MY CRIMINAL MUSEUM.

NZ Truth, Issue 136, 25 January 1908, Page 7

MY CRIMINAL MUSEUM.

BY GEORGE R. SIMS. - Chapmsho the Poisoner.

On, October 25, 1902, the Royal procession which was organised that the people of South London might be compensated to some extent 'for the l limited nature ofthe postponed Coronation procession, necessitated by the ' King's recent illness, passed through the Borough High-street amid tho' cheers of* a dense crowd of loyal spectators. From the upper windows of a pub-lic-house, the Crown, the British flag f- ' bravely m honor of the great occasion. The Crown abuts on the public pleasure garden, at the back of which Is thc old - Marshalsea prison, and stands m the centre of Little Dorrit land. The entrance to fhe Crown is panelled with the pictures representing (the scenes from "Little Dorrit." In' a portion of the public garden, hidden from general observation, stands a public mortuary. Strange things had happened m the public-house and m the mortuary on the eve of the Royal procession <tljat celebrated the coronation of Ring Edward VII. On the night; of October 22 - ;. ; o; A YOUNG BARMAID named Maud Marsh, who passed as the wife of the proprietor, a Pole, named Severino Klosowski, but calling b'^iself George Chapman, had died m terrible agony. .Stye had been seriously ill for some time, and had been attended by a do v c- , tor, and nursed by a Woman called m for that purpose., , -Her symptoms had been those of, .acute gastro-enteritis. Chapman, her. supposed husband, had been most attentive to her m her agonising ill-, ness. He had himself brought her cooling drinks, and administered . the . prescribed medicine to her. - ! l.en she - died he wept, and at once . began to make preparations fof the funeral.. . , ■v v 1-His first preparation was to gOacross to the mortuary keeper and; ask him to remove the body. It was late, and the mortuary-keep-er', said he would have. the body fetched the next day, and he did so. But m tlie meantime there had been, a .little trouble about the death certificate. The doctor m attendance had told Chapman plainly that he; • didn't intend to give one until _ there 1 ' had' been A POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION. This doctor had attended a previous wife of Mr Chapman's, who had died with very 'much the same symptoms m 1901 at the Monument pub-lic-house, of which Chapman was then the landlord. In that case he had given a certificate, and the funeral had t.^ken place without any unneces-

sary • delays In instance the doctor was adamant .v. Reluctautiy Mr agreed to ithe post-mortem. <•. It -was maue m the little' mortuary, •which is practically just behind; the Crovn. The wall .enclosing the backyard cf the.Crown abuts on to the ground m "' wnich" the mortuary: stands. In the dark hours bf the 1 fve__.ii_s, when all was quiet and the gates of the public garden locked, the doctors , had completed their, task. As they ' stood together talMng the mortuary keeper's 'quick, 1 ears, caught , the sound of a f :._; y. v:v ;• .-•" FOOTSTEP ON THE .GRAVEL : *= .:•• 4- . ..► outside. ,o • '-.- .-,;.. * . 1 He instantly bpehedvthe door and saw the .figure 'of- a man disappear m the direction of the baok wall of thc Crown public-house. Mf" ; 'Chapm^^' r the - landlord I,'1 ,' hadi crept m the darkness to. the door- of the mortuary m tht|vbope,of overbearing the conclusion at which, the' doctors might arrive after .the examination of the body ofthe dead bar-:, maid. J ' . . »He knew -the -way to the mortuary. He knew the mortuary keeper. He had during / the day suggested to him>. ttiit he should like the funeral as soori as possible, and he had mentioned that Be didn't suppose there wduld be any difficulty about getting the job over quickly.. f .On thc "morning of the Royal pro-, cession excellent business was done at the Crown, and the landlord was; anticipating a still greater rush of; customers after THE ROYAL PARTY -HAD. PASSED and the huge crowd had begun "to disperse. . ■ .. .But he was hot to see the Royal, procession; and he' was -not behind the .bar. to attend to the . customexß when it i wias ' oVe^ / '' ' ' Ofo'_f Two hours before the King and Queen drove by certain police officers entered the ; Crown, and informed Mr Chapman that they had come to arrest him - on* suspicion of . having caused the death . of his barmaid. The result of the post-mortem, . which Chapman had hot succeeded m ascertaining when he listened , at the mortuary' door, had been communicated to the coroner and the police, ' and the sequel .was the arrest of the . landlord on a capital charge. He was taken into custody, and passed on his way to the police station through the WAITING CROWDS AND, _ : THE t 00- '-. .' RAVING FLAGSi O] ; ;_ .-j The story of George Chapman is the v story, of a human brute of the Neil Cream and Deeming type, but With variations. His method, of

