Murder of Georgiana, William, Cary, Harriet, Henry, and George Brough

Queen Victoria ruled Great Britain for 63 years. For all nine of her children, that she had in 17 years, she had wet nurses for each one. On November 9, 1941, future King Edward VII was born, and by the bedside was his wet nurse, Mary Ann Brough.

She would be dismissed soon after because she did not seem to follow instructions and did not seem to be able to provide proper nutrients for the future king. Even though she was dismissed no one would have known that she would have killed her own children 13 years later. 

Mary was married to her husband George. He worked for the Royal family just as his father before him had. Their family lived in Esher, England. They had 7 children together,19-year-old Mary, 11-year-old Georgiana (Georgy), 8-year-old William, 7-year-old Cary, 4-year-old twins Harriet and Henry, and 2-year-old George, and an unnamed child.

 

In 1854 he would suspect her of an affair as she would go out often. He would hire a private detective to follow his wife. On May 29th she would be seen meeting another man at the tavern The two would also be seen entering a questionable house. George would accuse her of cheating. Feeling betrayed by the woman he loved he left on June 6th. He also told her that he was going to come back for the children and take them away from her.  He would refuse to talk or communicate with her. 

On the night of June 9th Mary was in a bad place. She would put the children to bed and try to go to sleep in a chair. Her oldest daughter would ask her to go to sleep in bed around 9 pm. She would go to bed. The children would ask her to bring them barley water up until midnight. 

Mary would look for a candle though she had one lit by the chair. She said there was a black cloud above her. She could not see, however. She then would think about slitting her own throat and would search in the dark for her husband's razor. She would find his keys and then find his razor. 

With the razor, she would go to her daughter Georgy and slit her throat without looking at her. There was no resistance. She would then go to Cary and do the same. The next victim was Henry and he would say "Don't mother" and she would tell him "I must" before slitting his throat. She would move onto Bill turn him over and do the same. He never woke up. Harriet and George were the last ones and there was no resistance. Harriet however struggled the most as she died. Mary would then slit her own throat. 

She said that she lay there for a long time and then went to get a drink. She said that the black cloud was gone. It then hit her on what she did so she placed something bloody in the window because she could not call out to anyone. She then undid the bolt to the front door.

On the morning of June 10th two men, Mager and Peasley, were walking past the Brough home and spotted something shocking. There was a blood-soaked pillow on the second-story back window sill. The two men would notify neighbors of there being possible trouble at the home. They would first try to ring the doorbell, but no one answered. The landlady would come and do the same, but more urgently. 

Mary would then come up to a window and wave to them with a towel. One of the men would scale the wall and let the others in. They would come up to the house. Mary would not let them in as the door was locked. The man would see a ladder and climb through the window with the bloody pillowcase. 

Mary would come up to the top of the stairs to the man's sight and see her more clearly. She was a mess covered in blood. When she turned to him he saw that there was a wound on her throat. He went back down the ladder and someone went to get the doctor. 

John Crockford was in his garden when this happened. he spotted the commotion and they explained to him what had happened. He would also climb up the ladder and would go into the room of the bloody pillow. 

Mary was lying on her side in the room. In one of the beds was one of the children. The house was a bloody mess. He would then make his way to the front door to unlock it. Passing one of the rooms he would see two dead at the end of a bed. He would notice that there was a pair of bloody boots and stockings under a table by the door. The lock and door handle also was covered in blood. He would leave the house and inform them that the children were dead.

 Mary was still alive and bleeding out. She would be saved from her attempted suicide. 

19-year-old Mary and her father would then see the children at their funeral. They were both extremely saddened by the tragedy. Mary would have been another victim if she had been in the home that night. Mary Sr would will all of her items to her remaining child.

While recovering she would be charged with murder. On August 8th she would go to the Surrey Assizes. She would admit that she did not want her children taken away from her. She would use a defense of insanity and the jury agreed with this as they returned with a verdict of not guilty on the grounds of insanity. 

She would be ordered to be detained at her Majesty's Pleasure. 

