George Joseph Smith: Bridegroom Makes for Unusual Serial Killer

Last week, I told you about Annie Le, a Yale graduate student whose promising career was cut short by murder. This week, I have a classic crime from across the Atlantic. It’s the story of George Joseph Smith and the notorious “Brides in the Bath” case.

George Joseph Smith

Crime was an integral part of George Joseph Smith’s life from his early years. Born in London in 1872, he ended up in a reformatory at Gravesend by the age of 9. Later, he served time for theft and fraud. In 1896, he convinced a woman to steal from her employers, which earned him 12 months in prison.

George Joseph Smith in 1915 (Police Gazette, 1915)
George Joseph Smith in 1915 (Police Gazette, 1915)

Two years later, in 1896, he married Carolyn Beatrice Thornhill in Leicester. Despite many subsequent marriages, this was the only one that was legal. Soon after the wedding, the couple moved to London.

Carolyn worked as a maid for several employers, stealing from all of them at Smith’s behest. Eventually caught, she served 12 months and, upon her release, outed her husband. He went to prison for two years in January 1901.

Carolyn departed for Canada when Smith got out of prison. Unfazed, Smith married Florence Wilson in June 1908. A month later, he left her, but not before taking £30 (about $1,126 in 2023) from her savings account. He also sold the contents of their Camden Town residence in London.

George Joseph Smith during his murder trial
George Joseph Smith during his murder trial

Smith continued to marry and steal from women. Between 1908 and 1914, he contracted seven marriages, all of them bigamous. For a time, as with Florence Wilson, he stole what money they had and disappeared. But that was about to change.

George Joseph Smith Turns to Murder

In December 1910, Smith married Beatrice “Bessie” Mundy (using the name Henry Williams) in Weymouth, Dorset. The couple rented a house at 80 High Street. The house had no bathtub, so Smith rented one seven weeks later.

The new couple consulted a physician, Dr. Frank French, where Bessie complained of headaches. Smith told French a different story, that his wife suffered from epileptic seizures, even though she had no memory of them afterward.

The 'Brides in the Bath' murderer George Joseph Smith (1872 - 1915) standing in front of a painted backdrop with the first of his murder victims, Beatrice "Bessie" Mundy, (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The ‘Brides in the Bath’ murderer George Joseph Smith (1872 – 1915) standing in front of a painted backdrop with the first of his murder victims, Beatrice “Bessie” Mundy, (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On July 12, 1912, Smith called Dr. French to attend to his wife, saying she’d had another seizure. The doctor gave her some medicine and promised to check on her in the afternoon. However, Smith informed the doctor the next morning that Bessie had drowned in the bathtub during an epileptic seizure.

French found Bessie in the tub, her head underwater, her legs stretched straight, and her feet protruding from the water. With no visible trace of violence, he attributed her death to epilepsy. The inquest jury awarded “Williams” £2,579 13s 7d (almost $461,000 in 2023) as dictated by her will. She’d drawn up the will a mere five days before her death.

George Joseph Smith Arouses Suspicion

In January 1915, Division Detective Inspector Arthur Neil received a letter from one Joseph Crossley. Crossley owned a boarding house in Blackpool, Lancashire, and enclosed two newspaper clippings in his letter. One was from News of the World, dated Christmas 1914, which recounted the death of Margaret Elizabeth Lloyd (née Lofty). Mrs. Lloyd died at her home in Highgate; her husband and their landlady found her in the bathtub.

Margaret Elizabeth Lofty
Margaret Elizabeth Lofty

The second clipping, dated December 13, 1913, recounted the coroner’s inquest into the death of Alice Smith (née Burnham) in Blackpool. Her husband found her dead in the bathtub. In addition to her savings, Alice had a £500 ($78,487 in 2023) life insurance policy.

Alice Burnham (findagrave.com)
Alice Burnham (findagrave.com)

Crossley’s letter, dated January 3, expressed his and his wife’s suspicions over the striking similarity of the two deaths. He urged the police to investigate.

