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The Case of Eliza Fenning

Stuff You Missed in History Class

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The Case of Eliza Fenning

Eliza Fenning was executed in 1815 for attempting to poison the family of Urlabar Turner by mixing arsenic in yeast dumplings. For a brief moment in 1829, it seems that the truth of what had happened at 68 chance, Elaine had at last come to light. The story got more people thinking about the criminal justice system and about what would eventually be called forensic science. In 1828, John Gordon Smith, a former army surgeon, became the first professor of medical jurisprudence at the University of London. He used Eliza's case in lectures and provided demonstrations that showed that so-called expert testimony was not always correct.

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