{{short description|Last woman executed in Western Australia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=October 2011}} {{Infobox criminal | name = Martha Rendell | image = MarthaRendellfrompaper.JPG | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1871|8|10}} | birth_place = Australia | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1909|10|6|1871|8|10}} | death_place = Fremantle Prison, Western Australia, Australia | alias = | charge = | conviction = Wilful murder | conviction_penalty = Death | conviction_status = Executed by hanging | occupation = | spouse = | parents = | children = | beginyear = July 28, 1907 | endyear = October 6, 1908 | apprehended = July 1909 | victims = 3 | country = Australia | states = Western Australia | motive = }}
'''Martha Rendell''' (10 August 1871 – 6 October 1909) was the last woman to be hanged in Western Australia, for the wilful murder of her ''de facto'' husband's son, Arthur Morris, in 1908. She was also suspected of killing his two daughters, Annie and Olive, by swabbing their throats with hydrochloric acid. Although the children died slow and agonizing deaths, they had been treated by a number of doctors during their illnesses, only one of whom expressed any doubts about their deaths.
==Beginnings== Martha Rendell moved in with Thomas Nicholls Morris at 23 Robertson Street, East Perth after he had separated from his wife, who had moved out.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Western Australian Post Office Directory for 1909|date=1909|publisher=Wise's Directories|location=Perth, WA|page=346 |url=http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/pdf/battye/pods/1909/0199.pdf|accessdate=25 May 2018}}</ref> Morris had custody of his four children at the time. Rendell, who had known Morris in Adelaide, South Australia, and had followed him west, moved into the house and posed as his wife. The children were told to call her "Mother".<ref name=historical>{{cite web|title=Martha Rendell Child Murders – 1909 |last=Skehan|first=Peter|url=http://policewahistory.org.au/HTML_Pages/Child_Murders.html|publisher=Western Australia Police Historical Society|accessdate=13 December 2012}}</ref>
Rendell brutally abused Morris's children, once beating Annie so savagely that she could not walk. Arresting officer Inspector Harry Mann said "she delighted in seeing her victims writhe in agony, and from it derived sexual satisfaction".<ref>{{cite news |title=They hanged a woman {{ndash}} killer of 3 in Perth |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/248734248 |work=The Daily Telegraph|date=22 November 1953 |location=Sydney, NSW}}</ref>
== Crimes committed == Rendell killed nine-year-old Annie first. Her method was to put something in the child's food that would result in a sore throat. It was alleged that she killed the children by swabbing hydrochloric acid on the backs of their throats, claiming it was medicine. This would inflame the throat until the child could no longer eat and thus would starve to death. Annie died on 28 July 1907. Dr. Cuthbert issued a certificate stating the cause of death was diphtheria. After killing Annie, she turned her attention to Olive, aged 7. Olive died on 16 October 1907, and once more, Cuthbert issued a certificate stating the cause of death was diphtheria.
In the winter of 1908, Rendell tried the same method on Arthur, age 15, who took longer to succumb to the treatment, finally dying on 8 October 1908, just a year short of Olive's death. This time, Cuthbert asked permission for an autopsy. Rendell said she wanted to be present during the investigation and stood by as the autopsy was performed; the doctors found nothing to incriminate her.<ref name=historical />
In April 1909, Rendell began targeting the second son, George. It didn't take long for him to complain of a sore throat after drinking a cup of tea. Rendell coated his tonsils with the syrup, frightening the boy, who ran to his mother's place some streets away. Neighbours enquired as to the boy's whereabouts; however, his father Thomas Morris stated that he did not know.<ref name=historical />
== Investigation and trial == [[File:Eric Cooke, Martha Rendell, Fremantle Cemetery.jpg|right|thumb|Rendell and Eric Edgar Cooke's grave in plot 409, Fremantle Cemetery]] Neighbours went to the police, and Inspector Harry Mann conducted inquiries. Mann heard repeated references to the children having their throats painted, and Rendell's apparent indifference to their pain. One neighbour claimed he often peeked in the windows to see Rendell standing in front of a screaming victim, rocking back and forth as if in ecstasy. Mann located George, who claimed that he had run away because his stepmother had killed his siblings and was trying to poison him with spirits of salts (i.e. hydrochloric acid).<ref name=historical /> The inquiry was hampered by the period of time that had elapsed since the deaths, and because doctors could not say what effect swabbing with spirits of salts would have. Suspicions were further aroused when it was shown that Rendell had purchased large quantities of spirits of salts during the period of the children's illnesses, but none since the last death. Armed with this information, the detectives obtained permission to exhume the bodies and this was done on 3 July 1909. Police exhumed the bodies of the three children; diluted hydrochloric acid was found on the throat tissue.<ref name=historical />
