Polly Mayos
Polly was described as a bright and cheerful girl by neighbours, but years of starvation and beatings had reduced her to a shell of her former self. She at times wandered into neighbours’ homes seeking shelter and food.
I don’t know why I can’t get this story out of my head … to be utterly dependent on a stepmother who utterly despises you, trapped in a society whose norms would brook no interference until you literally died. It is hard to imagine such a pure and hopeless situation, and now we needn’t imagine. The deed has been done, forever.
Polly Mayos was ten years old when her stepmother delivered her final beating, and then dismembered her and threw her in a pond.
Below are two newspaper articles I found, OCR scanned, and corrected.
Murder and Mutilation
New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6751, 7 July 1883, Page 2 (Supplement)
At the Stafford assizes Thomas Mayos and
Mary Elizabeth Mayos, his wife, were in-
dicted for the wilful murder of a daughter of
the former by a previous marriage. The man
is a gardener. 42 years of age, whilst the
woman’s age given as 30, though she
appeared nearly 60. —After the case had
proceeded a short time, counsel for the Crown,
at the suggestion of his lordship, withdrew
the charge of murder against the male prisoner,
and proceeded against him for being an acces-
sory after the fact. In December last the
prisoner left Shrewsbury and went to live at
Kynnersley, near Wellington, the man taking
a situation as groom. On January 10 the
child was noticed by a neighbour to have two
black eyes, a wound on the elbow, and
injuries, which she stated her mother had
caused with a stick. A few days later the
child was heard screaming in the house,
whilst the sounds of what appeared to be the
lashing of the strap with a buckle attached
to it was heard. On the 1st of February the
child was last seen alive. According to the
statement of her brother the mother was on
that day a long time upstairs with his sister.
Next day the female prisoner told some
neighbours that she had sent her child to
Shrewsbury, and witnesses testified to seeing
her carrying a large bundle on February 9th.
Mr.Jos. Bates, a Wellington gentleman, was
near Aplepool, when bis dog discovered
human head, which was pronounced to have
been boiled. —-Dr, Bond also gave it as his
decided opinion that injuries sufficient to
cause death must have been inflicted during
life. The gin!’s legs were subsequently found
in a pool, but up to the present time the body
has not been discovered. The theory of the
prosecution was that the woman, when she
first went upstairs, killed the child, and she
and her husband afterwards mutilated and
disposed of the body. When arrested the
prisoners made contradictory statements
The woman states that the death was acci-
dental, and that the mutilation was effected
to conceal the body. She was wishing the
child’s death not to be known, inasmuch
she was known to have cruelly treated her.
A painful scene took place when Wm. Mayos,
aged 13, a brother of the deceased, was giving
evidence against his stepmother. The lad
burst into tears, and could not proceed with
his evidence for a little time, the business of
the court being meanwhile suspended. The
prisoners also cried bitterly, the woman
wringing her hands. The lad, who was
under examination nearly an hour, stated
that his stepmother acted very cruelly to the
deceased, and himself, frequently lashing
them both, and starving his sister. The jury
found the woman “Guilty” of manslaughter,
and the man accessory after the fact. —The
judge sentenced the female prisoner to 20
years’ penal servitude, and the man to 18
months’ hard labour.
MYSTERIOUS DOUBLE MURDER IN SHROPSHIRE.
Timaru Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 2665, 9 April 1883, Page 3
Wellington, Saturday night.—Whilst
a gasman named Joseph Bates, employed
at Apley Castle, near Wellington, Salop,
was looking for ducks’ eggs on Friday
afternoon by the side of a large pool in
front of the mansion, his attention was
drawn by his dog to a bundle in the
water. Upon taking it out he found it
to contain a human head, which he im-
mediately conveyed to the Wellington
Polico Station. The pool is situated
in front of Apley Castle, the seat of
Sir Thomas Meyrick. The local police
have been dragging the pool, with
a view of discovering other remains,
but so far without result. The
head was found in a bag made of the
skirt of a dress, and was covered with
brown paper tied round with string, the
whole being tied up with window cord.
From the medical examination it is ap-
parent that the head was severed from the
body before death by some very sharp in-
strument, and also that it is that of a
girl between sixteen and seventeen years
of age. Tho features are small, well
marked and in a good state of preserva-
tion, and easy of identification. At present
there is no clue to the mystery, but it is
surmised that the head has been brought
from a distance, and has not been in the
water long. No person has been missed
from the neighborhood during the past
year. The district is frequented
by gipsies. Large crowds of pooplo
visited the spot to-day, and no doubt ex-
ata that a murder has been committed.
