Margaret Jackson, Local Nurse Arrested

Although this episode in Amherst history may still be in living memory, I hazard to repeat it here.  I came across the misadventures of Margaret Jackson while looking for information in the Oxford Journal about my great aunt. This is an incident that I had never heard before in my research of Amherst stories.

Margaret Jackson, local nurse, was taken into custody in 1932 charged with the murder of an infant child born to Mr. and Mrs. James Corbett.  It seems that Mrs. Corbett and her three week old baby Margaret Alice were being nursed by Jackson who prepared the baby’s bottles.  When the infant became ill, Nurse Jackson called Dr. Drury to attend who discovered Lysol in the milk.  Baby Margaret died the morning of May 10.  Miss Jackson and the evidence were immediately taken into custody.  During court proceedings, it was attested to by witnesses that Lysol was not used either by the neighbouring dairy supplying the milk to the Maccan family nor by the family’s maid Ruth Briggs.  Following court proceedings and a review by the Attorney General, charges against Margaret Jackson were dropped.  The local paper reported that the well known and popular nurse was congratulated by her many friends upon her release, “all of whom stood by her in the recent crisis that she was forced to face”.  In fact the newspaper editor wrote an editorial on August 31 about the steel character of Miss Jackson stating that “she conducted herself with a womanliness and a quiet dignity that could only come from a consciousness of innocence”.

Margaret Jackson herself wrote the paper following her release explaining that she was writing only because the Crown had dropped the charges before she had an opportunity to explain herself.  In her letter she stated that there was indeed Lysol in the Corbett home and Creolin (a substance that also could have been the culprit) in the neighbouring dairy. 

Jackson moved to Fredericton living there for 10 years where she working in her nursing profession.  She died in 1951 at the age of 67.  She had two brothers and five sisters and was buried in Amherst. 

The infant Margaret had three surviving sisters.  Their father James Corbett was a mechanical engineer at the Canada Electric Company in Maccan.

All concerned must have been deeply wounded by this sad story.  If you know more, I look forward to hearing from you.