SOURCES:
Murderpedia
Ranker

Newcastle Weekly Courant June 16, 1854

Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser June 17, 1854

The Halifax Courier and Guardian August 12, 1854
The Sun April 24, 2018

December 30, 1903, Iroquois Theater Fire 1 Unidentified

 

Image created by Charles N. Landon and published by the Tacoma Times

On December 30, 1903, the play Mr. Blue Beard was playing at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago Illinois. During the second act, the curtain was caught on fire possibly by an electrical short circuit. This made several of the theatergoers go into a panic. Some were calmed by the fact of an actor trying to keep them calm. But the theater was burning down around them so many tried to escape.

The fire extinguishers that the theater had were meant to be thrown at fires on the ground and were useless against this fire as it rose. Three exits were forced open but unluckily lead to unfinished fire escapes. Some of the doors opening caused the fire to increase. Many people were trampled, crushed and asphyxiated in the fire.

Even though the theater claimed before the fire that it was "absolutely fireproof" it was not. It had been noted by several people including the fire department captain, and the editor of Fireproof Magazine that it was not.  In fact, it was hazardous as the theater did not follow the rules. The fire warden was warned, but because they knew the owner would ignore it. Unfortunately, the carelessness of the owners caused 602 people to die.

One of the victims was never identified.

The victim was a white woman around 50-year-old. Her face was still recognizable when she died. She is buried in Montrose Cemetary in Chicago.

SOURCES:
Unidentified Wiki
Wikipedia
Find a Grave

Mrs. Colley Murdered Her Three Youngest

On May 28, 1837, The George Colley, his wife Ann and their family lived in the Police station-house in Fenton England. That night their father was out of the home. Anne the mother of 5 children the oldest being 11 and the youngest 5 months put them all to bed in the room they shared with their parents. The two oldest George (11) and Josiah (9) were laid to sleep together. Their mother put James (5 months) in his cradle. Ann and Charles slept in their bed with their mother Ann.

 No one expected what was to happen that night.

The two older boys George and Josiah were screaming running down the streets. The boys were injured and were only wearing their shirts. The first person they saw they told them that their mother Ann Colley was killing their siblings. They had escaped through a window after being attacked. George and Josiah had injuries to their head and neck causing their shirts to be blood-soaked. George has one of his ears almost taken off and Josiah had a deep gash in his neck.

The boys had woken up to their mother trying to stab them. Josiah was able to escape first and then George through a kitchen window. At the time they had no idea what had happened to the younger siblings.

John Beardsworth who lived next door was one of the first to enter the police station-house the family inhabited. They went upstairs to the room the family slept in. That was where the horrors lied. Three other children two boys and a girl laid on the ground with their heads nearly severed. Their mother on the floor with them with her throat cut, but still alive.

When the Dr. arrived on the scene he tried to sew up her neck wound. She struggled and even bit the surgeon's hand in an attempt to keep him from saving her. With the assistance of three others he was able to sew it up and save her.

It had seemed as of recently her husband and the children's father had been discharged from his position. This lead the family to live in poorer conditions. They were only living day to day on the earnings from their household goods. Before her husband's discharge, she seemed to be of good character and went to church regularly.

She claimed they it wasn't her husband's fault that she had done this. She said that he was a good husband and father to the children. It was the distress from life that had caused her to want to end the childrens life. Wanting them in the good lord's hands.

When in the hospital she would pray to god and begged the nurses to read the bible to her. She was mentally unstable. When she was told that her two sons were doing well she stated: "God will take them for when they survive they must come to want."

It was brought out that George a few weeks prior caught his wife trying to harm the children (isn't specifically what she did) and threatened to send her to the asylum if she hurt them. He believed this set her straight, but unfortunately did not.

She was brought before a jury and they returned with the verdict of Willful Murder against her.

SOURCES:
The Morning Chronical
The Morning Post
Jackson's Oxford Journal

The Black Donnellys

James and Johannah Donnelly decided to move from their homeland, Ireland, and settle in Canada. The couple settled on contested land near London, Ontario. The Donnelly's were a troubling family and seemed to have been in a feud with the community. In 1857 James Sr. killed Patrick Farrell a man who had a dispute with the family because they were squatting on his land.

