Many of them have received the nickname of “black widow”, yet one of the best known and most ruthless is undoubtedly Mary Ann Cotton. A look back at one of the most prolific murderers of the 19th century.
In nature, how do you recognize a black widow spider? To its fatal poison and its voracious appetite for its prey. This poisonous spider attracts the male to mate, then when it no longer needs it, it devours it. Just like the spider, Mary Ann Cotton seduced, poisoned and killed without mercy. The story of this discreet woman horrified the whole world. For years Mary Ann Cotton will kill 21 people, including 15 children. She becomes the first female serial killer and marks history with her sordid crimes.
Born in October 1832 in the English village of Low Moorsley (Sunderland) to young, working-class and very religious parents, Mary Ann Robson, by her maiden name, lives a strict and difficult childhood. A situation that gets worse when her father dies when she is only 9 years old. His family is threatened with being sent to “whitehouses”, hospices for the poor. His mother ends up remarrying a man of greater financial means. At 19, she met her first husband, William Mowbray. The future “black widow” is about to start her “killing career”.
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Mary Ann Cotton and William Mowbray
The two lovers marry a year later. From their union five children were born. But four of them die suddenly, all affected by stomach aches and gastric fever. They move to the north of England with their youngest daughter, who also dies. Stomach aches and gastric fever always. Fate seems to be against the couple. However, Mary Ann Cotton falls pregnant again, three times. Again, none of the children will survive for long.
Subsequently, William Mowbray becomes a firefighter aboard a steamer. In January 1865, he dies of an intestinal problem. His wife inherited his life insurance contract of £35, roughly the equivalent of 6 months of a worker’s salary in 19th century England. Comfortable, Mary Ann Cotton can now give free rein to her instincts.
Mary Ann Cotton and her second husband
She then begins a passionate affair with Joseph Nattras,. But he is already engaged to another woman and refuses to choose her as his wife. Just after her lover’s wedding, she leaves the region. But the daughter of Joseph Nattras will be mysteriously poisoned.
Determined to rebuild her life, she sets up as a nurse in a dispensary in Sunderland. Mary Ann Cotton then meets Georges Ward, a patient and engineer. In August 1865, they married. In October 1866, he dies suddenly following a long illness and severe intestinal problems. His doctor will be amazed at the speed with which death took his patient. The grieving widow again receives a generous life insurance.
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James Robinson, the Black Widow’s third husband
In November 1866, she entered the service of James Robinson, whose wife had died some time earlier, as a housekeeper. A month later, one of the widower’s children dies… Gastric problems again. Mary Ann Cotton then becomes pregnant and marries the English carpenter. In April 1867, the last three children he had with his previous wife were all buried. The serial killer gave birth to a little girl, Mary Isabelle in November 1867. In March 1868, she died of the same symptoms as all her previous children.
During this time, she tries to get her husband James Robinson to take out life insurance. The man is getting more and more suspicious. He ends up throwing her out when he discovers that she is stealing him and that the one he had taken in second marriage had forced his children to pawn valuables, for his sole benefit.
The poisoner murders her own mother
Coming to the bedside of her sick mother, Mary Ann continues to sow death wherever she goes. If the patient regains some strength, she quickly ends up complain of stomach pain and died aged 54, 9 days after Mary Ann arrived home. The ultimate survivor of the poisoner’s children, who had remained living with her grandmother all these years, returns with her mother. After a few days, she also complains of stomach pains. She dies suddenly.
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When Mary Ann Met Frederick Cotton
Mary finds herself on the street and asks her friend Margaret Cotton for help. She introduces him to her brother, Frederick, recently widowed and father of 4 children, 2 of whom are deceased. In 1870, Margaret Cotton died of an undetermined gastric illness and Mary Ann consoles grieving brother. For the eleventh time in her life, she becomes pregnant. Robert was born at the beginning of 1871. Frédérick Cotton died in December 1871, after a sudden gastric fever. Life insurance in his name, and that of his first two sons, had been taken out shortly before.
In March 1872, Frederick Junior dies, closely followed by young Robert. Her former lover Jospeh Nattrass, who came back into Mary Ann Cotton’s life before the death of her fourth husband, moved into the Cotton household with her. He dies suddenly, of a fatal gastric fever – for a change – just after bequeathing his property to his mistress.
How did the police end up nabbing Mary Ann Cotton?
From the Cotton family, only 6-year-old Charlie remains. Unlike her other victims, Mary Ann Cotton decides to take the little boy to a hospice guarded by Thomas Ripley, the manager. He refuses to welcome the child alone. The poisoner will then respond cynically: “I could have remarried, but the child is preventing me. However, he will not live long. He will join the rest of the Cottons“. And in fact, the last of the Cottons died a few days later.
His strange and confusing conversation with Mary Ann Cotton, pushes Thomas Riplay to speak to the police. After the autopsy of the many corpses of the relatives of the black widow, she is arrested. The whole world then discovers the serial killer who killed husband, lovers, friend, parents and children by poisoning them with arsenic to enrich themselves. On March 24, 1873, after her trial, Mary Ann Cotton was found guilty of murdering 21 people. She is hanged in stride.
Even today, Mary Ann Cotton remains one of the most famous female killers in history, using arsenic as a weapon. She is the first black widow whose name will be remembered by newspapers and their readers.