The Invention of Murder (78 page)

327
o’ their body: Eliot, Middlemarch, p.778.
and execution broadsides:
The British Library has a particularly rich cache of Mary Anne Burdock broadsides, shelfmark 74/1880.c.12 ff.1–77; the broadsides cited are all from this collection, and include: ‘Further Particulars of the Examination At the Coroner’s Inquest and the Verdict returned by the Jury for the WILFUL MURDER of Mrs. Clara Ann Smith, by Mrs. Burdock’ (Bonner, Printer, Bristol) [f. 45]; ‘The Bristol Assizes, and Learn’d Recorder’s Charge to the GRAND JURY’ (John Bonner, Printer, Nicholas Steps, Bristol) [f. 50]; ‘A Correct ACCOUNT of the TRIAL and PROCEEDINGS in the Case of Mary A. Burdock, FOR FELONY AND MURDER at the Bristol Assizes, April 10th, 1835’ (John Davis, Printer, Temple S[remainder of page torn off]) [f. 51]; ‘Bristol Assizes. A Correct ACCOUNT of the Trial and Sentence of Mary Ann Burdock’ (John Davis, Printer, Temple Street, Bristol) [f. 52]; ‘The Correct Confession of MARY ANN BURDOCK, Sworn before the Magistrates by ANN BAYNTON’ (T. Watson, St James’s Churchyard, [Bristol?]) [f. 53]; ‘The Trial of Mrs. BURDOCK this day with the verdict’ (Taylor, Redcliff Street, Bristol) [f. no. torn off, but 54]; ‘Trial of Mrs. BURDOCK, This Day Five o’Clock’ (Taylor, Redcliff Street, Bristol) [f. 55]; ‘The TRIAL of Mrs BURDOCK’ (J. Bonner, Nicholas Steps, Bristol) [f. 56]; ‘The Execution of Mrs. Burdock. Aged 34 Years. convicted at the Bristol Assizes of the Wilful Murder of Clara Ann Smith … and who was Executed upon the New Drop, this day. April 15 1835 (John Bonner, Nicholas Steps, Bristol)’ [f. 57]; [similar broadsheet, re-laid-out, f.58]; ‘[page torn]nd Execution of M.A. BURDOCK, Who was Executed at Bristol … for the MURDER of Clara Ann Smith’ (J. Davies [sic], Temple Street, Bristol) [f. 59]; ‘Dying Speech, Confession and behaviour of Mary Burdock, Executed at Bristol Gaol …’ (Taylor, Redcliff Street, Bristol) [f. 60]. The second collection is shelfmark 74/1880.c.20, ff.324–67, and includes: ‘The Apprehending and Taking of Mrs Burdock … on the suspicion of the MURDER of Mrs. Clara Smith, With the examination of the Body, which was taken from the Grave on Wednesday.’ (J. Bonner, Bristol) [f.366]; ‘The LIFE, CONFESSION and
EXECUTION,
of Mrs. BURDOCK, Who was Executed at the New Drop, Bristol Gaol. on Wednesday, April 15th, 1835’ (John Bonner, Nicholas Steps, Bristol) [f.368].
supply a missing link: Bristol Mercury, 25 February 1890, p.8.

330
paper said, torture:
The case of John Tawell has been compiled from:
Freeman’s Journal,

2 April 1845;
John Bull,
29 March 1845;
Lloyd’s Weekly,
5, 12, 19 January, 2 February, 16, 23,

30 March 1845;
Morning Chronicle,
6, 8, 9, 16 January, 14, 15, 17, 21, 22, 29 March 1845;
The Times,
3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 16, 31 January, 13, 14, 15, 18, 20, 24, 29 March 1845; Thackeray wrote on the case in ‘From a Club Arm-Chair’, in the
Calcutta Star,
7 May 1845, reprinted in Henry Summerfield, ‘Letters from a Club Arm-Chair: William Makepeace Thackeray’,
Nineteenth-century Fiction
18, December 1963, pp.205–33. A good summary appears in Browne and Stewart,
Trials for Murder by Poisoning.

