Speaker 1: Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: This is the story of the unsolved death of Mabel Greenwood.
Speaker 2: Who killed her and why is still unknown. One hundred
Speaker 2: years later, the prime suspect in the case, Harold Greenwood,
Speaker 2: her husband of more than twenty years, was arrested on
Speaker 2: June seventeenth, nineteen twenty, accused of fatally poisoning her. Let's
Speaker 2: look at what happened, the messy trial and the one
Speaker 2: detail that got Harold acquitted. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria
Speaker 2: Tremarky and.
Speaker 1: I'm Holly Frye. Let's get to know the Greenwoods first.
Speaker 1: Harold Greenwood was born on New Year's Day of eighteen
Speaker 1: seventy four to William Greenwood, a landed gentleman, and his
Speaker 1: wife Isabella, at Ingleton in Yorkshire, England. Mabel Bowater was
Speaker 1: born on September third, eighteen seventy one, to William and
Speaker 1: al Liza Bowater of the Prosperous Bowater Multinational paper milling Company.
Speaker 1: In June of eighteen ninety six, Harold and Mabel married,
Speaker 1: and they went on to have four children, Edith, Irene,
Speaker 1: Isabel Mabel, Eileen Norman Ivor Vansittart Bowater and John Kenneth.
Speaker 1: At the time of our story, Edith known as Irene,
Speaker 1: was the only child living at home.
Speaker 2: Harold was a Yorkshire solicitor, but the family was really
Speaker 2: supported by Mabel's independent income. She was a paper mill heiress.
Speaker 2: Harold bought himself into a partnership in Clan Leslie in
Speaker 2: southwestern Wales, where the family lived before moving into Rumsey
Speaker 2: House in Kidwelly in eighteen ninety eight. It was here
Speaker 2: where Harold set up his own practice. Other lawyers didn't
Speaker 2: care much for Harold because his clientele primarily included quote,
Speaker 2: a less desirable element. It was true he primarily got
Speaker 2: his work work by undercutting local solicitors and acting for
Speaker 2: money lenders. The people in town generally thought poorly of
Speaker 2: Harold as well, because he was a married man with
Speaker 2: an eye for younger women Mabel. Though people liked Mabel.
Speaker 2: She was held in high esteem by friends and neighbors.
Speaker 2: Always took part in local social gatherings and regularly attended
Speaker 2: Saint Mary's Church services on Sundays. She was friendly and
Speaker 2: she was agreeable.
Speaker 1: Mabel was long considered to be a bit of a hypochondriac,
Speaker 1: and she had endured a series of fainting spells with
Speaker 1: no discernible cause. It was generally considered that a weak
Speaker 1: heart was the reason for her ills. She had been
Speaker 1: the patient of doctor Thomas Roberts Griffiths for more than
Speaker 1: a decade, and on more than one occasion complained to
Speaker 1: him of pains in her chest and in her abdomen.
Speaker 1: Doctor Griffiths advised it was just quote the change of
Speaker 1: life and sent her home with medication. During the first
Speaker 1: six months of nineteen nineteen, Mabel suffered a marked deterioration
Speaker 1: in her health, but no one could pinpoint why.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about Mabel's health and her activities in the
Speaker 2: days leading up to her death, specifically between June twelfth
Speaker 2: and June sixteenth. Those are the days of her rapid decline.
Speaker 2: On June twelfth, which was a Thursday, she attended a
Speaker 2: meeting of the antiquarians in the town Hall, where it
Speaker 2: was observed by others that she looked quite sickly. When
Speaker 2: she saw her dressmaker the next day, she mentioned she
Speaker 2: was looking forward to seeing her sister, Edith Bowater. Her
Speaker 2: dressmaker later stated she worried about Mabel's health and hoped
Speaker 2: she'd have the energy for that visit.
Speaker 1: That Saturday, Mabel called on Martha Morris, formerly a nanny
Speaker 1: to the Greenwood's daughter Irene, and she returned without complaint,
Speaker 1: but add Martha to the list of people who noticed
Speaker 1: that Mabel looked quite ill. On her way home from
Speaker 1: their visit, Mabel bought a bottle of wine to be
Speaker 1: served at the family's Sunday lunch. That afternoon, she attended
Speaker 1: a tennis match at Ferryside, just about five miles away,
Speaker 1: sharing a carriage with the Reverend Ambrose joan vicar of Kidwillie.