Wellington, Sarop, Tuesday.—More
human remains were found in Apley pool,
near Wellington, this morning, two legs
being discovered by a policeman named
Challoner, at the edge of the water,
which has been lowered. They were in
a calico bag, tied in a brown paper parcel,
with cord, but doubt is entertained as to
their being part of tho same body as the
head.
Thomas and Eliza Mayos, husband and
wife, of Weald Moors, Kynnersley, were
brought before the Willington magis-
trates this morning, charged with the
wilful murder of Mary Elizabeth Mayos,
aged 10 years. The police gave evidence
as to the apprehension of the prisoners.
Thomas Mayos said, when apprehended,
I shall say nothing. Are you going
to take my wife?” The police said they
were. The woman said, when appre-
hended, “My husband loves his children
too well. They are all right with their
friends.” The prisoners were remanded
until Monday. The male prisoner un-
concernedly said, “I am innocent. I
have committed no murder.” The
woman, who was greatly agitated, said
nothing. A boy is also missing.” The
woman is the stepmother of the missing
children. Both prisoners are stated to
have been in gaol for cruelty to the girl.
They are alleged to have accused each
other in the police station of the murder
or murders. For several nights recently
the woman Mayos has been seen lingering
round the pool, hence her apprehension.
On their removal to Shrewsbury Gaol,
the prisoners were hooted by an immense
crowd.
Wellington, Tuesday night.—There
is now little doubt that a horrible double
murder, with shocking mutilation of both
bodies, has been perpetrated, a consulta-
tion of doctors to-day having resulted in
the unanimous opinion that the legs
found this afternoon are not part of the
same body as that to which the head be-
longed, for while the head looked
shrunken, dry, and black, the legs were
fresh and white, and had certainly not
been in the water more than a few days.
It is stated that people in the habit of
regularly passing near Apely pond have
recently noticed the female prisoner in the
neighbourhood, and she was seen early one
morning coming in the direction from the
pond with a large square basket, and it was
observed that her manner was strange.
It is no secret that the prisoners, and
especially the step-mother, have persis-
tently ill-treated the children. In 1880
the prisoners lived at Shrewsbury, the
man being a servant to a gentleman
named Naylor. In August of that year
Mrs Mayos was brought before the magis-
trates charged with cruelty to the de-
ceased girl, who was then described as a
sharp little girl of eight years. It was
found in Court that the child was covered
with bruises, the flesh in one place having
actually been cut out by the strap with
which she had been beaten for
playing truant. The woman was sentenced
to six weeks’ imprisonment. Last July the
male prisoner was before the Shrewsbury
Bench charged with assaulting the dead
girl, who then had bruises all over the
body. The man was sentenced to twenty-
one days’ imprisonment, and the magis-
trates instructed the police to make en-
quiries as to the stepmother, who is said
by the neighbors to have been the most
cruel. It was evident, then, that the
poor girl had not been properly attended
to, as she was not only dirty but nearly
starved. It is considered that she was
brought to a state bordering on idiocy
by the constant blows she sustained on the
head. The family removed to Kynners-
ley only last Christmas, the male prisoner
being engaged by Mr Oglo, of Kynnersley
Manor, as groom and gardener. The
woman came from a respectable family
at Shrewsbury. When they first came to
the village they had four children, and in
answer to inquiries from the neighbors
as to what had become of two of them,
the prisoners stated that they were staying
at friends’ at Shrewsbury. The
second child which is missing, and of
which it is supposed the remains found
to-day formed part, was a boy. The bag
in which the limbs were found looks like
a pillow-case, and the other bags seem to
be of bed-tick and an old dress. Further
search is being made at the pool, with a
view to the probable discovery of further
remains.
MYSTERIOUS DOUBLE MURDER IN SHROPSHIRE.
Wellington, Wednesday. Several
fresh facts bearing upon the discovery of
the human head and legs at Apely, Salop,
have transpired. The second child of the
Mayos, who was said to be missing, is
found to be in service at Bishop’s Castle.
The garden attached to Mayos’ house has
been searched, but nothing has been
found. The clothes of the deceased girl
and the bed-quilt are discovered to be
blood-stained, and some of them have
been recently washed. The blood-stained
bodice of a woman, from which the sleeves
have been cut, was found by the police
besides some variegated thread which
corresponds with that used in sewing the
wrapping round the head. The doctors
have discovered certain matters which in-
duce a modification of the opinion that
the legs and head belong to different
bodies.