On the January 1, 1886, Thomas Edwin Bartlett was found dead at his home in Pimlico in the center of London.
He had been ill for some time, but when doctors performed a post-mortem, they discovered a large quantity of chloroform in his stomach and intestines.
They declared this the cause of his death, and blame fell on his wife Adelaide Bartlett.
There was a fair amount of circumstantial evidence against Adelaide. Her tutor (and probable lover) George Dyson confirmed that he had bought chloroform from a chemist on Adelaide’s behalf.
She had admitted her intention to us the chemical to knock out her husband should he try to claim his “marital rights.”
Adelaide apparently avoided sex due to her husband’s mental instability and the horrendous stink from his chronic gum disease.
The case went to trial and she was acquitted. The jury believed that no convincing case had been made about how she might have been able to murder her husband.
There were no burns to his throat, which would’ve been inevitable had he been forced to swallow.
After the trial, famed doctor Sir James Paget said, “Now that she has been acquitted for murder and cannot be tried again, she should tell us in the interest of science how she did it!”
History is silent on what became of Adelaide after the trial, and the passage of time has also failed to solve the mystery of how Thomas Bartlett met his fate.
He had been ill for some time, but when doctors performed a post-mortem, they discovered a large quantity of chloroform in his stomach and intestines.
They declared this the cause of his death, and blame fell on his wife Adelaide Bartlett.
There was a fair amount of circumstantial evidence against Adelaide. Her tutor (and probable lover) George Dyson confirmed that he had bought chloroform from a chemist on Adelaide’s behalf.
She had admitted her intention to us the chemical to knock out her husband should he try to claim his “marital rights.”
Adelaide apparently avoided sex due to her husband’s mental instability and the horrendous stink from his chronic gum disease.
The case went to trial and she was acquitted. The jury believed that no convincing case had been made about how she might have been able to murder her husband.
There were no burns to his throat, which would’ve been inevitable had he been forced to swallow.
After the trial, famed doctor Sir James Paget said, “Now that she has been acquitted for murder and cannot be tried again, she should tell us in the interest of science how she did it!”
History is silent on what became of Adelaide after the trial, and the passage of time has also failed to solve the mystery of how Thomas Bartlett met his fate.
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