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| Newspaper photo of Kusel and Linda Behr |
Kusel Behr and his brother Samuel were partners in a very successful company of egg importers called Behr & Mathew in Southwark. They imported millions of frozen eggs from their factory in Shanghai for use in food products across Europe. They had other factories in Berlin, Paris and Hamburg. In 1920 the Behr brothers bought out the Mathew’s family interests.
The Behr family had originated in Lithuania. Kusel had married Linda in 1909 and they had four children. Kusel and Linda travelled extensively and lived in America, South Africa and for seven years in Shanghai.
They had come from Shanghai to London in May 1923 and later bought No.368 Finchley Road. This was a large house called Lyndale Hall, opposite Lyndale Avenue just north of the Hendon Way. Today this has been replaced by a block of flats.
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| 1954 OS Map |
Up until 1923 Kusel had generally been in good health, but at the end of December that year he had a bad attack of bronchitis and went to Nice for five weeks to recover.
On 31 March 1926 Kusel Behr, aged 47, was found dead at the house. Prior to his death he had been in ill for about a fortnight. He died soon after drinking some China tea. This was brought by Annie the maid and taken into the bedroom by Linda. He complained the tea had a funny taste, he felt giddy, and he said his back and legs were getting stiff. He began screaming with pain. Dr Jacob Gavronsky was called, but before he arrived Kusel had died.
At the inquest, Dr Gavronsky said he had previously visited Kusel on 18 March after he complained of cold and stiffness at the top of his spine and was screaming in pain. Gavronsky could not find any sign of obvious injuries, and he concluded it was some sort of irritation of the central nervous system. Two other doctors came and gave morphine pain-killing injections. His brother Samuel told the Hampstead coroner and the inquest jury that Kusel had said after suffering the intense pains, ‘If I get another attack like I have had, I won’t stand it’.
At first the doctors could not work out the cause of death but thought it was influenza, then Dr Bronte a Home Office pathologist, diagnosed strychnine poisoning. At the inquest Dr Bronte said about five minutes would elapse before the effects of strychnine poisoning showed and death could occur 15-20 minutes later.
Detective Inspector Hambrook said he found a bottle of gin on a table which Dr Bronte later said contained disolved strychnine tablets. DS King said he and DI Hambrook had tasted the gin and found it was bitter. They carried out enquires of all the chemists and druggists with a 15 mile radius of Charing Cross, but could not find a purchase of the drug by Mr Behr or anyone connected with the case.
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| Linda Behr at the Inquest |
Linda initially told the police that Kusel Behr was of temperate habits and said that their married life was fairly happy. But after further investigations they determined that was not true. She said sometimes he behaved as a madman, and once had put his hands around her neck and only released her when a servant slapped his face. Linda admitted they had had serious arguments over money and that after one of those disputes in November 1925 she had left for Shanghai without telling Kusel while he was away in Germany, and without saying goodbye to their children.
Kusel Behr’s life was not insured. After his death Linda found out that she did not benefit at all under the will. He left £21,260 today worth about £1.28M, which went to his brother and the bulk was held in trust for the children until they were aged 30.
The Coroner’s jury returned an open verdict deciding, ‘Kusel Behr died from strychnine poisoning. Administered by person or persons unknown.’
In the Met files at the National Archives there is a handwritten cover note which says:
‘A most interesting and difficult case. Upon the whole it looks as if this man had doctored the gin himself and either deliberately or by mistake, overdone the doctoring. Every effort has been made locally and throughout the Metropolis to trace a purchase of strychnine without success. It will be interesting to see what conclusion the Coroner’s Jury comes to but upon the whole I do not think that this man was murdered.’
Strychnine was a favourite poison in several of Agatha Christie’s novels because it was so difficult to detect, and HG Wells ‘Invisible Man’ took it as a sleeping aid.
Do you think that Linda got away with murder, was it suicide, or an accidental overdose?
The firm of Behr and Mathew Ltd continued until 1966 and are shown in a short Pathe News film in 1961. The women break 300,000 eggs a day which were then frozen.
https://www.britishpathe.com/video/frozen-eggs/query/behr+and+mathew
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