Lead murders

Criminal poisonings with lead compounds are noteworthy because of their rarity. Indeed a person intent on poisoning someone would be unlikely to choose lead because of its uncertainty of action. Nevertheless there were murders in which it was used, such as the killing of Thomas Taylor in September 1858, when white lead was the poison, and the murder of Mary Ann Tregillis in 1882, when lead acetate was used. This salt was also the agent in the attempted murder of Honora Turner also in 1858. The lead compound that killed Pope Clement II in 1047 can only be speculated on. The inquest into the death of Thomas Taylor, which was held by the coroner for Gloucestershire on 27 September 1858, was reported in the November issue of the Pharmaceutical Journal because it was an unusual case of death by poisoning with lead carbonate. Thomas lived in Gloucestershire with his wife, Ann, and the child that he had fathered by another woman. He also had a brother, Charles, who had recently been released from prison and who had gone to live with the Taylors. It was not long before quarrels broke out between Thomas and his wife, whom he accused of being too affectionate towards Charles. In fact Ann was more than affectionate; she openly stated that she preferred brother Charles and wished her husband was dead. Her wish was to be granted. In August 1858 Thomas was seized with violent pains in his stomach which lasted for several days and for which he sought medical treatment. The doctor gave him some opium pills to kill the pain and senna water to act as a laxative. When these failed to cure him his doctor prescribed larger doses which he said could be obtained from his surgery. However, the doctor noticed that when his wife Ann went to collect more senna water she brought along a bottle that had contained the original medicine and that the dregs of the first dose were now a different colour and it tasted odd. Thomas died on 4 September, but the doctor was sufficiently suspicious of the cause of death that he refused to issue a death certificate until he and a surgeon friend of his had carried out a post-mortem.