On the morning of July 19, 1899, 3,000 people gathered outside St Albans gaol to watch the hanging of a twenty-two-year-old woman. Despite her terrible crime, many appeals had been made against her execution.

Her journey to the noose began with the arrival of a small parcel at Leavesden Asylum. 26-year-old Caroline Ansell, who was a patient at the asylum, gratefully received the unexpected gift: a piece of cake.

She ate some of the cake, then shared it with her fellow patients the following day.

Soon after, everyone who had eaten the cake started to feel unwell. Two of Caroline’s friends became seriously ill with severe abdominal pains. Caroline herself, who had eaten the most, died four days later.

It soon became apparent that Caroline had been poisoned, and this was not the first time an attempt on her life was made. Shortly before, some tea and sugar had been sent to her. The tea had tasted bitter and was discarded, as was the sugar, for it appeared damp.

Caroline had also received a suspicious letter, purporting to be from her cousin, Harriett Parish, telling her that both her parents had died. But her mother and father still lived, and Harriett denied writing any letter to Caroline.

The post-mortem examination found that Caroline had been murdered by phosphorous poisoning baked into the cake. The wrapping the cake was sent in was retrieved from a nearby rubbish heap, bearing the sender’s handwriting.

Superintendent Wood of Watford took charge of the investigation. His attention was soon caught by Caroline’s sister, Mary, who had taken out insurance on her sister’s life not long before.

To acquire the insurance, Mary fraudulently stated that her sister worked at the asylum as a general servant. If she told them that Caroline was a patient, the insurance company would have refused to issue the policy.

Wood was convinced that Mary was behind the murder, but first he had to find a motive.

It turned out that Mary had a lover whom she wanted to marry, but they had little money and thought it better to wait until they had saved up some funds. By securing the money upon Caroline’s death, Mary could have persuaded her fiancé to marry her.

It was quickly established that Mary had purchased phosphorous at a shop near her home. Her explanation was that it was to kill rats at her employers’ house, the Maloneys. But, according to Mrs Maloney, there were none.

When Superintendent Wood charged her with murdering her sister, Mary replied, “I know nothing whatever about it. I am as innocent a girl as was ever born.”

Patrick Maloney, her employer, said that at no time had her manner given him or his wife the slightest suspicion that she could have committed such a crime. She was, to all accounts, ‘a harmless kind of girl’.

The final piece of damning evidence slotted into place when a Christmas card, written by Mary, was found to bear the same handwriting as the wrapping paper containing the poisoned cake and the fake letter, supposedly written by Caroline’s cousin.

The purpose of the letter was to mislead the authorities, so that when Caroline died they would not write to her parents, believing them dead, and there would be less likelihood of an enquiry.

Mary was tried at Hertford Assizes. The prosecution’s case was so compelling that it took only half a day to present. Mary was said to be utterly unmoved by what was taking place at the trial. She was convicted of murdering her sister and sentenced to death. The judge told her that ‘never in my experience has so terrible a crime been committed for a motive so utterly inadequate’.

But no one thought she would actually hang. Instead, it seemed a mere formality that the Home Secretary would quickly overturn. He did no such thing, not even when over 100 MPs signed a petition for Mary to be spared. The Watford Observer reported that a public meeting was to be held to protest the hanging. The public believed that Mary, like her sister, was at least partly insane, and therefore could not be held responsible for her actions.

But the Home Office was unwilling to reprieve a poisoner, this murder being considered a premeditated act, and poisoning an especially heinous crime under English law.

Mary went to her death. Even when she was being led to the scaffold, the crowd hoped for a reprieve. But the noose was slipped over her head, the lever was pulled, and Mary dropped seven feet to her death.

The role her fiancé played in these events is not known, as he was not asked to give evidence in court.

Information courtesy of Paul Heslop.