- 2 days ago
A case from 1870's USA of a man who became infactuated with someone other than his wife
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Please remember to subscribe and hit the bell icon as well as leave a like and a comment for more videos every week!
Brief Case is a True Crime Channel focusing on old or lost cases that have been forgotten to history. If you have any recommendations for future cases that you would like to bring to light, feel free to reach out to me to: briefcaseuk@gmail.com
Music by CO.AG Music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwZB4l43iTw&t=105s
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NewsTranscript
00:08Today we are looking at a case from the second part of the 19th century.
00:13So sit back as we go to the USA.
00:20George Crozier was born in 1833 in the small town of Benton,
00:25in the northern part of Yates County, in the Finger Lakes region of the state of New York.
00:30His grandfather had emigrated from Scotland in 1801,
00:33and young George was brought up in a strict religious family,
00:37along with his elder brother named David.
00:39The family were respected and industrious people,
00:43and George himself was considered to be a person of integrity and moral rectitude.
00:48In 1855, George married Miss Fanny Becker,
00:52a charming 19-year-old who had been adopted and brought up by her uncle.
00:57Following the wedding, they continued to live in Benton,
01:01and were seen as a dignified and virtuous couple.
01:03On the 6th of January 1857, Fanny gave birth to their only child,
01:09a boy who they named Frank.
01:11Life went on for the Crozier family,
01:13and the following years saw many changes in the United States.
01:16After the Civil War, the country started to transform into an industrial urbanized nation.
01:22There was much technological innovation.
01:25The railway network was expanding.
01:27The economy grew, and agricultural production increased.
01:31But at the same time, there were social tensions,
01:34brought about by the increasing demands of life in the latter part of the 19th century.
01:40George had become quite friendly with a young lady named Minerva Dutcher.
01:43She came from a large family, of which she was the oldest child.
01:47She went to the local school, attended church, and sang in the choir.
01:52All the pursuits are expected of a young lady in the 1870s.
01:56However, by 1872, people were starting to comment about why Mr. George Crozier,
02:02a gentleman of nearly 40 years of age,
02:04was spending so much time in the company of Miss Minerva Dutcher.
02:08He had been seen out on a number of occasions walking past her house,
02:12and when she came out, the pair would then walk off together.
02:15He had also been seen near her school, and she would leave the classroom to speak to him.
02:20He would also pass her little messages that he had previously written,
02:24and of course, he would see her in church.
02:27Between 1872 and 1875, it seemed that everyone in Benton was aware that Mr. Crozier was infatuated by Miss Dutcher,
02:36and it appeared that she reciprocated his feelings.
02:43On the 15th of July 1875, Mrs. Fanny Crozier, a lady who had previously experienced very good health,
02:51was unexpectedly taken ill.
02:53She had very bad stomach pains, but attributed this to eating cucumbers.
02:57She took to her bed, and although she felt unwell,
03:01over the next few days she started to feel a little better during this time.
03:05She was regularly attended by her husband.
03:08However, on the 27th of July, she again started to feel ill.
03:12A friend named Miss Sarah Towner was passing the house,
03:15and saw Mr. Crozier sitting in his porch.
03:18She asked him if Mrs. Crozier was home, and he said that she was,
03:23but she was feeling unwell, and had taken to her bed.
03:26Mrs. Towner went to the bedroom, and saw that Fanny seemed to be in great distress.
03:31She was vomiting, and complaining that she had horrible pains in her stomach.
03:35Mrs. Towner asked Mr. Crozier why he had not asked a doctor to attend his wife.
03:40But Mr. Crozier just shrugged his shoulders, and replied that a doctor had already seen her,
03:45and given her powders of sub-nitrate of bismuth,
03:48which Mr. Crozier said he had prepared for his wife to take as a doctor prescribed.
03:52He thought that calling him back would be of no use.
03:55Mrs. Towner decided to go and speak to Dr. Barber herself.
03:59She explained to him that her friend Mrs. Crozier was not at all well,
04:03and Dr. Barber then agreed to go and see her again that evening.
04:06He arrived at around 9 o'clock, and found that Mrs. Crozier's condition had not improved.
