The Serial Wife Poisoner | Murder Maps | Real Crime

real stories tapes true crime is your new true crime podcast fix in our first season we'll explore suspicious deaths at a california hospital and a skydiver landing dead on a suburban driveway with a bag containing guns drugs and night vision goggles to join our investigation search and subscribe to real stories tapes true crime on apple podcasts spotify or wherever you find your podcasts [Music] oh [Music] for many centuries london was a dangerous place it was a magnet for the very worst kind of people jack the ripper dominated the headlines but he wasn't the only killer around murder was afoot the fear of death was everywhere but police had their work cut out to track the culprits down in this series we'll be investigating some of the city's most notorious and intriguing crimes female defendant sexual intrigue vicious murder as well as the latest technology fed the nation's insatiable desire for gruesome stories of london's dark side me so in the late victorian era jack the ripper dominated their headlines whoever he was he terrorized the white chapel area of london's east end conditions in my travel east london was sort of pretty horrendous in in the heart of what became the spittlefields area tremendous density of population people live very closely together in those days streets are very crowded very narrow very dark a lot of poverty outside london the population was about 25 persons an acre in london outside the east end about 50 persons an acre in the east end in the heart of its middle fields it was over 800 persons in acre so you had this tremendous overcrowding a lot of people weren't able to survive except barely on the bread line also their business is pushing into the area and buildings are being demolished so housing is getting less and less and so you have seven eight nine persons in a room it is pretty horrendous white chapel itself was considered to be the very worst slum in london the author jack london in his first hand account of the impoverished area the people of the abyss wrote nowhere in the streets of london may one escape the site of abject poverty while five minutes walk from almost any point will bring one to a slum but the region my handsome was now penetrating was one unending slum it was in this foul environment that the white chapel murders would begin in 1888 the notorious crimes of jack the ripper horrified the city and indeed the entire world but he wasn't the only killer around late victorian london had some of the most unpleasant characters in the capitals history could one of these known killers also been jack the ripper there was the ogress of reading emilia dyer the lambeth poisoner dr cream and the mysterious george chapman who carried out a terrible crime on borough high street the area around barrow high street was notorious in the 19th century the street had been the only route into london from the south leading as it did straight up to london bridge in 1874 police constable was to make a horrifying discovery outside number 54 barrow high street when he apprehended henry wainwright clutching the dismembered and decomposing body of his young mistress harriet lane wrapped in a cloth harriet lane was to become navy slang for preserved meat a great many ale houses and coaching inns lined the road one of the most infamous was the crown whose proprietor in the year 1901 was mr george chapman that wasn't his original name though he was born severin antonovic klosovsky in poland in 1865. chapman had originally trained in poland as a filter filter is often mistranslated in the chapman story as surgeon but filters were not surgeons they were military barbers who'd had some training as medical orderlies and they were clearly held in low esteem by the polish military establishment which is maybe why after years of training chapman decided to move to london you'd be forgiven for being a bit suspicious about mr klosovsky aka chapman when i tell you that his dilapidated pub the monument tavern was destroyed by fire and he made a substantial insurance claim it was refused but that didn't stop him moving on with a new pub and a new wife maude marsh [Music] right by ear yep we're selling seats upstairs for 20 shillings you can wave at the king you never know might just wave back he'd certainly wave at you from what i've heard i've never listened to those rumors louisa when you're done with that can you make a start on dinner yes mrs chapman he employed several young women and in august 1901 a certain moored marsh was looking for work maude and her mother arrived for an interview with chapman and she was immediately employed seems strange though a king i know as far as i'm concerned a woman should always be in charge i was just telling this gentleman here about the parade check the bottles of course get out my daughter started working with him that summer late august it would have been he was pushy with her at first i felt they were married very quickly but she did seem happy george louisa maude marsh was not married for long before she fell violently ill oh started to suffer a lot of vomiting and she spent 12 days in guys hospital and actually sort of recovered then went back home again and then started to suffer again maude marsh had been struck down by mystery illness her mother and her doctor would be unable to determine the cause one man knew however george chapman he would have complete control over the dreadful scenario that played out above the crown power but just how long would his crime remain undetected a young woman of 19 had not long been in the employ of george chapman the proprietor of the crown pub on borah high street they soon became husband and wife and not long after maude was taken ill chapman was the only person to know the cause of her sickness [Music] murderers like george chapman were tricky to catch because poison was hard to detect at this time in fact so much so that arsenic had earned the nickname inheritance powder such was the problem but the poison that george chapman was