A dog was playfully digging in the garden, but what it found instead of a bone solved a 160-year-old murder mystery

Dogs are one of those adorable creatures that often amaze us not just by their ability to become our ultimate best friends but also by their intelligence. Authorities do train them for narcotics work, but it looks like your pet could sometimes be just as intelligent when it comes to fighting crime. With the most recent example reported from Devon, a dog named Stanley, who seemed to be playfully digging in the garden, came across an ancient poison bottle.

Owned by Paul Phillips, the cute Labrador didn’t start digging yesterday. According to the Daily Mail, the dog had repeatedly dug at the same spot throughout the year, as the owner had to cover it multiple times. The Labrador’s actions, which seemed like playful behavior was later seen as an obsession, fueling the owner’s curiosity.

It kept on digging and eventually succeeded in finding something that had sparked its obsession to unearth. Initially, the owner took a casual look at the extracted item, but what appeared to be a simple blue pipe was actually a Victorian-era poison bottle. Phillips noticed the ‘Not To Be Taken’ inscription on the bottle and quickly identified it as a mid-19th-century poison container.

The bottle may be connected to a historical murder case

Stanley might be in search of a bone, but his curiosity may have uncovered a murder mystery dating back 160 years. This is because the poison bottle could be connected to Mary Ann Ashford, who apparently poisoned her husband, William Ashford, in the year 1866. Dogs can hold a heartbreaking story, but what this Labrador revealed was a horrific love story.

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This is because the reason for Mary to poison her 45-year-old shoemaker husband was to make her way clear for her lover. The woman sought his £120 estate to be with the man she loved, Frank Pratt, a bakery worker. Later, traces of poison were found on Mary’s dress, which was closely related to her husband’s sudden death, following his unexplained illness treated with “medication.”​

The bottle now sits in Phillips’ garage as an antique piece that is tied to a historical case. It has made the headlines, but not the authorities, because the case was already solved in the same year it was reported. It’s just an empty bottle with no hazardous substance that needs closer attention, and it came from the dog owner’s private property. As a result, it might stay with Phillips forever.