Free Cambridgeshire Murders by Alison Bruce

enough’s there to be done.
    There is one final point of interest which makes a connection between Slade and one of the other cases in this book. The date originally set for Slade’s execution – 2 August 1827 – was coincidentally the forty-first anniversary of Huntingdon-shire’s previous execution, that of Gervais Matcham, whose gibbet hung nearby until it was removed just one week before Joshua Waterhouse’s murder.

6
A FATAL ATTRACTION
    T he last public execution at Cambridge Gaol took place at noon on Saturday 13 April 1850, when two convicts were hanged for the poisoning of a young woman. What made the case extraordinary was that one of the convicts was the woman’s husband and the other was her sister. But were they both guilty? Or did one just get caught up in the other’s murderous plan?
    Susan Reeder 1 grew up in Castle Camps, a small village in south Cambridgeshire about 3 miles from the Suffolk town of Haverhill. In 1846, at the age of 16, she married 20-year-old Elias Lucas, a strong, handsome young farm labourer whose father had been the parish council clerk in the neighbouring village of Shudy Camps. The marriage was reported as being largely a happy one, despite the fact that the couple’s first child died and that three of Susan’s four subsequent pregnancies resulted in the loss of the babies at or soon after birth, and that Susan suffered from respiratory problems, described at the trial as ‘chest disease’.
    Susan and her sister Mary were barely a year apart in age. Mary was described in a handbill produced in April 1850 as ‘short and plump, and her features were even and good; the expression of her face bore the marks of innocence; her hands were remarkably white and small; and although stated in the calendar to be twenty, she seemed not more than sixteen.’
    Mary, also known as Maria, had been working as a servant for Mr Miller, a carpenter and Mrs Miller, his wife. They lived in Castle End, Cambridge, very close to the county gaol. She remained in their service for fifteen months, but resigned at the end of 1849 due to ill health. Coincidentally, and like her sister, she too suffered from a bad chest. The Millers had no complaints about her work and the Cambridge locals who knew her thought her to be ‘a well conducted, willing and modest girl’.
    Her next position was with Mr Cross, a farmer from Castle Camps, who was also Elias Lucas’s employer. At some point before Christmas 1849, while Susan was pregnant for the last time, Elias and Mary Reeder began an affair. Although it seems that Susan had no suspicions, rumours spread among the villagers, including Mr Cross, who stated, ‘Maria Reeder had been in my service. I have seen the prisoners laughing and talking together near my barn. I went there and asked what they were about, and Lucas said he was helping the girl to get some kindling for the copper.’
    After only a relatively short time in Mr Cross’s employ Mary resigned, again stating ill health as the reason. She had the option of returning to live with her father 3 miles away, but instead she chose to live with Elias and Susan.
    In January 1850 Susan’s fourth pregnancy ended with the death of the child, and at Susan’s suggestion Mary was invited to live with them and their surviving child, a daughter, now 3 years of age. Mary moved in at the end of January.
    In spite of Susan’s history of chest problems and failed pregnancies, she was reported to be in good health within a month. At the trial a local woman, Mary Wilson, said, ‘I saw the deceased at 5 o’clock on Thursday, the 21st at Mr. Well’s shop. She was quite well.’
    On 21 February Susan shared a water mess 2 meal with her husband and sister – we do not know whether their daughter also ate with them. Neither Elias nor Mary commented on the meal, but Susan found hers tasted bitter and was soon taken ill. She continued