The Investigation Begins

DI Neil visited the house where Margaret Lloyd died. He found it difficult to believe a healthy adult woman had drowned in such a small tub. Investigating further, he found Margaret had made a will on December 18, 1914, three hours before she died.

Neil contrived to have the coroner, Dr. Bates, issue a favorable report to the insurance company. Expecting Lloyd/Smith to contact his lawyers, he had their offices watched. On February 1, a man matching Smith’s description appeared. After a few questions, the man admitted to the inspector that he was Lloyd and Smith. Neil promptly arrested him for bigamy.

By now, news of the “Brides in the Bath” case had begun to appear. On February 8, the police chief of Herne Bay, Kent, notified Neil of another death similar to Margaret’s and Alice’s. That was, of course, the death of Bessie Mundy.

The Solution

The question that needed an answer was, how did the two women drown? Neil asked the eminent Home Office pathologist Sir Bernard Spilsbury to find a solution.

Spilsbury began by exhuming Margaret Lloyd’s body and conducting a second autopsy. He confirmed drowning as the cause of death, although the evidence was not extensive. He then ruled out poisons or diseases.

Home Office pathologist Sir Bernard Spilsbury in his laboratory
Home Office pathologist Sir Bernard Spilsbury in his laboratory

Given the dimensions of the tub and the size of the women, Spilsbury concluded that they couldn’t have drowned during a seizure. The muscular activity during an episode would have pushed them out of the tub.

Spilsbury suspected someone had grabbed the women by the feet and pulled them underwater. The sudden influx of water into the nose and mouth might cause shock and unconsciousness.

Reconstruction of the Brides in the Bath murders in Madam Tussauds Chamber of Horrors, London
Reconstruction of the Brides in the Bath murders in Madam Tussauds Chamber of Horrors, London

To test this theory, DI Neil hired several experienced female divers similar in size and build to the victims. Try as he might, he could not force the women underwater without leaving signs of a struggle. Then without warning, he pulled the feet of one of the divers. Her head glided under the water before she knew what was happening. Neil pulled the diver from the tub when she failed to get out of the water. It took him and a doctor more than half an hour to revive her. It was a close call, but it confirmed Spilsbury’s theory.

Trial and Conviction

Smith’s trial for murder at London’s Old Baily on June 22, 1915. Under English law, prosecutors could only try him for Bessie Mundy’s death. However, prosecutors used the other two murders to establish the pattern of Smith’s crimes. Smith’s counsel, the noted barrister Sir Edward Marshall Hall, protested, but Mr. Justice Scrutton allowed it. Smith decided not to testify in his own defense.

Handwritten note by George Joseph Smith to his counsel, Edward Marshall Hall, indicating that he did not wish to give evidence in his own defense
Handwritten note by George Joseph Smith to his counsel, Edward Marshall Hall, indicating that he did not wish to give evidence in his own defense

It took the jury about 20 minutes to convict Smith, and Mr. Justice Scrutton sentenced him to death.

Epilogue

Marshall Hall appealed the verdict on grounds that Mr. Justice Scrutton improperly admitted evidence of a “system.” Lord Chief Justice Lord Reading dismissed the appeal.

Sir Edward Marshall Hall
Sir Edward Marshall Hall

George Joseph Smith went to the gallows at Maidstone Prison on August 13, 1915.

The Smith case is significant because it was the first instance of introducing past crimes to prove a system or pattern. Although some have criticized the technique, it is a feature of many modern criminal cases.

The “Brides in the Bath” case appears in several biographies of Spilsbury and anthologies of famous crimes. Among these are The Father of Forensics by Colin Evans and Robin O’Dell’s Landmarks in 20th Century Murder. George Joseph Smith: Brides in the Bath, a book in the True Crimes series, and Jane Robins’ The Magnificent Spilsbury and the Case of the Brides in the Bath also chronicle the case.

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Annie Le: Insider Murder Ends a Promising Life

In last week’s case, we met Jack Slade, a man Montana vigilantes lynched for little more than obnoxious behavior. This week’s case is the murder of Annie Le, a graduate student at Yale University.

