81

And Then There Were None…

Martha Needle successfully murdered her entire family before moving on to another family and she would have also murdered all of them had she not been just a touch ambitious. Martha was born in South Australia on 9 April 1863. In 1880, the ravishing 17-year-old married her childhood sweetheart, 22-year-old carpenter Henry Needle. Two years later they moved to Victoria and settled in Richmond, where Martha gave birth to a girl named Mabel.

On 28 February 1885, 3-year-old Mabel died after having been sick for two months with a mysterious illness. Outwardly, Martha lapsed into fits of depression. In private, she found consolation in a cheque for £100 from the insurance company she had taken out a policy on Mabel’s life with.

Two more daughters, May and Elsie, were then born in quick succession, but the Needles’ marriage wasn’t going well. Henry was a brooding, quick-tempered man who didn’t think twice about taking his hand to his wife, whom he treated as a slave. Martha secretly took out a £200 insurance policy on his life. Soon after, Henry fell ill. His health deteriorated rapidly, even though his wife maintained a bedside vigil and nursed him constantly. Martha collapsed when doctors conceded there was nothing they could do. Henry died on the morning of 4 October 1889. The death certificate read ‘inflammation of the liver and intestines’.

Now a wealthy widow, Martha opened a boarding house in Richmond, but she soon grew tired of the daily grind. In October 1890 she closed up and moved to a nearby cottage with her two children. Martha took out an insurance policy for £100 on her youngest daughter, 4-year-old Elsie. The child soon came down with a mysterious ailment. Doctors said she was dying of an incurable ‘wasting disease’. On 9 December 1890, Elsie passed away.

Neighbours and friends rallied around the distraught Martha – who checked the letterbox every day to see if the cheque from the insurance company had arrived so she could start a new life with her last daughter, 5-year-old May.

For six months May and her mother consoled each other. And in case the run of bad health should continue, Martha took out an insurance policy on May for £60.

Six months after Elsie’s death, May came down with a mystery illness. Diagnosing incurable tubercular meningitis, doctors gave her no hope of survival. She died on 27 August 1891.

Without a family, and with few friends to speak of, 29-year-old Martha became lonely, but she soon found company – she became a housekeeper for Louis and Otto Juncken. Martha lived with the brothers in premises above their business. After rejecting the advances of Louis, the older brother, she started a relationship with Otto, who was many years her junior. As the relationship grew more intense, Louis grew more jealous. He worked hard to discourage the relationship, but in August 1893 he was struck with a mysterious illness that confined him to bed.

Martha nursed him back to health. Otto was amazed at her dedication, and for a short time even Louis was appreciative of her help. But when he heard that Otto and Martha planned to wed, Louis’s jealousy re-emerged. In an attempt to break the couple up, Louis took Otto away to a holiday resort for a fortnight. They returned to find Martha in bed, supposedly about to draw her last breath. A suicide note sat in the kitchen. ‘When my body is found,’ it read, ‘let me be buried with my children.’

Otto proposed to Martha. Louis saw through her by now, and made him promise they would not marry until he had brought their mother up from Adelaide. If she approved of the union, he would give them his blessing.

On 24 April 1894, Louis again fell ill. He was soon bedridden, suffering severe vomiting attacks and chronic stomach pain. Martha again nursed him, but this time he showed no signs of improvement. Just when the doctors feared he would die, a relative arrived unexpectedly to help. She personally took charge of nursing poor Louis back to health, and by 8 May he was out of bed. Considering her job done, the relative left – Louis was now back in the care of Martha. Four days later the vomiting and stomach pain returned. Louis Juncken died on 15 May. The death certificate listed the cause as ‘inflammation of the stomach and the membranes of the heart’.

Two days later another Juncken brother, Hermann, arrived with Louis’s mother. The pair took an instant dislike to the housemaid who intended to marry Otto (Otto was away on business at the time). It didn’t take long for arguments to erupt. Martha was surprised to find that when he returned, Otto not only sided with his family, but suggested Martha move out and that his mother and Hermann move in.

Martha left, vowing revenge. She rented a cottage nearby. One of her first visitors was Hermann Juncken, who said that while he understood there was no legal way he could stop her and his brother marrying, he had decided to try and convince her that the union was not wise, as Otto was so young. While Hermann was putting his case, Martha was on her best behaviour. She asked Hermann to call again. It was only a matter of days before he returned and was made welcome by Martha, who had prepared tea and scones. As soon as he took a sip of tea to wash down the scone and homemade strawberry jam, Hermann became so ill that Martha had to call for the local medico, Dr Boyd. The doctor arrived in time to administer an emetic, undoubtedly saving his life.

Within three days Hermann was again knocking on Martha’s door. This time when he swallowed the tea she prepared the attack of nausea was even worse – if Hermann hadn’t noticed Dr Boyd’s buggy two doors away as he arrived, there is little doubt he would have died there and then. In terrible pain, Hermann staggered to the neighbour’s house where Dr Boyd was making a house call and the doctor performed emergency treatment on him.

Dr Boyd wasn’t prepared to accept the second attack as another stomach upset. He sent samples of the vomit away to be analysed. The samples showed traces of arsenic. Dr Boyd and Hermann went to the police and told them of the poisoning attempt and the deaths of Louis and Martha Needle’s entire family. They decided to set a trap.

That same afternoon, 28 May 1894, Hermann again called on Martha. As she handed him a cup of tea police appeared. They grabbed her as she tried to wrench the cup from Hermann’s hand. Analysis of the tea revealed that it contained 10.46 grains of arsenic – enough to kill five men. A search of the house unearthed a tin of Rough on Rats poison. The label read: ‘This product induces certain death.’ Friends would later recall that there always seemed to be a tin of Rough on Rats in the Needle household.

Charged with the attempted murder of Hermann Juncken, Martha was behind bars as the bodies of Louis Juncken and Henry, Elsie and May Needle were exhumed. Each showed traces of arsenic. Police proceeded with the charge of murdering Louis Juncken. The trial began on 24 September 1894, and the jury returned a guilty verdict. Martha was sentenced to death by hanging.

On 22 October 1894, Martha Needle was led to the gallows in Melbourne Gaol. She refused all offers of religious comfort. ‘Don’t strap me in too tightly,’ she said to the hangman. ‘I know that I shall go off easily. In a case like this, you see, the quietest death is the quickest.’