mary ann cotton} the black widow killer

 Mary Ann Cotton; The First British Serial Killer 


“Lord Jesus receive my spirit, Oh Lord have mercy upon me” said Mary Ann Cotton moments before prison executioner Robert Anderson released his grip on the rope that left Cotton defeated, and dangling on the noose. March 24th, 1873 when the “Black Widow Killer” had been charged the death sentanc for murdering her seven-year old stepson, Charles Edward Cotton with a fatal dose of arsenic. 


It is undeniable that Mary Ann Cotton was a wretched and sickeningly wrong woman for what she’s accused of, but It should be known as well much of her story is not known. Between the years of 1865 and 1872 it is publicly believed to be the time period she committed her murders: 21 victims. Mary had 13 children of her own, but only two of those children survived to meet their adulthood. Margeret Edith, her youngest daughter she gave birth to during her trial and her son George Cotton, from a separate marriage where she lost custody of the child, are amongst the only “happy endings” of the long strand of Mary’s wrath of calamity. All 11 other Children died from illness, illnesses she concealed by “the arsenic in the wallpaper” disguise. Along with them, were the 4 husbands (William Mowbray, George Ward, James Robinson and Frederick Cotton) 2 of her lovers (who remain unidentified) and the rest, chalked up to victims of the 1858 Bradford Poisoning Incident. 

Apart from an average early 19th century upbringing, Mary Ann suffered a difficult childhood, Her parents identified in the working class and were relatively frugal as she grew up, Her mom often was too ill to work and her father was a miner. She grew to hate them, especially her father who was incredibly strict and dominating towards her and her brother. Mary Ann was limited from church events and evening parties and because of these conditions, she never made many friends; Therefore, causing Mary Ann to become isolated with her resentment.. In 1848, when Mary Ann was only eleven, her father Michael Robson died from a workplace mining accident. His body was quite literally brought home on a wheelbarrow, in a sack marked “Property of the South Hetton Coal Company''.  It is said by many sources, Cotton was a very private woman and something as personal as mournfulness and depression, would not be mentioned by even the people most close to her. Her mix between grief and anger may have confused the young woman, creating a cocktail of spite and overall very negative perceptions of Human Nature and sense of Morality. At only 14, Mary Ann dropped out of school to practice nursing. Mary Ann’s first taste of independence was her job as a “Culinary Manager '' at South Hetton, her only shot at adulthood was chores, cleaning, and nursing children. Because Mary Ann was denied her dreams to escape the Mining District, she was urged into a low-income, low-status job, causing her to hate Children and the knowledge they lacked, to understand the sacrifices made by adults. Mary Ann retired home three years later to pursue a career in dress making and at 19-20 years old married a Colliery laborer William Nowbray, before soon becoming pregnant with their first child. 


Additionally, what may have been secretly damaging to Mary Ann was growing up in such a deeply strict household, a Methodist atmosphere. Her father was extremely strict and soon after his death, Mary Ann witnessed her mother grow tired of the financial abandonment. When Mary Ann’s mother, Margeret’s new husband moved into the house-Mary Ann left. Maybe there was something disgraceful in the mind of Mary Ann about the overwhelming structure of a family life and starting a family of her own, would be just as miserable. During Mary-Ann’s first marriage the young couple fled almost as far away as north-east they could go without leaving England. Before Mary Ann was even 24 years old, she already had 4 children. We only know about these children because of a death certificate, discovered for Margaret Jane Mowbray, born in June of 1855 in a local St.Germans Hospital. But the previous children are shrouded in mystery. Little Margaret Jane died, and the death certificate would actually disprove any position, It was in reality, labeled as Scarlatina (Scarlet Fever), fairly common among the Mining communities, that Mary Ann actually took considerable measures to avoid. Colliery doctor Samuel Broadbent, who made the diagnosis, could have easily mistaken the symptoms of Scarlet fever for Arsenic poisoning, but any evidence is slim to none, except for the red rash on the young child’s body which is unique to that illness, a bacterial fungal infection. 


Even during the process of analyzing Margerret Jane’s death, Mary Ann was already conceiving again, now they’ve already produced 8 children (ranked in age under 8 years old) - Isabella, Margaret Jane (another Margaret Jane), Robert, William, John and a Newborn, Elizabeth. But soon one of them-Baby John was dead at just a year old, as having died from Diarrhea (a common symptom of Arsenic poisoning). The death of three children in such rapid succession and all in one household but Victorian Medicine did as good as nothing to treat typhoid and cholera, same as Scarlatina and Smallpox, which was assumed to be the cause of demise for most of the children. In Consideration, Victorian England was the place of poverty was endemic, birth control was misunderstood and Abortion illegal, many Women, Unfortunately resorted to infanticide. Apparently, children being murdered by their own mother, was far from uncommon. In 1849 a Wiltshire Woman called Rebecca Smith killed eight of her children only because she feared they would grow up to be raging, abusive alcoholics, like their father- so they died from starvation and ruinous neglect, A similar slow death, to arsenic poisoning. Without giving any forgiveness to Mary Anne for her disgraces, she may have suffered from postpartum depression and/or psychosis which often coexisted, especially if she didn’t purposely murder her first daughter. In Modern Medicine, it is commonly believed that postpartum depression stems from the drastic hormonal changes during and after childbirth. Decreased estrogen and progesterone levels place the body into a sudden hormonal shift, and this abrupt change in hormone levels often triggers emotional repercussions, the constant switch from becoming pregnant, losing a child and another and then additionally becoming pregnant again, may cause serious psychological damages. 


