The summing up by the Judge (Baron Pollock) occupied two hours and after the verdict of the jury, the learned judge put on the black cap, and amidst profound silence, said:-
You, Mary Ann Geering, the prisoner at the bar, have been charged, with the murder of your husband, and, after a long and careful investigation, the jury have found you quilty of a crime that is the more awful by the circumstance of your having been married to your husband 33 years, and had borne a family of children, many of whom have proved worthy of the tenderest affections. I will not allude to some of the painful, particulars of those sad scenes of suffering and death which have occurred in your family since the fatal month of September when your husband first suffered — if, indeed, that was the first time — at your hands. I desire not to affect your feelings by recalling to your mind the kindness you received from your husband; but before passing sentence, I would earnestly entreat you to make the best possible use of the short time which remains to you to make your peace with God, and through the mediation of your Saviour, to seek salvation for the next world. The sentence of the court is that you be taken to the place from whence you came, and thence to the place of execution, there to be, hanged by the neck till you are dead, your body afterwards to be. interred within the precincts of the gaol. And I pray God to have mercy on your soul.
The condemned prisoner did not appear to be much moved by the passing of the sentence, and merely repeated her protestation of innocence. The guilty woman was executed on the 14th of August, she having been previously visited in the condemned cell by the under-sheriff, the chaplain and the governor of the Lewes prison. On being urged to make a full confession, there was no response to the solemn appeal at that time; but, a few days later, she confessed to the chaplain that she was guilty of poisoning, not only her husband, but also her. sons, George and James, and of an attempt to poison Benjamin. After that she became penitent. On the morning of execution she engaged in prayer, afterwards sitting on the bed wringing her hands until Calcraft proceeded to pinion her arms, when she repeatedly ejaculated "O Lord, have mercy on me!" "O Jesus, have mercy on me!" Just at noon, the murderess appeared on the scaffuld, which was erected high above the prison wall, in view of some three or four thousand persons. In a few minutes the rope was adjusted, the bolt drawn, and the culprit’s hands, clasped as though in an attitude of prayer, immediately dropped, and death appeared to be instantaneous.
It was said at the time that no previous execution had taken place at Lewes for 103 years, but those who said so could not have known or must have forgotten the hanging of poor Bouffard in 1831, which was only 18 years before. In his history of "The Swan Hotel and the Breedses". St. Leonardensis has the following :— "It was in the same year (1831) that, during, the incendiary period, Breeds’s barn at Guestling was burnt down. The present writer was then a youth of fifteen, and had his dormitory in Church street, which is approached by the Swan Lane. He was awoke by the bustle of getting out the fire-engines, from the. church belfry of St. Clement’s, where they were then. kept, and he immediately got up and followed them to the scene of conflagration, but on arrival, the fire had nearly done its work. A man, named James Buffard, was tried and executed, on the charge of setting fire to the barn and notwithstanding his persistent declaration of innocence. Some years later, another man confessed himself guilty of the crime, and to having taken and worn Buffard’s boots, the imprints of which were regarded as strong evidence against Buffard." As a further, proof, of this execution, my late literary friend and acquaintance, a talented writer at Hailsham, in "Fifty years ago," had the following passage:- "I witnessed the conviction of one young fellow at the assize at Lewes — the saddest sight I ever saw — for firing a barn in the neighbourhood of Hastings. As he turned to leave the dock, he said, in trembling accents, 'Jack, you have sworn my life away' . . . And, under the beam, his last words were, 'I am innocent'. Ten years later, remorse and the near approach of death made Jack exclaim, I fired the barn in Jim’s shoes. These men had been fellow-workers and had lived together in the same house." It is a curious coincidence that I should have to quote from a writer named Geering (T. H. Geering, of Hailsham) in connection with the trial and execution of Mary Ann Geering, of Guestling. In the next issue of this paper will appear a life-sketch of that depraved woman.
LIFE-SKETCH OF MRS. GEERING.