Annie Le

The world looked bright for 24-year-old Annie Le in September 2009. Born in San Jose, California, to Vietnamese American parents, she had been accepted into a Ph.D. program in pharmacology at Yale University. She was also about to marry Jonathan Widawsky, a graduate student in applied physics and mathematics at Columbia University.

Annie Le
Annie Le

Nothing special marked Tuesday, September 8, 2009. Annie Le left her apartment and took a Yale bus to the university campus. Around 10:00 a.m., she left her office in the Sterling Hall of Medicine and walked to the building that housed her laboratory. No one saw her after that. When she hadn’t returned home by 9:00 p.m., one of her five housemates filed a missing persons report.

Annie Le (Facebook photo)
Annie Le (Facebook photo)

Because of her upcoming wedding, there was initial speculation that she might be a runaway bride. But she’d left her purse, phone, credit cards, and cash in her office, which argued against a voluntary disappearance.

What Happened to Annie Le?

Security camera video showed Annie entering the lab building at 10 Amistad Street, but none showed her leaving. Police closed the entire building for their investigation. Before long, the FBI and the Connecticut State Police joined the search for Annie.

On Sunday, September 13, the day Annie was supposed to marry Widawsky, searchers found her body stuffed in a cable chase inside a basement wall in the laboratory building. An autopsy determined she died from traumatic asphyxia due to neck compression.

The basement where police found Annie Le's body (Murderpedia)
The basement where police found Annie Le’s body (Murderpedia)

The basement where authorities found Annie’s body housed animals for experiments and research. The entire building was highly secure and all but impossible to access without a Yale ID card. This allowed police to focus on university students and employees.

Four days later, on September 17, police arrested Raymond Clark III. They identified him through DNA and security video. Clark was a 24-year-old technician whose job was caring for the lab animals.

Raymond Clark III (Murderpedia)
Raymond Clark III (Murderpedia)

Epilogue

Clark pleaded not guilty to Annie’s murder in January 2010. But after a year of delays and legal maneuvering, he changed his plea to guilty on March 17, 2011. Clark also entered an Alford plea to the additional charge of attempted sexual assault. In exchange, he received a sentence of 44 years.

Today (2023), Clark is inmate # 371189 at the Cheshire Correctional Institution. His scheduled release is September 16, 2053, when he will be 68 years old.

Cheshire Correctional Institution in September 2020 (Yehyun Kim / CTMirror.org)
Cheshire Correctional Institution in September 2020 (Yehyun Kim / CTMirror.org)

In 2018, the Oxygen television series A Wedding and a Murder featured Annie’s case in an episode entitled The Vanishing Bride-to-Be.

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Jack Slade: Poor Behavior Makes for Quick Ending

Last week, we saw John Lee, a condemned prisoner who amazingly survived attempts to hang him. This week, we return to the Old West and meet Jack Slade. Slade met an untimely end at the hands of a vigilante gang in 1864.

Jack Slade

Jack Slade (born Joseph Alfred Slade) worked at various times as a wagon master, Pony Express superintendent, and stagecoach divisional superintendent. Most people liked Jack Slade—when he was sober. The problem was that he wasn’t sober that often. In his cups, he’d fire off his guns in bars and make numerous, usually idle threats. It’s important to note that his shenanigans didn’t injure anyone.

Jack Slade
Jack Slade

Another problem for Slade was his reputation as a tough guy and gunfighter. This came partly from the time he met Mark Twain in 1861. Twain included an embellished account of Slade in his 1872 book, Roughing It. In it, Twain painted Slade as a vicious killer with up to 27 victims to his credit. In truth, Slade did kill one man named Andrew Ferrin, but he was not the desperado Roughing It made him out to be.

Illustration of Jack Slade meeting Mark Twain, on August 3, 1861, by Benjamin Clinedinst
Illustration of Jack Slade meeting Mark Twain, on August 3, 1861, by Benjamin Clinedinst

In 1864, Slade was in the mining town of Virginia City, Montana Territory. His antics irritated the movers and shakers of the town, who were eager to create a more peaceful community.