"removing" was that of Neil Cream, J and his motive was very much the same. With Deeming- he had this m common, that lie had successfully peiv petrated various forma of fraud, and had been q. criminal adventurer from his youth. Like Deeming, tho one idea was to "marry" aad murder, but ho was more clever than Deeming- and more aub tlo m hia methods. Chapman had done his poisonings so skilfully that he had m each case obtained a certificate of death, duly signed by a medical man. When the POISONING OF MAUD MARSH had been successfully accomplished, with a doctor m daily attendance, he was not only • astonished but indignant that there should be any trouble about giving the usual certificate. Had the certificate been granted, as with his previous experience he had every right to hope that it would be, ho would have gone on marrying and murdering. He had already, before the death of the poor little girl of nineteen, who had been his dupe, proposed to another young woman who came into his service that they should go to America together. She had objected— alluding to Maud Marsh— that he had a wife, and he had met the -objection with the tinwise remark that if he' gave Maud "that"— indicating a pinch of something with his fingers— "she would be no more Mrs Chapman." George Chapman,- the SUCCESSFUL POISONER OF WOMEN, had his; injudicious moments of frankness. But his success m all his criminal enterprises had justified him m taking risks. , Born m Warsaw m 1865, Severino Klosowski m Ms early days Eddied medicine with a view of following a calling whioh m Poland is the equivalent of our old time "Barber Surgeon." He did not pass the higher examination, and was at one time a "faldscher," or male nurse, m the Hospital of the Infant Jesus at Warsaw. In ' 1888 he came to this country and was employed m a hairdressing shop m Whitecbapel-road. He then, spoke only Polish and Yiddish, and the first wife he married m this country—he had married previously m Warsaw— WAS A POLISH JEWESS.. That was m 1889. This wife had the good fortune to leave him. after a short married life, and to that fact she probably, owed- the privilege of being present at the Old Bailey when he was tried forthe murder of three of his subsequent "wives." Thefirst marriage took place m a synagogue. ' 'Hte seems to have moved about to various parts of London, finding occupation as a journeyman hairdresser and barber. In 1894 he was m business for himself as a barber m Highroad, Tottenham. The business- did not pay and he took a situation at Ley ton-stone. There he met a married woman named Spink, who was separated from her husband. They kept .company, and m October, 1895, Chap/mah' informed his friends that he and Isabel Spink had been legally married at a Jewish place of worship at Whitechapel. He was Klosowski; m Tottenham, but he had while there lived with a girl named Chapman, and from that time forward he drop^ Severino and called himself George Chapman. It was as Mrs Chapman that Mrs Spink left Leytonstone with him and assisred him m A HAIRDRESSING AND SHAVING BUSINESS, which be bad taken at Hastings. In 1897, while he was at Hastings, he made— so far as the police were able to ascertain— his first experiment m the use of poison. > In April, 1897, he purchased at a chemist's shop m Hastings an ounce of tartar emetic. An ounce of tartar contains '437 grains, and two grains have been known to be fatal. When Chapman was arrested for the murder of Maud Msarsh and the police searched his premises, the label which the chemist at Hastings had affitxed to the bottle m whioh the powder known as tartar emetic Was p.ut, was found m Chapman's possession. On it > was written "Dose : One sixth to one quarter grain. To be used with caution." The caution was needed. Chapman had obtained possession of 437 grains, of a poison 10 to 15 doses of which make an .absolutely fatal dose. TARTAR EMETIC OR TARTARATED ANTIMONY is a heavyish white powder; freely soluble m 20 parts of water, and less soluble m alcoholic fluids. It is used m medicine, but more largely m veterinary surgery _ . Mrs Chapman . bad now come into money. "With gome of it Chapman took a public-housse m London, the Prince\ of Wales beerhouse m Bartholomtew-square. They entered into ffossession ,on Sep^ tember 24, and soon afterwards Mrs Chapman began to fail m health, and m December became seriously ill, and took to her, 'bed. She died after great suffering . on Christmas Day. The doctor certified the death as due to "phthisis," and, although two persons; enipioyed m the. house openly accused : "_ Chapman of having poisoned her, the .unfortunate woman, was placed under ground ;Without any official inquiry^ 00., . • When, five years later, the body of Isabella Spink; Chapman's first known victim, was exhumed, it was found by the experts to be saturated with antimony. ' The action of the antimony had preserved form and features so completely that the poor wonian might (as Dr. Stevenson said m his evidence) "have been buried that very day." Three months after the death of Isabella Spink Chapman took into his employment A YOUNG WOMAN NAMED BESSIE TAYLOR. Soon afterwards the couple seem to * have . gone through some form of marriage. They moved from the Prince of Wales m Bartholomewsquare to. the ■ Grapes m Bishops Stortford, and then came back to London. In May, 1899, "Mr and Mrs Chapman" were the landlord "and landlady of the Monument publichouse .m Union-street, Borough. It was at the Monument that this terrible barber from Warsaw started his second experiment with tartar emetic.