"Our Young Men," was the title of a prize-essay by the late Rev. Dr. Cox — a copy of which was presented to me about 57 years ago — and in that book the author expressed his opinion that "the boy at fourteen was the man at forty" thus meaning, as my memory seems to carry the interpretation, that the traits and idiosyncracies, the virtues and the vices, would be much the same at both ages, they being merely modified or intensified by associations and circumstances. In support of this theory thousands of instances might be adduced, and as applying both to men and women. Mrs. Geering, the wholesale poisoner, was a sorrowful example of vicious proclivities in youth, developing into criminality with middle aged maturity. Those who have read the account of her trial and execution will remember that one of the witnesses against her was a Mrs. Gutsell, of Westfield, who saw her purchase arsenic at the chemist’s shop kept by Mr. Stubbs. This Mrs. Gutsell and her husband served me for many years with eggs, butter, rabbits, &c., and from their knowledge of the Westfield people and from other sources,
I am able to show that as Mary Ann Plumb, the subject of this notice, was a bad girl, and as Mrs. Geering, she was a bad woman. She was born at Westfield of poor but honest and industrious parents. Her father, George Plumb, was an agricultural labourer, much respected by those who knew him. He had four children, but died comparatively young. and his widow afterwards became the wife of Mr. Anscombe. The eldest child was the unfortunate Mary Ann, who pilfered many little things both from her parents and their neighbours. It was hoped that by getting her out to service away from home she would abandon that propensity of evil, but the hope was not realised. A situation was obtained for her at Coghurst, but here it was found that her dishonesty continued to be practised, resulting in her being discharged. She returned to Westfield, and was employed by Mr. Stunt, a well known man in that locality, She was but a short time in that service, and her next situation was at Pett, her employer being a Mr, Russell. While there, and at the age of about 16 years, she became acquainted with Richard Geering, the result of which was a personal condition which necessitated marriage at Westfield, the parish in which she was born.
She and her husband went back to the adjoining parish of Pett, and resided in a cottage at Guestling. Mr. Geering was successively employed by the farmers Veness, Cook, and Arckoll — all of whom at the time were personally known to myself, although I have no recollection of Geering and his wife. As a young married woman she went to her father’s funeral, and feigned illness — an indisposition, according to the neighbours’ opinion, which drunken people think it convenient to assume. But whatever was the nature of her illness, whether overcome with grief or with the reflection that her own career was so much less worthy than that which her honest and respected father had just terminated — neither of which cause admits of probability — she recovered quickly enough after leaving the grave-side for her widowed mother’s home, to stealthily take down the clock and carry it away. Mrs. Geering, with her husband, resided in two or three mean dwellings in or near Guestling in succession, and had, altogether, a family of ten children. She was addicted to the habit of spirit-drinking, when she could get the means to satisfy her craving, and was also believed to be an opium-eater. The circumstance of her husband having had money deposited in the Savings’ Bank, shows him to have been a frugal man, and the fact that Mrs. Geering withdrew the money seems to show a motive for the poisoning of her husband.
The reason for her poisoning her sons also, is not so apparent; but that she was a designing, an untruthful, and a dishonest woman, with barely a redeeming virtue, could have been proved by other means than those of witnesses at her trial. Sufficient, however, was publicly divulged thereat to deprive the murderess of any claim to sympathy.
Local Deaths (continued[a])
The following remarks in continuation of the local deaths in 1849 should have appeared before the Guestling poisoning case, and I was not sensible of their omission until a few days ago, when I accidentally came across some unconsciously mislaid "copy."
One death — apparently omitted from the foregoing list — was that of Uriah Allen, late chief boatman at the Priory coastguard station. He was buried in the cemetery of St. Mary-in-the-Castle, on the Queen's birthday anniversary and followed to the grave by 50 men of the coastguard service.
