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Members Only! Murder Monday!- Baby Farming Mass Serial Murderess · Cosmic Peach

0:00
Speaker 1: Oh, it's my penis. Hello and welcome to American Top 40.
0:13
Speaker 1: I'm Casey Kasem.
0:23
Speaker 2: Monday, Monday, so good to me Monday morning, it was
0:35
Speaker 2: all I hoped it would be Oh, Monday morning, Monday morning, couldn't.
0:46
Speaker 1: Guarantee Hello and happy Monday, everyone. It's just another Mimba's
1:19
Speaker 1: only ta-ta-ta Murder Monday. Thanks for being here. Thanks for
1:28
Speaker 1: joining me for another edition of Murder Monday. It's another
1:35
Speaker 1: beautiful day in the neighborhood.
1:38
Speaker 3: And, uh.
1:41
Speaker 1: If I disappointed you on the last episode, I'm sure
1:45
Speaker 1: to make up for it this Monday. Fell down an
1:49
Speaker 1: internet b-hole once again and found a story I could
1:54
Speaker 1: not believe. Absolutely could not believe. Chock full of murder,
1:59
Speaker 1: just how I like it. And hopefully you enjoy it too,
2:02
Speaker 1: but speaking of murder... Got, uh... Current events from Murder World,
2:07
Speaker 1: but it may not be the current events you would expect.
2:11
Speaker 1: Let me show you a couple pictures here. Just a
2:15
Speaker 1: couple pictures here. I want to just show y'all what
2:21
Speaker 1: I'm working with on these dating profiles here. Just show
2:27
Speaker 1: you what Medford, Oregon has to offer. Let me do
2:32
Speaker 1: a share screen. All right, so we've got Travis here.
2:41
Speaker 1: Lovely profile, picture. You know, when you see stuff like this,
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Speaker 1: you just automatically think to yourself, Travis, who and what
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Speaker 1: the fuck are you trying to attract with this, Travis?
3:00
Speaker 1: He's got a heart next to his name, which means
3:02
Speaker 1: he's great at responding. I bet he is. I bet
3:07
Speaker 1: he is. I bet he's great with the follow-up. I
3:11
Speaker 1: bet he's great at digging big holes in his backyard.
3:16
Speaker 1: I bet he's great at finding places that sell muriatic acid.
3:22
Speaker 1: I bet he can deadlift a drum of muriatic acid.
3:28
Speaker 1: And I bet he's a cat lover. When you see something,
3:33
Speaker 1: and this is the type of shit, and I don't
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Speaker 1: even feel bad sharing this with everybody because he's the
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Speaker 1: one that put it out there.
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Speaker 3: Not me.
3:42
Speaker 1: When you see something like this, it just makes you
3:45
Speaker 1: say to yourself, like, should I be doing this if
3:49
Speaker 1: these are the options available? Should I even be doing this?
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Speaker 1: This is my options here, but it doesn't stop with Travis. No,
3:59
Speaker 1: it don't stop with Travis. Because if I don't like Travis,
4:03
Speaker 1: there's always Joaquin. There's always Joaquin41. This thing lives... This
4:20
Speaker 1: thing lives a mile away from my location, people.
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Speaker 3: Boy, do I feel lucky. To be single in 2026.
4:32
Speaker 3: I feel so lucky.
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Speaker 1: Oh my God. So that's just to say people out
4:49
Speaker 1: there who have loved ones on these dating sites, just
4:54
Speaker 1: tell them, Hey, Do you know what true crime is?
5:00
Speaker 1: And then they'll be like, yeah. And then say, do
5:04
Speaker 1: you want your own documentary? Because that's what you're going
5:08
Speaker 1: to get messing with these yahoos. But that's not why
5:11
Speaker 1: you're here. Although I'm very grateful you are. I've got
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Speaker 1: this story for us today. And it's from the era
5:24
Speaker 1: of Jack the Ripper. but it's like the female Jack
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Speaker 1: the Ripper you've never heard of. I, you know, I'm
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Speaker 1: always stunned when I come across this stuff, and I'm like,
5:38
Speaker 1: how on earth have I not heard about this before now?
5:43
Speaker 1: And I cannot wait to get into it with you guys.
