As Easy As... Cake? Lena Dee's Trial

By: Caryssa Whittingham, Community Contributor and Co-op Student

At the age of 31, Dereham Township resident Lena Dee was on trial for murdering her husband, William Dee, age 43, with strychnine on October 10th, 1904. Lena Dee started her day around 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. when she started to make breakfast for herself and her husband. Breakfast consisted of potatoes, bread with butter, tea, pie, and cake, which they went out to buy together. When William first saw the cake, he commented that it looked a little odd, and when Lena said that she did nothing to it, he ate it. 

After breakfast, he went off to work but came back only a few minutes later and threw himself on the couch, looking sick. Lena went to one of her neighbours, James and Minnie Kennedy, to get help; however, when they returned to the Dee residence and saw William Dee’s condition, James Kennedy left quickly to find a doctor. This caused a lot of commotion, leading to another one of the neighbours to come over to see what was happening. When they saw William, they asked if he had been poisoned, which Lena confirmed by saying, “Yes, he is poisoned." A couple of hours later, William Dee died.

Lena Dee was arrested the same day as her husband's death and remained in the Oxford County Gaol (jail) for a week with no evidence to prove that she did kill him. The trial officially started on March 14th, 1905, when Mr. Backstock, Lena’s lawyer, went on to say that Lena was insane. This led to an investigation to see if Lena was fit to stand trial.

When her friends and family were asked if they thought that Lena Dee was insane, they all responded by saying no, but they did think she was a little odd. However, when doctors were asked, their answers were inconsistent. Dr. Colebridge thought that Lena was suffering from delusions; however, Dr. H. Beemer said that she was sane enough to know that murdering her husband was wrong. When a third doctor was asked, Dr. Neff, he said that while her actions "were insane", he didn't know if she truly was insane or if she was just acting like it. Two specialists were brought in: Dr. H. Beemer and Dr. Russell. They both said that Lena was insane and was not fit to stand trial.

In the end, Lena Dee never stood trial for her husband's murder and was confined to the Mimico Insane Asylum in Toronto, Ontario, for the rest of her life.