Show Notes
Welcome to our first episode of our Western Australia season! Fair warning, this episode discusses the death of children. Remember when we said we weren’t gonna cover child murder cases? We’re massive liars. Life’s tough out there for a kid in 1907. You have to write on a literal rock at school, the only thing you have to play with is a hoop and a stick, there are no video games yet, and you’re dodging the Grim Reaper at every turn. If the ol’ infant mortality rate doesn’t get you, or the common cold, maybe your own stepmother will. This episode, we discuss the Wicked Stepmother of East Perth, Martha Rendell, and we question whether or not this lady really did poison three of her stepchildren with hydrochloric acid, or if she actually committed a far more serious crime for the early 20th century – being an unattractive, unmarried woman who was living in sin.
EPISODE NOTES: Annie, Olive and Arthur Morris died from what was believed at the time to be illnesses arising from complications with an earlier bout of diphtheria. But all the children had curious symptoms that were unable to be diagnosed by some of the best doctors in Australia at the time. They suffered from seizures, typhoid fever, and burning pains in the stomach that didn’t seem to have a clear cause. The children were buried, and the Morris family was considered to be terribly unlucky, until one day George Morris accused Martha Rendell, the family’s housekeeper and his father’s mistress, of poisoning his siblings with spirit of salts – the old-timey name for hydrochloric acid.
Martha was put on trial, and the press had a field day when it was uncovered that she was not really the children’s mother, as she presented herself, but really just Thomas Morris’ mistress, a homewrecker who had been having an affair with Thomas for over ten years. The salacious supposed murder of the three children painted Martha as a wicked and uncaring stepmother who delighted in children’s suffering.
She was sentenced to hanging in 1909, but in recent years there has been much discussion about whether Martha was really responsible for the deaths, or if she herself was a victim of the society in which she lived.
I myself suffered from some kind of paresis of the brain nerves and thought it would be “fun” to reference this week’s sources in Harvard style, because I used a lot of journal articles and I’m a uni student and was like, this will be a fun gag, then halfway through I was like, what is wrong with me. Anyway, if you want to learn more about Martha Rendell and the social circumstances acting on her, please look here:
Haebich, A 1998 'Murdering stepmothers: the trial and execution of Martha Rendell',Journal of Australian Studies vol. 22, no. 59, 66-81, accessed 31 August 2019, available <https://doi.org/10.1080/14443059809387425>
Haebach, A 2010 'Revisiting the Trial of Matha Rendell', The New Critic, accessed August 31 2019, available <http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/new-critic/thirteen/?a=1314992 >
For all the fun medical information, go here: Koschny, R et al 2013, 'Fatal Course of a Suicidal Intoxication with Hydrochloric Acid', Case Reports in Gastroenterology vol 7 no 1, 89-96, accessed 31 August 2019, available <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3618096/>
Paget, G E 1883, 'Case of Coexistence of Diphtheria and Typhoid Fever', The British Medical Journal vol 2, no 1176, 67-68, accessed 31 August 2019, available <Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Murder in the Land of Oz
As the final installment of our First Nation's themed season, we are talking about January 26th. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We are back after a (what turned into a much bigger than intended) break!
Whoops we covered another cult. Coming for ya, Jo Thornely. Chantelle McDougall, her six-year-old daughter Leela, her partner Simon Kadwill, and their housemate Tony Popic went missing in July of 2007. Simon was the leader of an internet-based doomsday cult, who believed that through death, a chosen few would ascend to a new plane of reality and usher in the new Aquarian age of existence. So you know, normal stuff. They told friends and family they were moving to Brazil, but their was no activity on their passports. Their disappearance left police stumped. Had they committed group suicide, or had they gone even further into isolation and completely segregated themselves from society? Our main sources this week were the coronial inquest completed in 2017. You know we love an inquest document! https://www.coronerscourt.wa.gov.au/_files/Felton,%20G;%20McDougall,%20C%20J%20and%20L;%20Popic,%20A%20K%20%20finding.pdf News articles about the case can be found here https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-06/cult-leader-simon-kadwell-inquest-begins-into-missing-family/9205656 and here https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/cult-leader-simon-kadwell-inquest-hears-police-failed-to-investigate-report-of-dead-flesh-smell/news-story/b828be6ad139699e509c94ce62bc5292 The website for Simon’s “work” can be accessed via the Wayback Machine here https://web.archive.org/web/20071103141354/http://www.thenewcall.org/book_sdp.htm Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/murder-in-the-land-of-oz. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Okay, yes, every show and their dog (or podcast cat) have covered this case. But we just had to jump on the bandwagon. You may be familiar with the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard from the documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest, or the hit TV show now on Hulu The Act, or just generally from having an internet connection at any point in time over the past four years. The internet is obsessed with this case, and for good reason – the horrific murder of Dee Dee Blanchard shocked the world, not because of the brutality of the crime – but because of the scale of the abuse that Dee Dee afflicted on Gypsy, her daughter, who she had raised to believe was sick with a whole medical textbook of illnesses. Once Dee Dee was dead, the truth came out – nothing was wrong with Gypsy. She was a victim of Munchausen by Proxy, and was horribly abused by the person who was meant to care for her most. EPISODE NOTES: Friends and neighbours looked at Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard as a perfect mother-daughter pair. Dee Dee was dedicated to her sick daughter, and Gypsy was in turn loving and devoted to her mother. When Dee Dee was murdered in 2015, people were horrified. Who was going to take care of poor Gypsy now? But as the truth came out, and Gypsy – along with her boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn – was charged with her death, people were horrified to discover that Dee Dee was not what she seemed – and neither was Gypsy. Gypsy had every disease under the sun, from cancer to muscular dystrophy. She was confined to a wheelchair, had tubes all over her body, and had no hair and barely any teeth. She never properly attended school and was in and out of hospital constantly. But none of her ailments were real. Dee Dee was forcing Gypsy to be sick, lying to her about her real age, and physically and mentally abusing her to keep up the sickness routine, so that Dee Dee could keep reaping the benefits of having a sick child. While Gypsy and Nicholas Godejohn were both ultimately convicted of Dee Dee’s murder, many people believe that Gypsy acted in self-defence, and did what she had to do to escape from one of the most horrific situations of abuse conceivable. Read Michelle Dean's incredible longform article on the case here https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/michelledean/dee-dee-wanted-her-daughter-to-be-sick-gypsy-wanted-her-mom More info about the case can be found here https://www.yourtango.com/2019322839/who-nick-godejohn-new-details-gypsy-roses-boyfriend-man-murdered-dee-dee-blanchard?fbclid=IwAR0c95is1g2caWJ1wSQX9CobuA8rK30l_Z5BDjfW4AAdf-CpbE2IlcVH7kA Information about the case and also Munchausen by Proxy can be found here https://www.yourtango.com/2019322870/what-munchausen-syndrome-by-proxy-story-gypsy-rose-blanchard?fbclid=IwAR28fu87X_aWdA9iOnfoLHevQ_bfIyiMeabBSbHo-T2YajOWh8ey3vd7YKI For some info on Hulu's stunning new show The Act (this is not a sponsored episode but also – sponsor us, Hulu?) head here https://www.marieclaire.com.au/the-act-tv?fbclid=IwAR2Ohe3PFiupYeS2rfTO3Ux9LoluGAiYbzWQMNMiQJz8RCg5iwvChcyUMHM