THE BATH TUB KILLER-GEORGE JOSEPH SMITH.
This is an abstract taken from the book World-Famous brutal murderer written
by Abhay Kumar Dubey.
George Joseph smith was delinquent and was sent to reformatory school during adolescence. He was sent to prison twice for robbery. He could draw well and was efficient in piano yet he couldn’t find a steady occupation. He was jack of all trade but master in none-he worked as instructor, in army gymnasium, wrote songs for music, ran a junk shop, made bread in bakeries and tried his hand in selling antiques. In 1912 George Joseph he was living with his wife Beatrice constant Annie mundy (Bessie). The house in which they lived had no bath, so he brought a bathtub and converted a living room into a
bathroom. One day when the smith called his local doctor dr. French and told his wife has epilepsy but his wife denied it and said she had only headache. On July 13 DR French received a letter from smith saying “Do come at once. I am afraid my wife is dead”. The doctor rushed and found Bessie drowned in bathtub with a soap clutched in her hand. At coroner’s inquest Dr French gave his opinion that she was drowned. Her father who was a bank manager left her 2500pounds which Smith got hold of as per the will of late wife.1913, Smith married young nurse Alice Burnham Her father set aside a good amount for her daughter. Smith convinced her father to set the amount in his name and both of them lived in Blackpool. One-day landlady found water seeping through ceiling when Alice was taking her bath and later she found her dead in water tub. Coroner dismissed as another accidental
death and he got a good amount of money from insurance and returned to another wife Pegler. About same year he married Margaret Lofty, under the name John Lloyd. He persuaded Lofty to make a will in his favour a day after marriage. Later in the evening, sound of splashing was heard in the bathroom followed by slapping of wet hands on a body and then it became quiet. Little later landlady heard sad hymn on the harmonium followed by the loud slamming of the front door and after some time the Lloyd knocked the door of landlady for a duplicate key as he said he had lost it on the way to market. The body of lofty was found in bathtub. New paper quoted “Brides tragic Fate on the day after Wedding”. This was seen by Alice Burnham’s (another victim) father and landlady who heard lend the room also fell suspicious and they mounted a case against Smith. Mr. Burnman identified him as the one who married his daughter. The prosecution has found many similarities and coincidences in these murders. In each case, the accused took away the money and property of the victims after their death. Every time victims had made a will in his favour. In each case, the accused enquired about the bathroom, was the first to discover the death and was always the last person to be with the women before death. It was strange that the bathroom doors was not fastened and were found ajar. And top of it all, the accused disappeared after each death. Police inspector told the court that he had done some experiment s with the help of woman friend .He asked her to lie in a tub .As he pulled her legs in narrow end of the tub, her head fell into the water and lost consciousness and could be brought round with difficulty. Police evidence was correlated with reputed Pathologist sir Bernard Spilsbury. Bernard Spilsbury said ‘ if a woman of the stature of miss Mundy was in bath in which she died, the first onset of an epileptic fit would stiffen and extend the body. In view of her height, 5 feet 7 inches, and length of the bath, five feet, I would not think her head would be submerged during that stage of fit…after the seizure has passed the state of body is that of relaxation. The body would probably be limp and unconscious. Bearing in mind length of the body and size of the bath I do not think she would be likely to immersed during the stage of relaxation” He continued “Dr French has described the legs straight out from hips and feet up against the end of the bath, out of water…I cannot give explanation of how a woman ----assuming she had had an epileptic seizure—could get into that position by herself. If the feet at the narrow end were lifted out of water, that might allow trunk and head to slide in the bath”. The best part is that no evidence of violence has been proved in each murder. The jury took only twenty minutes to the return the verdict that Smith was guilty and was sentenced to death by hanging.He has married five women but only three was killed.