The Vigilantes

With the nation’s attention on the American Civil War, law enforcement in the territories was a low priority. A year before Jack Slade arrived, a gang of robbers led by Henry Plummer preyed on the citizens of Virginia City. Weary of Plummer’s depredations, many leading citizens formed a semi-secret “vigilance committee” to reassert order. In the first two months of 1864, the vigilantes caught and hanged 24 men, including Plummer. While strictly speaking illegal, the hangings targeted only guilty men.

Henry Plummer (Public Domain)
Henry Plummer (Public Domain)

Slade’s hanging was wholly unjustified. On March 10, 1864, a group of vigilantes arrested Slade, fed up with his drunken rages and threats. Told he was to be hanged, Slade pleaded for his life or at least a chance to say goodbye to his wife. Undeterred by his pleas, the mob hanged Slade before his wife, Maria, arrived.

Vigilantes hang Arthur Compton and Joseph Wilson in Helena, Montana Territory, in 1870 (Public Domain)
Vigilantes hang Arthur Compton and Joseph Wilson in Helena, Montana Territory, in 1870 (Public Domain)

Epilogue

Not long after Slade’s hanging, legitimate courts and law enforcement began functioning in Montana Territory. By 1867, vigilantism had mainly died out. In March of that year, miners in one Montana mining district posted a notice in the local newspaper. The announcement promised to hang five vigilantes for every man hanged by vigilantes. That was effectively the end of vigilantism in Montana Territory.

You can read more about Jack Slade in The Devil in the Bottle: The Tragedy of “Jack” Slade.

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John Lee: Amazing Killer, “The Man They Couldn’t Hang”

Last week, I covered the sad case of Gloria Pointer. Gloria was a 14-year-old Cleveland girl who was abducted and murdered on her way to school. This week, we look at the mysterious case of John Lee, a condemned prisoner who survived three execution attempts.

John Lee, Condemned Murderer

John Henry George Lee was born on August 15, 1864, in the English village of Abbotskerswell in the county of Devon. His early life was a mystery, although he was known to have served in the Royal Navy. He also had a reputation as a thief.

In 1884, Lee worked for a woman named Emma Keyse in Babbacombe Bay near the seaside town of Torquay. On November 15, Keyse was killed with a knife, and Lee was charged with murder.

John Henry George Lee
John Henry George Lee

Lee went on trial the following year. There was little evidence against him other than his prior record and an unexplained cut on his arm. However, he was the only male in the house at the time of the crime. Weak as the case was, and despite his claims of innocence, a jury convicted him of murder. His sentence was death by hanging.

They Can’t Hang John Lee

Lee’s execution date of February 23, 1885, arrived, and warders at HM Prison Exeter led him to the gallows. Everything was routine until the executioner, James Berry, pulled the lever to open the scaffold’s trapdoor. The trap failed to open. A puzzled Berry, who had tested the apparatus earlier, tried again, and again the trapdoor refused to open. Berry tried once more with the same result.

At this point, the medical officer refused to participate in further attempts to hang Lee.

The execution chamber of HM Prison Shrewsbury. The prison was decommissioned in 2013 and is now open to the public.
The execution chamber of HM Prison Shrewsbury. The prison was decommissioned in 2013 and is now open to the public.

Executioner Berry couldn’t explain why the trapdoor failed to open. He describes the incident in detail in his memoir, My Experiences as an Executioner, although he only mentions two attempts.

John Lee's would-be executioner, James Berry
John Lee’s would-be executioner, James Berry

The Home Office ordered an investigation into the malfunction. It revealed that the drawbar became misaligned when the gallows moved from the old infirmary to the coach house. As a result, the trapdoor hinges did not drop cleanly through.

Epilogue

Home Secretary Sir William Harcourt commuted Lee’s sentence to life in prison. After serving 22 years, the Home Office agreed to release him.

 John Lee shortly after he survived three attempts to hang him
John Lee shortly after he survived three attempts to hang him

After his release, Lee traded on his celebrity, lecturing on his life and becoming the subject of silent film. His whereabouts after 1916 are murky, but recent research concludes lived in the United States as “James Lee.”

John Henry George Lee died on August 15, 1945.

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