December 10, 2024 • 20 mins
A scorned woman seeks revenge, but when her initial murder fails, the plan to cover her tracks takes the life of an innocent bystander.
Written by Frederick Crook - check out our other collaboration WRAITHWORKS - Wraithworks at Amazon https://www.amzn.com/dp/B07HXNCW4L (audiobook narrated by John Lordan) Also avaible on iTunes: https://apple.co/2OFXb8L
This is not intended to act as a means of proving or disproving anything related to the investigation or potential charges associated to the investigation. It is a conversation about the current known facts and theories being discussed. Please do not contact people you are suspicious of or attempt to harass, threaten or intimidate them in any way. Do not release information that can be used to do the same, or join in attacks being conducted by others.
Everyone directly or indirectly referred to is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
LordanArts 2024
Do you have any comments, or a case you’d like to suggest? You’ll find a comment form and case submission link at LordanArts.com.
This is not intended to act as a means of proving or disproving anything related to the investigation. It is a conversation about the current known facts and theories being discussed. Everyone directly or indirectly referred to is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
LordanArts 2025
Written by Frederick Crook - check out our other collaboration WRAITHWORKS - Wraithworks at Amazon https://www.amzn.com/dp/B07HXNCW4L (audiobook narrated by John Lordan) Also avaible on iTunes: https://apple.co/2OFXb8L
This is not intended to act as a means of proving or disproving anything related to the investigation or potential charges associated to the investigation. It is a conversation about the current known facts and theories being discussed. Please do not contact people you are suspicious of or attempt to harass, threaten or intimidate them in any way. Do not release information that can be used to do the same, or join in attacks being conducted by others.
Everyone directly or indirectly referred to is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
LordanArts 2024
Do you have any comments, or a case you’d like to suggest? You’ll find a comment form and case submission link at LordanArts.com.
This is not intended to act as a means of proving or disproving anything related to the investigation. It is a conversation about the current known facts and theories being discussed. Everyone directly or indirectly referred to is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
LordanArts 2025
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
As we've now looked into over two hundred cases together
on this show, I've come to really appreciate historical cases.
They take us to another time and place, one where
the tools that investigators had were much different, but the
fundamentals are strikingly similar. This is another one of those stories,
but it also highlights a disturbing trend in homicide cases
(00:42):
of this era. So many of them involve poison, and
this one features an unbelievable way of that poison being delivered.
I'm John Lorden and this is the case of the
Chocolate cream killer. Christianna Edmunds was born on October third,
eighteen twenty eight to parents Ann Christianna Burham and William Edmonds.
(01:05):
The family lived in Margate, Kent, England, where William was
a successful architect. Baby Christiana was the first born for
the couple, but was soon followed by their first son, William,
then daughters Mary and Louisa, and lastly another son, Frederick Thomas. Sadly,
Frederick passed away at the age of only sixteen months old,
(01:26):
which shocked and devastated the growing family. They would have
another daughter, Ellen, but she passed away when she was
only three months old. The grieving family moved on, and
William's architecture works sustained them well. Chris and William were
eventually sent to boarding schools for their continued education. Christianna
graduated from the school in eighteen forty two and returned home.
(01:50):
By this time, her parents had added yet another child
to the family, named Arthur. William's architectural opportunities dried up
and he was forced to say off their second home.
Other failures of Williams would come to light when it
came out that he was repeatedly unfaithful to his wife.
He had also contracted syphilis during these affairs, and it
(02:12):
left him an angry man who turned to violence. Anne,
afraid of her ailing husband, had him committed to various
asylums in the hopes of helping him, but these institutions failed.
William would eventually pass away in eighteen forty seven, sustained
financially by owning shares in a railway company. Anne moved
the family to Canterbury in eighteen forty eight, and it
(02:33):
was soon discovered that her twenty year old daughter, Christiana,
was suffering from hysteria. This seems to have occurred when
Christiana's husband an Indian officer of the British military, had
passed away. In time, the other Edmund siblings grew up
and left home to begin their own families, leaving mother
Anne to live with Christiana and Mary in a boarding
(02:54):
house in Brighton, East Sussex. Christiana stood out among the
other women in the nabod, usually clad in black clothing,
having a bolt upright posture and a thin, almost frail build.
Her eyes, a haunted greenish blue, were said to be
impossible to miss. This arrangement continued through Christiana's forties, though
(03:15):
it seems to have not been an overly pleasant arrangement.
