Mrs. McCann's Cake: A Murder Mystery

For me, the most interesting thing about studying old newspapers is that you uncover so many remarkable stories that at the time had considerable publicity, only to soon disappear into the mists of time, never to be heard from again--except, occasionally, on the pages of this blog.  The following poisoning case from Manchester, England, is a perfect example.

On the afternoon of June 30, 1828, a woman carrying a small child stopped a little girl named Janet Frame who was walking down Butler Street.  She introduced herself as “Mrs. McCann,” and offered Janet a shilling if she would deliver a cake to the shop of Mr. S. Drummond, a nearby flour and provision dealer, and tell him that Mrs. McCann had sent it.  Janet later described the woman as  “of middle size, with small features, and remarkably prominent fore-teeth.”  It must have been a tempting offer for the child, but as she was in the middle of doing an errand for her parents, she had to decline.  Mrs. McCann then accosted an eight-year-old boy named Thompson with the same request.  He immediately agreed.

When the boy arrived at the shop, he found Drummond’s wife, and gave her the cake and the message.  As Mrs. Drummond did not know any “Mrs. McCann,” and could not imagine why she, or anyone else, would be sending them cakes, she told the boy that there must be some mistake.  She told him to take the cake back to the woman, and ask her again where the gift should be delivered.  After a few minutes of fruitless searching for Mrs. McCann, Thompson returned to Mrs. Drummond, insisting that he was quite sure that this was where he was told to bring the cake.  Mrs. Drummond, still convinced there had been a mix-up, put the cake in a safe place, assuming that eventually either Mrs. McCann or the dessert’s proper recipient would come by to claim it.

The boy then went to see his mother, Grace Thompson, who was then at her job in a factory.  He proudly showed her his little windfall, explaining how he had obtained it.  Mrs. Thompson must not have had the highest opinion of her son’s probity, because she instantly suspected that he had actually stolen the money.  She sent a girl to accompany him back to Drummond’s shop, with orders to return the shilling.

On their arrival, the girl found that the boy had been telling the truth, but she left the money with Mrs. Drummond anyway, explaining that Mrs. Thompson was sure it was intended for the Drummonds.  (It is not recorded how young Master Thompson felt about being wrongly accused of theft and losing his lawfully-earned cash, which is probably just as well.)

When Grace Thompson heard this news, it occurred to her that Mrs. McCann must have meant to give him the cake for carrying the shilling, not the other way around.  That evening, after she got off work, she went to the Drummond shop and demanded the cake.  Mr. Drummond initially refused, but after a moment’s consideration, either he concluded that Mrs. Thompson was likely correct, or he didn’t think the damn cake was worth any more fuss.  In any case, he gave it to her.

On her way home, Grace gave a small piece of it to a girl named Wellins whom she met in the street.  She gave the rest to her own two children, the two children of the woman who shared the house with the Thompsons, an elderly woman named Margaret Mason, and a couple of other neighborhood youngsters--nine people in total.  Grace herself did not eat any of the cake, “though she wished to do so, as it seemed very nice.”

It did not seem nice for long.  Very soon, everyone who had eaten the cake were all attacked by a burning sensation in their mouth and throat, which was quickly followed by severe vomiting.  When Grace saw what was happening, she ran for Drummond’s shop, where she demanded the shilling back.  She used the money to buy an emetic, which she gave to the sufferers.

It was very fortunate that the cake caused such intense and immediate vomiting.  Although--as later examination of the remnants of the cake showed--it had contained an immense amount of arsenic, most of those afflicted expelled enough of the poison to be able to recover.  The one tragic exception was four-year-old Susannah Rigby, who died the following day.

It was obvious that the elusive Mrs. McCann did not mean the Drummonds or their five children well.  But why?  Mr. Drummond was a law-abiding and well-liked merchant, who could not imagine who would want his family dead.  After giving the matter some thought, Drummond remembered that the wife of a man he had recently evicted for non-payment of rent somewhat matched “Mrs. McCann’s” description.  However, when Janet Frame was taken to see this woman, she unhesitatingly declared that this was not “Mrs. McCann.”  Besides, the woman proved to have the proverbial iron-clad alibi for the day when the cake was delivered.

During the inquest on Susannah Rigby’s death, a more promising suspect emerged.  Living next door to the Drummonds was a family named Macdonald.  About eighteen months earlier, one of the Macdonald sons married a young woman named Elizabeth Brown.  Elizabeth’s parents had opposed the marriage, on the grounds that they were considerably higher on the social scale than the Macdonalds.  They felt their daughter could have made a much better match.  Unfortunately, the marriage soon became so unhappy that at the time of the murder, Elizabeth was back living with her parents.  The Macdonalds pointed out that Elizabeth matched the published description of “Mrs. McCann,” and she had a child about the age of the one the poisoner had been carrying.  Perhaps, they suggested, the Thompson boy was supposed to leave the lethal cake with them, and not the Drummonds?

Elizabeth Macdonald was taken into custody.  Janet Frame agreed that the prisoner did resemble “Mrs. McCann,” but could not state positively that she was the same woman.  Also, like the previous suspect, Elizabeth was able to account for her activities at the time when the malevolent “Mrs. McCann” was stalking the streets with her Cake of Doom.  Accordingly, she was discharged from custody.

And that was that.  After the Rigby inquest concluded--with the expected verdict of “murder by person or persons unknown”--the mystery disappeared from the newspapers, never to return.

“Mrs. McCann”--whoever she was--may not have been a very successful murderer, but she was certainly a very lucky one.