04:12She was suffering from a swollen stomach, a dry throat, and a rapid pulse.
04:17Dr. Barber prepared some different medicine, and explained to Mr. Crozier exactly how it should be administered.
04:23He said that he would return the following morning to check on the patient.
04:28The next morning Mrs. Crozier was no better, and doctor told her to keep taking the medicine.
04:33The following day, Thursday the 29th of July, Mr. and Mrs. Crozier's son named Frank,
04:39arrived at Dr. Barber's house very early, and informed him that his mother was in a particularly bad way.
04:45Dr. Barber immediately went to the Crozier's property.
04:48By now it was 6am, and Mrs. Crozier was unable to speak, and her pupils had contracted.
04:54Dr. James Allen also came to assist.
04:57He suggested that she may be more comfortable if they moved her to the parlour,
05:01but shortly after, Mrs. Fanny Crozier died.
05:05Mr. Crozier told Dr. Barber that he did not want any examination of his wife,
05:10and was concerned, as he was aware that another lady who had died a few years earlier had been cut
05:15up.
05:15He wanted to be able to bury his wife, and have time for him and his son to grieve.
05:20Two days later, on Saturday the 31st of July, 1875, the funeral took place of Mrs. Fanny Crozier.
05:28Most of the town turned out to pay their respects to a charming lady, who had been a popular member
05:34of the local community.
05:35She was only 37 years old.
05:38A week after the tragic death of the wife of Mr. George Crozier,
05:42his son Frank was married to a young lady named Miss Emma Armstrong.
05:46Frank thought that his father needed support, so he and his wife went to live with him.
05:51However, at the end of August, Miss Minerva Dutcher also moved into the Crozier residence.
05:58Apparently, George had hired her to work as his housekeeper.
06:01Emma told him that she would take care of the house, and that Frank would help out,
06:06so there was no need for him to hire Miss Dutcher.
06:10Mr. Crozier, however, informed her that the young lady's trunk had already arrived at the house,
06:15and there wasn't any use in talking any more about it.
06:18Mr. Crozier had been seen to pass notes in church to Minerva just a few days after his wife had
06:25died.
06:25He'd also been seen meeting her at the graveyard where his wife was buried,
06:29and walking with her towards her house.
06:32Rumours of some sort of improper relationship between Mr. Crozier and Miss Dutcher
06:37had been circling around Benton for a long time, long before Mrs. Crozier had died.
06:42But now there was speculation that the cause of Mrs. Fanny Crozier's demise may have been due to something quite
06:49sinister.
06:50Some of Mrs. Crozier's friends had long since suspected that there had been more to her death than a sudden
06:56illness.
06:57In October 1875, three months after she died, the coroner ordered that her body should be exhumed,
07:05and that the contents of her stomach and liver examined,
07:08Dr. Frank Tompkins, along with Dr. James Waddle and Dr. Barber,
07:13were instructed to go to the grave of Mrs. Crozier in order to remove vital organs that could then be
07:19analysed.
07:20They intended to remove the stomach, but the body was very much decomposed,
07:25and instead they extracted the lungs and heart.
07:28When they realised their mistake, they returned to the grave,
07:31and removed the deceased stomach and a portion of her liver.
07:35These were then put in jars and sent to Professor John Towler,
07:39who was a professor of chemistry and toxology at the Medical College of Geneva in New York.
07:44Professor Towler found that there were quite significant traces of arsenic in the stomach of Mrs. Crozier,
07:50and this had undoubtedly caused her death.
07:54Mr. George Crozier was then arrested and charged with murder.
08:00The small town of Benton was shocked that such an upstanding citizen as Mr. George Crozier
08:05would be arrested and charged with the murder of his wife.
08:09He claimed he was innocent, and many residents believed him to be so.
08:13His trial began on the 6th of March 1876 in the courthouse in Pen Yan, an incorporated village in Yates
08:21County in the state of New York.
08:23Mr. Crozier pleaded not guilty.
08:26The prosecution outlined the facts of the case.
08:29They claimed that the 42-year-old defendant had poisoned his wife, 37-year-old Mrs. Fanny Crozier,
08:36as he wanted to be with Miss Minerva Dutcher, an 18-year-old young lady with whom he was very
08:41much infatuated.