5:47
Speaker 1: With that being said, if you love what I do,
5:49
Speaker 1: leave a five-star review, and if you're new, welcome. And
5:53
Speaker 1: if you're a long-time listener, welcome back. Today, we're actually
5:58
Speaker 1: going all the way back to the 19th century England,
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Speaker 1: and we're going to be talking about the practice of
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Speaker 1: baby farming, which emerged in the late Victorian era. The
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Speaker 1: practice of baby farming was looked at as a solution
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Speaker 1: for young unwed mothers. Back then, there were essentially no
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Speaker 1: laws protecting unwed mothers, and actually, they were looked down
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Speaker 1: on by pretty much all of society. And it was
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Speaker 1: very hard for them to even gain employment, and sadly,
6:34
Speaker 1: there were a lot of people who took advantage of
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Speaker 1: the desperation of these women. The baby farmers would take
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Speaker 1: in these infants and small children and accept either a
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Speaker 1: lump sum payment or a weekly stipend made by the
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Speaker 1: birth mother. But instead of actually caring for the child
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Speaker 1: and raising them in a loving home like they promised,
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Speaker 1: they would essentially pocket the money and the children would
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Speaker 1: just disappear. There was one person in particular who not
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Speaker 1: only got rid of these children for monetary gain, But
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Speaker 1: by her own admission, she also just did it out
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Speaker 1: of enjoyment. Pure, unadulterated enjoyment. This woman has been referred
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Speaker 1: to as the Angel Maker. But her actual name? Amelia Dyer.
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Speaker 1: And she is one of Victorian England's most prolific serial
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Speaker 1: killers of all time. Watch out, Jack the Ripper. There's
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Speaker 1: a new Satanist in town, and she's coming for the babies.
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Speaker 1: So let me set the stage for you. It's Victorian England, 1832.
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Speaker 1: A piece of legislation has just been put into place
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Speaker 1: called the New Poor Law. This new legislation made it
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Speaker 1: legal for the biological fathers of illegitimate babies to walk
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Speaker 1: away from the situation completely free of any financial, moral,
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Speaker 1: or societal impact to themselves. All of the stress and
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Speaker 1: burden is now placed solely on the mother. This new
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Speaker 1: law also makes it possible for the local parishes to
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Speaker 1: deny any financial support to unwed mothers as well. Meaning
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Speaker 1: that the churches and the state who had once provided
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Speaker 1: benefits to women and children, like lodging and food, were
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Speaker 1: no longer legally responsible for that. The social stigma that
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Speaker 1: was attached to being an unwed mother or an illegitimate
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Speaker 1: child caused so much darkness in the lives of countless
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Speaker 1: women and children. This was seen as like some kind
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Speaker 1: of a disease on the women's reputation. and it was
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Speaker 1: nearly impossible for them to recover. These women were not
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Speaker 1: only refused even the most basic needs or minimal financial
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Speaker 1: support from either the father or the local officials, but
9:15
Speaker 1: they were also denied even the lowest forms of employment.
9:19
Speaker 1: Very few people wanted to hire a person with such
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Speaker 1: low moral standing, and this treatment sustained even after the
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Speaker 1: woman gave birth. Her now damaged reputation was with her
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Speaker 1: pretty much the rest of her life. A lot of
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Speaker 1: women who found themselves in this situation had been employed
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Speaker 1: as live-in housekeepers or domestic servants. They were oftentimes assaulted, raped,
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Speaker 1: or seduced by their employers or members of the family.
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Speaker 1: And then... As soon as the pregnancy was discovered, the
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Speaker 1: woman would be fired and tossed out like this. a
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Speaker 1: piece of garbage straight onto the street and told, just
10:03
Speaker 1: figure it out for yourself. As you can imagine, abortions
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Speaker 1: were extremely dangerous at this time and also illegal. So
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Speaker 1: a lot of women were not willing to even try
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Speaker 1: and go that route. Some would attempt to induce miscarriage
10:21
Speaker 1: in various ways, and sometimes this would work, but oftentimes
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Speaker 1: it didn't. Most women would do their best to hide
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Speaker 1: these pregnancies so that their reputations and their livelihoods would
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Speaker 1: not be affected, but eventually that baby would be born.
10:37
Speaker 1: Usually this would be done in secret with only a
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Speaker 1: midwife present, and that's if you were lucky. Then a
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Speaker 1: lot of times things would take a very dark turn.