331
returned to England: Mayhew, London Labour, vol. 1, pp.283–4.

332
to have failed: Lloyd’s,
‘Clerkenwell Police Court’, 30 March 1845;
Era,
classified advertisements, 30 March 1845, p.4;
Punch,
‘Tawell’s Clothes’, 12 April 1845, p.170.
hung John Tawell:
Cited in John Pendleton,
Our Railways
(London, Cassell & Co., 1894), vol. 2, pp.11–12.
did not cause it:
For excellent overviews of the garrotting panic, see Jennifer Davis, ‘The London Garotting Panic of 1862: A Moral Panic and the Creation of a Criminal Class in Mid-Victorian England’, in V.A.C. Gatrell, Bruce Lenman and Geoffrey Parker, eds.,
Crime and the Law: The Social History of Crime in Western Europe since 1500
(London, Europa, 1980), pp.190–213; and Rob Sindall,
Street Violence in the Nineteenth Century: Media Panic or Real Danger?
(Leicester, Leicester University Press, 1990). The Newgate chaplain appears in Sindall,
Street Violence,
p.11.

335
the drop opened:
The case of Franz Müller has been compiled from:
Bell’s Life,
23 July, 10, 24 September, 29 October 1864;
Daily News,
23 July, 8, 9, 13, 16, 20, 27, September, 25, 28, 29, 31 October, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15 November 1864;
Era,
14 August, 18 September 1864;
Lloyd’s,
24 July, 14 August, 11, 25 September, 2 October, 6, 13 November 1864;
Reynolds’s Newspaper,
24 July, 11, 18, 24 September, 2 October, 6, 13, 20 November 1864;
The Times,
11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 26 July, 9, 23 August, 20, 21, 27, September, 22, 26, 28, 29, 31 October, 4, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 November 1864. Anon.,
Proceedings on Extradition of Franz Müller
(New York, n.p., [1864?]), is useful for the return of Müller from New York. Percy Fitzgerald,
Chronicles of Bow Street Police-Office …
(London, Chapman & Hall, 1888), and G. Belton Cobb,
Critical Years at the Yard: The Career of Frederick Williamson of the Detective Department and the C.I.D.
(London, Faber, 1956), give two views on the case from the police perspective. H.B. Irving, ed.,
Trial of Franz Muller
(Edinburgh, William Hodge, 1911) gives a transcript. Cooper,
The Lesson of the Scaffold,
relates to Müller’s case insofar as it was treated by the campaign against capital punishment. Forbes,
Surgeons at the Bailey,
has interesting light on the expert testimony.

336
no longer happen:
‘Verses on the Condemnation of Franz Muller, for the Murder of Mr. Briggs …’ (London, ‘at the “Catnach Press” by W.S. Fortey’ [1864]);
Glasgow Herald,

31 July 1865, p.4; Robert Louis Stevenson to his mother, Stevenson,
Letters,
vol. 1, p.115;
Bell’s Life,
‘Aquatic Register’, 26 August 1865; Pendleton,
Our Railways,
vol. 1, pp.438–9. I am grateful to Christian Wolmar for information on the dates of corridor carriages.
the merest amateur:
Edward FitzGerald to Fanny Kemble, November 1875, FitzGerald,
Letters,
vol. 3, p.626; Swinburne, cited in Senelick, ‘Prestige of Evil’, p.154n.

338
in a train: Lloyd’s,
2 October 1892, p.4.

339
tinned meat:
John Farmer and William Henley,
Slang and its Analogues, Past and Present
([London], privately published, 1890–1904).
Dream of Eugene Aram:
In, among others,
Freeman’s Journal,
‘London Gossip’, 21 September 1875;
Leeds Mercury,
‘The Whitechapel Mystery’, 21 September 1875;
Pall Mall Gazette,
31 October 1875, p.15.
thirteen years later:
The column count and the comparison to Jack the Ripper’s press is in Curtis,
Jack the Ripper and the London Press,
p.104.
practising barrister:
H.B. Irving, ed.,
Trial of the Wainwrights
(Edinburgh, William Hodge & Co., 1920), p.xxxiv.