Christiana argued frequently with her mother, many times resulting in
Christiana's suffering from fainting spells. It's during one of these
spells when someone from the household called a doctor by
the name of Charles Beard, whose practice was across the street.
Doctor Beard revived Christiana and treated her headache. Further, he
(03:38):
continued to see Christiana to treat what he diagnosed as
hysteria and neuralgia. Christiana seemed to take an immediate liking
to the handsome physician. She had her mother call the
doctor to the home for daily visits, and even eventually
went to see the doctor at his home. Her demeanor changed.
She was less irritable and depressed, and even began dressing
(04:00):
more fancifully. As for doctor Beard, though he was married,
he also began to take an interest in Christiana. It's
not clear if they engaged in any physical affair, but
the two did exchange a series of love letters. Christiana
had even spent time with Emily Beard, the doctor's wife,
having tea and socializing. Emily indulged the apparently kind and
(04:22):
harmless older woman. Society at the time considered an unmarried
woman of Christiana's age a spinster or someone that was
unlikely to ever marry. Perhaps this was part of the
reason why this strange relationship was brought to an end
by the doctor, or it may have been her constant
visits and intense personality. Edmunds reacted calmly when Doctor Beard
(04:44):
told her of his intent to end their relations, and
she agreed to find another doctor. However, Christiana buried her
true feelings deeply. She left the office calmly, but she
was indeed broken hearted. That following September, Ristianna paid a
visit to doctor Beard's home bearing a box of chocolates. Emily,
(05:05):
the wife of doctor Charles Beard, happily allowed Christianna into
their home and accepted the gift of chocolates, But once
she had tasted the first one, she knew something was
very wrong. It was too bitter to even swallow, so
she spat it out. Emily became ill almost immediately. Christiana
excused herself from the home and took the remaining candies
(05:27):
with her. When doctor Beard returned home, Emily claimed that
Christiana Edmunds tried to kill her. The doctor tested the
piece that his wife had spat out and found that
it had been laced with strychnine. Despite his findings and
initial instinct to report the incident to police, doctor Beard
was worried that his relationship with Edmunds might be brought
(05:48):
to light and that would effectively end his career in
Brighton and possibly end his marriage. The doctor decided to
try to handle things himself, and he went to Christiana
Edmund's home. She denied any knowledge of the poison and
even stated that she would investigate the matter herself. Satisfied
for the time being, doctor Beard left Christiana. Unfortunately, for
(06:23):
the candy stores proprietor John Maynard. This investigation was essentially
a campaign of terror carried out by Christiana Edmunds. Over
the course of eighteen seventy one, his shop had lost
much of its business, even from regulars. Maynard's store also
received returned goods, with customers stating that his candy had
made them ill, perplexed, and alarmed. At these occurrences, Maynard
(06:47):
instructed his assistant candy maker, Charles Scooley, to inspect and
clean their kitchen, narrowly blind himself. Mister Maynor added that
Schooley was to keep a close eye on the shop's
clerks for any signs of tampering. After weeks of monitoring
the other employees, Schoolly determined that no employees of Maynard's
shop could be at fault. He reported this to Maynard,
(07:09):
stating that he felt that someone was spreading false gossip
about the candy and that the slumped in business due
to the rumors would pass. The returned candy was placed
in a discount bin for resale. This would prove to
be a dreadful error. On June twelfth, eighteen seventy one,
a young boy entered the shop accompanied by his uncle,
(07:30):
four year old Sydney Barker wanted some of the candy
from the bargain bin, which Charles Miller, the uncle, bought
for him. They left the shop, eating the candies as
they walked. By the time they returned home, Charles was
feeling ill, wondering what the cause could have been. Screams
of excruciating pain emanated from another room. Charles rushed in
(07:51):
to find young Sydney on the floor, curled up and
writhing in pain. The child had eaten nearly the entire
bag of candy. Charles Miller ran for the doctor, but
they were too late. Sidney died right where he had fallen.
The coroner, David Block, came to the conclusion that Sydney
and Charles had been poisoned by strychnine, informing the Brighton Police.
(08:15):
Investigators trace the candy to Maynards, and upon seizing the
balance of the bargain bin candy, tested it for poison.
Strychnine was heavily present. Maynard's store was closed while the
police continued to scrutinize the owner and the employees, and
the proprietor was forced to purge all of his shop's
inventory for the safety of the public. It was certain
(08:37):
that this was no accidental contamination. The strychnine was intentionally
placed and in great abundance. Brighton Police Inspector Gibbs was
assigned to the case and immediately suspected owner John Maynard
or one of his employees, since they were obviously in
close contact and had the greatest opportunity to commit the crime. However,
after extensive interviews and checks into their Backgroundsibbs could find
(09:00):
no motivations in any of the employees to commit the crime.
