Parallel's of Constance and Lizzie
Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2010 10:43 am
I have followed the Constance Kent case off and on for a couple of years now. I thought the case was fascinating but never really delved into it with any kind of detail. I was at the library a few weeks ago and found a book called "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher" by Kate Summerscale. This really sparked my interest in the case. It details the efforts of Scotland Yard Detective Johnathan "Jack" Whicher to find the murderer of three year old Francis Saville Kent. Saville, as the boy was called by the family, was taken out of his bed during the night of June 29, 1860 and murdered inside of the privy on the grounds of the house. The child's nurse had been sleeping near by in the room at the time. The rest of the family were asleep in their own respective rooms. His throat had been slashed, he'd been stabbed once deeply, and it was thought that he'd been suffocated as well. The killer then threw the boy down the opening in the privy. He was found lying just below the opening on the "splashguard" the next day. The area around the child's mouth was black with bruising. Despite the throat being cut with what was believed to be a straight razor, there was very little blood at the scene, or on the body when it was found. The coroner believed maybe Saville had already been dead due to suffocation when the injury was made to the throat, but the findings were never considered conclusive.
The local police pretty much bungled the initial investigation, so help from Scotland Yard was requested. After doing a short investigation Jack Whicher came to believe very strongly the child's sixteen year old sister Constance committed the murder. The bed clothing of all members in the household was checked for blood. The house was searched for blood stained clothing. A search was made for a murder weapon, but it was never discovered. The police were reluctant to search the female inmates and their belongings too closely. A female "inspector" was called in for this purpose.
Constance was the child of Mr. Kent's first wife, who had quite literally gone mad and died while the children were being kept under the care of their governess Miss Pratt. After the first Mrs. Kent passed, Samuel Kent married the governess. The motive for the murder was said to be jealousy over the children of the second Mrs. Kent being so well favored over those of the first. Mr. Whicher suspected Constance, an "inquest" was held to decide if there was in fact enough evidence to hold Constance over for trial. There was nothing but a few pieces of circumstantial evidence and she was released. Five years later Constance confessed to the crime and was convicted. There were a few inconsistencies in her confession that were never fully explained. But the confession was considered to be genuine. The opinion of some was the inconsistencies were due to Constance possibly covering for the involvment of her brother William in the crime. Constance was described as being obstinate and head strong. She was described as showing very little outward emotion after the crimes. She denied that the younger children of the second Mrs. Kent were more favorably treated than those of her mother. But even Mr. Whicher remarked on the plainness in appearance and cloth used in making of Constance's clothes in relation to those of the other female members of the household.
I also read the contemporary account written in 1861 by Joseph Stapleton entitled "The Great Crime of 1860." Stapleton actually knew the Kents, and had been inside the house to view the murder scene. I think a great deal of Summerscale's information came from this account. She mentions him several times in her book.
I took a few notes on the book by Kate Summerscale because some of the parallel's of the Borden case so impressed me. I'd like to share them and maybe get some thoughts from you all on the case.
page 87, " Whoever had murdered, mutilated and defiled Saville Kent must be horribly disturbed, possessed by unnaturally strong feelings; yet the same person, in remaining so far undiscovered, had shown startling powers of self control. Whicher took Constance's cold quiet as a clue that she had killed her brother."
page 94, ( Information given by Constance's friend Emma Moody to Detective Whicher) " I have heard her say she disliked the child and pinched it, but it was done in fun," said Emma. 'She was laughing at the time she said it.' When asked what made Constance tease the younger children, Emma said, ' I believe it was through jealousy, and because the parents showed great partiality.' She explained: ' I said upon one occassion, when we were talking about the holidays - we were going for a walk towards Road - I said, ' Won't it be nice to go home shortly?' She said. ' Yes, perhaps it may to your home, but mine is different.' She said that the second family were much better treated than herself and her brother William.'
page 94, (Constance describing, according to Emma, the relationship she had with her step mother) "If I said I would have a brown dress, she would let me have black, or just the contrary."
