Morphine
*****
Arthur Devereux
Morphine has been used in a number of cases by desparate people to dispose
of their victims. One notable case is that of Arthur Devereux who killed
his wife and twin children because he could not afford to keep them on
his megre wages. Deveraux was a chemist's assistant convicted of the murder
of his wife, Beatrice and their twin boys, Lawrence and Evelyn. Deveraux
had met his wife while she was on holiday in his home town of Hastings
in 1896. They began a relationship and married the following year. The
twins were born in 1903, by which time they already had a four year old
son, Stanley. Deveraux had always wanted to open his own chemist's shop
but had been struggling to get enough money together. Although he was devoted
to Stanley, the arrival of the twins was greeted by him as a burden and
a strain on his already limited capital. Such was his desperation to open
his own shop that he asked his mother-in-law for a loan, and when she refused
he threatened to shoot her! At the end of January 1905 Deveraux lost his
job working for a chemist in Paddington. The lack of wages meant that he
had to surrender his home and a few days later, a removal van took furniture
from the house, including a heavy trunk which was delivered to a warehouse
in Kensal Rise. On 20th February, Deveraux found a job at a chemist's in
Coventry and moved north with Stanley. Meanwhile, his mother-in-law became
anxious at the sudden disappearance of her daughter and grandsons. Deveraux's
explanation was vague and so she went to the house in London and questioned
neighbours for any clues as to her family's whereabouts. One recalled the
removal van which bore the name of the Kensal Rise warehouse. After she
persuaded the police to check the warehouse, they discovered the bodies
of the missing family concealed in a trunk. Investigations found that they
had been poisoned with morphine, presumably by Deveraux before he fled
to Coventry. He was arrested almost at once and whilst he seemed shocked
at the news of their deaths he later made a statement in which he claimed
that his wife had killed the children then herself as a result of depression.
He had merely concealed their bodies. At his trial at the Old Bailey on
26th July, Deveraux repeated his claims that his wife had committed suicide
but the prosecution found evidence that he had been passing himself off
as a widower before her death. He was hanged by Henry Pierrepoint and John
Ellis at Pentonville prison on the 15th August 1905..
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For more information contact:
Gregg Manning