According to witnesses who nursed her during her illness, Mrs Chapman, became terribly, ill, and. always vomited after the food and drink which Chapman • prepared for ner. Sb»» was attended by, th» doctor who .afterwards attended) Maud Marsh. She died «n , February 18, 1001, and tho cause of death up** ker eertrfieate was stated to be "INTESTINAL OBSTRUCTION, VOMITING AND EXHAUSTION." Three other doctors were m this case consulted. Each came to v a different conclusion as to the cause of death. But there was no post-mortem, and Bessie Taylor, the second poisoned Mrs Chapman, was duly put underground: v When after the arrest of Chapman for the poisoning of Maud Marsh the body of Bessie Taylor "was exhumed, it was found to be practically m the same condition as that of . Isabella Spink, "saturated with antimony." 'In August, 1901, Maud Marsh, a girl of 19, living with her parents m Croydon, advertised! for a situation as barmaid. The Polish publican who had so comfortably disposed of two "wives" and obtained death certificates exonerating him from any blame m the matter, saw the advertisement, ■ and invited Miss Marsh to call upon him. Representing himself to be a widower, and stating that there was a family m the house, HE DECEIVED THE GIRL'S PARENTS, and secured his third victim. . The story of this man's infamous career shows that he had the power of fascinating women. He soon had this young girl m Ms toils, and she did not Inform her parents that he had deceived them as to the "family m the house," But she let her parents know that he bad "fallen m love" with her, and early m October she told them that "she and George" had been married. The, mother went to the house, saw confetti lying about, and was told that ' the marriage had taken place m a Roman Catholic Churoh. This was at the., Monument, the pub-lic-house m which Bessie Taylor had died a' few months previously. In 1902 Chapman and the new "Mrs Chapman" moved into the Crown, m the Borough High-street. The Monument . public-house had been burnt down, and the insurance companies, having certain suspicions, did not -pay Chapman all that he claimed. He threatened an action, but he did not bring it. In the July of 1902 MAUD MARSH) BEGAN TO BE SERIOUSLY ILL.Eventually she was takfen to Guy's hospital. The doctors do not seem 'to have arrived at a definite opinion as to the cause of her symptoms. But under treatment shei got well enough to go hack to the Crown. Immediately she became ill again, ahd the serious' symptoms returned. Chapman prepared her food, and himself brought her everything .she had to drink, and he' himself gaVe her medicine. . He was making his ' THIRD EXPERIMENT IN TARTARIC EMETIC. On October 22 she died, her last words being "Good-bye, George." A few days before her death her father, visiting her, had his suspicions aroused. He went to his doctor at Croydon, and asked him to go and see his daughter. The doctor went, and the result of his visit was a communication from him to the doctor m attendance, which doubtless influenced him when immediately after the death, Chapman asked for the usual certificate. The terrible barber from Warsaw had tried his favorite experiment once too often. This time it brought him to the Old Bailey, aiid the dead bodies of his former victims rose from their graves to bear damning evidence against him. * * * 'Chapman, m the dock, was a miserable object. I have seen many men and 'women tried for their lives,- but I never saw one who from first to last showed so plainly all THE SYMPTOMS OF ABJECT TERROR. When he was sentenced he collapsed. In' the condemned cell the thought of death paralysed him physically and mentally,. Before his trial he could speak and write English fairly well. His. last letters, those written just previous to his execution, showed that the knowledge of English, -he once possessed had been almost .obliterated.. His more recent mental equipment seemed to have peeled off. His last letter written m English was unintelligible. Severino Klosowski was a monster of the Neil Cream type, but he selected his victims from, a different class, and lived with them m a domestic environment. To watch the long agony of the women with whom he had cohabited Was the gratification of an instinct which is a form of insanity , but it is a form for which the GALLOWS IS THE ONLY REMEDY. The astounding feature of the; case of George Chaumian—one of the most undesirable aliens that ever invaded our hOspitalble shores, is the ease with Which he deceived the doctors and secured death certificates. All of his 'victims had been medically attended during their poisoning and had actually been in-patients of a hospital. Yet until the doctor at Croydon was communicated with by the father pf Maud Marsh, there does not' seem, to have been any suspicion of foul play. lAgainst the loose way m whioh death certificates are still granted m England I have protested again and again. . . Fourteen years ago a Select Committee recognised. the dangers of our present system, but little has been done to improve it. I have shown m the public press that it is possibile to bury a body today without a certificate at all. A year ago I liad upon m.y study table 20 death certificates of various ages, not one of which had ever been handed to the cemetgry authorities. In each of these cases, therefore, the body had been buried without the production of a certificate. Whenever A "GREAT" POISONING CASE comes to light there are, as a rule,

exhumations, and it is generally found that the all-covering earth has been biding a murderer's secrets. The case of Gsorge Ohapnaan is only ona of many m which the poisoner baa hoodwinked the doetons with titc greatest ease. In Neil Cream's case, two •! his victims who had died iv agony had been buriufl without posthmortem' examination. In Chapman's case exactly the same thing had happened. In the evidence given before the Se* lect Committee m 1893 occurs the following significant passage :— * "HIS GREAT SANITARY ALLY and friend,. Dr. Richardson, had declared that he did not know one medical man of extensive practice who i% tlie course of it had not met with a case of secret murder. Now, as there are more than 18,000 practitioners m this country, what does such a fact as this disclose of evils of insecurity of life calling for protection?" This is .quoted from evidence given m 1888. The victims of Neil Cream, exhumed m 1892, and of George Chapman, .ex'h.xmed m .1902, had all been buried with certificates that death was due to natural causes. The loose way m which death certificates are still granted is one of the crying scandals of the day.