Members of the jury…this is your opportunity to read the evidence and consider your verdict in the bizarre case of the Sheringham poison-pen letters which attracted world-wide attention a century ago.
Back in 1924 the jury in two hearings at Norwich Assizes could not agree on guilty or not guilty and were discharged.
When the time came for a third trial the prosecution offered no evidence and Dorothy Myrtle Thurburn finally walked free.
She had been accused of sending scurrilous letters to many of the wealthy residents of Sheringham and the quiet seaside town was in turmoil.
The reason for telling this story is that Jan Crossen has just published a brilliant book called The Unknown Hand in which she gives the extraordinary evidence and asks readers to reach their own verdict.
It has taken Jane several years to write this book, gathering information from many sources, including court records and many newspaper archives from as far afield as New Zealand, Australia and America.
She came across the events white researching a member of the Hewitt family in 2017.
Doris, one of the residents most maligned in the letters, was a free-spirited, carefree girl and the daughter of a “veterinary medicine manufacturer.”
As Jane points out these happenings are of great interest, not just to the Sheringham folk, but to anyone interested in yesterday’s equivalent of today’s “trolling” on social media and to the machinations of court procedures and how the events were reported in newspapers.
And the fact that in the second trial Sir Edward Marshall Hall, KC, considered to be the greatest courtroom barrister/lawyer this country has ever produced and described as “The Great Defender,” represented Dorothy.
Always one for the witty aside in court he referred to life in Sheringham and similar resorts thus…”in such places the well-to-do have apparently nothing to but talk scandal and indulge in golf and bridge.”
Let’s take a look at just a little of what Dorothy was accused of writing to members of the Sheringham gentry.
*YOU ARE A SPITEFUL, JEALOUS OLD CAT AND A SHE-DEVIL. TAKE CARE YOUR PAST IS GOING TO BE WRITTEN.
*THE COARSE-GRAINED PERSON WITH TWO LEFT FEET, ODD HIPS AND TWICHING EYES.
*PERHAPS YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT DH IS LIKE AS SHE WENT AWAY TO A HOTEL AND SLEPT WITH MR____.
*MUCH IN LOVE WITH DR____AND I THINK IT IS DISGRACEFUL, SO I HAVE WRITTEN TWICE TO HIS WIFE AND TO THE GIRL AT HER LITTLE GAMES
*YOU ARE NOT FIT TO READ THE BIBLE IN CHURCH. I AM ONLY GOING ON UNTIL YOU GIVE UP RUNNING SHERINGHAM.
*YOU ARE A SWINE. YOU LOOKED LIKE A CAD WHEN YOU USED TO MRS___AND PASS HER HUSBAND IN THE STREET, NOT LETTING ON YOU WERE GOING TO SEE HIS WIFE. YOU ARE A BAD FAST MAN.”
You can imagine the impact these letters, and many others, had on the people of Sheringham. The fishermen and shop-keepers didn’t receive them…mainly the toffs.
One lady was accused of walking like a duck and was ready for Christmas.
The police were called to investigate and PC George Brunson reported he had seen Dorothy posting letters in the post box in Holway Road, still there to this day.
Jane’s book follows the story as she appears before Cromer court charged with sending anonymous and defamatory letters and postcards to residents of Sheringham.
With so many individuals mentioned in the venomous letters. It was decided to bring charges on some specific letters with a number of people agreed to give evidence, A decision they may have regretted as the press from around the world gathered at Norwich Assizes.
Dorothy, aged 25, was referred to as an attractive young women of medium height who moved to Sheringham in 1921, lived with her mother, and had been involved with the girl guide movement.
She told the jury that she had received an anonymous letter in connection with her girl guide work and others with one saying she would go to prison and should take her own life.
Dorothy always denied sending any anonymous letters and postcards and during cross-examination PC Brunson admitted he did lose sight of Dorothy, for a short time, because of an obstruction.
The jury failed to reach a verdict and on to the next hearing. In the meantime it was claimed Dorothy had received more letters with one saying.
*FOOL AND A SOLICTOR AND WILL NEVER CATCH ME. I AM FREE TO CONTINUE FOR EVER AND EVER.
What happened next? Dorothy became world famous before finally being acquitted at the start of a third trial on October 1924.
She and her mother left Norfolk and she died in a nursing home at Eastbourne in 1975 aged 77 and unmarried.
Author Jane, who once worked as PA to the Manchester band The Stone Roses, has produced a fine job investigating these extraordinary stories which hit the headlines across the world.
What is her verdict?
“Looking at the case from afar it looks pretty convincing that she did write them. However, mainly due to PC Brunson’s inexperience and ineptitude and the hiring of someone now regarded as the greatest defence lawyer this country has ever produced, it can be understood why a jury would not want to commit themselves to a guilty plea.”
Pick up the book, put yourself on the jury, Guilty? Or not guilty?
*The Unknown Hand: The True Story of Sheringham’s poison-pen letters by Jane Crossen costs £8.99 and is on sale at Jarrolds in Cromer, The PO in West Runton, All Natural, Sheringham High Street, Sheringham Museum, the NNR shop or from Jane at jane.crossen@yahoo.co.uk
You get a real sense of Sheringham at the time Dorothy was living there by visiting the museum. A special place.
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