10:48
Speaker 1: Sometimes the woman would give birth in secret and then
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Speaker 1: just leave their babies outside in the elements to starve
10:55
Speaker 1: or freeze to death. And sometimes these new mothers would
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Speaker 1: straight out just kill their babies as soon as they
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Speaker 1: were born. This was typically done by suffocation, drowning, and
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Speaker 1: sometimes poisoning. Then the bodies would be discarded in either
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Speaker 1: a river or a trash bin before anyone knew that
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Speaker 1: they had ever even existed at all. These women were
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Speaker 1: obviously desperate, although I can't imagine in a million years
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Speaker 1: doing that to my own infant. But I'm not a
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Speaker 1: house lady of the Victorian era. I don't know. I guess,
11:34
Speaker 1: you know, in my heart of hearts, I would think
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Speaker 1: even if I got bent over by one of these
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Speaker 1: elite class scumbags, raped, impregnated, I'd still want my baby,
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Speaker 1: and even if it meant living in a poor house
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Speaker 1: and eating cabbage soup every day, I'd make it work,
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Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying? But again, I don't know. Obviously, desperation,
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Speaker 1: wanting some type of reputation and a livelihood was more
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Speaker 1: important to some. And having a child out of wedlock
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Speaker 1: would not only cost that woman employment opportunities and relationships
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Speaker 1: with family and friends, But it would also make it
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Speaker 1: extremely difficult for her to ever find a husband in
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Speaker 1: the future, like I care. But back then it was
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Speaker 1: a thing, you know, you gotta have a husband. And
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Speaker 1: the reason why it would be hard for her to
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Speaker 1: find a husband is because she'd be labeled a whore
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Speaker 1: by society for having a baby out of the wedlocks.
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Speaker 1: Now even though it was very common for newborns to
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Speaker 1: be killed or abandoned by their mothers... There were some
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Speaker 1: women who, despite everything, this sounds like me, really, really, really,
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Speaker 1: really cared for their babies and wanted them and wanted
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Speaker 1: to make the right choices for them, and these mothers
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Speaker 1: became so desperate for a solution to their problem. How
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Speaker 1: could they ensure that their babies would lead happy, healthy
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Speaker 1: lives while also keeping their own reputation and livelihoods intact?
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Speaker 1: And this dilemma... is exactly what led so many unwed
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Speaker 1: mothers to baby farmers. Now, baby farmers, who were usually women,
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Speaker 1: accepted either a small fee or a lump sum one-time
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Speaker 1: payment to care or to adopt babies and young children.
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Speaker 1: At this time, there were no laws regulating adoptions or
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Speaker 1: any of this shit in Britain. And it would remain
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Speaker 1: that way until 1926. So for like a fucking century,
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Speaker 1: nobody was doing anything to regulate this stuff. But the
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Speaker 1: term baby farming carried negative connotations. And when that term
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Speaker 1: was used to describe a care home, It usually meant
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Speaker 1: that the children were living in overcrowded conditions where they
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Speaker 1: were neglected, starved, and mostly just left to die. It
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Speaker 1: was very lucrative for the baby farmers to accept these
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Speaker 1: cash payments and then kill the children, either slowly by
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Speaker 1: neglect and starvation or more deliberately by just physically murdering them.
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Speaker 1: With the children now gone, the money wouldn't need to
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Speaker 1: be spent on their care, and the baby farmers could
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Speaker 1: just pocket it all for themselves. In 1870, after the
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Speaker 1: conviction and execution of one of the most heinous baby
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Speaker 1: farmers in history, a woman named Margaret Waters, authorities and
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Speaker 1: the media began to take a closer look at this industry.
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Speaker 1: But here's the thing, we're not actually going to talk
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Speaker 1: about Margaret's ass today, although... Rest in hell, bitch. We're
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Speaker 1: gonna be talking about a bitch who makes Margaret's ass
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Speaker 1: look like Mary Poppins. But so, in an 1870 letter
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Speaker 1: to the Times, a person who was conducting an undercover
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Speaker 1: investigation into baby farming said, quote, My conviction is that
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Speaker 1: children are murdered in scores by these women. Adoption is
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Speaker 1: only a fine phrase. for slow or sudden death, end quote.
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Speaker 1: As I said, this practice was heavily unregulated in the beginning,
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Speaker 1: but it became clear to authorities that there was a
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Speaker 1: serious problem occurring in the homes of these baby farmers,
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Speaker 1: and the Infant Life Protection Act of 1872 was passed.
