Then the local newspapers latched on to the story and discovered Mary Ann had moved around northern England and lost three husbands, a lover, a friend, her mother, and eleven children, all of whom had died of stomach fevers.
Men en lokal avis, som havde interesse i historien, fandt ud af, at Mary Ann havde flyttet rundt i hele Nordengland, og at hun havde mistet 3 ægtemænd, en elsker, en ven, sin mor, og et dusin børn, og alle var døde af mavefeber.