Gibbs investigated local chemist's shops, searching their records for the
sales of the poisonous substance to Maynard or any of
the employees. None were on the sales ledgers of any
of the chemists. Gibbs eventually encountered a woman that had
been a frequent customer of the shop that told him
(09:21):
that she stopped buying from Maynards because she had been
warned that the candy there was poisoned. Shockingly, the woman
produced a letter that she had received warning her that
the writer of the letter had received candy laced with
strychnine from Maynard's shop. The letter was unsigned, though Gibbs
determined that the handwriting appeared to be feminine. The following day,
(09:43):
Sidney Barker's father went to Inspector Gibbs with a similar
letter in hand. The letter informed Barker that the candy
purchased from Maynard's was poisoned. Suspecting that the letter writer
was the poisoner, Gibbs decided to recheck the chemist's sales letgers.
On one of the the chemist's ledgers, he discovered a
woman's name. She had signed the ledger as Missus Woods,
(10:05):
and her residence was listed as Brighton. Gibbs interviewed the chemists,
eventually interviewing Isaac Garrett, who described the woman as rather tall,
slight build and that she appeared to be somewhere in
her thirties. When Gibbs asked Garrett why this Missus Woods
had purchased the poison, Garrett said that she had intended
to poison some cats that had been digging up her garden.
(10:27):
Garrett said that he had refused, feeling that it was
a cruel treatment of animals, but the woman had been insistent.
The mysterious Missus Woods had even brought in a witness
to the purchase. A Milliner or hat seller by the
name of Caroline Stone. Garrett broke down and sold Missus
Woods ten grains of the poison, even though a single
(10:48):
grain was enough to kill a human being. Garrett further
confessed that this same Missus Woods returned for yet another
ten grains of the poison, having claimed that the first
ten had not done the job. Stone had again accompanied
the woman for this purchase as well, and off she went.
A month went by, and Missus Woods returned with the
story that she and her husband were moving and that
(11:09):
she had to use the poison to put down their
ailing dog. Again and again, Woods returned until Garrett turned
her away with finality. However, an errand boy that it
claimed to be from another chemist's shop purchased an amount
of strychnine under the guise of replenishing their supply. Its
theorized that he was possibly an agent for the now
(11:31):
notorious Missus Woods. Inspector Gibbs could find no one in
Brighton by the name of Woods that fit the description
that Garrett had given him. Certainly, Woods was an alias,
and even if he had interrogated Stone, he was sure
to get no further. The case seemed to be at
a standstill, but that didn't last long. His detectives had
(11:51):
discovered two boys living in Brighton that had encountered a
Missus Woods, and they had stories to tell. The first boy,
Adam May, said that Missus Woods paid him to make
a run to Maynard's, buy a box of candy and
deliver it to her home, which he did. The second boy,
William Guy, stated that he met Missus Woods as she
(12:12):
sat on a park bench, and that she had given
him money to return a bag of candy to Maynards
for a refund. The candy had made her sick, the
woman had told him. Gibbs asked Adam May to show
him where Missus Woods lived, and the boy led detectives
to the home of Christiana Edmunds. There, Inspector Gibbs met Christiana,
who of course matched the physical description Adam May and
(12:36):
the chemist Isaac Garrett would also identify Christiana as the
woman that had both purchased the poison and purchased the candy.
Christiana was arrested and doctor Beard came forward soon after
to tell police of how his wife Emily had been
the first victim. Under interrogation, Christiana at first blamed mister Maynard,
(12:57):
and said that she'd been trying to figure out who
the poisoner was for some time. She spoke to detectives
at length about the crimes, eventually talking herself into a
corner when she was finally forced to admit that it
was actually all her doing. She had poisoned more of
the candy at Maynard's shop to cover up her original crime,
the attempted murder of Emily Beard. Even now coming clean,
(13:19):
she still tried to also incriminate doctor Beard as being
in on it, but investigators didn't believe it. When the
full story was pieced together, police knew that it was
Christiana's hope that if others became ill from the shop's candy,
mister Maynard or an employee would be blamed, and then
doctor Beard would believe that she was innocent, bringing her
(13:40):
back into his good graces. The trial of Christiana Edmunds
began on January fifteenth of eighteen seventy two. Her barrister,
Sergeant Ballantine, tried to take advantage of Christianna's mental illness,
which were made more clear by hysterics that she displayed
during the trial, and entered her plea of insanity. This
(14:00):
defense failed and she was found guilty of murder. Edmunds
was sentenced to death and the case seemed to be closed. However,
the judge presiding over the trial, Baron Martin, questioned that
verdict and sought the opinions of doctor W. W. Gull
and the superintendent of a nearby asylum, doctor Orange. Christiana
(14:20):
was determined to be insane after a short stay in prison,
and she was transferred to Orange's Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum.