08:43Many witnesses were called to help the prosecution prove their case.
08:47Miss Sarah Towner told of how she had been present when Mrs. Crozier died.
08:52Mr. Robert Paul informed the court of how he was in charge of the cemetery and was present when Mrs.
08:58Crozier's body was exhumed,
08:59so toxology tests could be performed.
09:01Dr. Tompkins, Waddell, Barber, Alan Stevens, as well as Professor Towler, all gave evidence.
09:09Dr. Barber described the remedies he had made up for Mrs. Crozier during her period of illness.
09:14And Professor Towler told of how he had tested for the presence of poisons in Mrs. Crozier's body,
09:19and how he discovered that there was evidence of arsenic.
09:22Other witnesses spoke of how Mr. Crozier would spend as much time as possible in the company of Miss Dutcher.
09:29Minnie Truesdell told the court that Miss Minerva Dutcher had worked in the house of her parents.
09:35She said that Mr. Crozier would often visit, and that Miss Dutcher would go outside through the back door in
09:40the kitchen and talk to him.
09:41She said that this happened quite regularly.
09:44Minnie Truesdell's brother, Childs, confirmed his sister's story.
09:48Witnesses testified to have seen George Crozier passing notes to Miss Dutcher in the church,
09:53and all witnesses believed that despite their age difference, they had always seemed very fond of each other.
09:59A gentleman named Mr. David Armstrong told of how he had seen the defendant and Miss Dutcher together on many
10:05occasions.
10:06He said that he first noticed that they seemed very friendly in 1872.
10:10He saw them walking to and from church together.
10:13He added that Mr. Crozier regularly distributed the Sunday school paper in church,
10:18and usually ended up by giving the last paper to Minerva, and would then sit next to her.
10:23He also told of the time the defendant and his wife were at a picnic at Crosby's Woods,
10:28and when the picnic ended, Mrs. Crozier was packing up when Mr. Crozier came over to her,
10:34and Mrs. Crozier then said,
10:36George, you have been playing around with the girls all day.
10:40Now come and help me pack the things.
10:42To which Mr. Crozier replied,
10:44Shut up, or I will jab you right down your throat.
10:47Mr. Armstrong said that Mr. Crozier had a roll of jelly cake in his hand,
10:52and when speaking to his wife, raised his voice somewhat, and appeared excited.
10:57Although no one had actually seen Mr. George Crozier poison his wife,
11:01the prosecution had produced many witnesses that had seen him on many occasions with Miss Dutcher,
11:07and it seemed apparent that he was very fond of the young lady.
11:10There was indeed a motive for him wanting to be rid of his wife.
11:14The defense, however, presented a very different case.
11:18They told the court that any evidence against the defendant was circumstantial,
11:22and that all the evidence presented by the prosecution was weak and unreliable.
11:27They did not suggest that the cause of death of Mrs. Fanny Crozier was not arsenic poisoning,
11:32but they told the court that the arsenic was not administered by the defendant.
11:36They said that when Mrs. Fanny Crozier became ill, Mr. Crozier asked Dr. Barber to attend her.
11:42Dr. Barber had already said that he had prescribed Mrs. Crozier with powders of sub-nitrate of bismuth.
11:49Dr. Charles Woodward now stood in the witness box and informed the jury that medical books caution using this,
11:57as it contains arsenic.
11:59Dr. Henry Nichols then gave the court a detailed report about arsenic poisoning.
12:03He said that it was an irritant poison and acts pretty directly on the nervous system.
12:08If Dr. Barber had prescribed a too large a dose of powders of sub-nitrate of bismuth,
12:15it was possible that Mrs. Crozier could have died as a result.
12:19The defense also claimed that Mrs. Crozier believed that she was dying of stomach cancer,
12:24and as she did not want to suffer, had decided to take her own life.
12:28A gentleman named Mr. Martin Barden said that Mrs. Crozier had told him that she was sick with stomach cancer,
12:35so it would take something before she was too ill to do so.
12:38Mrs. Crozier's son Frank also gave evidence.