341
penal servitude for seven years:
The case of Henry Wainwright has been compiled from: Old Bailey trial transcript, ref. t18751122–1;
Daily News,
13, 22, 25 September, 4, 7, 13, October, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30 November, 1, 2 December 1875;
Examiner,
25 December 1875;
John Bull,
15 January 1876;
Judy,
20 October 1875;
Lloyd’s,
19 September, 3, 10, 17, 24 October, 28 November, 4, 12, 26 December 1875;
Pall Mall Gazette,
21, 24 September, 5, 6, 13, 14 October, 21 December 1875;
The Times,
13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25 September, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 18, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29 October, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30 November, 1, 6, 7, 10, 21, 22 December 1875. Contemporary memories of the case can be found in Ernest Bowen-Rowlands,
Seventy-Two Years at the Bar: A Memoir
(London, Macmillan, 1924), and in Walter Wood,
Survivors’ Tales.
Contemporary forensic information can be found in
British Medical Journal,
4, ‘The Wainwright Case’, 4 December 1875, pp.710–11; F.G. Larkin, MRCS, ‘The Whitechapel Tragedy: Report of the Post Mortem Examination on the Remains’, 11 December 1875, pp.730–31; Thomas Bond, FRCS, ‘The Whitechapel Tragedy: Notes of a Report to the Solicitor to the Treasury on the Post Mortem Examination of the Remains’, 11 December 1875, p.732; ‘The Wainwright Case in its Medico-legal Aspects’, 11 December 1875, pp.735–7; ‘The Wainwright Case: Dr Meadows on the Post Mortem Diagnosis of a Multiparous Uterus’, 11 December 1875, p.744, while a modern analysis is available in Forbes,
Surgeons at the Bailey.
Irving,
Trial of the Wainwrights,
gives a very useful outline.
twenty-five lashes: Graphic,
18 December 1875, p.603.
three times: John Bull,
15 January 1876, p.45.
weeks of the execution: Illustrated Police News,
5 February 1876, p.3.

343
the real Wainwright:
Royal Clarence Theatre:
The Academy,
14 October 1876, p.394; Market Harborough:
The Theatre,
6 November 1877, p.232.
body after death:
E.H. Cragg,
Almack, The Detective
(London, [London Literary Society], [1886]), p.25ff.
the latter strongly:
The Staunton case has been compiled from: Old Bailey trial transcript, ref. t18770917–672.
Daily News,
26 April, 21 May, 6, 14 June, 11 July, 9 August, 20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 27, 29 September, 2, 3, 11, 13, 15 October 1877;
Examiner,
20 October 1877;
Graphic,
16 June 1877;
Lloyd’s Weekly,
13, 27 May, 3, 10, 17 June, 23, 30 September, 7, 14, 21, 27 October 1877;
Illustrated Police News,
19 May, 9 June, 6, 13, 20 October 1877;
The Times,
11, 12, 15, 16, 18, 21, 22, 24, 28 May, 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, 14, 26 June, 11, 24 July, 9 August, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 September, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 31 October 1877;
Penny Illustrated Paper,
October 1877;
Sporting Gazette,
29 September 1877. Pamphlets include Anon.,
The Alleged Murder at Penge. Committal of Four Prisoners for Wilful Murder
([? Maidstone], n.p., [1877]); Anon.,
The Life and Trial of the Four Prisoners connected with THE PENGE MURDER. Summing up! Verdict! Sentence!…
(London, G. Purkess, ‘Police News’ Edition, 1877). Clarke’s
Story of My Life
has the barrister’s memories of the case. Twentieth-century accounts include J.B. Atlay, ed.,
Trial of the Stauntons
(Edinburgh, William Hodge, 1911), H.L. Adam,
The Penge Mystery: The Story of the Stauntons
([1919], London, Mellifont Press, 1936), and Edgar Lustgarten,
The Woman in the Case
(London, André Deutsch, 1955). Burney,
Bodies of Evidence,
and Forbes,
Surgeons at the Bailey
have useful summaries of the medical position.
cause of death:
Cited in Forbes,
Surgeons at the Old Bailey,
pp.34–5.
unsupported by the evidence:
W.S. Greenwald, ‘Some Remarks on the Medical Evidence in the Staunton Case’,
Lancet,
6 October 1877, 2, pp.492–5. Petition cited in Burney,
Bodies of Evidence,
pp.111–12.