It's actually still in existence today, though it holds the
much more public friendly label of Broadmoor Hospital. It was
in this facility that the chocolate cream killer Christiana Edmunds
spent the rest of her life, passing away in nineteen
(14:43):
o seven at the age of seventy eight. For most
of us, it's hard to imagine the intense obsession with
doctor Beard that Edmunds experienced. She seemed utterly powerless to
deal with her feelings for the man who entered her
life suddenly at a time of need. Did Christiania and
as emotional difficulties stem from the tragic deaths of her
siblings or the death of her first husband, or was
(15:06):
there something further making her disregard the welfare of her
fellow citizens, as she concocted and carried out an elaborate
scheme to throw off suspicions, and in her wake killed
an innocent young boy. It seems that the smoke screen
that she tried to employ would be used again over
one hundred years after Christian's attempt. It was nineteen eighty six.
(15:30):
In Auburn, Washington. On June fifth, a married, fifty two
year old man named Bruce Nickel collapsed at home after
ingesting exegrin to help her leave a headache. He later
passed away at Harbor View Medical Center in Seattle. The
King County Medical Examiner concluded that Bruce had died of
natural causes, but upon further tests, traces of cyanide were found. Then,
(15:53):
on June the eleventh, another exceedgrin user, forty year old
Sue Snow, fell dead. Alarmed by the possibilities that a
copycat of the Chicago Tilot All Murders of nineteen eighty
two was out there, the Commissioner of the FDA, doctor
Frank Young, issued a warning to the public that they
were to halt the usage of the headache medication Stella Nickel,
(16:14):
the recent widow of Bruce Nickel, came forward to turn
in her bottle of eck Cedron. When tested, cyanide was present.
Both bottles, those belonging to Nickel and Snow, had come
from the same lot number, indicating that they were manufactured
at the Bristol Myers plant in Morrisville, North Carolina. FDA
investigators found no cyanide present at that facility. Considering the
(16:38):
repercussions from the unsolved nineteen eighty two tailan all poisonings,
that being the Tampa resistant foil seals implemented then present
on medicine bottles at the time, it was apparent that
the bottles belonging to Snow and Nickel had been tainted.
After their arrival in Washington, the state banned the sale
of the non prescription capsule version of extra Strength Exceedron
(16:59):
and and Anison three, purging them from all inventories of retailers.
The FBI focused on the husband of Sue Snow, Paul Webking.
He and other family members were interviewed daily, even as
five other laced bottles of eccedrin were discovered among those
taken from store shelves. Likewise, authorities investigated and interrogated Stella Nickel,
(17:22):
who was somewhat less cooperative. Months passed and the investigations continued,
but it was not until spring of nineteen eighty eight
that enough evidence was gathered to charge Stella Nickel with
the crimes. She was found guilty of five counts of
tampering and the two murders. During her trial, friends and
family testified that she had grown tiresome with life with
(17:44):
her husband, Bruce, since he had quit drinking. Both she
and Bruce were alcoholics when they met and married in
nineteen seventy six, but after Bruce had sought treatment for
the problem, he supposedly had become boring and no fun
to be with. According to Stella. Of course, she had
also taken out some life insurance policies on him prior
(18:05):
to his death to throw off any investigation and help
collect on the additional accidental death clause. She tampered with
other bottles of etc. Stella Nichol was sentenced to ninety
years in prison. She was recently denied parole in twenty seventeen.
Both Edmunds and Nickel carried out diabolical plans to cover
(18:27):
for their initial crimes only to cost other innocent victims
their lives. Thankfully, neither would get away with their attempts
thanks to the hard work of investigators and in both cases,
some good old fashioned police work. Do you have any
comments or a case you'd like to suggest. You'll find
a comment form and case submission link at lordenarts dot com.