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Speaker 1: This law required that any persons who was caring for
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Speaker 1: more than one child under the age of 12 months
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Speaker 1: for over a 24-hour period had to register with the
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Speaker 1: state before accepting any children into their home. This would
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Speaker 1: make it easier for authorities to keep a closer eye
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Speaker 1: on the children who were in these homes, but baby
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Speaker 1: farms still just continued to exist the way they always had.
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Speaker 1: The baby farmers just had to find a way to
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Speaker 1: be more discreet and stay under the radar. And scores
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Speaker 1: of mothers would continue to seek the help of these
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Speaker 1: women out of pure desperation. These mothers truly felt like
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Speaker 1: they had nowhere else to turn. And that's exactly what
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Speaker 1: led a woman named Evelina Marmon to place an advertisement
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Speaker 1: in the local newspaper in search of someone to raise
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Speaker 1: her baby daughter Doris. Evelina was 25 years old and
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Speaker 1: she had come to Chetlingham from the countryside in search
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Speaker 1: of a more exciting life and just something more than
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Speaker 1: her little farm town had to offer. She managed to
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Speaker 1: find a place to live and her landlady, a woman
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Speaker 1: named Martha Pocket, owned a bar and she offered Evelina
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Speaker 1: a job. So Evelina began working at this bar and
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Speaker 1: she was enjoying this new, more exciting life that she
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Speaker 1: was building for herself and yada yada. But she got
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Speaker 1: a little too excited. Started popping, locking, and dropping it
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Speaker 1: on all the wrong dudes. And in 1895, she became pregnant.
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Speaker 1: We don't know who baby daddy was, but we do
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Speaker 1: know that he naturally made absolutely zero attempt to help
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Speaker 1: Evelina in any way whatsoever. Yes, Evelina, she was on
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Speaker 1: her own trying to figure things out for herself and
17:54
Speaker 1: her unborn child. Luckily for Evelina, Mrs. Pocket didn't call
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Speaker 1: her a street whore or a hussy and throw her out.
18:03
Speaker 1: She allowed her to remain living in her house during
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Speaker 1: the pregnancy, and she eventually gave birth to a baby
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Speaker 1: girl she named Doris on January 21st, 1896. And Evelina,
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Speaker 1: bless her heart, absolutely loved her daughter. She wanted to
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Speaker 1: give her the best life possible, but she knew that
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Speaker 1: she would not be able to do that, and Doris
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Speaker 1: would not be able to remain in her care. Now,
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Speaker 1: I couldn't find out if Miss Pocket was going to
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Speaker 1: allow Evelina to keep her job at the bar or not,
18:33
Speaker 1: But if she wasn't, then it would have been very
18:36
Speaker 1: hard for Evelina to find future employment anywhere else. And
18:41
Speaker 1: even if she did manage to find a job, she
18:43
Speaker 1: had no one to help her look after little baby Doris.
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Speaker 1: So Evelina, as you can imagine, made the hardest decision
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Speaker 1: of her life. She would have to place baby Doris
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Speaker 1: in the care of someone else, if just temporarily. In
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Speaker 1: March of 1896, Evelina put an ad in the Bristol
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Speaker 1: Times that read, Wanted. Respectable woman to take young baby
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Speaker 1: at home. Evelina used the alias of Mrs. Scott in
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Speaker 1: the ad just because she wanted to sound more dignified
19:15
Speaker 1: in hopes to draw a more dignified person to help.
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Speaker 1: The next day or so, Evelina ran out to grab
19:22
Speaker 1: a copy of the newspaper to make sure that her
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Speaker 1: ad had been printed. And it had. But right next
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Speaker 1: to her own ad, Evelina sees something that piques her interest.
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Speaker 1: She spots a listing that read, quote, couple with no child,
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Speaker 1: want care of or will adopt one, terms 10 pounds.
19:43
Speaker 1: And immediately, Evelina thinks that she's found the answer to
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Speaker 1: all of her problems. She could place Doris in the
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Speaker 1: care of this couple. Maybe she's got a bum ovary
19:54
Speaker 1: or something. Her puss is all dried up. She can't
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Speaker 1: squeeze one out. She just wanted Doris to be somewhere
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Speaker 1: she'd be happy and well taken care of, and Evelina
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Speaker 1: maybe could even go visit her and maybe even one
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Speaker 1: day be in the position to get her back. So
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Speaker 1: she responded to the ad, and she eventually hears back
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Speaker 1: from a woman calling herself Mrs. Harding. In the correspondence, Mrs.
