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Story Of Mary Ann Cotton: A Frail Dressmaker's Poisonous Past

589 Words3 Pages

In 1873, Mary Ann Cotton was arrested and put on trial for the murder of her seven-year-old stepson Charles Edward. Immediately after hearing of the boy's death, the coroner ordered a post mortem, which was carried about by Dr. Kilburn, on a table in Mary Ann's house. The inquest was held the exact same day next door from her house and with such little time, no cause of death was actually found and "natural causes" was recorded as the verdict of death ("The Story of Mary Ann Cotton: A Frail Dressmaker's Poisonous Past"). Meanwhile, the entirety of Mary Ann's kitchen was analyzed to ensure that there were no traces of arsenic on any of the items (Herdman). However, Dr. Scattergood provided evidence that if such items ever held arsenic, simply washing would not hide the trail of arsenic …show more content…

Kilburn, the local general practitioner, where he had decided to take the organs of the child and place them in a jar, which he buried in his yard. ("The Story of Mary Ann Cotton: A Frail Dressmaker's Poisonous Past") In good time, the doctor subjected the organs to Reinsch's test, a method of detecting arsenic in the body. Along with him, Dr. Thomas Scattergood at Leeds School of Medicine (Wilson) also performed a test on the organs, both doctors getting positive results on traces of arsenic, which they reported to Bishop Auckland police station ("The Story of Mary Ann Cotton: A Frail Dressmaker's Poisonous Past"). According to the doctors on the case, "more than half a grain of arsenic in the stomach caused the death of Charles Edward Cotton" ("The Story of Mary Ann Cotton: A Frail Dressmaker's Poisonous Past"). From this point on, more information began to spill about Mary Ann; it was revealed that she sent seven-year-old Charles Edward to the chemist's to buy arsenic and soft soap, which could have been used to kill bed bugs or to kill the child ("The Story of Mary Ann Cotton: A Frail Dressmaker's Poisonous

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