Speaker 1: They later returned together by the same route. Mostly on
Speaker 1: the return trip, Mabel met Irene at Kidwelly station and
Speaker 1: the two walked about a half mile home together. Upon
Speaker 1: returning home, Mabel reported that she had had a fine time,
Speaker 1: but she was completely exhausted. She went to bed early.
Speaker 2: The next day. None of the Greenwoods were seen at
Speaker 2: church service. Irene read a novel in the garden while
Speaker 2: her father and his friend tinkered with the family car.
Speaker 2: Irene was to go out for a driving lesson that afternoon.
Speaker 2: Mabel caught up on her correspondents. Their cook observed while
Speaker 2: preparing Sunday lunch that quote, Missus Greenwood looked drawn and tired.
Speaker 2: The family sat down to their usual Sunday roast beef
Speaker 2: lunch with goose berry tart. Harold uncorked the bottle of wine,
Speaker 2: but according to one of their domestic help Hannah Williams,
Speaker 2: he was in the pantry for nearly half an hour
Speaker 2: while doing so, a detail she later told the police
Speaker 2: during their investigation of Mabel's death. But let's not get
Speaker 2: ahead of ourselves.
Speaker 1: After lunch, Mabel began to feel ill, and she started
Speaker 1: to suffer from diarrhea, and she blamed the tart, of
Speaker 1: which she said, quote, it must be the gooseberry tart.
Speaker 1: It always disagrees with me. Now there is truth to
Speaker 1: gooseberry's potentially leaving you feeling unpleasant. Gooseberry bushes contain the
Speaker 1: toxin hydrogen cyanide, and eating unripe berries can be dangerous,
Speaker 1: but ripe berries are perfectly safe. A few hours later,
Speaker 1: she began having quote, suffocating pains throughout her body. Her
Speaker 1: husband gave her brandy, but it caused her to vomit violently,
Speaker 1: so the family's doctor, doctor Griffiths, was called the doctor,
Speaker 1: who happened to just live across the street, prescribed her
Speaker 1: brandy and soda, and then he and Harold left Mabel
Speaker 1: to play several games of clock golf.
Speaker 2: It wasn't until early evening that doctor Griffith checked on
Speaker 2: his patient, who was definitely not better, and he sent
Speaker 2: over a bottle of bismuth to help relieve her gastrointestinal symptoms. It,
Speaker 2: like the brandy and soda, had no positive effect. Mabel's
Speaker 2: condition continued to worsen into the night. A friend, miss Phillips,
Speaker 2: called on her at about eight o'clock that Sunday night,
Speaker 2: and upon seeing her, immediately called for the district nurse,
Speaker 2: Elizabeth Jones to pay a visit. Nurse Jones lived close
Speaker 2: to the Greenwood's home, but despite that, by the time
Speaker 2: she arrived, Mabel had collapsed and had been moved to
Speaker 2: her bed. The nurse assumed incorrectly that the medicine on
Speaker 2: Mabel's nightstand was that which was previously given to her
Speaker 2: by doctor Griffin for her heart condition, and she gave
Speaker 2: Mabel another dose. What that medication was, we aren't sure.
Speaker 2: We do know that it didn't help. Later, this medication
Speaker 2: for the alleged heart condition mysteriously disappeared, along with all
Speaker 2: the bottles which had contained prescriptions by the doctor and
Speaker 2: all the patent medicines Mabel had ordered for herself.
Speaker 1: Nurse Jones returned later that night to check on Mabel's condition.
Speaker 1: Doctor Griffiths looked in on her once before midnight, when
Speaker 1: her gastro intestinal pain and diarrhea became uncontrollable. The doctor
Speaker 1: failed to examine her or her bowel movements. He was
Speaker 1: not thorough, and that lack of detail would be called
Speaker 1: into question when he testified about her death. Not long
Speaker 1: after midnight. Mabel asked if she was dying, and she
Speaker 1: told the nurse quote, if I don't recover, Nurse Jones,
Speaker 1: I'd like my sister to look after the children and
Speaker 1: bring them up. Irene still needs mothering.
Speaker 2: Seeing her mother in dire straits, Irene in the middle
Speaker 2: of the night pleaded with her father to call again
Speaker 2: for the doctor. He did, but he curiously had no
Speaker 2: urgency on his way across the street, instead chatting with
Speaker 2: Mary Griffiths, the doctor's sister and a woman he often
Speaker 2: flirted with. An hour later, he returned home alone, and
Speaker 2: Irene and Nurse Jones watched as he was unable to
Speaker 2: stifle a yawn while they told him about Mabel's steep decline.