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Speaker 1: Harding promised Evelina that Doris would be very well loved
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Speaker 1: and cared for, and that she'd live in a beautiful
20:29
Speaker 1: home in the countryside. But the downside was, instead of
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Speaker 1: just taking care of baby Doris for a small weekly
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Speaker 1: fee like Evelina had hoped, Mrs. Harding wanted an adopting fee,
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Speaker 1: one-time payment of 10 pounds. But she promised Evelina that
20:47
Speaker 1: she would be welcome into their home anytime she wanted
20:50
Speaker 1: to come for a visit, and she reassured her that
20:53
Speaker 1: she was doing what was right for her daughter. Evelina
20:56
Speaker 1: was heartbroken over the thought of giving baby Doris up
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Speaker 1: for adoption, But she also felt like she was really
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Speaker 1: lucky to have found this couple that would help her
21:08
Speaker 1: in this very difficult time. So the two women make
21:11
Speaker 1: plans to meet up so that Evelina could sign some
21:15
Speaker 1: papers and hand baby Doris over. On March 31st, In 1896,
21:22
Speaker 1: Evelina packed up some of Doris' clothing, along with some
21:26
Speaker 1: diapies and wipies and whatever else. Then she dressed baby
21:30
Speaker 1: Doris in some warm clothes and a fawn-colored cloak before
21:35
Speaker 1: she left home. She made sure she hadn't forgotten the
21:38
Speaker 1: agreed-upon payment of ten pounds, and then Evelina and baby
21:43
Speaker 1: Doris set out for Gloucester Railway Station, where she had
21:48
Speaker 1: arranged to meet up with Mrs. Harding. And when Evelina
21:51
Speaker 1: arrived at the station, she spotted an old ass lady
21:55
Speaker 1: carrying some kind of a carpet bag. And this woman
21:59
Speaker 1: would turn out to be Mrs. Harding. Evelina's first thought
22:03
Speaker 1: when she saw Mrs. Harding was that she didn't really
22:07
Speaker 1: look like the type who would be in the market
22:10
Speaker 1: for an infant. She was old as fuck, much older
22:14
Speaker 1: than Evelina had imagined. but she was very kind and
22:18
Speaker 1: she seemed genuinely happy to be taking Doris into her care.
22:22
Speaker 1: So after Evelina handed over the agreed upon payment of
22:26
Speaker 1: 10 pounds, she gave Doris one last long hug and kiss,
22:33
Speaker 1: and then she carefully handed her over to Mrs. Harding. Mrs. Harding,
22:40
Speaker 1: holding baby Doris, boarded the train and that was it.
22:44
Speaker 1: Evelina would never see her daughter alive again. She had
22:49
Speaker 1: just unwittingly handed Doris over to one of the worst
22:53
Speaker 1: serial killers in Victorian England. Now we meet Amelia Dyer. Sheesh!
23:06
Speaker 1: What a cliffhanger. Heavens to Murgatroyd. How on earth are
23:11
Speaker 1: you going to get through the rest of your Monday
23:13
Speaker 1: without finishing this episode? I know you want to, so
23:17
Speaker 1: let me tell you what you have to do. Scroll
23:21
Speaker 1: down to the description of this episode and simply click
23:26
Speaker 1: the link and it will take you straight to Patreon
23:29
Speaker 1: where you can make your reservation to Room 237. Come
23:34
Speaker 1: on over, check in, and stay a while. There are
23:38
Speaker 1: plenty of amenities to enjoy while checked into Room 237,
23:42
Speaker 1: including members-only Murder Monday. So to enjoy the rest of
23:50
Speaker 1: this episode, simply scroll down to the description and click
23:54
Speaker 1: the link for Cosmic Peach Podcast Patreon. You can also
23:59
Speaker 1: download the app and search Cosmic Peach Podcast and make
24:04
Speaker 1: your reservation. Thank you so much for your continued support,
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Speaker 1: and I can't wait to see you over there.
24:24
Speaker 3: Thank you.