A poisoning, perjury and a throughly wicked woman
Family background of deceit, falsehood comes to the fore after man's death
On Nov. 12, 1905, Thomas Jackson shared a Sunday morning beer with his wife, Teresa.
“Shortly after both dropped to the floor,” The Vancouver World reported the next day. “Mr. Jackson was dead in an hour-and-ahalf. Mrs. Jackson, on whom a stomach pump was used, is still alive and may recover.
“The indications were that both had suffered from poison and, as the coroner suggested, the evidence pointed to strychnine.”
On Dec. 5, a coroner's jury found that Jackson was indeed poisoned. It also found that his wife hadn't ingested strychnine, although she had had the same beer as her husband. But no one was charged with any crime. There were three other people living in the house at 1284 Melville St.: Teresa Jackson's mother, Mrs. Esther Jones, and two boarders, Harry Fisher and Ernest Exall.
Fisher said he was Mrs. Jones' nephew. But on Dec. 15, The World received a letter saying he was actually her son — and it played the revelation on the front page.
Mrs. Jackson, Mrs. Jones and Fisher all went to The World and swore affidavits that he was Mrs. Jones' nephew, not her son. But then more news about the family came in from Alberni and Victoria.
After separating from her husband, Mrs. Jones had been a housekeeper for a “bedridden but well-to-do rancher” named Foote near Victoria. After his death, his estate alleged that she had “made many extravagant purchases and expenditures” with Foote's money. She was charged with theft, but acquitted.
In 1896, her son, Harry Jones, had stolen cheques from the Bank of B.C. and tried to forge one “in the name of a local business.” He was caught and sentenced to three years in the B.C. Pen.
“During his incarceration it was announced by members of his family that he had died at New Westminster,” said The World. “Upon his release he took the name of Fisher and was subsequently introduced as a relative.”
Thomas Jackson was a miner and prospector who became co-owner of a hotel in Alberni around 1900. Mrs. Jones was a housekeeper there, and he met her daughter and married her. Teresa Jones was 24 years younger than Jackson; she was probably only 19 when they married.
The family moved to Vancouver in 1902 or 1903, renting a different house each year. Jackson went back to prospecting and spent several months a year out of town. When he died, the 48-year-old had just returned from the north, where he had gone in the spring.
On Dec. 22, Mrs. Jackson and Mrs. Jones were charged with perjury for lying about their brother/ son Harry and jailed. Harry Jones/ Fisher had skipped town shortly before their arrests, taking the train to Blaine, Wash.
Authorities notified American customs, and he was detained when he reached the U.S. But he fought his extradition to Canada, and doesn't appear to ever have been sent back.
The case came to a head in court on Feb. 5, 1906. The warden of the B.C. Pen, a Col. Whyte, testified that Harry Jones (a.k.a. Harry Fisher) had written “numerous” letters to “Miss Jones Victoria and Mrs. E. Jones Victoria” while he was in prison between 1897 and 1900.
The most damaging testimony came from a witness brought in from Madison, Ohio, Mrs. Sarah P. Walding. She testified that she had known Mrs. Jones from birth, when she was born Esther Fisher. She had also known Harry and Teresa Jones as children, before the family left Madison for B.C. in 1892.
On Feb. 7, the judge found Mrs. Jones guilty of perjury and sentenced her to 12 months in prison. He also found Mrs. Jackson guilty of perjury, and sentenced her to nine months.
According to The Province, Mrs. Jones went “nuts.”
“I hope that God — and I believe there is a God — will come down and paralyze all those connected with the case,” she yelled, “and I hope that ----- ---- -----.”
The Province censored “the latter part of her curse” because it was of “so malignant a type as to be unfit for print.”
She sounds like a bit of work. “Mrs. Jones, in the opinion of the police, is the hardest female character who has been in their charge for years,” said The Province. “Her deportment today demonstrated that she is a thoroughly wicked woman.”
No one was ever charged with Thomas Jackson's murder.