Speaker 2: While his wife was dying, Harold went to bed, an
Speaker 2: act that would later become evidence against him in court.
Speaker 2: He was woken by the nurse, who was apoplectic at
Speaker 2: his behavior and insisted, quote, you must fetch doctor Griffiths
Speaker 2: without delay. This may be a crisis.
Speaker 1: Harold went out again, but returned again without the doctor,
Speaker 1: whom he had found asleep and did not want to wake.
Speaker 1: Not having any more of this non sense, and with
Speaker 1: a patient's health rapidly declining, Nurse Jones ran across the
Speaker 1: street herself to rouse the doctor, who gave his patient
Speaker 1: morphine pills. But Mabel, during all of this chaos, had
Speaker 1: become violently ill. She then lapsed into a coma and
Speaker 1: passed away at three point thirty in the morning of Monday,
Speaker 1: June sixteenth. Doctor Griffith signed her death certificate, stating her
Speaker 1: cause of death was valvular disease of the heart. She
Speaker 1: was interred on Thursday.
Speaker 2: We are going to take a break for a word
Speaker 2: from our sponsors. When we're back, we'll talk about marriage
Speaker 2: motives and arsenic.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Criminalia. The local community was convinced Harold
Speaker 1: was going guilty of murdering his wife, and it wasn't
Speaker 1: all gossip. Let's talk about how their outrage helped get
Speaker 1: some answers about Mabel's death.
Speaker 2: It was a blink of an eye moment after his
Speaker 2: wife's burial that Harold proposed marriage to another woman, the
Speaker 2: doctor's sister Mary. When she refused him, he promptly proposed
Speaker 2: to yet another woman, Gladys Jones. He had known Gladys
Speaker 2: since her childhood, having been friendly with her father, William,
Speaker 2: a businessman for decades. Harold and Gladys did marry just
Speaker 2: months after Harold became widowed, but there were no congratulations
Speaker 2: to the couple. Mabel had been active in the community
Speaker 2: and she'd been popular, so when Harold remarried as quickly
Speaker 2: as he did after her death, many people were outraged.
Speaker 2: People were expecting him to follow a reasonable length of
Speaker 2: time to grieve his wife's death, and they didn't think
Speaker 2: three months was sufficient. By October, about four months after
Speaker 2: Mabel's death, the local rumor mill was so hot that
Speaker 2: the police decided they needed to do something. By Christmas,
Speaker 2: gossip about the Greenwoods and especially how Mabel may have
Speaker 2: died had reached a fever pitch. Though authorities considered her
Speaker 2: death to be of natural causes, the public disagreed. They
Speaker 2: pointed the finger at her husband. The coroner agreed to
Speaker 2: an inquest, hoping to clear up the growing mystery and
Speaker 2: quell the anger. When Harold was informed there would be
Speaker 2: an examination of his wife's body, he replied, quote, just
Speaker 2: the very thing. I am quite agreeable.
Speaker 1: Forensics at this time were not what we know them
Speaker 1: as today, but there was a test that was highly
Speaker 1: sensitive to even the tiniest amounts of arsenic and human tissue.
Speaker 1: That was the Marsh test. This method was discovered and
Speaker 1: created by British chemist James M. Mars in eighteen thirty six,
Speaker 1: and while it's best known because it worked, it's also
Speaker 1: known as the first use of toxicology in a jury
Speaker 1: trial that happened years before this case, though in the
Speaker 1: nineteenth century.
Speaker 2: Arsenic has a history back to ancient times as a
Speaker 2: potent poison, but it wasn't always used in that capacity.
Speaker 2: Though it's always been toxic, nineteenth century women applied arsenic
Speaker 2: powder to whiten their faces, and it became a popular
Speaker 2: ingredient in cosmetics. It was thought that arsenic consumption would
Speaker 2: give quote beauty and freshness to the skin, and in
Speaker 2: nineteen nineteen, doctor Campbell's safe arsenic wafers promised to clear
Speaker 2: up acne and rashes, and it flew off store shelves.
Speaker 1: Arsenic was also used as a pharmaceutical agent as a
Speaker 1: remedy for various diseases, including asthma, korea, ezema, psoriasis, rheumatism, syphilis, tiburgulosis,
Speaker 1: and even ulcers. It was also a popular ingredient in pesticides.
