Member-only story
Eliza Fenning, The Woman Executed For 3 Murders Despite No Victims Or Evidence
In 1815 London, a young servant was tried and convicted for a crime that didn’t even happen, which shocked those around the city
Murder cases are often sensational, as the criminal justice system seeks to find responsible parties and bring them to justice for horrid crimes. Although proceedings are meant to punish perpetrators due to incontrovertible evidence, that unfortunately doesn’t always happen. In the early 19th century, an English house servant was arrested, convicted and executed for the attempted murders of five members of the family she worked with; which came despite nobody’s death and no evidence that anything had occurred more than indigestion.
In 1815, Eliza Fenning served as a cook in the Turner family home in London. Sadly, this job led to her losing her life for crimes that almost certainly never happened.
The trouble came one evening when she prepared dinner for the family and herself, which included her homemade dumplings. Shortly thereafter, she and five of the Turners fell very ill, but all fortunately recovered to full health very quickly. For some reason, the family had a doctor do an investigation, and that physician claimed that he tested the dumplings…
