Scott Wilson

Scott Wilson died from an irritant. He was buried but his body was later exhumed after certain village gossip reached the ears of the police.

He had been a draper and boot dealer.

A doctor that had treated him prior to his death stated that when he last attended him he was certain that Scott Wilson had been in a dying state and that he was dying a natural death.

He had died on 5 February 1902 and buried at Earlsheaton Cemetery in Dewsbury on 22 February 1902. His body was later exhumed following statements made by his sister who had suggested foul play on the part of his wife.

Following his exhumation a post mortem was carried out which concluded that he had died from peritonitis which was thought had been set up by some irritant poison and further analysis was called for.

His stomach was then analysed along with its contents and some vomit and it was determined that none of the material contained poison of any kind.

Following the conclusion of the inquest, the Coroner said that there had been imported into the case a lot of feeling, gossip and scandal, which he said ought not to have been raised. He said that Scott Wilson's sister had acted unwisely, to put it mildly, after having found a packet of oxalic acid in the house after Scott Wilson's death, which was commonly used for cleaning things, and took it to the police and made all sorts of rash and violent statements, adding that she had exhibited an amount of spleen which was very wicked indeed.

The inquest heard, on behalf of Scott Wilson's wife, that it was a matter of fact that Scott Wilson had himself bought the packet of oxalic acid some months before his death for ordinary cleaning purposes.

It was noted that Scott Wilson's wife, before she had married him, had been a woman of independent means.