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Death is an undeniable sorrow for those who lose someone close to them. Yet, at times, it's difficult for the rest of us to maintain a serious expression, especially when the circumstances are absurd. And history is full of such absurd deaths.
The Victorians, with their deep reverence for death, likely found it even more challenging. Their obsession with proper conduct, combined with their grim fascination with death, would have made attending a funeral a highly uncomfortable affair. With that in mind, attending the funerals of the following individuals must have been particularly difficult.
10. The Man Who Ingested A Mouse
Victorian factories were far from clean, and mills, in particular, were magnets for rodents. So, it shouldn't have been too surprising when, in 1875, a mouse darted across the workbench of a young factory worker.
Perhaps the girl was caught off guard, for she screamed loudly, and one of her coworkers rushed to her aid. He managed to grab the mouse, but it quickly wriggled out of his grasp and scurried up his sleeve. The brave man gasped in astonishment as the mouse reappeared from under his collar, and in its frantic search for a dark hiding place, it leapt straight into his open mouth and down his throat.
The Manchester Evening News reported, “a mouse can survive for quite some time with very little air [...] the mouse began to claw and gnaw inside the man’s throat and chest, and as a result, the poor man succumbed after enduring intense agony for a while.”
9. The Man Who Was Killed by His Alarm Clock
In the mid-1880s, Sam Wardell worked as a lamplighter in Flatbush, part of Brooklyn, New York. Lamplighters would climb ladders to light the gas lamps at dusk and return at dawn to extinguish them. They also had the additional duty of waking the neighborhood by letting people know it was time to rise.
Perhaps Sam Wardell was one of those people who struggled with early mornings. To make sure he wouldn’t sleep through his alarm, he decided to add some, let’s say, creative modifications. He attached a wire to his alarm clock and fixed the other end to a shelf. On top of the shelf, he placed a 4.5-kilogram (10 lb) stone. He rigged it so that every time the alarm rang, the shelf would collapse, causing the stone to crash to the floor and wake him up. Presumably, he had sturdy floors and no neighbors nearby.
The system worked flawlessly until Christmas Eve in 1885, when Wardell decided to host a party and invited some friends to his small one-room apartment. To make space for dancing, he pushed his furniture against the walls.
It must have been quite the celebration, because afterward, Wardell climbed into bed without bothering to move the furniture back into place.
The next morning, his alarm rang. The shelf collapsed. The stone fell directly onto his head, killing him instantly. Well, stone dead.
8. The Man Who Was Killed By A Coffin
Pallbearing is generally not considered a high-risk job. However, for Henry Taylor of London, it proved to be fatal.
In 1872, he was performing his duties at a graveside on a wet day. The ground was slippery, so mourners were asked to walk to the grave on foot to ease the burden on the funeral carriage. The coffin was carefully taken from the hearse and was being carried by six pallbearers in a solemn procession. As they neared the grave, they were instructed to turn so that the coffin would face the correct direction when lowered into the earth.
As the six men shifted around in a circle, struggling with the heavy coffin, Taylor slipped on the muddy ground, causing a disturbance among the other pallbearers. To avoid falling themselves, the others released their grip, and the coffin crashed onto Henry Taylor, killing him instantly.
7. The Woman Who Ended Her Life with Color
People have always been willing to endure pain to stay fashionable, but for Victorians, there were few limits to how far they would go to look their best. After Empress Eugenie wore a magnificent green dress to the Paris Opera in 1864, green became the color to wear. Everyone who was anyone wanted to be seen in the same emerald green shade as the Empress.
Unfortunately, that particular shade of green was created by mixing copper with arsenic. The color became so fashionable that it was incorporated into fabrics everywhere, and with it, death soon followed.
In 1861, Matilda Scheurer, a maker of artificial flowers, tragically died from accidental poisoning after dusting the petals with 'green powder.' Although the details of her death and its cause were gruesomely reported in newspapers, the demand for Paris green remained strong.
Despite the known dangers, it seems unsurprising that when Louisa Cruikshank decided to take her own life, she chose the poisonous substance. In 1882, at just 18 years old, Miss Cruikshank easily purchased the poison from an art supply store and died quickly, though painfully, shortly afterward.
6. The Man Who Swallowed a Billiard Ball
The Victorians, sadly, did not have a monopoly on foolish people. And foolish drunk people tend to act the same way today as they did then. However, in an era when people had to entertain themselves, some found more creative ways to do absurd things. Take Londoner Walter Cowle, for example.
In 1893, while out for a night of revelry, he wagered his friends that he could fit a billiard ball into his mouth and seal his lips around it. When the inquest took place, the landlord of the Carlisle Arms Tavern testified that he had given Cowle the ball under the assumption that Cowle would only pretend to put it in his mouth, using sleight of hand to hide it in his pocket instead.