12:41He said that his mother had told him that if she was ill with stomach cancer, she would make way
12:46with herself.
12:47Frank then said that he told her that she should not think to do such a thing,
12:51because if she did, blame would be laid on either himself or his father.
12:56Frank went on to say that his mother told him that this would not be so,
13:00and that no one would ever know what she had done.
13:02He also said that his mother had asked him to purchase arsenic to kill rats,
13:06but he had forgotten, so instead his father purchased it.
13:10However, other witnesses, such as Mr. Crozier's sister-in-law, Mrs. Dolly Crozier,
13:16told the court that the deceased had never mentioned anything about suffering from stomach cancer to her.
13:21The defence reminded the jury that on the day of Mrs. Crozier's death,
13:25Mr. Crozier had sent for Dr. Allen, a very respectable and capable doctor.
13:30Even though Dr. Barber was attending Mrs. Crozier, they claimed he did this,
13:35as he was very worried about her and wanted another medical opinion.
13:39The defence stressed that this was not the actions of a man who had the intention of ridding himself of
13:45his wife.
13:45It was the testimony of Mr. Crozier's daughter-in-law, Mrs. Emma Crozier, that was the most controversial.
13:53She told the court that following Mrs. Crozier's death, her father-in-law, Mr. George Crozier,
13:59had told her that there had been arsenic in their pantry, which they had kept for the purpose of killing
14:04rats.
14:05But a few days after his wife's passing, Mr. Crozier had discovered that the arsenic had gone.
14:11Mrs. Emma Crozier said that her father-in-law had told her
14:14that he feared that Fanny may have taken it, as she believed that she was suffering from stomach cancer,
14:20and had said that if she was, she would put herself out of the way.
14:24However, Mrs. Emma Crozier's most damning testimony was still to come.
14:30She said that following her father-in-law's arrest, she visited him in jail.
14:34He asked her if his wife, Mrs. Fanny Crozier, had ever told her that she would take arsenic if it
14:41was found that she was suffering from cancer of the stomach,
14:44to which Mrs. Emma Crozier said that she replied that she had not.
14:47Mr. Crozier then asked if she would say that his wife had indeed said that to her, to which she
14:53replied that she would only tell the truth.
14:56Ms. Crozier continued, she said that Mr. Crozier had then asked if she would swear to it that his wife
15:02had said that,
15:03and said that if she would, he would make sure that she did not want for anything.
15:07However, Mrs. Emma Crozier told the court that her reply was the same, that she would only speak the truth.
15:13When the trial ended, the judge spent some time summing up the case, before the jury was sent out to
15:19consider the verdict.
15:21They returned two hours later, to find the defendant, Mr. George Crozier, guilty of murder.
15:28When asked if he had anything to say, Mr. Crozier said in a calm voice,
15:33Your honour, I stand before you, and I expect to stand before my heavenly Father, to answer for what I
15:40have done here.
15:41I claim my innocence. I claim that the testimony given by Emma Crozier, my daughter-in-law, against me, is
15:48utterly false.
15:50I stand before God, and before these witnesses, and protest my innocence.
15:55The judge then sentenced him to death. The verdict was appealed, and a retrial sought, but both were denied.
16:02However, his execution date was changed from the 3rd of May to the 16th of June.
16:07This gave sufficient time, for a petition asking for the sentence to be commuted, to be presented to the State
16:13Governor.
16:14Eventually, it was agreed that the sentence would be changed to life in prison, but on the condition that the
16:20defence accept the guilty verdict,
16:22and did not campaign for a second trial, Mr. George E. Crozier was then sent to serve his punishment at
16:28the State Prison in Auburn,
16:30and this is where he died, 20 years later in 1896.
16:34Throughout his time in prison, he always maintained that he was innocent, and that he had not poisoned his wife.
16:41Following Mr. Crozier's conviction, Minerva Dutcher continued to live in Benton.
16:46She married a gentleman named John Calhoun, and went on to have five children.
16:51She died in the nearby village of Pen Yan in October 1915.
16:55She was 58 years old.
17:00Hello everyone, and thank you so much for listening.
17:03As usual, please leave any comments or feedback you may have, and I hope to see you all again in
17:10the next brief case.
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