Foul Play: A Historical True Crime Podcast

Content Warning: This episode contains descriptions of gun violence, intimate partner violence, poisoning, and discussions of coercive control in same-sex and heterosexual relationships. Crisis resources are listed at the end of these notes.
Historical Context
In Indiana, public pressure forced an exhumation four months after Hattie's death. Organs shipped to Chicago forchemical analysis revealed large quantities of strychnine. Pettit was arrested and charged with murder. The trial in Crawfordsville drew journalists from across the Midwest. Lew Wallace — the author of *Ben-Hur*, a former Union general, and a member of the military commission that tried the Lincoln assassination conspirators — attendedregularly from the gallery. The jury convicted Pettit and sentenced him to life in prison at hard labor. He died oftuberculosis in 1893, the same day the Indiana Supreme Court granted him a retrial. Elma Whitehead, who funded his defense and fled the state to avoid subpoenas, was never tried.
Lilly Duer was captured in Baltimore and tried at the Worcester County courthouse in Snow Hill, Maryland, in May 1879. She was housed not in jail but at the National Hotel across the street — jail being unsuitable for a woman of her standing. The jury convicted her of manslaughter. The sentence: a five-hundred-dollar fine and no prison time. For shooting a woman in the face.
The Investigations
Indiana, 1889: While Hattie Pettit visited a friend in South Bend, her husband moved into the home of Elma Whitehead — the wealthiest woman in the county, daughter of church patron David Meharry. Pettit proposed to Elma, and she accepted. When Hattie returned on July 12, she was poisoned with strychnine on at least three separate occasions over five days. The poison produced violent convulsions — the body arching, the muscles seizing, the face drawn into what the Victorians called the risus sardonicus. Hattie told her doctor she believed she had been poisoned. He did nothing. She died July 17, 1889. The official cause: malaria.
Maryland, 1878:On November 5, Lilly Duer walked into the Hearn family home in Pocomoke City with a revolverconcealed in a specially sewn pocket of her dress. She shot Ella Hearn in the face. The bullet passed through Ella's lip, shattered a tooth, and lodged in her skull. Through the blood, Ella spoke: "Don't, Lilly, please don't. I'll marry you." Lilly fled to Baltimore disguised in her brother's suit with her already-short hair cropped shorter.
The Crimes
Hattie Sperry Pettit: was a schoolteacher who married the Reverend William Pettit through church connections inNew York. In 1889 Indiana, teaching was one of the very few professional callings available to educated women, andHattie was practical, self-sufficient, and disciplined. She did not know that the man at the head of her table had oncebeen jailed for theft, had lied his way into the Masonic Brotherhood, and had used those connections to secure his ordination. The minister she married was a fabrication.
Ella Hearn was nineteen years old in the autumn of 1878, the daughter of an established merchant family in Pocomoke City, Maryland. Quiet, gentle, trusting — she had graduated from a boarding academy where she shared a room with the woman who would shoot her. She observed what the newspapers called a delicate, unassuming grace. That grace made her extraordinarily vulnerable.
The Victims
Both cases are about desire that could not be spoken aloud and justice systems that decided the people who caused harm deserved more mercy than the people who were harmed.In a river town on Maryland's Eastern Shore, a nineteen-year-old woman is shot in the face by her closest companion— and through the blood and agony speaks five words that have echoed for nearly a century and a half. In the farming country of western Indiana, a minister poisons his wife with strychnine so he can marry the richest woman in the county — and the dying woman figures out exactly what is happening to her. No one lifts a finger.
Season 40 of Foul Play begins a year-long journey across all fifty states, pairing two historical crimes per episode —connected by a single thread. Tonight: Maryland, 1878, and Indiana, 1889. Two women trusted the people closest to them. Both paid for that trust with their bodies.
Crisis Support Resources
If you or someone you know is experiencing intimate partner violence:-
US: National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233-
US: Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741-
UK: National Domestic Abuse Helpline: 0808 2000 247-
UK: Victim Support: 0808 1689 111

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Kensington Publishing: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com
* Check out Mood and use my code SHANE for a great deal: https://mood.com