(18:49):
We would like to thank the Atlanta Journal, The Hampshire Advertiser,
The Sunday Sun, The Toronto Star, The World's News, Evansville
Courier and Press, the Delaware Gazette, the Phillid Deelfia Inquirer,
the Bellevue News Democrat, the Olympian, Gail dot com, the
Dark Curiosities YouTube channel, and Wikipedia for information contributing to
today's story. This episode was written by Frederick Crook, is
(19:13):
edited by John Lordon and produced by Lorden Arts. If
you appreciate it today's episode, please check out the novel Wraithworks,
another collaboration between Frederick Crook and myself. It's available in
hard copy or audiobook format. You can find more info
about Raithworks at Lordenarts dot com or by searching for
it on Amazon. Thank you to our audience here for
(19:33):
the live recording session hosted on the YouTube channel Lord
and Art's Studio two special thanks to seriously mysterious financial
supporters Mike W. Fox Mulder, B. Jones, Robert Martin Luciana
and James Reed. Most of all, thank you for listening.
I'm John Lorden. Please join me again next week for
another story I know you'll find seriously mysterious
As we've now looked into over two hundred cases together
on this show, I've come to really appreciate historical cases.
They take us to another time and place, one where
the tools that investigators had were much different, but the
fundamentals are strikingly similar. This is another one of those stories,
but it also highlights a disturbing trend in homicide cases
(00:42):
of this era. So many of them involve poison, and
this one features an unbelievable way of that poison being delivered.
I'm John Lorden and this is the case of the
Chocolate cream killer. Christianna Edmunds was born on October third,
eighteen twenty eight to parents Ann Christianna Burham and William Edmonds.
(01:05):
The family lived in Margate, Kent, England, where William was
a successful architect. Baby Christiana was the first born for
the couple, but was soon followed by their first son, William,
then daughters Mary and Louisa, and lastly another son, Frederick Thomas. Sadly,
Frederick passed away at the age of only sixteen months old,
(01:26):
which shocked and devastated the growing family. They would have
another daughter, Ellen, but she passed away when she was
only three months old. The grieving family moved on, and
William's architecture works sustained them well. Chris and William were
eventually sent to boarding schools for their continued education. Christianna
graduated from the school in eighteen forty two and returned home.
(01:50):
By this time, her parents had added yet another child
to the family, named Arthur. William's architectural opportunities dried up
and he was forced to say off their second home.
Other failures of Williams would come to light when it
came out that he was repeatedly unfaithful to his wife.
He had also contracted syphilis during these affairs, and it
(02:12):
left him an angry man who turned to violence. Anne,
afraid of her ailing husband, had him committed to various
asylums in the hopes of helping him, but these institutions failed.
William would eventually pass away in eighteen forty seven, sustained
financially by owning shares in a railway company. Anne moved
the family to Canterbury in eighteen forty eight, and it
(02:33):
was soon discovered that her twenty year old daughter, Christiana,
was suffering from hysteria. This seems to have occurred when
Christiana's husband an Indian officer of the British military, had
passed away. In time, the other Edmund siblings grew up
and left home to begin their own families, leaving mother
Anne to live with Christiana and Mary in a boarding
(02:54):
house in Brighton, East Sussex. Christiana stood out among the
other women in the nabod, usually clad in black clothing,
having a bolt upright posture and a thin, almost frail build.
Her eyes, a haunted greenish blue, were said to be
impossible to miss. This arrangement continued through Christiana's forties, though
(03:15):
it seems to have not been an overly pleasant arrangement.
Christiana argued frequently with her mother, many times resulting in
Christiana's suffering from fainting spells. It's during one of these
spells when someone from the household called a doctor by
the name of Charles Beard, whose practice was across the street.
Doctor Beard revived Christiana and treated her headache. Further, he
(03:38):
continued to see Christiana to treat what he diagnosed as
hysteria and neuralgia. Christiana seemed to take an immediate liking
to the handsome physician. She had her mother call the
doctor to the home for daily visits, and even eventually
went to see the doctor at his home. Her demeanor changed.