page 103, " Whicher unearthed a peculiar incident that had taken place at Road Hill House in the spring of 1859, when Saville was two. One evening Saville's then nursemaid, Emma Sparks, put the boy to bed, as usual, in a pair of knitted socks. The next morning, wrote Whicher, the nursemaid found the clothes had been stripped from off the child, and both socks taken off.' The socks were discovered later: one on the nursery dressing table, the other in Mrs. Kent's bedroom. Whicher suspected Constance was responsible, ' As she was the only grown up member of the family except Mrs Kent who was home at the time..."
page 106, "There was a huge rise in crime reporting aided by the speed with which news could be transmitted by the electric telegraph, and newspaper readers came across accounts of violent death every week. When Mr. Wopsle in Dicken's Great Expectations (1861) reads the news, he becomes 'imbued with blood to the eyebrows.'
page 117, (contemporary descriptions of Constance) 'While she had a girlish look, her figure is remarkably developed for her age, which is only 16. Her features, which were very flushed, are rather pleasing, but have a heavy, almost sullen look, which we believe is characteristic of the family.'
page 124, (Information recieved by Lousia Hatherill, a friend of Constance) "...very stout strong built girl, and her school fellows state she was very fond of wrestling with them, and displaying her strength and wishing sometimes to play at 'Heenan and Sayers'. The heavy weight boxing match between the American John Heenan and the Briton Tom Sayers in April of that year had been a national obsession, and turned out to be the last fought under the old, brutal, bare knuckle rules.'
page 114, (describing how Whicher believed Constance kept the clothing she had worn during the murder from being missed. She caused an unstained night dress belonging to her to become "missing.") "It was placed in two clothes baskets by the housemaid but just before she quitted the room Miss Constance came in and asked her to unpack the baskets...to see if she had left her purse in her slip pocket...this I believe was part of her stratagem to ascertain which basket her night dress was in, as she immediately asked the housemaid to go down stairs and fetch her a glass of wter, which she did, leaving her by the room door, where she found her on her return with the water, during this time I am of the opinion she obtained possession of the night dress which had been entered in the washing book and took it again into use which the end of the week when the washing came home she calculated, it would be missed, and the laundress blamed, and that would account for her being one short if interrogated on this point.'
page 141, ' To conceal the destruction of the evidence, Whicher believed, Constance engineered things so that an innocent night dress was believed lost, by someone other than herself. Her sister and the housemaid would swear that the night dress went into the basket, also that it was not blood stained. She directed attention away from the house, it was a side step. A concealment of murder at one remove.' (Constance confirmed his theory when she confessed. She said she had taken the night dress which was blood stained and washed it out in a basin of water in her room. She then laid the recently washed night dress out on her bed.)
page 157, "It was almost inconceivable that a respectable girl could be so possessed of enough fury and emotion to kill, and enough cool to cover it. The public preferred to believe in the detectives villany, to attribute the moral pollution to him.'
I would love to hear the thoughts you guys have on this case.
The local police pretty much bungled the initial investigation, so help from Scotland Yard was requested. After doing a short investigation Jack Whicher came to believe very strongly the child's sixteen year old sister Constance committed the murder. The bed clothing of all members in the household was checked for blood. The house was searched for blood stained clothing. A search was made for a murder weapon, but it was never discovered. The police were reluctant to search the female inmates and their belongings too closely. A female "inspector" was called in for this purpose.
Constance was the child of Mr. Kent's first wife, who had quite literally gone mad and died while the children were being kept under the care of their governess Miss Pratt. After the first Mrs. Kent passed, Samuel Kent married the governess. The motive for the murder was said to be jealousy over the children of the second Mrs. Kent being so well favored over those of the first. Mr. Whicher suspected Constance, an "inquest" was held to decide if there was in fact enough evidence to hold Constance over for trial. There was nothing but a few pieces of circumstantial evidence and she was released. Five years later Constance confessed to the crime and was convicted. There were a few inconsistencies in her confession that were never fully explained. But the confession was considered to be genuine. The opinion of some was the inconsistencies were due to Constance possibly covering for the involvment of her brother William in the crime. Constance was described as being obstinate and head strong. She was described as showing very little outward emotion after the crimes. She denied that the younger children of the second Mrs. Kent were more favorably treated than those of her mother. But even Mr. Whicher remarked on the plainness in appearance and cloth used in making of Constance's clothes in relation to those of the other female members of the household.