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Content Warning
This episode contains discussions of murder, suicide, and Victorian scandal. Support resources are listed at the end of these notes.
This Episode
Season 39 Finale: The Balham Mystery. The jury deliberated for three hours. Their verdict would haunt this case for one hundred and fifty years: "Willful murder by person or persons unknown."
Murder--but no murderer. Four suspects. Four possible killers. And no way to know which one poisoned Charles Bravo.
The Victim
Charles Bravo died on April 21st, 1876. On August 12th, after twenty-three days of testimony, the jury confirmed what his family had always believed: he was murdered. But they could not--or would not--name the killer.
This was not acquittal. Florence Bravo, Jane Cannon Cox, and Dr. James Manby Gully walked free not because they were innocent, but because the evidence against each was insufficient for prosecution. The cloud of suspicion would follow all three for the rest of their lives.
The Crime
Four suspects. Four possible murderers.
Florence Bravo had motive: freedom from an unhappy marriage and control of her fortune. She had opportunity: she was present at The Priory that evening. But she was not alone with Charles, and her psychological profile--a woman who had fought for independence her entire life--suggested she might simply have waited for divorce.
Jane Cannon Cox had motive: Charles wanted her dismissed, threatening her livelihood. She had opportunity: she was the last person to interact with Charles before his collapse. She had means: the coachman testified she had asked about the antimony in the stables. But her alleged confession story, if fabricated, created enormous risk--the very outcome she feared would result from investigation.
Dr. James Manby Gully had motive: jealousy, revenge against the man who had taken his lover. He had knowledge: as a physician, he knew exactly how much antimony would kill. But he was not at The Priory that night. If he killed Charles, he did so through an intermediary--most likely Mrs. Cox.
Charles Bravo himself might have committed suicide, as Mrs. Cox claimed. But he left no note, settled no affairs, and had taken out life insurance that would be void if he killed himself--leaving his devoted family with nothing.
The Investigation
The evidence pointed everywhere and nowhere.
The antimony was definitively identified--enough tartar emetic to kill three men. It was kept in the stables at The Priory, accessible to anyone in the household. The poison most likely entered Charles's system through his bedside water jug.
The servants testified about a household filled with tension. Charles and Florence argued constantly. Mrs. Cox's position was precarious. The shadow of Dr. Gully hung over everything.
The jury faced an impossible task: convict without proof, or release without justice.
Historical Context

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Kensington Publishing: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com
* Check out Mood and use my code SHANE for a great deal: https://mood.com

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Content Warning
This episode contains discussions of adultery, abortion, and Victorian scandal. Support resources are listed at the end of these notes.
This Episode
Season 39: The Balham Mystery. For twenty-three days, the secrets of The Priory were stripped bare in the longest inquest in English legal history. Forty witnesses. Thousands of pages of testimony. Florence Bravo finally forced to admit her affair. Dr. Gully humiliated on the stand.
Every scandal exposed. And still no murderer named.
The Victim
Charles Bravo's death demanded answers. The open verdict of the first inquest—held in private, concluded in three days—satisfied no one. His family demanded justice. The newspapers demanded scandal. On May 15th, 1876, the Attorney General ordered an unprecedented second inquest.
What followed was theatre as much as justice. The Bedford Hotel in Balham was transformed into a makeshift courtroom. Crowds queued for hours to witness proceedings. The Attorney General himself, Sir John Holker, took personal charge—an extraordinary intervention for a coroner's inquest.
The Crime
Florence Bravo had avoided testifying at the first inquest. Her doctor declared her too ill to appear. This time, there would be no escape.
On July 13th, 1876, Florence walked to the witness stand in mourning clothes—black from head to toe. Sir John Holker's questions began gently, then turned to the matter everyone had come to hear.
"Mrs. Bravo, were you acquainted with Dr. James Manby Gully?"
"I was."
"And what was the nature of that acquaintance?"
The room held its breath. Then Florence spoke the words that would define her forever.
"Dr. Gully and I were... intimately connected. For approximately two years."
The crowd erupted. Florence Bravo's reputation died in that moment. But she held firm: she had not killed her husband. She did not know who had.
The Investigation
Jane Cannon Cox faced far more hostile questioning. Her alleged confession—"I took poison. Don't tell Florence"—was the foundation of the suicide theory. Now it crumbled under scrutiny.
Sir John Holker walked her through April 18th minute by minute. The housemaid Mary Ann Keeber heard no confession. The doctors received none. Only Mrs. Cox, alone and uncorroborated, claimed Charles had taken responsibility for his own death.

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Kensington Publishing: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com
* Check out Mood and use my code SHANE for a great deal: https://mood.com