She was less irritable and depressed, and even began dressing
(04:00):
more fancifully. As for doctor Beard, though he was married,
he also began to take an interest in Christiana. It's
not clear if they engaged in any physical affair, but
the two did exchange a series of love letters. Christiana
had even spent time with Emily Beard, the doctor's wife,
having tea and socializing. Emily indulged the apparently kind and
(04:22):
harmless older woman. Society at the time considered an unmarried
woman of Christiana's age a spinster or someone that was
unlikely to ever marry. Perhaps this was part of the
reason why this strange relationship was brought to an end
by the doctor, or it may have been her constant
visits and intense personality. Edmunds reacted calmly when Doctor Beard
(04:44):
told her of his intent to end their relations, and
she agreed to find another doctor. However, Christiana buried her
true feelings deeply. She left the office calmly, but she
was indeed broken hearted. That following September, Ristianna paid a
visit to doctor Beard's home bearing a box of chocolates. Emily,
(05:05):
the wife of doctor Charles Beard, happily allowed Christianna into
their home and accepted the gift of chocolates, But once
she had tasted the first one, she knew something was
very wrong. It was too bitter to even swallow, so
she spat it out. Emily became ill almost immediately. Christiana
excused herself from the home and took the remaining candies
(05:27):
with her. When doctor Beard returned home, Emily claimed that
Christiana Edmunds tried to kill her. The doctor tested the
piece that his wife had spat out and found that
it had been laced with strychnine. Despite his findings and
initial instinct to report the incident to police, doctor Beard
was worried that his relationship with Edmunds might be brought
(05:48):
to light and that would effectively end his career in
Brighton and possibly end his marriage. The doctor decided to
try to handle things himself, and he went to Christiana
Edmund's home. She denied any knowledge of the poison and
even stated that she would investigate the matter herself. Satisfied
for the time being, doctor Beard left Christiana. Unfortunately, for
(06:23):
the candy stores proprietor John Maynard. This investigation was essentially
a campaign of terror carried out by Christiana Edmunds. Over
the course of eighteen seventy one, his shop had lost
much of its business, even from regulars. Maynard's store also
received returned goods, with customers stating that his candy had
made them ill, perplexed, and alarmed. At these occurrences, Maynard
(06:47):
instructed his assistant candy maker, Charles Scooley, to inspect and
clean their kitchen, narrowly blind himself. Mister Maynor added that
Schooley was to keep a close eye on the shop's
clerks for any signs of tampering. After weeks of monitoring
the other employees, Schoolly determined that no employees of Maynard's
shop could be at fault. He reported this to Maynard,
(07:09):
stating that he felt that someone was spreading false gossip
about the candy and that the slumped in business due
to the rumors would pass. The returned candy was placed
in a discount bin for resale. This would prove to
be a dreadful error. On June twelfth, eighteen seventy one,
a young boy entered the shop accompanied by his uncle,
(07:30):
four year old Sydney Barker wanted some of the candy
from the bargain bin, which Charles Miller, the uncle, bought
for him. They left the shop, eating the candies as
they walked. By the time they returned home, Charles was
feeling ill, wondering what the cause could have been. Screams
of excruciating pain emanated from another room. Charles rushed in
(07:51):
to find young Sydney on the floor, curled up and
writhing in pain. The child had eaten nearly the entire
bag of candy. Charles Miller ran for the doctor, but
they were too late. Sidney died right where he had fallen.
The coroner, David Block, came to the conclusion that Sydney
and Charles had been poisoned by strychnine, informing the Brighton Police.
(08:15):
Investigators trace the candy to Maynards, and upon seizing the
balance of the bargain bin candy, tested it for poison.
Strychnine was heavily present. Maynard's store was closed while the
police continued to scrutinize the owner and the employees, and
the proprietor was forced to purge all of his shop's
inventory for the safety of the public. It was certain
(08:37):
that this was no accidental contamination. The strychnine was intentionally
placed and in great abundance. Brighton Police Inspector Gibbs was
assigned to the case and immediately suspected owner John Maynard
or one of his employees, since they were obviously in
close contact and had the greatest opportunity to commit the crime. However,
after extensive interviews and checks into their Backgroundsibbs could find
(09:00):
no motivations in any of the employees to commit the crime.
Gibbs investigated local chemist's shops, searching their records for the
sales of the poisonous substance to Maynard or any of
the employees. None were on the sales ledgers of any
of the chemists. Gibbs eventually encountered a woman that had
been a frequent customer of the shop that told him
(09:21):
that she stopped buying from Maynards because she had been
warned that the candy there was poisoned. Shockingly, the woman
produced a letter that she had received warning her that
the writer of the letter had received candy laced with
strychnine from Maynard's shop. The letter was unsigned, though Gibbs
determined that the handwriting appeared to be feminine. The following day,
(09:43):
Sidney Barker's father went to Inspector Gibbs with a similar
letter in hand. The letter informed Barker that the candy
purchased from Maynard's was poisoned. Suspecting that the letter writer
was the poisoner, Gibbs decided to recheck the chemist's sales letgers.