I also read the contemporary account written in 1861 by Joseph Stapleton entitled "The Great Crime of 1860." Stapleton actually knew the Kents, and had been inside the house to view the murder scene. I think a great deal of Summerscale's information came from this account. She mentions him several times in her book.
I took a few notes on the book by Kate Summerscale because some of the parallel's of the Borden case so impressed me. I'd like to share them and maybe get some thoughts from you all on the case.
page 87, " Whoever had murdered, mutilated and defiled Saville Kent must be horribly disturbed, possessed by unnaturally strong feelings; yet the same person, in remaining so far undiscovered, had shown startling powers of self control. Whicher took Constance's cold quiet as a clue that she had killed her brother."
page 94, ( Information given by Constance's friend Emma Moody to Detective Whicher) " I have heard her say she disliked the child and pinched it, but it was done in fun," said Emma. 'She was laughing at the time she said it.' When asked what made Constance tease the younger children, Emma said, ' I believe it was through jealousy, and because the parents showed great partiality.' She explained: ' I said upon one occassion, when we were talking about the holidays - we were going for a walk towards Road - I said, ' Won't it be nice to go home shortly?' She said. ' Yes, perhaps it may to your home, but mine is different.' She said that the second family were much better treated than herself and her brother William.'
page 94, (Constance describing, according to Emma, the relationship she had with her step mother) "If I said I would have a brown dress, she would let me have black, or just the contrary."
page 103, " Whicher unearthed a peculiar incident that had taken place at Road Hill House in the spring of 1859, when Saville was two. One evening Saville's then nursemaid, Emma Sparks, put the boy to bed, as usual, in a pair of knitted socks. The next morning, wrote Whicher, the nursemaid found the clothes had been stripped from off the child, and both socks taken off.' The socks were discovered later: one on the nursery dressing table, the other in Mrs. Kent's bedroom. Whicher suspected Constance was responsible, ' As she was the only grown up member of the family except Mrs Kent who was home at the time..."
page 106, "There was a huge rise in crime reporting aided by the speed with which news could be transmitted by the electric telegraph, and newspaper readers came across accounts of violent death every week. When Mr. Wopsle in Dicken's Great Expectations (1861) reads the news, he becomes 'imbued with blood to the eyebrows.'
page 117, (contemporary descriptions of Constance) 'While she had a girlish look, her figure is remarkably developed for her age, which is only 16. Her features, which were very flushed, are rather pleasing, but have a heavy, almost sullen look, which we believe is characteristic of the family.'
page 124, (Information recieved by Lousia Hatherill, a friend of Constance) "...very stout strong built girl, and her school fellows state she was very fond of wrestling with them, and displaying her strength and wishing sometimes to play at 'Heenan and Sayers'. The heavy weight boxing match between the American John Heenan and the Briton Tom Sayers in April of that year had been a national obsession, and turned out to be the last fought under the old, brutal, bare knuckle rules.'
page 114, (describing how Whicher believed Constance kept the clothing she had worn during the murder from being missed. She caused an unstained night dress belonging to her to become "missing.") "It was placed in two clothes baskets by the housemaid but just before she quitted the room Miss Constance came in and asked her to unpack the baskets...to see if she had left her purse in her slip pocket...this I believe was part of her stratagem to ascertain which basket her night dress was in, as she immediately asked the housemaid to go down stairs and fetch her a glass of wter, which she did, leaving her by the room door, where she found her on her return with the water, during this time I am of the opinion she obtained possession of the night dress which had been entered in the washing book and took it again into use which the end of the week when the washing came home she calculated, it would be missed, and the laundress blamed, and that would account for her being one short if interrogated on this point.'
page 141, ' To conceal the destruction of the evidence, Whicher believed, Constance engineered things so that an innocent night dress was believed lost, by someone other than herself. Her sister and the housemaid would swear that the night dress went into the basket, also that it was not blood stained. She directed attention away from the house, it was a side step. A concealment of murder at one remove.' (Constance confirmed his theory when she confessed. She said she had taken the night dress which was blood stained and washed it out in a basin of water in her room. She then laid the recently washed night dress out on her bed.)
page 157, "It was almost inconceivable that a respectable girl could be so possessed of enough fury and emotion to kill, and enough cool to cover it. The public preferred to believe in the detectives villany, to attribute the moral pollution to him.'
I would love to hear the thoughts you guys have on this case.
