Murder Victim
Fourteen year old Mary Clifford was a indentured servant girl who's death occured due to mistreatment by the sadistic Mrs. Elizabeth Brownrigg in the summer of 1767. Clifford and three other servant girls before her including Mary Mitchell and Mary Jones who were subjected to the abuse before Mary Clifford was applied. Mary Clifford was killed after severe daily beatings and other humiliating acts while in the care of the Brownrigg's.
Another servant girl, Mary Mitchell, was saved, but for Clifford it was too late. Clifford's stepmother had come to visit Mary in July of 1767, but the woman was not allowed inside or to see her stepchild. When Mary Mitchell escaped and safely away from the home, she spilled her whole story of the horror and torments of living there for a full year at the Brownrigg's house. She told how Mary Clifford was forced to work naked while beaten bloody with broomsticks, canes or horsewhips. There would be times when Mary was chained by the neck which one end was nailed to the door at night. After a while, she wasn't allowed to sleep upstairs, and was banished to the cellar each night. Her bed was a freezing coal bin with only a straw sack to keep her alive throughout the night. When she was ever fed she lived on the diet of crusts of bread and water. Before Clifford's death, Mrs. Brownrigg devised a new torture device in her kitchen. Mary was hung with her wrist tied above her head to a hook in the ceiling while she beat her with a horsewhip.
Others went back to get Mary Clifford. She was found shoved in a cupboard in the family dining room. Bruised, bleeding, and slashes all over her body. The family was later caught and arrested, but Mary Clifford had already died. She died of gangrene (which many believed derived after being seen living in the Brownrigg's pig pens where she was covered in pig feces and blood) that had settled into her infected wounds.
Mrs. Elizabeth Brownrigg was executed for her murder on September 14, 1767. Her son and husband only received six months in jail.
Fourteen year old Mary Clifford was a indentured servant girl who's death occured due to mistreatment by the sadistic Mrs. Elizabeth Brownrigg in the summer of 1767. Clifford and three other servant girls before her including Mary Mitchell and Mary Jones who were subjected to the abuse before Mary Clifford was applied. Mary Clifford was killed after severe daily beatings and other humiliating acts while in the care of the Brownrigg's.
Another servant girl, Mary Mitchell, was saved, but for Clifford it was too late. Clifford's stepmother had come to visit Mary in July of 1767, but the woman was not allowed inside or to see her stepchild. When Mary Mitchell escaped and safely away from the home, she spilled her whole story of the horror and torments of living there for a full year at the Brownrigg's house. She told how Mary Clifford was forced to work naked while beaten bloody with broomsticks, canes or horsewhips. There would be times when Mary was chained by the neck which one end was nailed to the door at night. After a while, she wasn't allowed to sleep upstairs, and was banished to the cellar each night. Her bed was a freezing coal bin with only a straw sack to keep her alive throughout the night. When she was ever fed she lived on the diet of crusts of bread and water. Before Clifford's death, Mrs. Brownrigg devised a new torture device in her kitchen. Mary was hung with her wrist tied above her head to a hook in the ceiling while she beat her with a horsewhip.
Others went back to get Mary Clifford. She was found shoved in a cupboard in the family dining room. Bruised, bleeding, and slashes all over her body. The family was later caught and arrested, but Mary Clifford had already died. She died of gangrene (which many believed derived after being seen living in the Brownrigg's pig pens where she was covered in pig feces and blood) that had settled into her infected wounds.
Mrs. Elizabeth Brownrigg was executed for her murder on September 14, 1767. Her son and husband only received six months in jail.
Murder Victim
Fourteen year old Mary Clifford was a indentured servant girl who's death occured due to mistreatment by the sadistic Mrs. Elizabeth Brownrigg in the summer of 1767. Clifford and three other servant girls before her including Mary Mitchell and Mary Jones who were subjected to the abuse before Mary Clifford was applied. Mary Clifford was killed after severe daily beatings and other humiliating acts while in the care of the Brownrigg's.
Another servant girl, Mary Mitchell, was saved, but for Clifford it was too late. Clifford's stepmother had come to visit Mary in July of 1767, but the woman was not allowed inside or to see her stepchild. When Mary Mitchell escaped and safely away from the home, she spilled her whole story of the horror and torments of living there for a full year at the Brownrigg's house. She told how Mary Clifford was forced to work naked while beaten bloody with broomsticks, canes or horsewhips. There would be times when Mary was chained by the neck which one end was nailed to the door at night. After a while, she wasn't allowed to sleep upstairs, and was banished to the cellar each night. Her bed was a freezing coal bin with only a straw sack to keep her alive throughout the night. When she was ever fed she lived on the diet of crusts of bread and water. Before Clifford's death, Mrs. Brownrigg devised a new torture device in her kitchen. Mary was hung with her wrist tied above her head to a hook in the ceiling while she beat her with a horsewhip.
Others went back to get Mary Clifford. She was found shoved in a cupboard in the family dining room. Bruised, bleeding, and slashes all over her body. The family was later caught and arrested, but Mary Clifford had already died. She died of gangrene (which many believed derived after being seen living in the Brownrigg's pig pens where she was covered in pig feces and blood) that had settled into her infected wounds.
Mrs. Elizabeth Brownrigg was executed for her murder on September 14, 1767. Her son and husband only received six months in jail.
Fourteen year old Mary Clifford was a indentured servant girl who's death occured due to mistreatment by the sadistic Mrs. Elizabeth Brownrigg in the summer of 1767. Clifford and three other servant girls before her including Mary Mitchell and Mary Jones who were subjected to the abuse before Mary Clifford was applied. Mary Clifford was killed after severe daily beatings and other humiliating acts while in the care of the Brownrigg's.
Another servant girl, Mary Mitchell, was saved, but for Clifford it was too late. Clifford's stepmother had come to visit Mary in July of 1767, but the woman was not allowed inside or to see her stepchild. When Mary Mitchell escaped and safely away from the home, she spilled her whole story of the horror and torments of living there for a full year at the Brownrigg's house. She told how Mary Clifford was forced to work naked while beaten bloody with broomsticks, canes or horsewhips. There would be times when Mary was chained by the neck which one end was nailed to the door at night. After a while, she wasn't allowed to sleep upstairs, and was banished to the cellar each night. Her bed was a freezing coal bin with only a straw sack to keep her alive throughout the night. When she was ever fed she lived on the diet of crusts of bread and water. Before Clifford's death, Mrs. Brownrigg devised a new torture device in her kitchen. Mary was hung with her wrist tied above her head to a hook in the ceiling while she beat her with a horsewhip.
Others went back to get Mary Clifford. She was found shoved in a cupboard in the family dining room. Bruised, bleeding, and slashes all over her body. The family was later caught and arrested, but Mary Clifford had already died. She died of gangrene (which many believed derived after being seen living in the Brownrigg's pig pens where she was covered in pig feces and blood) that had settled into her infected wounds.
Mrs. Elizabeth Brownrigg was executed for her murder on September 14, 1767. Her son and husband only received six months in jail.
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