348
Louis’ legal responsibility: Telegraph,
‘Hang in Haste, Repent at Leisure’, 10 October 1877.
people in the dock:
Summarized in Conley,
Unwritten Law,
pp.57–8.

349
brought me great rewards: Clarke, Story of My Life, pp.134–5.
an unmanly way:
Anon., ‘The Penge Murder. Sentence of Death’ ([no printer, place or date of publication]), Bodleian Library, Harding B 12(181), and Anon.,
The Alleged Murder at Penge.
were routinely photographed: Daily News, ‘The Penge Starvation Case’, 2 October 1877; Stefan Petrow, Policing Morals: The Metropolitan Police and the Home Office, 1870–1914 (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1994), p.87.

350
track of human blood: City Jackdaw, October 1877, p.383.
starved for money:
Advertised in the
Illustrated Police News,
19 January 1878 in penny parts, and on 22 February 1879 in a single volume, for 7s.6d.
true actor’s reason:
My thanks to Matt Demakos and Peter E. Blau for information on Holmes’s smoking habits in magazines and onstage.

351 No marks: [William Gillette and Arthur Conan Doyle], ‘Sherlock Holmes: Being a hitherto unpublished episode in the career of the great detective and showing his connection with the strange case of Miss Faulkner’, unpublished playscript, for performance at the Duke of York’s Theatre, London, August 1899, Lord Chamberlain’s Plays, BL Add MSS 53686 (N). The authorial attribution is made by the editors in William Gillette,
Plays by William Hooker Gillette,
eds. Rosemary Cullen and Don B. Wilmeth (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983); no authors’ names appear on the Lord Chamberlain’s copy.
with the dead servant:
Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax’ (1911), in
His Last Bow
and
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
([1917, 1927], Harmondsworth, Penguin, 2007), pp.181ff.

354
sent to Broadmoor:
The case of Richard Archer Prince is compiled from: Old Bailey trial transcript, ref. t18980110–113;
Daily News,
17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 30 December 1897, 14 January 1898;
Era,
18, 24 December 1897, 1, 15 January 1898;
Illustrated Police News,
25 December 1897, 1, 8, 22 January 1898;
Lloyd’s Weekly,
19, 26 December 1897, 2, 9 January 1898;
Manchester Guardian,
17, 18, 21, 23, 30 December 1897, 11 January 1898;
Pall Mall Gazette,
17, 18 December 1897, 10 January 1898;
The Times,
17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 30 December 1897, 1, 6, 10, 11, 13, 18, 19 January, 11 February, 17 March, 25 April 1898;
Sporting Mirror and Dramatic and Music Hall Record,
20 December 1897;
Fun,
21 December 1897;
Country Life Illustrated,
1 January 1898. George Rowell,
William Terriss and Richard Price: Two Players in an Adelphi Melodrama
(London, Society for Theatre Research, 1987) covers all the surviving documentation and is an excellent summary of the case and the theatre of the period.
newspaper correspondents: Catling, My Life’s Pilgrimage, p.248.
saw the first sum: Manchester Guardian,
31 March 1898, p.13; Old Bailey trial transcript, ref. t18980620–406.