Murder
Elizabeth started an affair with her uncle's man-servant, John Swan. When it seemed increasingly likely that her uncle would carry out his threat regarding the will, she and Swan plotted to kill her uncle. They paid a man named Matthews to get them a brace of pistols. Matthews saw Elizabeth and John in the house on the night of the murder on July 3, 1751, and learned what they intended to do - John made him swear not to tell anyone. She and John then went upstairs and killed her uncle. They made it seem as though her uncle had been the victim of a botched robbery and raised the alarm. Elizabeth was arrested, however she was released when no evidence could be found. The police then began a search for Matthews, whom she had implicated. He was located and told the police everything he knew. She and John were imprisoned to await trial.
Read more about this topic: Elizabeth Jeffries
Famous quotes containing the word murder:
“Master say: He who takes what gods may send has learned life’s most important lesson.”
—Joseph O’Donnell. Clifford Sanforth. Ah Ling, Murder by Television, when he is accused of Perry’s murder (1935)
“What drivel it all is!... A string of words called religion. Another string of words called philosophy. Half a dozen other strings called political ideals. And all the words either ambiguous or meaningless. And people getting so excited about them they’ll murder their neighbours for using a word they don’t happen to like. A word that probably doesn’t mean as much as a good belch. Just a noise without even the excuse of gas on the stomach.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“As I sat before the fire on my fir-twig seat, without walls above or around me, I remembered how far on every hand that wilderness stretched, before you came to cleared or cultivated fields, and wondered if any bear or moose was watching the light of my fire; for Nature looked sternly upon me on account of the murder of the moose.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)