As a matter of fact, Arsenic was widely produced in most general stores during this time, used in agriculture as ingredients in insecticides, rat poisons, herbicides and wood preservatives, as well as pigments in paints, wallpaper and ceramics, sometimes even mixed with porcelain, metals and molded to be used as furniture, lamp shades. Many toxic substances we discontinued to use today, were accepted casually in the 19th-century, such as opium, cocaine, lead and even Radium, of course one it was discovered in 1898. Historically speaking, on Halloween of 1858, a mistake was made when two men in a common trading company met. Goddard (a young assistant to a pharmacist) sold 12 pounds (5.4 kg) of arsenic to a sweet shop Candyman, James Appleton. The mistake remained undetected even during manufacture of the sweets by James Appleton, an "experienced sweet maker", though Appleton did observe that the finished product looked different from the usual humbugs (a hard candy with classic white stripes and a coating of sugar). Appleton was suffering symptoms during the sweet-making process and was unwell for several days, with watery vomiting, a headache and pain in his hands and arms. 40 pounds (18 kg) of lozenges were sold to Hardaker who also noticed the sweets looked unusual. This distribution of Candy killed up to 21 people, Approximately, the same victim count to Mary Ann’s crimes. What a coincidence! Mary Ann’s name is often tossed around in these cases, whether she was involved in some way. 


Subsequently, The Husbands were chosen for their Wealth, with Obvious consideration into their financial stability, she wanted but could not get access to because her limits being a Woman in Victorian England. But the selection of the Children she would kill, would be an entirely different rabbit hole. “The Black Widow” was a stereotypical name used to define Women who take off from lover after lover, when they mysteriously die, they usually “kill off” and “take off” usually for the purpose of money, sometimes Sympathy and Attention, oftentimes both. While Mary Ann was still taking nursing inquiries, Parish official-Thomas Riley asked her to help nurse a woman who was dying from Smallpox, but she complained that she wouldn't be able to focus on her nursing duties with her Stepson- 7-year-old Charles Edward Cotton, making noise and causing a disturbance as Children tend to do. This is when Mary Ann led the conversation to her desire to put Charles into the factory warehouse, even suggesting he’s good at counting. Then, Riley suggested that Charles seems unwell, appearing pale and even Lethargic, to which Mary Ann said the infamous- “I won’t be troubled long, He’ll go just like all the rest of the Cottons.” This Comment bothered Riley so much he reported it to the local Police, but not before, only 3 weeks later- the innocent little boy would die from his illness. English Pathologist- William Myers Kibum who once treated the child, kept samples of his urine, which was used by Dr. Thomas Scattergood, lecturer in forensic medicine and Toxicology at the Leeds School of Medicine. Mary was found to have at least bought a 14. oz bottle of Arsenic to use in the Cotton home, disproving her “wallpaper” excuse. 


Finally, Mary Ann was found to be guilty and was hanged March 24th, 1873, publicly. Hangings of Women were rare in the UK. They specifically designed it to be a humiliating and slow process, she apparently struggled for 3 minutes before she went still. The tradition went that the body would stay hanging for an hour before it was taken down. A cast was made of Mary Ann’s lifeless face and was submitted to the Phrenological societies of Hartle pool and Edinburgh. Doubts still stand about whether Mary Ann Cotton was actually even guilty at all. The murders of the 7 people Mary Ann were supposed to have killed have never been investigated at all, outside of just generalized assumptions, the only liable evidence was her track record, and supposed Provocative comment made towards Thomas Riley. As if to demonstrate the legal system Mary Ann was faced with, was not desperate to reform itself, much more can be said to counteract the claim that Mary Ann ever had more than bad luck when it came to the mortality that constantly confronted her. If she killed any at all, how many? There was never any confession coming from Mary Ann., but she did write a series of letters on death row that asserted her innocence, lamented the supposed mistakes she had made, to lead to such accusations, begging friends and relatives to Help her situation. The Trial defence was handled by Thomas Campbell Foster, who argued that Charles had died from inhaling arsenic used as a dye in the green wallpaper of the Cotton home, like she said time and time as the allegations thickened. The same doctor that secured Charles samples- Dr. William Myers Kilbum testified that there was no other powder on the same shelf in the chemist's shop as the arsenic, only liquid; the chemist himself claimed that there were other powders. 


Ultimately, Mary Ann was a detached child, the relationship with parents or guardians is crucial to a basic upbringing. She subsequently became anti-social, unaffected and oblivious to emotions completely. Her mix between grief and anger may have confused the young woman, creating a cocktail of spite and overall very negative perceptions of Human Nature and sense of Morality. Not every pretty mother is who they seem. 













Sources:


  • “Dying for a Humbug, the Bradford Sweets Poisoning 1858.” Historic UK, 22 Sept. 2021,www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Dying-for-Humbug-the-Bradford-Sweets-Poisoning-1858.

    • Devlin, Amanda. “Who Was Mary Ann Cotton and How Many People Did She Kill?...” The Sun, 11 July 2017, www.thesun.co.uk/news/2094755/who-was-mary-ann-cotton-and-how-many-people-did-she-kill.

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