Speaker 1: In its pure form, arsenic is a silvery gray color,
Speaker 1: but when compounded with copper salts, it creates some beautiful
Speaker 1: green colors, and because of that, it was commonly used
Speaker 1: in fabrics and other home goods. It was deadly in
Speaker 1: all forms, but it was also kind of everywhere in
Speaker 1: small amounts. It was popular as a poison because it
Speaker 1: was also an odorless and tasteless powder that dissolved easily
Speaker 1: in hot liquids and foods. Early symptoms mimic food poisoning.
Speaker 1: Depending on the dosage, arsenic might produce severe diarrhea and vomiting,
Speaker 1: or more serious symptoms including paralysis and death. About a
Speaker 1: month before his wife's death, Harold had purchased Cooper's Weedicide,
Speaker 1: a weed killer containing arsenic that in itself, though, isn't
Speaker 1: a clue that he was the murderer, because anyone could
Speaker 1: buy it or items in which it was an ingredient,
Speaker 1: and a lot of people did with no malicious intent
Speaker 1: for its use. The only requirement was you did have
Speaker 1: to sign the poisons register, basically a record of purchases,
Speaker 1: or you could send someone else to buy it for
Speaker 1: you if you wanted to keep your name out of
Speaker 1: the books.
Speaker 2: Mabel's body was exhumed for testing, and doctor Webster, a
Speaker 2: home office analyst, was called in. He calculated by the
Speaker 2: marsh test that her remains contained point two five to
Speaker 2: point five grain of arsenic, which equals sixteen to thirty
Speaker 2: two milligrams. A dose less than an eighth of a
Speaker 2: teaspoon can be fatal. The coroner, JW. Nicholas, noted her
Speaker 2: body showed no evidence of heart disease. He also noted
Speaker 2: he found no traces of morphia, nor did he find
Speaker 2: cyanide from unripe gooseberries. Accordingly, after seeing the results of
Speaker 2: the examination of the body, an inquest was held on
Speaker 2: in June sixteenth, nineteen twenty.
Speaker 1: Harold did not attend the inquest. Mister Ludform, who represented him,
Speaker 1: kick things off not with anything medically oriented, but with
Speaker 1: a gossip forward statement. He accused the Vicar of being
Speaker 1: a top gossip who had and continued to malign his client,
Speaker 1: who was a grieving widower. The reverend had enjoyed Mabel's company.
Speaker 1: That was true, but when Harold accidental or otherwise failed
Speaker 1: to send the formal death certificate to the Vicar's office,
Speaker 1: it was in a mission that led the reverend to
Speaker 1: voice his personal opinions and suspicion in regard to Harold's
Speaker 1: role in Mabel's death. A similar finger pointing tactic was
Speaker 1: used against Miss Phillips, a woman who tried to save
Speaker 1: Mabel's life on the night of her death, calling her
Speaker 1: quote a treacherous busybody and quote the kidwelly postman because
Speaker 1: of how fast she was a disseminating gossip.
Speaker 2: But it wasn't the gossip. It was the medical results,
Speaker 2: the results of the marsh test, and the fact that
Speaker 2: Harold had purchased weedkillers shortly before Mabel's death that led
Speaker 2: to the jury's return of a unanimous verdict quote murder
Speaker 2: by arsenical poisoning administered by Harold Greenwood. Harold had one
Speaker 2: comment regarding that verdict and it was quote oh dear.
Speaker 2: He was arrested the next day and charged with the
Speaker 2: murder of his wife.
Speaker 1: We're going to take a break here for a word
Speaker 1: from our sponsors, and when we come back, we will
Speaker 1: take a dive into Harold Greenwood's trial.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Criminalia. Harold Greenwood's trial began one year
Speaker 2: and four months after he was accused and arrested of
Speaker 2: fatally poisoning his wife with d arsenic. Let's talk about
Speaker 2: what happened in the courtroom.
Speaker 1: The trial began on November second, nineteen twenty, at Carmarthinissizes
Speaker 1: before Sir Montague Sherman. Lead prosecutor for the crown was
Speaker 1: Sir Edward Marley Sampson, who was a very experienced prosecutor.
Speaker 1: The lead defense counsel, Sir Edward Marshall Hall, was considered
Speaker 1: and probably was Britain's best known defense lawyer. If there
Speaker 1: were celebrity lawyers in nineteen twenty, and surely to some
Speaker 1: degree there were, he was one. This whole event lasted
Speaker 1: seven days.
