EXCERPT: Lizzie Berry left a trail of profitable bereavement behind her. Her husband, Thomas, had died in 1881; her son, Harold, in 1886; and her daughter, in 1887. She had drawn insurance benefits after each of these deaths. All were sudden deaths, and, at least in the last two, the victim, nursed by Berry, had been recovering when she was struck ill for the last time.
[Judith Knelman, Twisting in the Wind: The Murderess and the English Press, 1998, University of Toronto Press, p. 81]
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Quotes:
Mary Ann Berry, 11: “… her mother asking her to drink the white liquid contents of a glass, and the little girl saying, ‘No, mamma, I can’t.’” – and, later, as the child’s health worsened: “At the time the child was vomiting the [mother] had a tumbler in her hand. [Mary Ann] said, ‘Oh, mamma, I cannot drink it.’”
[“The Oldham murder. – Am Extraordinary Crime.” The South Australian Weekly Chronicle (Aselaide, Australia), Apr. 16, 1887, p. 6]
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Suspected victims:
Year? – Mary Ann Finley – mother.
1886 (1882 other sources) – Thomas Berry, husband.
1883 or 1884 – son, died in Blackpool
Jan. 4, 1887 – Mary Ann Berry, 11, daughter.
Executed:
Mar. 14, 1887 – Elizabeth Berry, hanged at Walton Gaol, Liverpool.
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