Two other deaths not found in the list were those of George Collins, aged 19, and John Fowler, a servant They were bathing in front of Carlisle parade, when Fowler in an effort to save Collins, was carried down with him. Several boatmen on seeing the struggle, put off to rescue them, but only recovered the bodies too late to save life.
It was a year quite exceptional for accidents and sudden deaths,many of them being caused by the progress of the South-Eastern Railway works, but there were several others in and near the borough which necessitated an enquiry by a coroner's jury.
An inquest on Jan. 8th was held at Crowhurst on the body of Mr. Cooke. a farmer, 64 years of age, well known at Hastings, and which body had been found in a river at Crowhurst a short distance below an unprotected fir-tree bridge which Mr.Cooke would have to cross to get to his house. He started from home on the 20th of Dec. for Hailsham market, and thence on a visit to his brother at Lewes, and nothing was seen of him until found, as described. “Accidental Death” was the yerdict of the jury. Another fatality was that of a workman named Young, a native of Gardner’s street. He was killed by a fall of earth at the railway works just then commenced at the Priory, whilst a contractor’s son named Moore was greatly injured at the same time. On the 3rd of May a workman named Heary Tyrell was injured also at the Priory cutting of the Hastings and Ashford Railway, and was taken to the Infirmary where he died, a week later, and an inquest was held next day by Mr.J.G. Shorter, the Borough Coroner with the late Joseph Bannister as the jury’s foreman. On the 10th of May — just a week after the previous accident, a miner of the name of John Jones, while working in No. 1 shaft, received a severe fracture of the skull by a stone falling on him. He was taken in an insensible condition to the Old England Tavern at the angle of Cross street and what is now King’s road, where surgeon George Fry, assisted by the present writer, cut off the hair and dressed the wound. Under that operation the man gradually regained consciousness, and seemed to endure his misfortune with extraordinary fortitude.
On the 19th of June two inquests were held at the White Hart, Guestling, the first on the body of a young gentleman from London and the second on a young railway labourer. Both deaths were sadly sudden. Mrs. George Drew and three young ladies - wife and daughters of a Bermondsey solicitor - were staying at Hastings, and Mr. Charles Haslam Drew, aged 23, while visiting his mother and sisters, went with them to the Lovers’ Seat. He descended to the beach for the purpose of bathing, and when diving in the water, he struck his head against a rock, and after rising to the surface, sank again and was drowned before assistance could reach him. The other death was that of Obed Foord, a lad of 17 who was killed on the same day on the Ashford Railway works, near Guestling, by a wagon running over him and causing immediate death.
On the 12th of July, an accident occurred to a poor boy, the son of a man who was killed during the earlier progress of the works, by a railway truck running over one of his feet, thereby requiring amputation, which was performed by Mr. Fry. And on the same day a son of Mr. Smith, of Maze Hill, was taken to Mr. Fry’s surgery at the Marina, with a fractured arm. In falling down some steps, the lad splintered both bones of one arm in such a way that they were driven through the flesh of the arm and the sleeve of the jacket, Mr. Fry’s skill in both these cases resulted successfully.
Four days later, Mr. Fry’s services were again in requisition to attend Mr, Moore, of Montpelior, who had fallen from a height and fractured his collar- bone in a very severe manner. After much difficulty, the surgeon succeeded in replacing the fractured ends in their normal position.
Another fatality on the railway occurred on June 20th, A carpenter named James Sales, 24 years of age, while unloading poles at the Bopeep station, fell and was so injured that he died in a few hours.
On the 4th of August, a compound fracture of the thigh was sustained on the railway works near the Three Oaks farm by a lad named James Morem.
Another of the numerous railway fatalities occurred on the 18th of August, when a miner named Peter Carlyon was killed by the giving way of 15 x 9 feet of brick work in the St. Leonards tunnel then being formed under the contract of Messrs. Newton & Smith.
Six days later Edward Benham was much hurt while working in the lower heading of the railway tunnel then forming in the Mount-Pleasant field, by the earth falling on him. Another railway accident occurred on the 25th of August, when John Ridgebridger, at the age of 29, was fatally buried by a fall of earth while he was working in a cutting on Rock farm, Guestling.