Even though he spent time at the Kingston Penitentiary his 7 sons didn't learn from his mistakes. They had a bad reputation and they were known as troublemakers. Their reputation went from basic mayhem to grand larceny and arson. They were willing to fight, and because of their reputation, they were blamed for everything.

On Feb. 3, 1880, James Donnelly complained to the local magistrate that they were blamed for everything and the next day the farm burned to the ground. A mob had come to the home and James, Johannah, son Tom, and their niece Bridget was killed in the fire. There was a 13-year-old farmhand,  Johnny O'Conner, there that night. 

According to Johnny shortly after 1 a.m. was when the mob arrived at the home. He awoke to James getting dressed. Johnny joined him going out to the kitchen and seeing James Caroll the "Peace Society". Tom was outside handcuffed with around 20 men. Tom demanded to see a warrant, but there was none to be seen. The mob outside quickly came in and began to attack the family. 

James, Johanna, and Tom were all three beaten badly. Bridget was upstairs and the men barged up there and killed 21-year-old Bridget. Johhny hid underneath a bed. He witnessed that Tom was able to escape, but was dragged back inside and beaten some more. The members of the mob brought coal oil in and burned the house. He was able to escape the burning home. 

The mob then traveled to the second oldest William Donnelly's house and arrived there around 2:30 a.m. The mob screamed fire hoping to get someone to come out. John came to the window and was shot in the chest and pelvis. Thinking that it was William they killed the mob left. 

 The community knew who was apart of it, but no one was ever found guilty for the crimes. There were two trials for it, but all of the people prosecuted were either not guilty, or a hung jury.

SOURCES:

Canadian Mysteries 
Wikipedia

Fictional Murders: S.S. Ourang Medan

In either June of 1947 or Feb of 1948, a distress signal was coming from a ship. It seemed that the person sending out the S.O.S. was terrified and stated that people were dying among the S.S. Ourang Medan and that "possibly the whole crew dead." What followed was indecipherable morse code or was it the madness taking over the panicked messager? Eventually, silence followed.

The ship was noticed by the American ship called the Silver Star believed the ship was in the Straits of Malacca. Noting the urgency in the message they sought out the ship and found it. When getting on the ship they noticed that there was no sign of life aboard.

Everyone they saw was laying down with their mouths and eyes wide open and their hands were reaching out as if trying to grasp something or protecting themselves. There didn't seem to be any wounds on any of the people. The ship's dog was found to be dead in the same horrifying state. The crew members under the deck were also found in the same horrifying state. They found the man who sen out the S.O.S. with his finger on the telegraph.

It was also noted that the ship was cold even though it was a scorching 110 degrees outside. After finding no survivors they quickly got off. They planned to pull the ship to shore, but that wasn't meant to be. Thick smoke began to rise out of the ship and the Silver Star had hardly enough time to cut the line away from the S.S. Ourang Medan before it exploded and sunk.

What was it that killed all those men on the ship and cause the ship to explode?

It's more simple than it seems. The ship most likely never existed in the first place. There were no records of the ship existing The ship Silver Star was named that, but that wasn't the name of it at the time. At the time the name was Santa Juana and its name changed later when it was bought by Grace Line Shipping Company.

If it did exist the ship may have come from the Dutch East Indies. In Indonesian, Ourang means ‘man’ and Medan is the largest city on the island of Sumatra making some think that the ship may have come from there. The ship's name literally means "Man of Medan". Some theorize that the ship itself may have been expunged from records because they were smuggling things for the war. It could be possible that the "smoke" that the rescuers were seeing was a nerve gas that was being transported to Japan.

It was theorized that several countries were involved with the cover-up such as Singapore, Japan, Netherlands, Germany, China, and the United States. As at the time the use of Lethal Gas and Chemicals was baned.

It's also theorized that even though they weren't found in records possibly they did exist. That a malfunctioning boiler caused everyone to die from carbon Monoxide Poisoning.

A third theory is that it was pirates that killed the crew and left them the way they did. Which how would the pirates kill the crew without any physical injuries though.

SOURCES:
Beyond Science T.V.
Mysterious Universe
Skittish Library
Historic Mysteries