Speaker 2: You know, it's easy to forget that Harold himself was
Speaker 2: a solicitor, so if he was going to be looking
Speaker 2: for the best defense lawyer, he probably knew this guy.
Speaker 2: He knew. All of the prosecution's case was based on
Speaker 2: this that solicitor Harold Greenwood had murdered his wife for
Speaker 2: her money, and it wasn't really a strong case. It
Speaker 2: was alleged that he had put our snick in a
Speaker 2: bottle of wine from which the victim had drunk several
Speaker 2: hours before she died. The prosecution considered Mabel's wealth to
Speaker 2: be a motive, but what motive Harold had financially was
Speaker 2: much less clear as the evidence was laid out. Another
Speaker 2: possible motive came in testimony by a male acquaintance, who
Speaker 2: stated that Harold did not quote have a single man
Speaker 2: friend and was fond of stirring up mischief and trouble.
Speaker 2: On the other hand, he was exceedingly popular with the
Speaker 2: opposite sex. The prosecution played this up, claiming that there
Speaker 2: had been fighting in the Greenwood home because Harold had
Speaker 2: a wandering eye and wanted to remarry or just live
Speaker 2: as the cad he was while he was a leccher,
Speaker 2: There was no evidence of any such quarrels.
Speaker 1: While local gossip had played a part in the case,
Speaker 1: recalled that's how Mabel's forensic examination even happened in the
Speaker 1: first place, there were salient facts upon which the swirling
Speaker 1: rumors were founded. The defense brought Hannah Williams to the stand,
Speaker 1: the domestic worker in the Greenwood home who testified for
Speaker 1: the prosecution that Mabel was the only one to drink
Speaker 1: the wine at lunch that day. She had also stated
Speaker 1: that Harold had spent thirty minutes in the pantry opening
Speaker 1: that bottle of wine before serving it to Mabel on
Speaker 1: the day she died. She admitted to Hall during cross examination, though,
Speaker 1: that she had been coached by investigators to change her
Speaker 1: story to one that would better implicate Harold. In fact,
Speaker 1: her story had changed more than once during the trial.
Speaker 1: Had he really been in the pantry that long? Hall
Speaker 1: turned her into someone not to be trusted. He also
Speaker 1: made her cry on the stand.
Speaker 2: And then the medical testimony. When doctor Webster was called
Speaker 2: to testify about the results of the marsh test, he
Speaker 2: produced a series of glass tubes which he called mirrors,
Speaker 2: which he explained to the cour he'd used to prove
Speaker 2: the presence of arsenic in Mabel Greenwood's body. In Harold's defense,
Speaker 2: Hall threw all sorts of poisoning examples at him, some ludicrous.
Speaker 2: These two examples stood out to us. One maybe the
Speaker 2: weed killer purchased by Harold had seeped into the gooseberries
Speaker 2: that Mabel had eaten the day she died. Or maybe
Speaker 2: two that the arsenic had blown in the wind and
Speaker 2: Mabel unknowingly inhaled it. Doctor Webster didn't play along and
Speaker 2: stuck with the numbers, not the speculation.
Speaker 1: Then there was doctor Griffiths, whose testimony was really just
Speaker 1: a big old miss state at Hall during his cross
Speaker 1: examination of Mabel's longtime doctor, quote, have you the smallest
Speaker 1: doubt whatever that if you, as a medical man, were
Speaker 1: accurate when you said you gave her two half grains
Speaker 1: of morphia after ten o'clock, that she would have been
Speaker 1: dead before four o'clock. Griffis replied, quote, if I had
Speaker 1: given her morphia, as she would but I did not
Speaker 1: give her morphia. But Griffiths had previously testified for the
Speaker 1: prosecution and during the inquest that he had done so.
Speaker 1: During the inquest, he stated he had given his patient morphine,
Speaker 1: but during cross examination he stated he had given her
Speaker 1: opium and bismuth, not morphine. Hall stated to the court
Speaker 1: that either morphine or opium could have killed Mabel, and
Speaker 1: insinuated that doctor Griffiths hadn't properly attended to his patient.
Speaker 1: Stated Hall to the doctor, quote, if missus Greenwood took
Speaker 1: under doctor's orders a drug in a dangerous quantity, and
Speaker 1: soon afterwards sank into a state of coma, the natural
Speaker 1: result of such a dose of morphia, from which she
Speaker 1: never recovered, it would be difficult to attribute her death
Speaker 1: to her husband. Whether arsenic was found in her body
Speaker 1: months after her death or not. Griffiths replied simply, quote yes.