On one of the the chemist's ledgers, he discovered a
woman's name. She had signed the ledger as Missus Woods,
(10:05):
and her residence was listed as Brighton. Gibbs interviewed the chemists,
eventually interviewing Isaac Garrett, who described the woman as rather tall,
slight build and that she appeared to be somewhere in
her thirties. When Gibbs asked Garrett why this Missus Woods
had purchased the poison, Garrett said that she had intended
to poison some cats that had been digging up her garden.
(10:27):
Garrett said that he had refused, feeling that it was
a cruel treatment of animals, but the woman had been insistent.
The mysterious Missus Woods had even brought in a witness
to the purchase. A Milliner or hat seller by the
name of Caroline Stone. Garrett broke down and sold Missus
Woods ten grains of the poison, even though a single
(10:48):
grain was enough to kill a human being. Garrett further
confessed that this same Missus Woods returned for yet another
ten grains of the poison, having claimed that the first
ten had not done the job. Stone had again accompanied
the woman for this purchase as well, and off she went.
A month went by, and Missus Woods returned with the
story that she and her husband were moving and that
(11:09):
she had to use the poison to put down their
ailing dog. Again and again, Woods returned until Garrett turned
her away with finality. However, an errand boy that it
claimed to be from another chemist's shop purchased an amount
of strychnine under the guise of replenishing their supply. Its
theorized that he was possibly an agent for the now
(11:31):
notorious Missus Woods. Inspector Gibbs could find no one in
Brighton by the name of Woods that fit the description
that Garrett had given him. Certainly, Woods was an alias,
and even if he had interrogated Stone, he was sure
to get no further. The case seemed to be at
a standstill, but that didn't last long. His detectives had
(11:51):
discovered two boys living in Brighton that had encountered a
Missus Woods, and they had stories to tell. The first boy,
Adam May, said that Missus Woods paid him to make
a run to Maynard's, buy a box of candy and
deliver it to her home, which he did. The second boy,
William Guy, stated that he met Missus Woods as she
(12:12):
sat on a park bench, and that she had given
him money to return a bag of candy to Maynards
for a refund. The candy had made her sick, the
woman had told him. Gibbs asked Adam May to show
him where Missus Woods lived, and the boy led detectives
to the home of Christiana Edmunds. There, Inspector Gibbs met Christiana,
who of course matched the physical description Adam May and
(12:36):
the chemist Isaac Garrett would also identify Christiana as the
woman that had both purchased the poison and purchased the candy.
Christiana was arrested and doctor Beard came forward soon after
to tell police of how his wife Emily had been
the first victim. Under interrogation, Christiana at first blamed mister Maynard,
(12:57):
and said that she'd been trying to figure out who
the poisoner was for some time. She spoke to detectives
at length about the crimes, eventually talking herself into a
corner when she was finally forced to admit that it
was actually all her doing. She had poisoned more of
the candy at Maynard's shop to cover up her original crime,
the attempted murder of Emily Beard. Even now coming clean,
(13:19):
she still tried to also incriminate doctor Beard as being
in on it, but investigators didn't believe it. When the
full story was pieced together, police knew that it was
Christiana's hope that if others became ill from the shop's candy,
mister Maynard or an employee would be blamed, and then
doctor Beard would believe that she was innocent, bringing her
(13:40):
back into his good graces. The trial of Christiana Edmunds
began on January fifteenth of eighteen seventy two. Her barrister,
Sergeant Ballantine, tried to take advantage of Christianna's mental illness,
which were made more clear by hysterics that she displayed
during the trial, and entered her plea of insanity. This
(14:00):
defense failed and she was found guilty of murder. Edmunds
was sentenced to death and the case seemed to be closed. However,
the judge presiding over the trial, Baron Martin, questioned that
verdict and sought the opinions of doctor W. W. Gull
and the superintendent of a nearby asylum, doctor Orange. Christiana
(14:20):
was determined to be insane after a short stay in prison,
and she was transferred to Orange's Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum.
