh year of the marriage. Adelaide sent round the corner for the
nearest available doctor, who found that Edwin was very low, weak and deeply
depressed, suffering from diarrhea and hemorrhage of the bowels. On looking
into his mouth, the doctor observed a blue line round the edge of the gums
which suggested that at some time, the patient had taken in mercury. It later
emerged that as a young man, Edwin decided that dentures were better than the
real thing and so submitted himself to the agony of having all his own
perfectly good teeth sawn off at the gums. The stumps had now decayed and his
entire mouth was in an appalling condition. Within the next twelve days, he had
sixteen of these stumps removed, they revealed an underlying fungal growth with
resultant sloughing, eroding and sponginess.
Eventually, Edwin got better but
on the 23rd Edwin felt “worms constantly wriggling up and down his
throat”. Each time he grew a little stronger, fresh disaster struck. Now,
necrosis of the jaw was suggested, at it had a frightening ring to it. On December
31, yet another stump must be pulled out.
In preparation for this event, he
ate half a dozen oysters and large helping of jugged hare. On his return from
the dentist, he had another half dozen oysters, a quantity of mango chutney,
cake and tea; and ordered a large meal for the next morning’s breakfast.
Alas, he was destined never to
wake up again.
The next morning, January 1,
doctors found a large amount of chloroform in Edwin’s stomach.
But how? Let us go back to the
events of the night before.
A bottle of chloroform was within
reach. A glass of brandy to hand. He tips a large dose of one into the other. The
chloroform hangs in the brandy, suspended in its center like a yolk in the
white of an egg. Wrapped within it cocoon, the dose passes without pain or
burning, all in one gulp.
Adelaide comes back from the
other room. Edwin lies asleep. She settles herself for the night.
In the early hours of morning she
awakes; and he is dead.
Adelaide Bartlett is no fool –
all along, the horrid father in law has been making overt accusations and now
his son is dead, and it she who has, apparently, introduced the fatal dose. What
to do? Get rid of the bottle of chloroform, at any rate, just to get rid of it
and trust to luck; rinse out the glass, spill some brandy around, BUT GET RID
OF THE BOTTLE!
Then send for the doctor – summon
up the landlord, give way to genuine grief. And when the Rev. George Dyson comes
rushing around in a state about the chloroform (Adelaide had him buy 2 bottles
from different chemists), stamp your foot and cry out…
Dyson on the contrary piped up too
much and soon enough, found himself standing on the dock beside her, both of
them charged with murder.
But although Adelaide was found
to have all the motives for getting rid of Edwin – horror of all horrors! The jury
acquitted her.
Did she or didn’t she?
That, my friends is something we shall never know.
Before we delve deeper into it,
however, let me define for you the word poison.
Poisons are defined as substances which cause disturbances to organisms when a
sufficient quantity is absorbed by the said organism. However, the fields of
medicine and zoology often distinguish a poison form a toxin and from venom.
Toxins are poisons produced via some biological function in nature, and venoms are usually defines as toxins injected by bites or stings to cause their effect, while other poisons are generally defined as substances absorbed through epithelial linings such as the skin or the gut. Throughout history, intentional application of poison has been used as a method of assassination, murder, suicide and execution.
Toxicology is the study of poisons. However, this definition is far too simple to encompass this field. Generally, four major disciplines are classified under toxicology: mechanistic, descriptive, forensic, and clinical toxicology. We shall run down all of these disciplines in very simple terms in the succeeding paragraphs.
Mechanistic Toxicology deals with the cellular and biochemical effects of toxins, thereby producing rational therapy design and the development of tests to assess the degree of exposure of poisoned individuals.
Descriptive Toxicology uses the results from animal experiments (PETA frowns on this) to predict the dose or the level of exposure that would be fatal to humans in a process known as risk assessment. Regulatory toxicologists are responsible for interpreting data so that they may establish standards that define the level of exposure that will not pose risks to the public.
Forensic Toxicology is concerned with the medicolegal consequences of toxin exposure. Forensic toxicologists focus on the establishment and validation of the analytic performance of forensic methods in order to generate evidence in legal situations, including the cause of death.
Clinical Toxicology deals with the interrelationships between toxin exposure and diseases. It specializes both in diagnosis as well as therapy.
Toxicology is usually considered a part of chemistry nowadays, mainly because the methods used to evaluate toxins qualitatively and quantitatively are best suited to this area. However, appropriate diagnosis and management of poisoned victims require equal efforts from all sections of a laboratory.
Bibliography, lovelies:
Wilkes, Roger et al.: The Giant Book of Unsolved Crimes, 1999
Bishop, Michael L. et al.: Clinical Chemistry Techniques, Principles and Correlations, 6th ed., 2010