Speaker 1: Paul also noted that doctor Griffiths may have made another
Speaker 1: deadly error. Quote if by some unfortunate mistake, you, in
Speaker 1: the anxiety and hurry gave her four tea spoonfuls of
Speaker 1: Fowler's solution, you would have got all the arsenic that
Speaker 1: was found or more, and there would be practically no
Speaker 1: distinction in the mixture. Griffiths replied, quote no, they resemble
Speaker 1: each other. Hearing this admission of a possible medical mistake,
Speaker 1: the judge surmised that if true, it could amount to
Speaker 1: an accusation of criminal negligence. As you recall from earlier
Speaker 1: in the episode, someone had destroyed the bottles that had
Speaker 1: been on Mabel's bedside table. It had been Griffiths who
Speaker 1: had also destroyed his prescription books, and now he lacked
Speaker 1: evidence that may have saved his contradictory testimony. When the
Speaker 1: defense questioned why he would destroy all those records, the
Speaker 1: doctor replied, quote, I don't remember.
Speaker 2: The defense next called a poison expert, Colonel Toogood, to testify.
Speaker 2: Too Good, who had not been part of the coroner's inquest,
Speaker 2: stated that Mabel had indeed died from morphia poisoning following
Speaker 2: acute gastrointitis caused by eating gooseberry skins. Doctor William Griffiths,
Speaker 2: now note this is a different doctor Griffiths than Mabel's doctor,
Speaker 2: also testified for the defense regarding arsenic poisoning, stating that,
Speaker 2: and we're going to paraphrase to sum up his statement,
Speaker 2: a quarter of a grain of arsenic in a body
Speaker 2: was not conclusive evidence that it had caused death. He
Speaker 2: backed that up, stating that an adult could handle as
Speaker 2: much as two and a half grains of arsenic in
Speaker 2: their body before any ill effect. It wasn't just the
Speaker 2: testimony of Mabel's doctor that was a mess. The entire
Speaker 2: medical testimony was kind of bonkers when it came to contradiction.
Speaker 1: Today, Harold was called as a witness in his own defense.
Speaker 1: The streets were lined with spectators, his carriage to and
Speaker 1: from court was given a special escort of mounted police,
Speaker 1: and he was subjected to angry demonstrations. On the stand,
Speaker 1: Harold denied any involvement in his wife's death and withstood
Speaker 1: lengthy cross examination from the prosecution. The prosecution's case began
Speaker 1: to fall apart, though, when it was revealed that Mabel's
Speaker 1: inheritance would not pass to her husband upon her death,
Speaker 1: it would all go to the children. Paul asked Harold,
Speaker 1: quote had you anything to do with your wife's death,
Speaker 1: and he replied, quote, nothing whatever. Paul continued, quote after
Speaker 1: your wife's death, what happened to her private means? Harold replied, quote,
Speaker 1: they went to her children. It was true that Harold's
Speaker 1: practice wasn't doing well, and that he had lost a
Speaker 1: good deal of his wife's money trying to save it.
Speaker 1: But it was also true that Mabel had been the
Speaker 1: life tenant of her father's estate, which means she was
Speaker 1: the property owner for life, and following her death, the
Speaker 1: Bowwater fortune passed in equal shares to the Greenwood children,
Speaker 1: whose trustees controlled it. Harold got nothing from her death,
Speaker 1: and the prosecution's case took a big hit. That had
Speaker 1: been their motive. That Harold didn't financially gain from his
Speaker 1: wife's death, however, quieted down some of the rumors that
Speaker 1: he was guilty of murdering Mabel for her money.
Speaker 2: Some The witness that closed the case, at least as
Speaker 2: far as the judge was concerned, was the Greenwood's eldest daughter, Irene,
Speaker 2: aged twenty two at the time, who testified that at
Speaker 2: that particular Sunday lunch, she had two glasses of the
Speaker 2: wine her father had uncorked the bottle in question from
Speaker 2: the pantry, followed by a third glass that evening, and
Speaker 2: she had no ill effects from it. To this, the
Speaker 2: judge stated, quote, if she also drank from the bottle,
Speaker 2: there is an end of the case. Her testimony essentially
Speaker 2: led to her father's acquittal.