It's actually still in existence today, though it holds the
much more public friendly label of Broadmoor Hospital. It was
in this facility that the chocolate cream killer Christiana Edmunds
spent the rest of her life, passing away in nineteen
(14:43):
o seven at the age of seventy eight. For most
of us, it's hard to imagine the intense obsession with
doctor Beard that Edmunds experienced. She seemed utterly powerless to
deal with her feelings for the man who entered her
life suddenly at a time of need. Did Christiania and
as emotional difficulties stem from the tragic deaths of her
siblings or the death of her first husband, or was
(15:06):
there something further making her disregard the welfare of her
fellow citizens, as she concocted and carried out an elaborate
scheme to throw off suspicions, and in her wake killed
an innocent young boy. It seems that the smoke screen
that she tried to employ would be used again over
one hundred years after Christian's attempt. It was nineteen eighty six.
(15:30):
In Auburn, Washington. On June fifth, a married, fifty two
year old man named Bruce Nickel collapsed at home after
ingesting exegrin to help her leave a headache. He later
passed away at Harbor View Medical Center in Seattle. The
King County Medical Examiner concluded that Bruce had died of
natural causes, but upon further tests, traces of cyanide were found. Then,
(15:53):
on June the eleventh, another exceedgrin user, forty year old
Sue Snow, fell dead. Alarmed by the possibilities that a
copycat of the Chicago Tilot All Murders of nineteen eighty
two was out there, the Commissioner of the FDA, doctor
Frank Young, issued a warning to the public that they
were to halt the usage of the headache medication Stella Nickel,
(16:14):
the recent widow of Bruce Nickel, came forward to turn
in her bottle of eck Cedron. When tested, cyanide was present.
Both bottles, those belonging to Nickel and Snow, had come
from the same lot number, indicating that they were manufactured
at the Bristol Myers plant in Morrisville, North Carolina. FDA
investigators found no cyanide present at that facility. Considering the
(16:38):
repercussions from the unsolved nineteen eighty two tailan all poisonings,
that being the Tampa resistant foil seals implemented then present
on medicine bottles at the time, it was apparent that
the bottles belonging to Snow and Nickel had been tainted.
After their arrival in Washington, the state banned the sale
of the non prescription capsule version of extra Strength Exceedron
(16:59):
and and Anison three, purging them from all inventories of retailers.
The FBI focused on the husband of Sue Snow, Paul Webking.
He and other family members were interviewed daily, even as
five other laced bottles of eccedrin were discovered among those
taken from store shelves. Likewise, authorities investigated and interrogated Stella Nickel,
(17:22):
who was somewhat less cooperative. Months passed and the investigations continued,
but it was not until spring of nineteen eighty eight
that enough evidence was gathered to charge Stella Nickel with
the crimes. She was found guilty of five counts of
tampering and the two murders. During her trial, friends and
family testified that she had grown tiresome with life with
(17:44):
her husband, Bruce, since he had quit drinking. Both she
and Bruce were alcoholics when they met and married in
nineteen seventy six, but after Bruce had sought treatment for
the problem, he supposedly had become boring and no fun
to be with. According to Stella. Of course, she had
also taken out some life insurance policies on him prior
(18:05):
to his death to throw off any investigation and help
collect on the additional accidental death clause. She tampered with
other bottles of etc. Stella Nichol was sentenced to ninety
years in prison. She was recently denied parole in twenty seventeen.
Both Edmunds and Nickel carried out diabolical plans to cover
(18:27):
for their initial crimes only to cost other innocent victims
their lives. Thankfully, neither would get away with their attempts
thanks to the hard work of investigators and in both cases,
some good old fashioned police work. Do you have any
comments or a case you'd like to suggest. You'll find
a comment form and case submission link at lordenarts dot com.
(18:49):
We would like to thank the Atlanta Journal, The Hampshire Advertiser,
The Sunday Sun, The Toronto Star, The World's News, Evansville
Courier and Press, the Delaware Gazette, the Phillid Deelfia Inquirer,
the Bellevue News Democrat, the Olympian, Gail dot com, the
Dark Curiosities YouTube channel, and Wikipedia for information contributing to
today's story. This episode was written by Frederick Crook, is
(19:13):
edited by John Lordon and produced by Lorden Arts. If
you appreciate it today's episode, please check out the novel Wraithworks,
another collaboration between Frederick Crook and myself. It's available in
hard copy or audiobook format. You can find more info
about Raithworks at Lordenarts dot com or by searching for
it on Amazon. Thank you to our audience here for
(19:33):
the live recording session hosted on the YouTube channel Lord
and Art's Studio two special thanks to seriously mysterious financial
supporters Mike W. Fox Mulder, B. Jones, Robert Martin Luciana
and James Reed. Most of all, thank you for listening.
I'm John Lorden. Please join me again next week for
another story I know you'll find seriously mysterious
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