Female Executions: Martyrs, Murderesses and Madwomen by Geoffrey Abbott Page A

after being hooded and noosed, Bridget, instead of falling through the drop trapdoors, was jerked violently upwards, the other end of the rope being attached to a heavy weight that was suddenly released (for greater detail see Appendix 2). As that happened, onlookers variously described her as having her neck instantly broken, others claiming that she struggled madly, panting for breath, her writhing hands becoming discoloured. That the execution method left much to be desired was evidenced by a report that she took nearly thirteen minutes to die, although the movements seen could have been attributed to muscular spasms after death.
    When eventually the weight was released and her body slowly lowered, it was noticed that her eyes were protruding and, to be expected, her face was suffused with blood. Having earlier expressed a wish that a post-mortem should not take place – she feared being dissected – her body was placed in a coffin and she was interred in a nearby Catholic cemetery.

Bridget’s choice of clothes for her final appearance was as modest as could be imagined, consisting as it did of a plain brown long-sleeved frock with a lace collar, white gloves and matching stockings. The one incongruous note was that she had decided to wear what were known as ‘lasting’ slippers – hardly necessary, one would have thought!
    Dyer, Amelia Elizabeth (England)
    That a man should kill a child is appalling; that a woman should kill a child is unthinkable; but a woman who kills eight children and perhaps many more . . .
    Amelia Dyer was known as the Reading Baby-farmer; having once been a member of the Salvation Army, she was a figure of trust to those parents or guardians who, over the years, accepted her offer to adopt unwanted children, and were more than happy to pay her the regular boarding fees for their upkeep. But their trust was badly shaken when in 1885 a boatman on the Thames noticed something unusual floating in the water. Rescuing it, he was shocked to find that, wrapped in a brown paper parcel, was a dead baby, with a tape tied tightly round its neck. The parcel bore an address: Mrs Thomas, Piggotts Road, Lower Caversham.
    The police immediately went to the address, only to discover that their quarry had moved away and had, moreover, changed her name. Worse was to follow, for within the next few days two more bodies were found floating in the river, each in a separate parcel, each having been strangled by the tape around its throat.
    In the widespread hunt that ensued, Mrs Dyer, alias Thomas, alias Harding, alias Stanfield, was found, and when arrested on a charge of murdering a little girl named Fry, admitted her guilt, adding, ‘You’ll know all mine by the tapes around their necks.’ That statement was tragically borne out when no fewer than a further four small corpses were fished out of the Thames, and it was suspected that there could have been many more similarly strangled over the years during which she had been a baby-farmer, four more children having recently disappeared.
    It would appear that she would place an advertisement in local papers, worded as follows:

I should be glad to have a dear little baby girl, one I could bring up and call my own. First I must tell you we are plain, homely people, in fairly good circumstances. We live in our own house. I have a good and comfortable home. We are out in the country and sometimes I am alone a good deal. I do not want a child for money’s sake but for company and home comfort. Myself and my husband are dearly fond of children. I have no child of my own. A child with me will have a good home and a mother’s love and care. We belong to the Church of England. Although I want to bring the child up as my own, I should not mind the mother or any other person coming to see the child at any time. It would be a satisfaction to see and know the child was getting on all right. I only hope we can come to terms.
    The latter offer of access was impossible, of