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Content Warning
This episode contains detailed descriptions of poisoning and prolonged death. Support resources are listed at the end of these notes.
This Episode
Season 39: The Balham Mystery. For seventy-two hours, Charles Bravo lay dying at The Priory while doctors—including Queen Victoria's own physician—watched helplessly. He suffered. He convulsed. He said almost nothing about who poisoned him.
One woman claims she heard a confession. No one else heard a word. Was it truth, or a convenient lie to make murder look like suicide?
The Victim
Charles Bravo had three days to name his killer—and chose silence.
From April 18th to April 21st, 1876, the thirty-year-old barrister endured unimaginable suffering at The Priory in Balham. The antimony that had entered his system through his bedside water destroyed him methodically—causing relentless vomiting, organ failure, and slow collapse.
Throughout his ordeal, Charles remained lucid for extended periods. He could speak. He could understand questions. Yet when doctors pressed him about what he had taken, he mentioned only rubbing laudanum on his gums for a toothache. When they begged him to name anyone who might have harmed him, he said nothing useful.
The Crime
The parade of physicians began within hours of Charles's collapse. Dr. Joseph Moore arrived first, administering mustard water to induce vomiting—standard treatment for suspected poisoning. By morning, Charles's condition had deteriorated so drastically that Florence summoned reinforcements.
Dr. George Harrison came from London. Dr. Royes Bell, a specialist in internal medicine, examined the patient. None could identify the poison or stop its progress. Charles vomited until nothing remained. His body rejected water, medicine, even champagne.
On April 20th, Sir William Gull arrived—the physician to Queen Victoria herself. His verdict was grim: Charles was beyond saving. Whatever poison he had ingested, the damage was irreversible.
The Investigation
The alleged confession came from Jane Cannon Cox, Florence's companion. According to Mrs. Cox, Charles turned to her in the sickroom and whispered: "I took poison. Don't tell Florence."
Five words that could explain everything—or nothing at all.
But the housemaid Mary Ann Keeber was present in that room for much of the ordeal. She heard no such statement. The doctors who questioned Charles directly received no confession. Only Mrs. Cox, alone and uncorroborated, claimed to hear Charles take responsibility for his own death.
Sir William Gull made his own attempt. "Did you take anything to cause this illness?" he asked. Charles reportedly answered: "I took nothing intentionally."
Nothing intentionally. The words of a man who did not know how poison entered his body? Or a man protecting someone else?
Historical Context

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Kensington Publishing: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com
* Check out Mood and use my code SHANE for a great deal: https://mood.com

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Content Warning
This episode contains discussions of poisoning and death. Support resources are listed at the end of these notes.
This Episode
Season 39: The Balham Mystery. April 1876—a young barrister collapses in agony minutes after retiring to bed. For three days, Charles Bravo suffers while doctors, family, and suspects gather. He names no one. The poison is antimony—enough to kill ten men.
Behind the gaslit elegance of The Priory, a household harbors dangerous secrets. A wife with a scandalous past. A companion facing dismissal. A former lover humiliated by her marriage. And a husband who knew everything—and paid the ultimate price.
The Victim
Charles Delauney Bravo was thirty years old when he died on 21 April 1876. A barrister called to the bar only recently, he had married Florence Campbell just four months earlier, on 7 December 1875. The marriage brought him access to Florence's considerable fortune—approximately £40,000, inherited from her first husband Alexander Ricardo.
Charles was ambitious. His chambers at Essex Court in the Temple represented the foundation of a legal career he hoped would match his new social position. But colleagues described a man preoccupied with money—Florence's money—and control over the household he had married into.
On that final Tuesday, Charles argued with Florence in their carriage, his horse bolted during an afternoon ride, and by nightfall he had consumed enough antimony to "kill a horse," according to the doctors who watched him die.
The Crime
The evening of 18 April 1876 began unremarkably. Charles, Florence, and her companion Jane Cox dined together at The Priory on Bedford Hill. Charles ate well—whiting, lamb, eggs on toast—and drank several glasses of burgundy. Neither woman touched the wine.
After dinner, they retired to the morning room. Around nine o'clock, Charles suggested Florence retire to bed. She had been unwell. Jane accompanied her upstairs.
Charles remained alone.
Approximately fifteen minutes later, he climbed the stairs to his bedroom. The housemaid Mary Ann Keeber passed him on the staircase. She would later tell police that he looked at her strangely—pale, silent, studying her face.
In his room, Charles undressed and reached for the water jug that servants prepared fresh each evening. He drank. Within minutes, his bedroom door flew open and he staggered onto the landing, screaming for Florence, for hot water, vomiting violently.
The post-mortem revealed thirty to forty grains of tartar emetic—a derivative of antimony—ten times the lethal dose. The poison had been in the water.
The Investigation
The first inquest convened on 25 and 28 April 1876. Coroner William Carter sought to spare the family's feelings, keeping the inquiry private. The jury returned an open verdict.
But Charles's stepfather, Joseph Bravo, was not satisfied. He demanded a second investigation.
The second inquest ran for an unprecedented twenty-three days, from 11 July through 11 August 1876, at the Bedford Hotel in Balham. It became a Victorian sensation. Crowds gathered in the streets. Newspapers printed every salacious detail—Florence's affair with Dr James Manby Gully, the abortion in Bavaria, the household tensions, Charles's jealousy.

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Kensington Publishing: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com
* Check out Mood and use my code SHANE for a great deal: https://mood.com

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy