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since she left. When medical evidence pointed to strychnine poisoning, the police searched her bedroom and found two packets. One contained 30 grains of strychnine with the words "one dose, take as told" and the other was empty with "take in a little water, it is quite harmless" written on it. On 10 January
Horsford was arrested for perjury at the inquest, and later that day further arrested for murder.
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The trial took place on 2 June 1898. At the trial it was stated that the impression of handwriting on the packages could be traced on a blotter on a desk in
Horsford's home. Horsford had also purchased strychnine from a local chemist on 28 December 1897, claiming he was overrun with rats, and signed
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On 7 January 1898 Holmes received a postal packet from
Horsford, and went to bed. An hour later her daughter heard Holmes screaming and found her in agony. Holmes died within a few minutes of a doctor arriving. At an inquest the following day Horsford stated he had not written to Holmes nor seen her
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poisoning. However the inquest at the time recorded a verdict of death through eating a hearty meal. The second was a "girl from
Peterborough" with whom he had been intimate, and who died after receiving a letter from him. The third case involved a man with the surname James who was a relative of
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Horsford was suspected of three other murders. The first was his former fiancée Fanny James who died in 1890 after claiming she had become pregnant, and after receiving a letter from
Horsford. According to her family her symptoms were consistent with
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Fanny James. Horsford supplied the usual beer to a group of men after working a day threshing wheat. He took James aside and gave him an extra quart, and he died in agony later that night. The inquest verdict recorded death from
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The jury did not retire but returned a guilty verdict immediately after the judge's summing up. Horsford was sentenced to death and executed on 28 June in
Cambridge prison.
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was a murderer executed in June 1898 for poisoning his cousin Annie Holmes with
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246:"The Great Trials of History - The Trial of Walter Horsford".
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In 1897 Horsford, aged 26, was a well-off farmer living in
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198:"Walter Horsford and the case of the St Neots poisoning"
264:Bitter Nemesis: The Intimate History of Strychnine
362:Prisoner Case Studies: Walter Horsford - Gallery
184:""The 25 people executed in Cambridge since 1802"
397:People executed by the United Kingdom by hanging
392:People convicted of murder by the United Kingdom
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216:The Little Book of Cambridgeshire
163:List of serial killers by country
339:"The murders by Walter Horsford"
182:Nicola Gwyer (13 January 2018).
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200:. St Neots Museum. 5 June 2017.
304:. 30 January 1898. p. 13.
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132:the register with his name.
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218:. The History Press. 2018.
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301:Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper
261:John Buckingham (2007).
382:Executed English people
321:"The St Neots Poisoner"
112:Murder of Annie Holmes
407:Strychnine poisoning
50:Execution by hanging
325:The Ipswich Journal
46:Cause of death
296:"St Neots Tragedy"
186:. Cambridge News.
106:public executions
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34:28 June 1898
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377:1898 deaths
371:Categories
169:References
146:strychnine
98:strychnine
56:Occupation
402:Poisoners
269:CRC Press
212:"Sinners"
151:sunstroke
118:Spaldwick
102:Cambridge
40:, England
157:See also
122:St Neots
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75:Murder
59:Farmer
83:Death
273:ISBN
220:ISBN
31:Died
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