using was something different tata emetic which contained the equally deadly element antimony four years before maude was taken mysteriously ill chapman had bought an ounce of tartarumatic from a chemist in hastings medic was used for cough mixtures it caused the irritation of the throat but he's also caused vomiting antimony was a metal which was part of the mixture too much would cause the victim's death an ounce is about 450 grains 12 grains would be enough for a fatal dose poison was very easy you one could go to the to a shop buy a poison you say you wanted it for the rats poison was using all sorts of wallpaper fly paper so poison was very very easily available an ounce would be enough to kill more than 40 people it was certainly enough to kill mary [ __ ] and bessie taylor they were chapman's previous wives both of whom died from a mysterious illness just a couple of years after meeting him chapman had actually brought in a doctor to treat bessie taylor when she fell ill but the doctor was unable to discover that the real cause of the illness was chapman himself in fact the doctor was convinced that chapman was in a genuine state of grief when maude marsh fell ill the same doctor stoker would be brought in before in the summer it was the same she was in hospital because they have no clue they say he says this is this but she did recover yes well then you have my instructions you come tomorrow yes of course do not concern yourself too much mr chapman she is young and she is strong and she has you to look after her i'm not worried i can see him now broken with distress urging me to spare no trouble no expense i was there most days i had no conception of what he was really doing [Music] [Music] what you haven't finished your water there's a good girl [Music] she's doing much better already is that champagne it's your stomach george come on don't waste the champagne why is these customers drinking it when you're like this no you're needing more water we will fetch drink told you about him you'll be right as reign i know it george chapman had a very clear and despicable modus operandi he seemingly enjoyed watching the suffering of a slow death by poisoning a local champ walked into the crown pub when he was a boy and was served a glass of water by the owner that boy was to become the world famous charlie chaplin and he wrote about the incident in his autobiography in 1964. as a boy i stopped at a saloon in london bridge road and asked for a glass of water a bluff amiable gentleman with a dark moustache served me for some reason i could not drink the water i pretended to but as soon as the man turned to talk to a customer i put the glass down and left two weeks later george chapman proprietor of the crown public house in the london bridge road was charged with murdering five wives by poisoning them with strychnine his latest victim was dying in a room above the saloon the day he gave me the glass of water well charlie chaplin clearly got a a few details wrong there but what he was right about is that while he was standing in that pub maude marsh was dying in the room above his head [Music] she couldn't keep anything down i had all her favorites made roast pork and potatoes and you're supposed to make everything right for your child [Music] [Music] for many years george chapman seemed untouchable his devious work as a poisoner had gone undetected now another victim moored marsh was bedridden and close to death how much more harm and misery would he inflict before he would be eventually brought to justice in the darned heel area of burra high street during the reign of jack the ripper a poisoner was also at work [Music] george chapman had already killed two wives and was now working towards the murder of another moored marsh thankfully it would only be a matter of time before suspicions finally started to form around him mrs marsh you did this what mort said you liked photography yes i make photographs here i mix chemicals keep it it's the not even knowing george can't we get a second opinion dr stoker he is a very good man yes and i think if one doctor cannot help even 50 will not george we have to try chapman couldn't evade suspicion for much longer maude's mother although still unaware of what he was doing was growing more and more wary but the fact that his hobby was photography seemed to allay her misgivings this new technology would also be used by the metropolitan police at the time chapman was an amateur photographer which would have been quite unusual for those days the police had started using um photography they used sort of professional photographers for things like identifying bodies that have been found it did start to become more and more used by the police particularly on scenes of crime and particularly in sort of identifying criminals they photographed some of the victims in the white chapel murders so we're talking about 1889 that sort of period it was an especially dangerous time for prostitutes in london jack the ripper is believed by most experts to murdered five women in his killing spree but others were at work too one of the worst being dr thomas neil cream he was the cross-eyed silk-hatted poisoner in south london he was living in the lambeth area and this is where he started giving prostitutes pills containing stricken supposedly to avoid them being pregnant or perhaps to procure an abortion but actually the pills themselves were poisoned and a number of prostitutes actually sort of died on the streets and they were only 19 or 20 years old he could never stop talking moving information away so when there is obviously a hunt for the lambeth poisoner he actually names a victim who the police knew nothing at all about and when he eventually is arrested there's all these strictly bottles found in his lodgings he was on the gallows and the hangman said that just immediately before the trapdoor dropped and he was executed he said i am jack there and that was his last words another criminal operating at exactly the same time as jack the ripper was emilia dyer