British Serial Killer George Smith: Seven Brides for One Brother

Yet another British serial killer, George Joseph Smith was called the Brides in the Bath Murderer as - obviously enough - he had the unpleasant habit of drowning his brides in their baths. Smith entered into seven bigamous marriages during the period 1908 through 1914 but, fortunately for most involved, killed only three of his wives. The toll could obviously have been much worse but, for the remaining four, he seemed content merely to swindle them out of their earthly possessions. He was a forerunner of the French Bluebeard, Henri Landru, but preferred to use water rather than fire for his dastardly deeds (Landru burnt his ladies' corpses in his oven).

On the face of it and, other than being dead, Margaret Elizabeth Lofty Lloyd and Alice Burnham Smith had nothing in common. Lloyd had been married to one John Lloyd before she had died in Highgate at the age of 38 during late 1914. Smith, on the other hand, had been married to one George Smith prior to her passing away in Blackpool during December 1913. They had, however, both drowned and, moreover, had both drowned in their bathtubs. They had also both been newlyweds when they drowned. And their husbands, who had, in both cases, been the first ones on the scene, also shared a remarkable physical similarity...

The owner of the boarding house in which Smith had died must have been a true crime fanatic because he noticed similarities between her death and that of Lloyd, which had been covered in articles that The News of the World newspaper had published a whole year previously. He alerted the authorities who quickly apprehended both grieving husbands - and found them to be the same man! Then they uncovered a third strikingly similar death: that of newlywed Bessie Munday Williams who had drowned in her bathtub during July 1912.

All three bodies were exhumed and subjected to further investigation by the local pathologist. Although he could confirm that the ladies had drowned, he also stated that their corpses strangely showed very little evidence of drowning and no evidence whatsoever that anything violent had happened to them immediately prior to their deaths.

Not being able to prove that the women had been murdered, the police were stymied until the officer in charge decided to experiment with a lady and a tub. Somewhat to his surprise, he found that it was extremely easy to render a victim unconscious by merely yanking her feet straight up in the air while she was on her back in the bath. This action caused her head to be submerged and water to rush into her nose and throat - and this all took place without any noticeable signs of violence. The policeman had found his murder method...but had almost lost his volunteer as it took over half an hour to revive her.

Given the findings of the above experiment, George Smith was arrested on March 23^rd 1915. In terms of the prevailing English law, he could, however, be charged with only one murder and he soon found himself standing trial for the murder of Bessie Munday. It came out during the trial that the impecunious Smith had, prior to the ladies' deaths, either spent all their money or forced them to take out life insurance policies of which he was the sole beneficiary. These policies were duly cashed in after their deaths and Smith then squandered the proceeds. This bit of information sealed his fate as it gave him a motive for the murders and he was found guilty on July 1^st 1915 and sentenced to death.

He was hanged for his crimes, though, not drowned.

Sources:
Schechter, Harold. The Serial Killer Files. New York: Ballantine Books (2003)
Wilson, Colin. The History of Murder. Edison: Castle Books (2004)
George Joseph Smith Wikipedia
Katherine Ramsland Underwater Forensics TruTV Crime Library
George Joseph Smith Murders Database
The Brides in the Bath Murders Metropolitan Police Service