On the 30th of October 1833, at eight o’clock in the morning, Clara Anne Smith was interred in the churchyard of Saint Augustine, Bristol. She had passed away on the 23rd of October, at the age of sixty. Mary Anne Burdock had sent for Thompson, the undertaker, informing him that her lodger had died destitute and friendless, and must therefore be buried as cheaply as possible. A coffin was prepared, inscribed with the name and age of the deceased. A widow of five years’ standing, she had taken up lodging with Burdock in 1833 and possessed, according to several depositions, both sovereigns and bank notes. She had a brother-in-law in Oporto and a nephew in England. Charles Read, a wine merchant acquainted with her brother-in-law in Oporto, had paid her seven hundred pounds in 1829 and remitted to her an annuity of fifteen pounds.
Prior to her lodger’s demise, Burdock lived in straitened circumstances with a man named Wade. Following the obsequies, she informed one witness that an uncle had bequeathed her a handsome fortune; to another, she related that a wealthy elderly lady who died beneath her roof had left all her property to Wade. The latter entered into trade, but died in the ensuing month of April. His last will and testament left Burdock considerable property, including a stock-in-trade valued at seven hundred pounds; it was likewise established that she held six hundred pounds in ready specie. This abrupt prosperity stood in glaring contrast to the destitution she had depicted to Thompson.
In November, the month following the decease, Charles Read repaired to Burdock and Wade’s dwelling to inquire into Smith’s estate. Burdock informed him that her lodger had died in poverty and that her garments, being exceedingly worn, had been consigned to the fire. She refused to produce the remaining effects until he should discharge fifteen pounds for the burial charges. Read returned on the morrow; Wade then spoke to him of a box containing papers, and Burdock consented that each party should engage a man of law. They returned the following day and forced open the casket: it contained an old will of Mr. Smith’s in favor of his wife, but no title deeds whatsoever. Read added that Clara had dressed with neatness and propriety ever since the demise of her husband, five years before.
Clara’s relatives did not learn of her death until December 1834, whereupon they hastened to Bristol. In the course of the inquiry, Burdock had already delivered up certain papers while persisting in her denial that the deceased had possessed any estate. The relatives’ persistent inquiries prompted a far more rigorous investigation into her death.
The exhumation was undertaken to resolve a far graver question than that of property. Thompson identified the grave, the coffin, the shroud, and the attire upon the corpse. A sheet of water partially submerged the body and the limbs; yet despite the long months passed beneath the earth, the remains were remarkably preserved. Dr. Riley opened the body, assisted by Mr. Kelson, surgeon, Dr. Symonds, and Mr. Herapath, the chemist. They ascertained that a portion of the tissues had turned to adipocere, a species of animal soap. The stomach was removed, containing a yellow matter. Pelham records that chemical tests concluded upon the presence of yellow arsenic, and that poison had been the cause of death. A preparation of the stomach was subsequently produced at the trial.
The deposition of Evans, a mariner who had lodged with Burdock while she went by the name of Mrs. Wade, connected the purchase of the poison directly to the house. Some six days prior to the death, she had requested him to procure two pennyworth of arsenic, alleging that the house was infested with rats. Evans went to Hobbs, the druggist, and purchased the powder in the presence of two witnesses. The chronicle notes that this pretext was false. Evans delivered the packet to Burdock and observed her thrust it into her pocket. He was present in the house on the day of the decease and heard Burdock and Wade laughing during the night. She informed him that she would dispose of the deceased’s plate to defray the funeral charges; approximately a month earlier, Evans had seen Clara Smith wearing a gold watch and chain.
Mary Ann Allen, a young servant-girl engaged to attend upon Clara Smith, described an act of a more direct nature. She stated that she had observed Burdock take a yellow powder from a paper, stir it into a basin of gruel, and forthwith carry the meal to the lodger. Shortly thereafter, according to Allen, the sufferer was seized with violent convulsions and expired.
The same witness recounted the events that followed. Burdock opened a wardrobe and several drawers, heaped abuse upon the dead woman, and charged Allen never to divulge to any living soul who she was, nor that she had ever dwelt under that roof. Should anyone make inquiry, she was to be represented as a stranger lately arrived from the East Indies. Burdock strictly forbade her, moreover, to mention the powder mingled with the gruel, observing that folk might look upon the act as singular. Allen’s mother, together with a servant then in Burdock’s employ, corroborated several particulars of her recital.
The trial opened at the Bristol Assizes on Friday, the 10th of April 1835, before Sir Charles Wetherell, Recorder of the city. The proceedings occupied that day and the Saturday following; the jury were kept in charge of bailiffs throughout the adjournment, and the learned Recorder did not sum up the evidence until the Monday. The defense called several witnesses as to character. The Recorder directed the jury to return separate answers to three questions: Had Clara Smith died of poison? Had Burdock administered it to her? Did she know it to be poison? He reminded them that the verdict rested with them, and not with the court, and that they were bound to find Burdock guilty should those three points be established, whatever the consequences might be.
The jury retired for a little more than a quarter of an hour. As they filed from the hall, Burdock scanned the countenance of each man. She then awaited their return, her eyes riveted upon the door, while her counsel and others stood closely gathered about her. The suspense threw the courtroom into great agitation; when the jurymen reappeared, the clamor of the concourse at first prevented the judge from proceeding. The verdict was guilty. The foreman delivered it in solemn accents, visibly overcome with emotion. Burdock’s countenance altered slightly; in an audible though faltering voice, she protested her innocence, calling upon Almighty God to witness the truth of her words. The judge passed sentence of death and directed that her body be buried within the precincts of the gaol. Pelham depicts her as composed during the sentencing, subsequently partaking of some refreshment below the bar before her removal. A hostile crowd followed the carriage on its way to the prison.
Burdock was executed on Wednesday, the 15th of April. Pelham records that she maintained absolute silence throughout the chapel service and did not rise to pray. In the room where the cap and cord were adjusted, she joined her voice with the prayers of the chaplain. She lingered, yet offered no confession; then, ascending the scaffold deadly pale, the drop fell at forty minutes past one o’clock in the afternoon.