However, for some reason—possibly connected to the large quantity of drinks the landlord had served—Cowle went ahead and placed the billiard ball in his mouth, immediately starting to choke. Both his drinking companion and the landlord attempted to dislodge the ball, even going so far as to turn Cowle upside down and slap his back, but nothing worked.
Though at the inquest Cowle’s friends insisted they had witnessed him perform this trick several times before, the tavern landlord had no further comments. And, of course, neither did Cowle.
5. The Woman Who Danced In Her Shroud
When Mrs. Marion Hillitz passed away in 1878 after a long, entirely routine illness, her friends and family gathered to honor her before the funeral. Her body was placed in a coffin, and mourners sat nearby, speaking softly or praying, as the atmosphere remained somber.
Imagine the shock when, out of nowhere, Mrs. Hillitz abruptly sat up in her coffin and addressed the crowd. She looked over the mourners—her family and friends clad in black—and declared, “I am not dead yet, but I will die soon.”
Newspaper reports described how Mrs. Hillitz then climbed out of her coffin and “danced around the room, sang, and shouted in a loud, ringing voice,” leaving the mourners in what must have been a mixture of shock and fear.
However, this so-called miracle was short-lived. Once her nurses managed to recover from the surprise, they put her back to bed, where she passed away for real later that evening.
4. The Man Stabbed As Part Of The Act
In 1896, Temple Edgecumbe Crozier (his real name, apparently) was tragically killed during a performance at the Novelty Theatre in London when a fellow actor stabbed him as part of the play's plot in The Sins of the Night.
For some inexplicable reason, the prop dagger had been swapped out for a real one. So, when his co-actor dramatically declared, “Die villain, die,” and plunged the knife into him during the final scene, the blade drove straight into Crozier’s heart, killing him instantly.
Needless to say, The Sins of The Night did not fare well and was pulled from the stage after a very brief run.
3. The People Who Died From A Sweet Tooth
Sugar has always been known to be highly addictive. And, like any addictive substance, its demand often exceeds supply. In Victorian Britain, where sugar—referred to as “white gold”—was pricey, enterprising grocers would often cut it with cheaper substances. How times have changed.
The inexpensive powder used to stretch sugar was known as “daft” or “daff,” typically made from materials like plaster of Paris or powdered limestone.
In 1858, a sweet seller known as “Humbug Billy” ran a stall in Bradford, located in the north of England. Unfortunately, his suppliers mistakenly purchased 5.4 kilograms (12 lb) of arsenic instead of the expected plaster of Paris that was meant to cut their product.
Unaware of this mix-up, Humbug Billy continued selling the tainted sweets. He even tasted them himself and became ill but, rather than discarding the stock, he opted for a discount and kept selling. While enough sweets were sold to potentially kill 2,000 people, the quick actions of the town crier—who alerted the locals about the cause of the illness—meant that only 21 people died, though 200 others required treatment for arsenic poisoning.
2. The First Motor Vehicle Fatality
While traffic accidents have become an all-too-common occurrence today, back in 1869, there had yet to be a death caused by a motor vehicle. That was until August 31, when Mary Ward became the very first victim of the automobile. At the time, automobiles were known as “road locomotives,” resembling steam trains with rubber tires, weighing in at about 1.5 metric tons.
Mary Ward was an extraordinary woman who had made significant contributions to science and astronomy. With her insatiable curiosity, she eagerly accepted the opportunity to ride in her husband’s newly acquired car.
Although the car was traveling at a mere 6.4 kilometers per hour (4 mph), Mary fell from the passenger seat as the vehicle made a sharp turn, and the large rear wheel ran directly over her. The newspapers, while tactfully reporting her cause of death as 'dislocation of the neck,' were surely being more discreet about the full circumstances.
1. The Servant Who Died Reenacting A Death
In October 1881, a man instructed his servant, a rather simple fellow named Hague, to retrieve a gun he planned to give as a gift. Upon collecting the revolver, Hague, for reasons unknown, decided to inspect the trigger mechanism closely and, while doing so, foolishly pressed the gun to his face, accidentally shooting himself in the mouth. The injury was immediately fatal.
A second servant, who witnessed the tragic accident, called the police. Once the authorities arrived, she picked up the gun to demonstrate how the incident had unfolded, inadvertently reenacting the fatal event for them.
Much like Hague before her, she lifted the gun to her face to inspect it, and just as he had, she inadvertently pulled the trigger. The bullet passed through her mouth, and she, too, perished, which certainly made the situation much easier for the police to understand.
