Ada Elizabeth Richards, of 54 Sartoris-road, Rushden, died "under peculiar circumstances" on Thursday, 15th November 1899. An inquest was held in the Oakley Arms, Wellingborough-road, on Saturday 18th November, before J T Parker, Coroner. Dr W A Durrance, Wellingborough-road, Rushden: I was called to see the deceased woman on 15th November at 6.30a.m. I was fetched by a neighbour. I went at once, and saw her at her residence. She complained of being ill the night before. She had vomited, and had pains in her abdomen, and diarrhoea. She was in bed, prostrate, with attacks of pain. There was a bowl beside the bed with three-quarters of a pint of vomited matter in it, tinged with dark brown. She said it was cocoa and medicine she had been taking. At the mention of medicine, I asked her if she had been attended by another doctor. She said, "No. I got the medicine because I was a fortnight behind my time." I said she was wrong to take it, but she said she thought she had a cold. She said the medicine was obtained the previous week, and her period had arrived the day I was called. I visited again at 2.30. She was rather worse. On Thursday, at ten a.m., I saw her and she was worse. She was so seriously ill that I asked to see the medicine she had taken. The husband gave me the bottle [produced]. I sealed it up and took it home. I smelt it but could not recognise any ingredient. It is the same now as when I received it from Richards. I made a new, different prescription, and visited again early in the afternoon. She was quite collapsed, and I though she would not recover. I did not tell her that. I was fetched again about six o’clock, and she died while I was there, about 6.30p.m. Coroner: Did the husband hand you the medicine in her presence? Dr. Durrance: Yes. She heard me ask for it, and she pointed to it. She said she got if from a chemist in Duck-street. I made a note of that on the bottle. It would hold about eight ounces, and about six ounces had gone. She died of gastro-enteritis, but I cannot state the cause of that. I made a post mortem examination with Dr. Baker. She was not under nourished. There were no external marks of violence. The main irgans were quite normal and healthy. In the abdominal cavity, I found about half a pint of blood-stained serum. The intestines were distended. The stomach contained half a pint of dark fluid which had no characteristic odour. The intestines contained one and a half pints of dark brown fluid. Their walls were very congested, especially the upper part of the small intestine. There was no peritonitis. The uterus was larger than normal, and the interior contained clotted blood and the remains of decidual membrane, but no ovum, which had evidently been recently aborted. The wall of the cervix was congested, but otherwise healthy. There was evidence of discharged follicles. I should say she had been pregnant five or six weeks. That would tally with her statement that she was a fortnight over her time. There was nothing to show the cause of the abortion. There were no marks of mechanical means. The fatal gastro-enteritis was caused by some irritant, but I am not prepared to say what it was. I took the contents of the stomach, the gall bladder, a piece of the liver, and some of the contents of the intestines, and sealed them up in three separate jars, and handed them to Police Sergeant Birrill. On Thursday, 16th, I went to Mr Foster Vorley in Duck-street, and asked him what medicine he had supplied to Mrs Richards. At first, he did not know who she was. I said it was important he should remember, as she had died. He then said he had given her medicine that he himself had prepared from herbs. He did not consider it harmful. I did not show him the bottle. He told me what the herbs were, using popular words, not scientific terms, so I did not recognise them. I remember he mentioned "rue" and "pennyroyal". The latter is used by some persons to procure an abortion, but there is nothing in it that can be relied upon to have that effect. Rue is an irritant, not used in proper medicines. It might have caused the appearance I saw in the bowels. Neither of those ingredients would be for a cold. I pointed out to Vorley that the strength or harmlessness of the medicine was not an offence, but the purpose for which it was given was. I was with him ten minutes, but he did not say what he gave her the medicine for. He asked if I would write a death certificate, and I said I would not. He said this matter would ruin him. He did not press me to give a certificate, just asked me to. Foster Vorley was represented at the Inquest by James Heygate, who had advised him not to give evidence. [He was not obliged to incriminate himself.] James Heygate: Was the deceased anaemic before her illness? Dr.: Only from hearsay and reading. Rue is used by housewives as an aperient. I cannot say if they are dangerous because I have no experience of either of them. The size of the dose matters. A small dose would be harmless. Paul Cave (Juryman): Did the husband persuade her to take it? Dr: He said not. Mr Vorley is a herbalist not a qualified chemist or druggist. He sells the herbs at his shop. Coroner to Vorley: Do you wish to give evidence at this stage? Vorley: No. Coroner: As we know, procuring an abortion is a felony itself, and if a person does something to cause the death of another, he is criminally liable. Leonard Joseph Richards: I am a carpenter and joiner. The body is that of my wife. She was 29 years old. She has had three children, two still living. She complained of feeling chilly on Sunday. On Monday, she had a sore throat, but on Tuesday she was a little better, and did her work as best she could. She was unwell that evening, and went to bed early. She did not say there was anything serious until 3.30 in the morning, when she asked me to call somebody. I fetched a neighbour, Mrs. Morris, at 6a.m. I couldn’t make her hear until then. In the meantime, I got my wife a drink. Mrs Morris advised me to get a doctor, and my wife agreed. Mrs. Morris went for the doctor. On the previous Tuesday, 7th, my wife told me about getting medicine from Mr Vorley. She told me she felt unwell. I advised her not to take any medicine, but the same evening she told me