the ogress of reading she was working in the grim trade of baby farming baby farming came about because sort of in the 18th century london was infamous for the number of babies we were just dumped on the street put on dung hills and left to rot if women were left with a baby they would pay for a woman to look after them but sometimes these women neglected them and in two or three cases they were notorious cases such as amelia dyer amelia dyer she would advertise nurseries then of course what she did she strangled them wrapped them in a parcel and dumped them in the river eventually she was caught and she'd been baby farming for about 15 years emily was said to have been the cause of the death of 400 infants the sort of child's cruelty and neglect was of a completely different dimension to what we've become used to today [Music] the ogress of reading as she was dubbed by the press at the time even had a song written about her the old baby farmer the wretched mystia at the old bailey her wages is paid in times long ago we'd have made a big fire and roasted so nicely that wicked old jade but while emilia dyer and dr cream were captured and executed george chapman's crimes still remained undetected and mort marsh was becoming very ill distressed at her daughter's declining health mrs marsh decided to seek the advice of her own family physician dr grapple mr chapman dr francis grapple yes i was asked this is the crown doctor thank you so much for coming my daughter's just up here with her doctor no 50 will not miss marsh was in a semi-comatose state her skin was this dirty jaundice and she arrived with pain whenever i touched her she was very sick indeed i was alongside dr grapple throughout his examination he supported my course of action entirely there really was no need to involve a second doctor maude marsh lay suffering in her bed the doctors stoker and grapple were doing their best to treat her and in the process becoming suspicious that foul play might lie behind this sudden illness of a girl whom everyone described as vivacious and full of life a foreign irritant from something she ate perhaps a poison can you recall anything there was a rabbit the girl bought it at the new cup market i said was it that you suppose perhaps however you don't get arsenic in rabbits deliberate poisoning did cross my mind but an accident still seemed more likely to say otherwise well it's tantamount to accusing someone of murder the two daughters seem to be very very professional he said they've been eating rabbit and he suspected to toe main poisoning but then when he went home he thought no this is wrong the symptoms all wrong went back the two doctors then got together and said it's just as though she's been suffering from some irritant poison isn't he wonderful i can see an improvement in her already she's very young oh i'm sure you have things to do it's fine said i need to feel useful george she'll pull through i'm sure of it now the doctor grapples here church she was bad mort [Music] much she died at noon mr marsh informed me i couldn't believe it i thought he'd called me to tell me she was on the mend george chapman had struck again this would be his last act of terror he'd put on his grieving widower routine for sure but he wouldn't get away with it this time luck had run out for one of the capital's most wretched individuals chapman would soon find himself questioned by the police who were starting to piece together his deeply suspicious past his terrifying life story would be laid bare for all to see at the old bailey ford marsh was dead and george chapman was putting on his well-worked grieving act he had successfully faked breaking down in floods of tears moments after she died maud's mother would later describe him as being dreadfully upset with suspicion around him mounting the doctors would not release a death certificate chapman's grieving routine may have worked on dr stoker before but this time it would count for nothing you come to the funeral i think she she would you have death certificate i'm afraid there will have to be a post-mortem i know it's not what anyone wants but i cannot sign this certificate without establishing cause of death exhaustion she has been sick but what caused the sickness knowing will help i do not see the using it more marsha's symptoms cause the doctors not to give a certificate for for her for her death for her burial the doctor refused to issue a death certificate but was then a post-mortem the initial autopsy may not have shown anything out of the ordinary but what happened next was truly bizarre the mortuary where the post-mortem was taking place was very close to the crown pub and as dr stoker and his colleagues were working away they were interrupted by an unwanted guest we were discussing the postmortem results when the mortuary keeper thought he heard something outside i didn't hear anything but footsteps he thought in the garden the public weren't allowed in at that hour of course so he went outside to check as he opened the door he saw a man disappearing into the gardens running off the mortuary is a few hundred yards from the crown it was chapman he had been listening to us at the door the unexplained nighttime visit only heightened dr stoker's suspicions the next morning he took two jars with the contents of maud's stomach and samples of her internal organs to the nearby clinical research association their tests found an appreciable amount of antimony and it was determined that this poison was the cause of her death stoker contacted the police she was so proud of this place it's a little bit more the day when the new king edward vii was due to celebrate his coronation the 25th of october 1902 was approaching fast the local residents all had that day marked in their calendars for there was to be a royal procession when detective inspector godley arrived the pub was doing a roaring trade poison she was in a hospital with same sickness well we'd like you to come to the station while we make enquiries today now i know nothing about poison [Applause] i come no handcuffs but for business just two old friends in going for a walk chapman was finally in custody he was not allowed to attend the funeral of maude marsh but he did cover all of the expenses maude was buried on the 5th of november 1902 in what was a very grand affair chapman sent an elaborate wreath comprising many flowers and he signed it rather curiously from a devoted friend he read all about the funeral in the national newspapers but was still offering investigators very little help they knew nothing about his life story and the stories circulating in the press about him were all wrong but he did nothing to correct them beyond repeatedly pleading his own innocence while the hearings were continuing in coroners and police courts investigators were still at work he didn't do much talking but he left plenty of evidence for us at the pub his books were all medical his accounts included a most helpful record of purchasing tartar emetic in april 1897 and we found two memorial cards he presumably kept his trophies one for mrs mary chapman and another for mrs bessie chapman when the police were dealing with this unexplained death they had the postmortem the doctors started to find these traces of poison in her stomach and they knew that chapman had had two other wives and they therefore exhumed the bodies and and examined them now he was only charged with the one murder but they actually brought in evidence about the two other women in whose body's poison was also found and this all led to the evidence being used to convict him so chapman's trial began on the 16th of may 1903 the prosecution was led by edward carson if a distinction can be made in degrees of murder i submit none is more determined and more malicious than that by poisoning certainly no murder could be more demonstrative of the cruelty of the perpetrator than that of a man standing by the bedside of a person he professed to love seeing her torture day after day from what he had by his own hand administered edward carson was a very famous lawyer prominent barrister in in britain he prosecuted oscar wilde and secured his conviction [Music] the fact that chapman had purchased a large quantity of antimony rich tata a metic from a chemist several years before was very strong evidence against him the prosecution had a key witness in the victim's grieving mother i live at 14 long fella rogue croydon and i'm the wife of robert marsh and what is your relationship to the deceased mood was my daughter how old was your daughter mrs marsh she would have been 20 on february 17th can you tell me the nature of her first meeting with the prisoner she had been a barmaid in a situation at croydon in august 1901 she was out of that so she advertised for a new one and what was the result of that advertisement she got an answer and in consequence i went with her to meet the prisoner he called himself chapman and what happened we had a talk about maude accepting the situation i asked him if there was anyone else living there in the pub and he said the top floor was occupied by a family though i never saw them he had a ring on his finger and i asked him if he was married or single and how did he answer that he said he was a widower there's always been this public hatred if you like of the idea of of poison because it's such an insidious way of causing death quite what his mindset was i don't know but the but a number of uh women did come and give evidence the press at the time were fascinated by the story of george chapman his exceptionally cruel crimes that were seemingly without obvious motive appalled the public the jury took just 10 minutes to reach their verdict members of the jury have you reached the verdict we have your honor do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty of murder guilty have you anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed upon you according to law detective chief inspector abeline who had investigated a lot of the white chapel murders said to his colleague george uh godly who was dealing with the klazovsky case i see you've caught jack the ripper at last this actually led to chapman being regarded as a suspect there are coincidences that's for sure he lived for a while in white chapel he had some medical training he abused women and rather strangely he did live for a while with a woman who shared a name with one of the ripper's victims annie chapman but that was five years after poor dark annie was killed in the backyard of a house in hanbury street no evidence was ever brought forward to show that he was jack the rapper but my own feeling is there's not enough evidence to bring any charges against chapman [Music] the once sanguine and confident george chapman looked numb with terror as the judge donned his black cap with the words severin klozovsky for i declined to call you by the english name you have assumed the only satisfactory feature of the case we've just completed is that i'm able to address you as a foreigner and not as an englishman she loved him he was a monster [Music] chapman applied unsuccessfully for a royal pardon and was hanged at once with prison on april the 7th 1903 [Music] in his will severin klosovsky left items worth at today's value 15 000 pounds to the surviving family of bessie taylor but only a ring and some used clothing to the parents of maude marsh whose suspicions eventually led him to justice

Channel: Real Crime

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Keywords: real crime, crime documentary, true crime, full documentary, full episode, documentary, documentary channel, docu, top documentaries, documental, documentary film, free documentary, crime, true crime documentary, cold case, crime scene investigation, criminal investigation, murder, criminal, london murder, london, history documentary, history, jack the ripper, victorian era, victoria london, george chapman, Charlie Chaplin, murder maps, serial poiso, serial poisoner

Id: GijSfYMNm1E

Length: 44min 3sec (2643 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 17 2021