The trial against Rendell and Morris on a charge of wilful murder commenced in the Supreme Court of Western Australia on 7 September 1909 before Mr Justice McMillan and a jury.<ref name="thewest-trialstarts">{{cite news |title=A City Sensation |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26236957 |access-date=4 May 2024 |work=The West Australian|date=8 September 1909|page=5}}</ref> Neither accused called evidence in their defence.<ref>{{cite news |title=A City Sensation |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26237323 |access-date=4 May 2024 |work=The West Australian |date=13 September 1909 |page=2}}</ref>
On 14 September 1909, Rendell was found guilty by the jury and sentenced to death by hanging.<ref name="purdue">{{cite book |last1=Purdue |first1=Brian |title=Legal Executions in Western Australia |date=1993 |publisher=Foundation Press |isbn=1875778004 |page=48}}</ref><ref name="thewest-result">{{cite news |title=The Murder Trial |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26237508 |access-date=4 May 2024 |work=The West Australian |date=15 September 1909 |page=2}}</ref> Thomas Morris was acquitted,<ref name="thewest-result" /> as it was believed that while he had purchased spirits of salts, he was not aware of what Martha was doing until after the children's deaths. The jury had wanted to find him guilty of being an accessory after the fact, but this was not allowed.<ref name=historical />
==Execution== right|thumbnail|The window with "Rendell's" image Rendell's crimes aroused considerable public outrage at the time; the press portrayed her as a "scarlet woman" and "wicked stepmother". Rendell vainly proclaimed her innocence, claiming that she was treating the children for diphtheria.<ref>{{cite news |title=Statement of Martha Rendall (sic) |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/77355295 |work=The Daily News |date=5 October 1909}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1909-10-06 |title=Rendell death |pages=10 |work=Sydney Morning Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42685197/rendell-death/ |access-date=2022-03-25}}</ref> She was hanged at Fremantle Prison at 8 am on 6 October 1909.<ref name="purdue" /> The execution was witnessed by 25 people, the largest number of witnesses for an execution at Fremantle,<ref name="purdue" /> despite the Sheriff barring press attendance.<ref>{{cite news |title=Action by the sheriff |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26239196 |work=The West Australian |date=6 October 1909 |page=8}}</ref> She is buried at Fremantle Cemetery. Martha Rendell was the third and last woman executed in Western Australia.<ref name="purdue" />
An illusion appears on one of the prison windows which can only be seen on the outside of the window; when inside the church looking out the glass is smooth and even, with no unusual shape or texture. An example of pareidolia, urban legend has it that this illusion is the portrait of Rendell, who watches over the prison.
== References == {{reflist}} * Fremantle Prison a brief history, Cyril Ayris {{ISBN|0-9581882-1-1}} * ''Murdering Stepmothers: The trial and Execution of Martha Rendell, Anna Haebich'' 1997 * South Australian Births 1842 – 1906, SAGHS 1998
== External links == *[http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=19279 American Chronicle, 17 January 2007] *[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/26238726/2574910 News and Notes – In the Condemned Cell – The West Australian, 30/09/1909]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rendell, Martha}} <!--Categories--> Category:1871 births Category:20th-century Australian murderers Category:1909 deaths Category:1900s in Western Australia Category:20th-century Australian women Category:20th-century executions by Australia Category:Australian female serial killers Category:Australian serial killers Category:Australian murderers of children Category:Burials at Fremantle Cemetery Category:Executed Australian serial killers Category:Executed Australian women Category:Executed female serial killers Category:People convicted of murder by Western Australia Category:People executed by Australia by hanging Category:People executed by Western Australia Category:Poisoners