The Mysterious Death of Charles Bravo by Tim Vicary. Part 8.
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Chapter 9. What the maid saw
Those were the three important stories heard at the London Coroner’s enquiry in July and August 1876 – the stories of Florence Bravo, Dr James Gully, and Mrs Jane Cox. There was truth, and perhaps also a few lies, in all the stories.
But there were also other stories heard at the enquiry in 1876. There was Florence’s maidservant, for example, Mary Ann Keeber …
Every day the maid, Mary Ann Keeber, cleaned the bedrooms at The Priory and lit fires in them to make them warm. She always put a bottle of drinking water beside Charles Bravo’s bed. Later, in the evenings, she helped Charles and Florence with anything they wanted.
On the night of Tuesday 18th April, Mary Ann closed the two doors to Florence’s bedroom and went downstairs with the dogs. But halfway down the stairs, one of the dogs ran back up again. As Mary Ann turned to call it, she saw Charles Bravo open his bedroom door. His face was white and he looked afraid. ‘Florence! Florence!’ he shouted. ‘Hot water! Hot water!’ Then he ran back into his room.
Charles Bravo’s face was white and he looked afraid.
Mary Ann was surprised. She waited for Florence or Mrs Cox to come out and help him, but they didn’t. Perhaps they hadn’t heard him, she thought. So she hurried back into Florence’s bedroom. Florence was in bed with her eyes closed and Jane Cox was sitting beside her. Mary Ann told Jane what had happened. ‘Come quickly,’ she said. ‘There’s something wrong with Mr Bravo!’
Jane Cox and Mary Ann went into Charles’s bedroom. They saw Charles standing by an open window. His face was grey and wet with sweat. ‘Help!’ he cried. ‘Hot water! Hot water!’ He leaned out of the window and vomited onto the kitchen roof below. Then he fell to the floor.
Mrs Cox told Mary Ann to run downstairs and fetch some hot water. When Mary Ann came back, she saw Charles sitting on the floor. Mrs Cox had her hands on his chest. She was trying to help him breathe, Mary Ann thought.
‘Get some mustard – hurry!’ Mrs Cox said. So Mary Ann ran downstairs again. When she came back, Jane Cox told her to put the mustard into the hot water and lift Charles’s feet into it.
‘It’s an old way to help a sick person,’ Mrs Cox said. ‘Rub his feet with the hot water and mustard.’
Mary Ann tried, but Charles knocked the water over and fell on the floor with his eyes closed. So then Mrs Cox gave him some mustard and hot water to drink, and sent Mary Ann downstairs again, for hot coffee. But the coffee only made him vomit again, into a bowl.
‘Go and send the groom to fetch Dr Harrison,’ Mrs Cox told Mary Ann. ‘And then go and fetch some camphor from my room.’
So Mary Ann ran downstairs again for the groom, then upstairs to Mrs Cox’s room for the camphor, but she couldn’t find it. So she went into Florence’s bedroom instead.
Florence was lying in bed with her eyes closed. Mary Ann shook her arm to wake her up.
‘What is it?’ Florence asked. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘It’s your husband, madam,’ Mary Ann said. ‘Come quick. He’s ill.’
‘What?’ Florence said. ‘Where is he?’
She jumped out of bed and ran into Charles’s bedroom. Mary Ann followed. Charles was lying on the floor with Jane Cox sitting beside him. Florence knelt down and took his hand.
‘Charlie, what’s happened?’ she said. ‘Speak to me, darling – what’s wrong?’
But he didn’t answer. His eyes were closed and he looked half dead. Jane tried to get some coffee into his mouth again but it was no good. He didn’t wake up.
‘Have you sent for the doctor?’ Florence asked.
‘Yes, madam,’ Mary Ann said. ‘The groom has gone for Dr Harrison, in Streatham.’
Florence looked surprised and angry. ‘But he lives two miles away, he’ll be too late!’ she said. ‘Why didn’t you send for Dr Moore? He lives nearer.’ She ran downstairs screaming for one of the manservants. ‘Get Dr Moore from Balham, as quickly as you can. Mr Bravo is very ill, he may be dying! Hurry, man, run!’ Then she came back upstairs and knelt beside her husband again.
‘Try to wake up, Charlie,’ she said. ‘Please, try. Don’t leave me now.’