WORLD HISTORY AND FACTS

John Smith - who poisoned his fiancée. On Monday the 15th of March 1824, 25 year old John Smith climbed the steps of Lincoln Castle’s Cobb Tower to the gallows erected on the flat roof.   He was to hang for the murder of 24-year-old Sarah Arrowsmith, who was his fiancée. A large crowd had assembled to watch the execution. Sarah and Smith had been in a long term relationship and had a three year old son together. Sarah was pregnant again in 1823.   On the 4th of December 1823, Smith purchased arsenic on the pretext of using it as a sheep wash. (A not uncommon practice at the time).  He mixed some of this into flour and gave it to Sarah, which she used to make some cakes. These she served to some friends and family members who became ill soon afterwards, with violent stomach cramps and burning in the throat.   It appears that the doctors who attended them suspected arsenic poisoning and were able to save everyone except Sarah.   Before she died, she w...