On July 5th an inquest was held on a twin child of William Parsons, a gardener who, with his wife had come, a week previously, from Battle, where he had resided eight years. "Death from convulsions" was the verdict, and one which in my opinion is too often given in medical certificates as the cause instead of the consequence.
The Matthew Kelland named in the foregoing list, died, after a short illness, at his residence, Minnis Rock Villa. He was a retired draper, his business premises having been at 87 and 32 High street, in succession. He and his wife came to Hastings in 1822 and, having no family, they were enabled to give up business in 1838. Mr, Kelland was a member of the Board of Guardians and had served the office of an overseer. He was a man of firm integrity and independent principle, and died in the 59th year of his age. His widow survived him for about 40 years, and died at the same residence at the age of 90 years and 8 months. A few years before her death she was one of fifty living persons in the parish of All Saints whose ages averaged over 84 years.
Henry Stace, also included in the list of deaths, fell accidentally out of Mr. Stubberfield’s hay-loft, and died within half-an-hour. He was 56 years of age, and although, perhaps, not a total abstainer, his boast was that he had not been drunk for forty years.
The death of Mrs. Mackay, at St. Leonards, was on the 16th of November, and her age was 86, Mrs Lucy Elizabeth Mackay was the amiable widow of Alexander George Mackay, Esq., late of Bagthorpe Hall, Norfolk. She was also the venerated mother of Lieut. Col. Mackay and his three sisters, named Emma Fiorentina, Charlotte and Eliza, all of whom (as shewn in Interpolatory chapter XXVIII.) took a practical interest in all that pertained to the welfare of the town. This was especially so with Eliza, who quitted life at over 90 years of age, thus exceeding her mother’s age by four years. The said mother led a pious life, and the patience with which for several years she bore her deprivation of sight afforded a worthy example of submission to the will of Providence. By her death the poor lost a warm friend, whilst others in higher walks of life would no longer be charmed with her enlightened mind, her Christian character and her invariable kindness of heart, Her remains were interred at Brighton, and were followed thither by her family, her acquaintances and the principal tradespeople.
The James Cooper included in my list of deaths, was seriously injured while taking down a portico at the Catholic Convent, some bricks falling upon him, fracturing his skull and the bones of one leg. He died at the Infirmary, never having recovered consciousness.
Another in the foregoing list was Henry Thomas Everett, an amiable young man of 23, who died of brain fever, on the 9th of December. He had been nine years a clerk in the coach-building firm of Rock and Son, and was a member of the Mechanics’ Institution. His remains were placed in the ground of the St. Leonards Wesleyan Chapel.
Another on the said list of deaths was David Brazier, one of the elder brothers of the late Town-Crier. He died rather suddenly of congestion of the lungs, on Dec. 26th, in his 37th year.
Although it may have been noticed from the long list of deaths which I have given that the mortality of Hastings and its neighbourhood was rather considerable in 1849, yet the mortality was greatly less in proportion to population than that of the United Kingdom, as shewn by the Registrar-General’s figures. Cholera alone was answerable for 55,000 deaths in this country in that particular year. It will have been seen also that the year under notice was remarkable for the large number of sudden deaths necessitating an enquiry by the borough or county coroner, such deaths being augmented by the fatalities on the South-Eastern Railway then in construction.
The Guestling Poisoning Case
But the most serious inquisition by a coroner’s jury involving a case of wholesale poisoning — remains to be told. This took place at the White Hart Inn, at Guestling, on the 25th of April. Suspicious circumstances led to the exhumation of the bodies of Richard Geering and two of his sons, and the jury were told that after viewing those bodies, the inquest would be adjourned until a post-mortem examination had been made. The surgeons who performed that operation were Messrs. F. Ticehurst, W. Duke and F. Duke, and they being of opinion that there were decided traces of arsenic in the bodies, Mary Ann Geering (wife and mother) was taken into custody and brought into Hastings. On the 13th of Septémber in the preceding year, her husband, a labouring man named Richard Geering, aged 56, died, after a short illness; on the 27th of December, the son George, aged 21, also died; and on the following 6th of March, another son, named James, aged 26, died in a similar manner. All three suffered from vomitings, and were severally attended during their illness by surgeon Pocock. After that, a third son, named Benjamin, was in a bad state of health, and suffered from unnatural hunger and vomitings. Mr. Ticehurst being, in this case, the medical attendant, suspected that something of a poisonous or otherwise improper nature was being administered to his patient, and insisted on an alteration of diet, which being effected, the patient began to recover. This increased the suspicion and led to the inquest. Nine days later (May 5th) Mary Ann Geering appeared in a crowded court before the county magistrates, and in reply to the charge said —
I did not do it; indeed, I had no arsenic in the house. If you will give me leave I will tell you what I had arsenic for at different times. I have always gone according to the doctor's orders. I have never done anything of the kind, as God Almighty is my heavenly Maker, I brought up my children in honesty and poverty, and that I will say if the Lord calls me home this very day. It's an awful day to me. I have lost my husband and big children, and I have suffered the greatest and most bare-footed poverty. I never turned my back upon my children and while I had bread they always had a part.