she had taken some. I did not see her take it. We talked about it, and I told her I was cross at her taking it. On Saturday she said she had been to get some more because she had taken all the first bottle. I believe it was Sunday she told me she had taken some of the second bottle, but I am not certain. She seemed poorly, and was shivering all the time. On Sunday she was still saying she only had a cold, and it was preventing her being "unwell" at the proper time. I first saw the medicine on Monday when it was downstairs in a cupboard. There was more fluid in it than now. He told me that she had told Vorley she only had a cold. Superintendent Alexander: Did she take anything else? Richards: She took some pills as well. On Thursday week, she said she would get some pills from Mr. Vorley because of her terms. She got them that evening. I have searched the house for pills, but I can’t find any. I don’t know how many she bought, nor how many she took. At dinner-time on Thursday, the day she died she told me she did not think she would recover. Supt. Alexander: Was she ill the other times she was pregnant? Richards: She was confined three times, and had bad illnesses each time. She had a dread of having any more children, but she took the medicine for a cold. She told me she would not take anything to do her harm, if she knew it. Coroner: Why did you tell your wife not to take the medicine? Richards: It did not come from a qualified doctor. The inquest was adjourned. It should be noted that Dr. Durrance was not being arrogant about the popular names of Vorley’s herbs. [The 1898 edition of the British Pharmacopoedia, "published under the direction of the General Council of medical Education and registration of the United Kingdom" has no mention of rue or pennyroyal.] The inquest re-opened at 5.30p.m. on 5th December, at the Vestry Hall. Crowds stood outside. Police Sergeant Birrill, stationed at Rushden: On November 18th, I took to Dr. Stevenson at Guy’s Hospital, three jars and one bottle, handed to me by Dr. Durrance. Heygate: Dr. Durrance, do you agree that gastro-enteritis might be caused by indigestible food, such as pork-pie, tinned meat, veal, or hard cheese? Dr.: Yes. Certainly. [He proceeded to give p[ossible medical causes of gastro-enteritis. Heygate: Might there be follicles discharged other than in pregnancy? Dr.: Yes. After menstruation. She could not have known she was pregnant at that early stage. She might have suspected it. Heygate: Do you adhere to your statement that pennyroyal could have produced the appearances you found? Dr.: Since the first day of the inquest, I have looked at several authorities on the subject. I cannot verify my statement that it is an irritant. I have had no experience of it. Dr. Baker, Rushden: I assisted Dr. Durrance at the post mortem, and I agree with the evidence he gave. In my opinion the deceased woman was pregnant, though she might not have known. She couldn’t have been sure — only suspected it. A cold might have delayed menstruation. Dr. Durrance: I prescribed for the deceased two bottles of medicine. Both contained opium and hyosyanus. Dr. J. T. Stevenson: I am senior scientific analyst at the Home Office. On November 18th, I received from Sergeant Birrill, four bottles sealed with red wax. The medicine contained rue, pennyroyal and other things that might be given to induce menstruation. It was not likely to cause abortion in a healthy pregnant woman, but if used continually, its action in the bowels might cause abortion by indirect action. The bottles did not contain any poison or noxious substances. A healthy woman could take it without danger to her health. Mr Noble, juryman: Would you give it for a cold? Dr. Stevenson: I would not give a nauseous mixture like that. [Laughter] I don’t know what it would do for a cold. [Laughter] Heygate: You found none of the main contents of the medicine in the stomach? Dr. Stevenson: Neither in the stomach nor the intestines. Coroner, summing up: The reason for this inquiry arises from the law that provided that is a person takes medicine with the intention of procuring an abortion, whether pregnant or not, that is an offence. If a person administers those medicines, he is guilty of felony. She was a fortnight over proper time. She went to Foster Vorley, but we do not know what was said, because Mr. Vorley has declined to give evidence. She told her husband she had a cold, and she might well have told Mr. Vorley the same. I do not seek to put any construction on Mr. Vorley’s silence, but he might have given some explanation at the first day of the inquest that could have saved an adjournment. We supplied a most extraordinary mixture, which seems to have been no good for anything except to upset the stomach thoroughly. We have no evidence of any pills. They might have been perfectly harmless. We do not know how much medicine she was advised to take. Heygate: Pardon me, but on the bottle, it states “One tablespoon three times a day”. Coroner: I must rectify my statement. If she only took that, she might have suffered no harm, but she could have taken a larger dose. In law there is no difference between a medical practitioner and a herbalist. Anyone is entitled to practise as a herbalist if he takes the risk. If an unqualified person prescribes a medicine, and the patient is killed by it, that could be manslaughter. Does Vorley some withing that? It was a nauseous mixture. Even the Doctor did not know some of the ingredients. The Doctor said she died from gastro-enteritis and this medicine might have caused it. Heygate: The Doctor withdrew that statement tonight. The jury requested the press and the public to withdraw while they deliberated for forty minutes. Their verdict was "That Ada Elizabeth Richards died of gastro-enteritis cause by her taking certain medicine with a view to bringing about certain natural functions of the body that had been retarded, and that the said Ada Elizabeth Richards died by misadventure." A rider called attention to the unsatisfactory state of the law which allows unqualified persons to prescribe medicines. The Coroner promised to forward that to the Home Secretary. The jury handed their fees, a total of £1. 16s., to the deceased woman’s husband.