Nowadays, you can scarcely read about a crime investigation without forensics playing an integral part. Yes, solid detective work will never be replaced, but the various forensic sciences have made it much easier not only to find the culprit but also to secure a conviction. In fact, some attorneys worry that juries are becoming increasingly distrustful of cases that lack forensic evidence.This wasn’t always the case. Forensic scientists had to work hard to prove the value of their efforts to police departments and the public at large. But it’s fair to say that these murders might still be unsolved today without their undertakings.
- Mary Blandy*
Toxicology
In 1751 in Henley-on-Thames, Mary Blandy wanted to marry a Scottish officer named William Henry Cranstoun. The only problem was that the captain had a wife and child back in Scotland whom he had disavowed. As a result, Mary’s father, Francis Blandy, sternly disapproved of her betrothal. Cranstoun had a solution. He gave Mary a special love potion to mix into her father’s food every day. It was supposed to make him acquiesce to the marriage. Instead, it killed him. Not surprising, since that miracle potion was arsenic.The murder of Francis Blandy is regarded as an early case of forensic toxicology used to prove homicidal poisoning. This was decades before the development of the Marsh test or any other kind of standard experiment used to detect the presence of arsenic.English physician Anthony Addington was the one who worked the case.[1] He tested the white powder from the potion for various characteristics such as color, flame, and precipitation. He found the results consistent with that of white arsenic, and his expert testimony was accepted at trial.The young lady confessed to using the powder. But she claimed that she genuinely believed it to be harmless and only wanted her father to approve of the marriage. She was convicted and hanged in 1752. Cranstoun ran away to France and evaded British justice but suffered an unrelated death that same year.