Witnesses being called, Superintendent Thompson deposed to finding a packet labelled poison. P.C, Jeffrey also deposed to finding 49 pawnbroker’s tickets in Mrs. Geering’s house at Guestling, together with a pass-book of the Hastings Savings’ Bank, from which it appeared that £20 was paid into the Bank on Jan. 31st, 1846, in the name of Richard Geering, and that at different times between that date and May 6th, 1848, all but 1s, 4d. had been withdrawn. Henry Pittman, a druggist, deposed to having known Mrs. Geering about 20 years, and to having sold her several pennyworths of arsenic, she stating it was to kill rats.
Here the prisoner interposed and said that Mr. Pittman had not known her for 20 years by a long 15; that he was too fast, yet was always glad to take her money; that he was a false-speaking man; that his memory was very bad, for what he ought to remember he did not, and what he ought not to remember he would do to swear her life away.
The next witness was Benjamin Geering, aged 19, the son who, probably, had been saved from death by the prompt treatment and energy of surgeon Ticehurst. He was under examination for 24 hours, his evidence being given with great reluctance, apparently with a desire to screen his mother.
Thomas Houghton deposed to having received from Mrs. Geering certain articles in pledge.
Prisoner was then remanded for a week, she expressing a hope that the Lord would demand her before that time, so that she might meet her dear husband and children who had gone before her.
Alfred Swaine Taylor (a relative of the late Mrs. Braham, of St. Leonards), doctor of medicine and professor of chemistry at Guy’s Hospital, deposed to receiving from Mr. Ticehurst a bottle containing liquid supposed to have been swallowed and ejected by Benjamin Geering, which on being submitted to three analytical tests, was found to contain sufficient arsenic to kill an adult person under favourable circumstances. At the further hearing of the charge against Mrs, Geering before the magistrates, James Weller gaoler at Hastings, produced a letter written by the prisoner as follows:-
My dear children, - I never had any poison for to use after I had the last which you know was before your father, some time. I could not recollect, yesterday, when I was in court, If poor James could know. he would be very sorry for me to suffer for him, for when he wanted poison to kill the vermin in the horses I always got it for him a good many times, He used to tell me what to get and not tell anyone who it was for. The last I ever got for him was that week when he was getting better. He said to me, Mother, you must go and get me some more stuff for my horses, I went and got several sorts of stuff and then mixed them altogether and done in the oven when I had been baking, and he never meant to give it them. I did not let anyone see it. I threw it away after he was dead. My dear children, I never had a bit of poison for myself afterwards,
The proceedings were stopped at this point until Dr. Taylor and Mr, Ticehurst had submitted to analytical tests a pill which had been found in Mrs Geering’s house since her apprehension.
During the interval the prisoner's daughter (Mrs. Broom, from Woolwich). who had not seen her mother since her father’s death, entered the Hall, and shedding tears, was apparently greatly distressed.
On Dr. Taylor's return, he said they had found a large proportion of arsenic in the pill which they had analysed.
The prisoner then said she never saw the pills. She had heard her son speak of them and had often cautioned him against taking those nasty poisonous things, and told him he would ruin his constitution. She never knew where he got them.
Mrs. Geering was then remanded until after the adjourned inquest.
At the adjourned inquest on the 14th of May, George Hawkins deposed to making the coffin for Richard Geering (prisoner’s husband). and to Mrs. Geering wanting the lid to be screwed down on the same day but he deferred it until) the next day.
Judith Veness, widow, gave evidence to the effect, that she assisted in laying-out the body, which was not only the worst corpse she had ever had to do with, but was so much like that of a black man that she was frightened; also that in reply to her question, Mrs. Geering said there bad heen something the matter with his heart, and that it was a family complaint. Four years before that time she heard Mrs. Geering say she wished her husband was dead, for he was nothing but a trouble to her.
George Hawkins, jun (sexton and clerk, said he had the filling-up of the grave and at Mrs. Geering’s request some timber was placed over the coffin, as she said to preserve it.
John Pocock. surgeon at Winchelsea, witnessed the post mortem examination. but took no other part in it. None of the medicine administered by him in his attendance contained arsenic When be first saw the deceased he did not think him dangerously ill, but he died two days after.
Frederic Ticehurst surgeon. made the post mortem examination. and sent the liver, intestines and stomach in a sealed jar to Alfred Swaine Taylor, professor of chemistry at Guy’s Hospital. When he visited the son Benjamin, he said his symptoms were just the same as those of his father and brothers who died. The first Sunday morning he was quite well till he drank a cup of tea; and then he was sick and bad all day. After taking some pills he got better and so continued up to the following Saturday, when he had some-bread-and cheese and coffee for dinner, and was then sick and bad as before. He (Mr. Ticehurst) had tested the vomit and found it contained arsenic.