Speaker 1: In his closing remarks, Hall re emphasized that the prosecution
Speaker 1: had no case, and that accusations against Harold had quote
Speaker 1: begun by local gossip, depending on circumstantial details on the
Speaker 1: prompted and uncertain memory of a servant girl, and for
Speaker 1: its scientific justification on the finding in the body of
Speaker 1: the bare minimum quantity of arsenic necessary for a fatal
Speaker 1: dose by means of an elaborate and fallible experiment. He
Speaker 1: ended his speech saying, quote, gentlemen of the jury, I
Speaker 1: demand at your hands the life and liberty of Harold Greenwood.
Speaker 2: During his summary, the judge reminded the jury against any
Speaker 2: show of bias, stating quote, it is your duty to
Speaker 2: constant trait wholly upon the guilt or innocence of the prisoner.
Speaker 2: The jury deliberated for about two and a half hours
Speaker 2: when E. Willis Jones, the jury foreman, and a manufacturing
Speaker 2: chemist by trade, led the eleven other jurors back to
Speaker 2: the courtroom from their deliberations. Their verdict was stated loud
Speaker 2: and clear to the room quote, we are satisfied on
Speaker 2: the evidence of this case that a dangerous joseph arsenic
Speaker 2: was administered to Mabel Greenwood on Sunday, June fifteenth, nineteen nineteen.
Speaker 2: But we are not satisfied that this was the immediate
Speaker 2: cause of death. The evidence before us is insufficient and
Speaker 2: does not conclusively satisfy us as to how and by
Speaker 2: whom the arsenic was administered. We therefore return a verdict
Speaker 2: of not guilty.
Speaker 1: That day, November ninth, nineteen twenty Harold was acquitted. After
Speaker 1: the verdict, he told the press quote, I am the
Speaker 1: victim of village gossip, village scandal, and if you know
Speaker 1: Welsh village life, you know what that means. He may
Speaker 1: have been a freeman, but his reputation, which doesn't sound
Speaker 1: like it was all that great to begin with, was
Speaker 1: completely ruined. No longer married to an heiress. To pay
Speaker 1: his legal costs, he sold his story to various newspapers.
Speaker 1: The Sunday Harold, for instance, ran a series shortly after
Speaker 1: the close of his trial, from November fourteenth to December twelfth,
Speaker 1: and people still could not get enough.
Speaker 2: Harold and Gladys Greenwood changed their surname to Pilkington and
Speaker 2: left Wales for Seleek. There, Harold lived uneventfully and died
Speaker 2: of natural causes on January seventeenth, nineteen twenty nine. But
Speaker 2: the circumstance surrounding Mabel's death remains a mystery a century
Speaker 2: after she died. I have theories.
Speaker 1: I think our theory is the same because it seems
Speaker 1: like the doctor messed up real bad.
Speaker 2: I once like, once you start talking about the trial,
Speaker 2: you're like, what is going on here?
Speaker 1: It is a little kooky. Yes, And that's actually kind
Speaker 1: of the focus of the drink for today. So I
Speaker 1: wanted it's There's a lot of stuff that that this
Speaker 1: gave me ruminations about, right. One of them is that
Speaker 1: this becomes a case that very clearly evidences the way
Speaker 1: women could discuss their symptoms and their health problems and
Speaker 1: kind of be ignored. It's like, oh, honey, that's just
Speaker 1: change of life. Are you sure?
Speaker 2: How do you know right my leg is broken? I'm
Speaker 2: not so sure that. And we had one one where
Speaker 2: it was the same time period where you know, the
Speaker 2: doctor examination did not even require lifting.
Speaker 1: The dress, right, because that would be improper.
Speaker 2: Exactly, this not a good time for female healthcare.
Speaker 1: There really was not. So I wanted to make something
Speaker 1: that I'm not going to say that I understand medically
Speaker 1: what was going on with her, but at least a
Speaker 1: drink that included some ingredients that would address someone who
Speaker 1: was having stomach issues. This also to peek behind the curtain.
Speaker 1: Maria will recognize why I am bringing this up because
Speaker 1: she and I discussed a similar drink recently, because one
Speaker 1: of her friends asked me if I had had it.
Speaker 1: So it does not contain the ingredient you think it does,
Speaker 1: but it contains another one related to it. Because this
Speaker 1: is a variation on a LOSSI so for this one,
Speaker 1: which we are calling better medicine, we are going to
Speaker 1: start with an ounce of vodka. I used the vanilla vodka,
Speaker 1: but you don't have to, and a half ounce of
Speaker 1: crem demnth, a quarter ounce of lime juice, a half
Speaker 1: ounce of simple syrup. You can also do a darker
Speaker 1: like a demurra here if you want a richer one,
Speaker 1: and then an ounce of coconut, vanilla Greek yogurt. And
Speaker 1: the reason here is that right mint is sometimes given
Speaker 1: for an upset tummy. Coconut can also be used to
Speaker 1: soothe an upset tummy. Lime juice for some people helps
Speaker 1: deal with indigestion so and of course yogurt is full
Speaker 1: of probiotics, so this would not have helped the victim
Speaker 1: here at all. Mabel still would have passed. But this
Speaker 1: will at least be yummy for us while we consider
Speaker 1: how she was probably the victim of medical malpractice. So
Speaker 1: you're gonna put all these together in your shaker. I
Speaker 1: really wanted to make it super smooth and a little
Speaker 1: bit fluffy, so I used my frother to mix it
Speaker 1: a little first, and then I put in my ice
Speaker 1: and gave it a good shake, and then I you
Speaker 1: want to double strain this, so strain it not through
Speaker 1: like your hawthorn strainer, but also if you have a
Speaker 1: mesh strainer, through that as well, because you want it
Speaker 1: to be really, really smooth, and it is stupidly delicious
Speaker 1: as we know. I will invoke my guinea pig yet again.
Speaker 1: My beloved, who not a big drinker but tries everything
Speaker 1: and gives his honest opinion. And this is one of
Speaker 1: the rare occasions where he said, can I finish this one?
Speaker 1: And I was like, yeah, baby, you can. I can
Speaker 1: make another if I want more. He really really liked
Speaker 1: it because it is It's very yummy. It's creamy, but
Speaker 1: it's not heavy. It has a little brightness. The crem
Speaker 1: dement is not overpowering the mocktail. For This is so
Speaker 1: easy to make and honestly is just as delicious, if
Speaker 1: not more so.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, has got to be at least
Speaker 2: equally good.
Speaker 1: Yes, So instead of vodka, you have a couple options here.
Speaker 1: You can do coconut water, which is what I did.
Speaker 1: If you want something with you know, a little more flavor,
Speaker 1: you can do vanilla tea. You can do a white
Speaker 1: grape juice. You can do almost anything that you want. Really,
Speaker 1: it's just an ounce. And then instead of crem demnth,
Speaker 1: you're gonna do a mint syrup and that's that's it.
Speaker 1: Those are the only substitutions you have to make, and
Speaker 1: then you have a yummy and delicious variation on a lossy.
Speaker 1: And the nice thing is, once you're used to using
Speaker 1: yogurt in drinks and something like this, where you have
Speaker 1: like your primary spirit which is the vodka, your secondary
Speaker 1: which is the liqueur, and just a little bit of
Speaker 1: citrus you don't want too much, and a little bit
Speaker 1: of syrup and you can throttle that syrup up or
Speaker 1: down to suit your taste for sweetness. It's really easy
Speaker 1: to just sub out any of those and kind of
Speaker 1: have a choose your own adventure thing, right, Like a
Speaker 1: lot of lossies will normally have plain yogurt as their
Speaker 1: yogurt ingredient. I wanted the coconut because I like that
Speaker 1: flavor and I thought it would add a nice roundness
Speaker 1: to the whole thing. But like, you can literally do
Speaker 1: that and then play mix them up at your home
Speaker 1: bar and be like, I want gin instead, and I
Speaker 1: want crem denoio or I want like you can literally
Speaker 1: mix anything up and for the most part you're gonna
Speaker 1: be fine. I'm sure there's some combo that will be black,
Speaker 1: black black, but for the most part delicious. This is
Speaker 1: also a great way to play with the flavors of
Speaker 1: something like a white Russian, where you can use like
Speaker 1: a coffee liqueur and a vodka and your yogurt instead
Speaker 1: of heavy cream, and it just changes it up a
Speaker 1: little bit and shifts it to a slightly different flavor.
Speaker 1: It's a little less cloyingly sweet, even with the simple syrup,
Speaker 1: because sometimes a white Russian can feel very heavy because
Speaker 1: that heavy cream is sweet on its own. So options, options, options,
Speaker 1: I hope you take this and play with it. Make
Speaker 1: many yogurt drinks, because they're so good. We are so
Speaker 1: thankful that you spent this time with us. We will
Speaker 1: be right back here next week with another unsolved historical
Speaker 1: crime and another pair of drinks to go with it.
Speaker 1: Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.