The Crime Book

207

Hangman William Marwood

used his newly perfected “long drop”

technique, in which the neck was

broken instantly at the end of the fall,

to execute Kate Webster.

See also: Lizzie Borden 208–11 ■ Elizabeth Báthory 264–65

MURDER CASES

and found blood stains, charred

finger bones in the hearth, and a

copper laundry vessel clogged with

human fat. Scotland Yard learned

that Webster had fled to Ireland,

and she was arrested there. On

2 July, she stood trial for murder at

the Old Bailey. The revolting details

of the crime emerged over six days

of witness testimony.

Webster entered the service of

Julia Thomas in January 1879, but

relations between them soon

became strained. Julia was critical

of the work of her heavy-drinking

maid, and a month later, she fired

her, giving her a few weeks’ notice.

On the afternoon of 2 March, Julia

was at home preparing for a service

at the local church and waiting for

Kate to assist her. However, Kate

came back late from the pub, and

so Julia was delayed.

When Julia returned from the

service, the two women argued.

Kate claimed that in a fit of drunken

rage she pushed Julia down the

stairs, then strangled her to death

with her hands to prevent her from

screaming. Using a meat saw,

carving knife, and razor, she

butchered the body, burning large

sections of it in the kitchen.

Kate divided Thomas’s body

parts between a Gladstone bag

and the box she later hurled into

the river. Rather than trying to

avoid capture, Webster took to

wearing her late employer’s clothes,

assuming her identity, and selling

Thomas’s possessions. Some

reports even said that Webster had

boiled Thomas’s body and made

money selling the fat as dripping to

local pubs. True or not, this story

led many to dub her the “Dripping

Killer”. Webster was found guilty

and hanged on 29 July 1879. ■

Anthropological

criminology

During the 19th century,

pseudoscience (theories and

methods that were wrongly

regarded as scientific)

dominated academic debate

in Europe and the US. Among

these was Italian physician

and criminologist Cesare

Lombroso’s theory of

anthropological criminology.

Misappropriating Darwinistic

ideas, Lombroso argued that

criminals were evolutionary

throwbacks to primitive man,

and could be identified by

physical characteristics, such

as gangly arms, a sloping

forehead, jug ears, facial

asymmetry, and so on.

Kate Webster came under

similar scrutiny during her

trial, with middle-class

onlookers and the media

commenting on her strong,

“unfeminine build”, without

considering that this may have

developed as a result of a life

of manual labour. By the early

20th century, Lombroso’s

ideas had been discredited.

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