At the adjourned inquest on May 14th, after the depositions of the undertaker, sexton and surgeon had been taken, a lengthy and lucid report by Dr. Swaine Taylor was submitted as evidence, which showed that arsenic was found in the liver, bladder, gall and heart, and that the man died from that poison. The report on the case of George Geering, the son, was that the analysis showed him to have died from an irritant poison, but whether from mercury (that having been also found) or arsenic could not be positively stated, Respecting James Geering, the parts analysed contained not less than 5 grains of arsenic, from which alone the deceased had assuredly died.
Other witnesses were examined, all tending more or less to inculpate the prisoner, and among them was Charlotte, the wife of George Gutsell, of Westfield. She saw Mrs. Geering purchase arsenic at Mr. Stubbs’s shop and heard her say it was for Sir John Ashburnham to destroy rats. She was served with three separate pennyworths marked poison and was told she must be very careful with it.
Eli West Stubbs said he had been out of business since January, but he did not believe he had sold Mrs. Geering more than three pennyworths of arsenic when he was in business.
Frederick Ferminger had heard Mrs. Geering say scores of times she wished her husband would drop dead.
Jane Easton had heard prisoner and her husband quarrel about money matters, and once heard her say in her (witness’) shop she hoped she should live to enjoy one year without the old man.
Mrs. Beney, sister of deceased, living at Hastings, went with her brother in 1846 to deposit £20 in the Savings Bank, and in March, 1847, he authorised her to draw out £5 for him and left the book with her. Within a year his wife called for it and said her son Alban wanted to look it over.
Eliza Geering, an unmarried sister of deceased living in All Saints street, attended the funeral of her brother, when Mrs. Geering said he never wanted for anything, although his wish was that the money in the bank should not be touched for a year after his death, and she would see that his wish was carried out.
The Rev. Sir John Ashburnbam never authorised prisoner to buy arsenic for him, nor did he believe that arsenic was ever used on his premises.
Thomas Houghton, pawnbroker, of All Saints' street, had taken several things in pledge from Mrs. Geering.
P.C. Jeffery had taken from Mrs, Geering 49 pledge tickets tied up in handkerchief knots, three of which were in the name of Apps.
Henry Bishop, actuary of the Hastings Savings Bank, proved the depository of £20 by Richard Geering on January 31st, 1846, and the drawing out of £5 by Henry Bartlett, a nephew, on March 6th, 1847, after which, at different times, other amounts were withdrawn by Mrs, Geering until only 1s. 4d. formed the deposit.
The jury at once pronounced verdict of wilful murder against the prisoner in her husband's case, and at six o'clock adjourned to the next day to inquire into the other cases.
[The portions of the exhumed bodies sent to Dr. Taylor for chemical analyses were seen by the present writer when on a visit to his brother-in-law at Guy's Hospital, the said relative being Dr. Taylor's assistant. They were placed in a sort of glass oven, in which gas was burning to carry off the fumes through a chimney-tube. The attendant on that occasion conducted his visitor from the laboratory to the mortuary, the dissecting-room, the lecture-room and the museum, the last of which was an instructively interesting but gruesome exhibition.]
The final examination of Mrs. Geering took place on May 19th, 1849 before the magistrates, Wastel Brisco, W.D. Lucas Shadwell,and George Scrivens. The court was crowded, and the witnesses examined were the prisoner's sons (Benjamin and Alban), Mrs. Foster, Mrs. Catt, Mrs. Jeffrey, Harriet Suters, Mrs. Booth and Charlotte Neye, all of whose evidence tended to inculpate the prisoner. To Mrs. Foster she had said, her son Benjamin was taken ill, and she was afraid he would not get better, and what made her more afraid was that an old woman who once told her fortune, said that before that day three years she would lose her husband and the greater part of her family, and as the greater part had come true, she was afraid the rest would. Ben. had been taken in the same way as the others had. To Mrs. Catt she had said that in less than four months she had lost her husband and two sons with pains under the heart, and she was convinced they would all go off in the same manner. To Miss Suters she had said she had James’ grave dug deeper than the rest, for as they kept dying off, she thought it might be wanted to take them up. She further said that although Mary Ann was better, she thought she would never live to grow up.
The prisoner denied having any poison in the house and declared she was quite innocent of the charge. She was then committed to the Lewes assizes, and when taken back to the gaol, was followed by a large crowd of people, who hooted and hissed her. She was soon after visited by some of her surviving children, and one of her husband’s misters, who upbraided her as a guilty woman.
The trial took place on the Ist of August, when Mrs. Geering was arraigned for having feloniously administered arsenic to her son Benjamin, and for having caused the death of her husband Richard Geering on Sept. 13th, 1848, her son George on Dec. 27th, and her son James on March 6th, 1849, by poison, all in the parish of Guestling. The prisoner pleaded not guilty, and the trial went on from 9 in the morning until 7 in the evening, when the prisoner still asserted her innocence, The jury, however, after a very brief consultation gave a verdict of "Guilty."
