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In the final episode of season 10, I tell the story of Annie Gross and Jessie Mackintosh.
In the early hours of December 1, 1912, 29-year-old Annie Gross shot and killed 33-year-old Jessie Mackintosh as she retired to her room after a social gathering at a boarding house in Russell Square, London.
Jessie was having an affair with Annie's husband, Harry, although it's worth mentioning that the couple had separated at the time.
Despite initially seeming to confess to murdering Jessie, Annie later testified that her tumultuous and abusive marriage led her to attempt to kill her husband, which is who claimed she thought she had shot that morning.
Amazingly, the jury bought Annie's story and found her guilty of manslaughter, despite it being a murder trial, in mid-January 1913.
Mr Justice Darling handed her a five-year prison sentence and did not pretend to agree with the jury's verdict.
Intro music:
David John Brady - 'Throw Down the Gauntlet'
linktr.ee/davidjohnbradymusic
References:
A DOUBT IN THE CASE. (1912, August 23). Southwark and Bermondsey Recorder, 3.
ACTRESS SHOT DEAD. (1912, December 2). Daily Mirror, 6.
Annie Gross tried for Murder 1912. (2010, July 17). The Black Presence in Britain. Retrieved June 4, 2023, from https://blackpresence.co.uk/annie-gross-tried-for-murder-1912/
ANNIE POKE GROSS. (n.d.). Old Bailey Proceedings Online. Retrieved June 4, 2023, from https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?div=t19130107-50
ANOTHER WOMAN’S HUSBAND. (1912, August 19). Daily Herald, 8.
BLACK AND WHITE: THE BOARDING HOUSE TRAGEDY. (1913, January 16). St. Austell Star, 2.
BLACK WOMAN’S JEALOUSY: PRISON FOR KILLING WHITE RIVAL. (1913, January 11). Daily Citizen (Manchester), 8.
BLOOMSBURY MURDER. (1912, December 14). Lyttelton Times, 11.
BLOOMSBURY MURDER ARREST. (1912, December 14). Westerham Herald, 2.
Bloomsbury Tragedy. (1913, January 17). Holborn and Finsbury Guardian, 5.
“COFFEE COOLER” CRAIG GOES FREE. (1912, December 22). Reynolds’s Newspaper, 9.
Green, J. (2020, June 23). 102: The Vengeance of Annie Gross, 1912. jeffreygreen.co.uk. Retrieved June 4, 2023, from https://jeffreygreen.co.uk/102-the-vengeance-of-annie-gross-1912/
MURDER OF AN ACTRESS: TRIAL OF THE ACCUSED. (1913, January 10). Shields Daily News, 3.
MURDERED ACTRESS. (1912, December 15). Reynolds’s Newspaper, 10.
PRETTY JESSIE MACKINTOSH, WHO WAS REHEARSING FOR PANTOMIME, IS MURDERED IN LONDON. (1912, December 2). Dundee Evening Telegraph, 4.
THE WOMAN IN THE CASE. (1912, August 18). Reynolds’s Newspaper, 3.
TRAGEDY OF JEALOUSY. (1912, December 6). Dartmouth & South Hams Chronicle, 2.
TRIANGLE DRAMA IN BLACK & WHITE. (1927, March 20). The People, 7.