Charles James, formerly a Rye carrier, was one of the railway workmen, under Mr. Hoof's contract, and though he was not accidentally injured, he fell dead while being visited by his wife at Hastings.
Another accident in the Mount-Pleasant tunnel occurred on the 19th of Sept., when one of the labourers fell from a plank and fractured a thigh; but this was of minor concern compared with the series of bruises and broken bones that befel the railway labourers a few days later.
On Sept. 24th a man named Bonniface was greatly injured by falling from a plank in the cutting at Three-Oaks Farm, Guestling; and at the same place on the next day, Thomas Foord was partly buried by about five tons of earth falling on him, causing him bodily harm. Another man was seriously hurt on the head and chest in No.3 shaft of the Ore tunnel. At midnight of the same day a waggon-break gave way in the Hastings tunnel, and the waggons being on a slope ran forward on the horses, which caused them to kick and plunge, whereby one horse was killed and another wounded. There was much water in the tunnel and an inrush of air blew out the lights. Shouts and moans were heard, and when lights were again procured, it was found that two lads (Stephen Styles and David Mepham) had been run over by the trucks and trampled upon by the horses, one of them suffering from a compound fracture of the right thigh and the same of the left leg above the ankle. The other lad, besides bruises, had one leg broken, They were taken to the Infirmary and ultimately recovered.
At the same time, the railway bridge (now so constantly in evil repute as the St. Andrew's arch) began to crack, and thus to manifest signs of unstability.
The railway works at the Three-Oaks farm, Guestling, was the scene of another lad bein run over by the trucks and severely injured. That was on the 28th of September.
The next accident, to which surgeon Fry, as usual, was summoned, occurred at the cutting near the ozier-beds. A boy only 10 years of age named James Bowyer, was underneath a train of trucks greasing the wheels, when, unperceived by the driver, the train was started and the poor boy runover. He only lived till the next day, the 18th of October.
On the 31st of the same month, a young man named Garland, while working in the Mount-Pleasant tunnel fell a distance of 30 feet on to the rails, and was taken in a precarious condition to his lodgings on the late Barrack Ground.
The next mishap was a serious one in a financial sense, but, happily, there was no injury to life or limb. It was the falling in of more than 40 yards of the Hastings tunnel at about 150 yards from the St. Leonards end or entrance. It occurred in the night of. Nov 16th, and the crash was terrific. It was then discovered that the ground at that spot was treacherous, and that the work would have to be restored with more than the usual five or six rings of brick work at a cost of about £5000.
The cases thus enumerated are all the fatalities and untoward casualties on the railway works in 1849 that came to my knowledge; but, as connected with the said works, it is appropriate, if not indeed painfully interesting, to add that in the early part of Dec. Mr. James Hoof, eldest son of the railway contractor dropped dead while walking in a street at Wolverhampton. His funeral took place on the 11th, and on that day the father gave all his workmen and other assistants a day’s pay without work, on all his contracts throughout the kingdom, that they might attend special religious services. At Hastings the special service was conducted by the Rev. John Parkin in the schoolroom, which was found to be insufficiently capacious to hold the large number who attended. Most of the men seemed to be impressed with the solemnity of the occasion, and some, it was known, felt real surrow for the death of one they had learnt to love.
Another sorrowful occurrence came to one family, at least, on the 3rd of Dec. when Edward Smith, a foreman on the railway works between Hastings and St. Leonards, left his home as though going to the scene of operations in his usual manner except that he was noticed to put on his best boots and hat. From that day to the 14th nothing had been seen of of him, and as he had lived on the most affectionate terms with his wife, she was plunged into deep distress at his long absence.
Quite unconnected with railway mishaps and fatalities there are two other deaths which, as requiring inquests to be held, remain to be noticed. One of these was that of a boy, 9 years of age, a grandson of[b]
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