Ireland's Dripping Killer

[Siobhan Patricia Mulcahy]

Hi all,
I thought some of you might get a bang out of reading this story of Ireland's "Dripping Killer" published recently on CrimeMagazine.com

Victorian Britain was horrified by a 30-year-old Irish woman who murdered her employer, dismembered the body, threw bits of it into the river Thames, boiled the head (and other body parts) and sold the fat as "dripping" in local pubs. She blamed two innocent men for the crime and when that didn't work, she pretended to be pregnant so that the judge wouldn't give her the death penalty.

Such was her notoriety that Madame Tussaud's rushed to create a wax statue of her which remained on display in London for 80 years. (Kate Webster was the only woman hanged in Wandsworth Prison - 135 years ago.)

The link to the Dripping Killer story is here: http://crimemagazine.com/dripping-killer

[Mayerling]

Hi all,
I thought some of you might get a bang out of reading this story of Ireland's "Dripping Killer" published recently on CrimeMagazine.com

Victorian Britain was horrified by a 30-year-old Irish woman who murdered her employer, dismembered the body, threw bits of it into the river Thames, boiled the head (and other body parts) and sold the fat as "dripping" in local pubs. She blamed two innocent men for the crime and when that didn't work, she pretended to be pregnant so that the judge wouldn't give her the death penalty.

Such was her notoriety that Madame Tussaud's rushed to create a wax statue of her which remained on display in London for 80 years. (Kate Webster was the only woman hanged in Wandsworth Prison - 135 years ago.)

The link to the Dripping Killer story is here: http://crimemagazine.com/dripping-killer

There is a volume on Webster in the "Notable British Trial" Series, and (thirty years ago) there was a novelist named John Cashman who wrote a fictional retelling called "The Cookfinder General" [I believe that is the title].

Jeff

[Rosella]

Ive always wondered why Kate's terrified employer allowed her to hang aound. She should have paid her to go away then gone on a long holiday herself.

[Mayerling]

Ive always wondered why Kate's terrified employer allowed her to hang aound. She should have paid her to go away then gone on a long holiday herself.

Mrs. Thomas probably did not know what to do, and figured by dressing down Webster she would put the servant in her place. Sad - if she had gone home with several friends Webster would have been on notice that her actions would be observed in Richmond, and might have not reacted as violently. But who knows?

Jeff