Unsolved murders in London 1884 - 1904

[Mayerling]

There were plenty of unsolved or botched investigation in London:

1857 - Waterloo Bridge Mystery - cut up body of a man found in a large carpet bag (last seen carried by an elderly woman across the Bridge the evening before) that was deposited near one of the arches on the Thames. Never solved.

April 1866 - Murder of Mrs. Sarah Milsom in the house on Cannon Street in Whitechapel that she was one of two housekeepers in. A man was arrested and put on trial, but acquitted when nearly 20 people testified to his alibi on the night of the murder.

July 1872 - the killings of Mrs. Squires and her daughter by a young man who was seen tearing out of their shop in Hoxton. What is really killing about this case, aside from no good description of the young man was that a bottle near the strangled victims had a "fingerprint" clearly on it. Fingerprinting, of course, was not in use until 1905.

December 1872 - the aforementioned Coram Street mystery of Harriet Buswell. In this case a German ship doctor was arrested and tried - and like the defendant in the Milsom Murder able to cast doubt that he could have done it.

December 1878 - the Burton Crescent mystery. Miss Rachel Samuel, a recluse, disappeared from her rooms - some human remains were later identified as her. A maid, Mary Donovan, was arrested but released (January 10, 1879).

Between October 10, 1877 and May 9, 1879 - Ms Mathilda Hacker vanished in a rooming house run by the Bastendorff family at No. 4 Euston Square. Her body found beneath some coal in the basement. A maid named Hannah Dobbs and one of the owners, Severein Bastendorff, were tried - both got acquitted (due to lack of conclusive evidence) for murder, but Bastendorff's lying led to him getting seven years for perjury.

February 1881 - killing of Lt. Percy Roper at barracks at Chatham, when the company was having dinner (Roper was in his rooms). Suicide impossible, though suspected. Several suspects in the staff (one, a Sergeant died a suicide a week or so later). In November 1881, a day before his execution for the murder of Frederick Isaac Gold on the Brighton Railway Line, Percy Lefroy Mapleton confessed that he shot Lt. Roper, but he rescinded this confession within a day.

March 1884 - Mary Ann Yates suffocated (under singularly cruel circumstances) at No. 12 Burton Crescent. No suspect located.

January 1888 - Ms Lucy Clark, dressmaker, found killed in her shop on Baker Street (!!). Her two nephews were suspected and briefly arrested, but released. Nothing further on this case.

Of course we are only looking for unsolved murders in the London area and environs. There were plenty of unsolved murders in the years leading up to 1888 around the globe.

Jeff

[martin wilson]

Hi all

Thanks Jeff, I'm sure we would all appreciate you posting your research into murders around the world, if you don't mind that is.

Trust an Aussie to find a body in a barrel case (sorry Ausgirl!)

All the best.

[martin wilson]

MYSTERIOUS MURDER OF A SOLICITORS CLERK. April 1884.

Robbery was undoubtedly the motive for the murder of Edwin Perkins 22, solicitors clerk, found in 2 Arthur Street West, near London Bridge.
A blunt instrument was used and his throat was cut.
His pockets had been turned out and his watch was missing.

All the best.

[martin wilson]

THE YALDING MURDER. May 1882.

Georgina Moore 7, of 105 Great Winchester street Pimlico went missing in September 1881.
She was found in the river Medway near Yalding kent.
A wire had been tied round her neck with a fire brick attached.
Esther Pay stood trial for her murder but was acquitted.
George Euban a soldier in the 2nd Battalion Oxfordshire Light Infantry confessed to being involved with Esther Pay in the murder but Scotland Yard found inconsistencies in his account.

All the best.

[Mayerling]

Hi all

Thanks Jeff, I'm sure we would all appreciate you posting your research into murders around the world, if you don't mind that is.

Trust an Aussie to find a body in a barrel case (sorry Ausgirl!)

All the best.

At the moment, Martin, I don't have a list like that - the comment was based on what would appear to be undeniable. Example would be the 1874 kidnapping of Charlie Ross, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. His two kidnappers were shot and killed while burglarizing a house in Brooklyn, New York about four months later. A retired policeman named Westervelt (a brother-in-law of one of the kidnappers) was tried as an accessory and given a seven year sentence - but the boy was never found.

In 1872 George Colvocomatis, a retired Greek American naval officer, was shot and killed on a street in Bridgeport, Connecticut. A pistol that had been fired was found across the street. But he had been shot at close range through his clothing, and nobody saw anyone near him. Yet he could not have shot himself and managed to throw the pistol across the street. The case is still unsolved.

In 1873 the Bender family, having murdered about eight or ten travelers near their "inn" near Cherryvale, Kansas, vanished when pursuit became certain. Although several posses pursued them, no official explanation of their fate ever occurred to be published. Unofficially one of the posses may have caught and lynched them. The arrest and trial of two women accused of being members of the Bender family in 1889 proved to be a farce.

Note these three are in the 1870s. There were cases in the 1880s too. Also, keep in mind the authorities arrested and tried suspects who were acquitted due to issues on the evidence presented, or due to superior defense counsel. Sir Edward Clarke, one of England's best barristers, won the acquittal of Adelaide Bartlett in 1886 for the "Pimlico Poisoning Mystery" of how her husband Edwin ended up with a belly full of liquid chloroform (a matter that is still puzzling). Although found guilty and sentenced to death in 1889 for the murder of her husband Jack...err James Maybrick with arsenic, Florence Maybrick's sentence was reduced due to the actions of her counsel, Sir Charles Russell, because (1) there was a question of who had actually given Maybrick the arsenic, and (2) her trial judge, Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, was insane. Her sentence became life imprisonment, and in 1904 she was released from prison.

Jeff

[sdreid]

This is from 1880 - but! so interesting! Body in a barrel in a cellar, unidentified and stabbed in the heart - The Harley Street Mystery:

Professor Pepper, of St. Mary's Hospital, said he had come to the conclusion that the body was that of a woman, and measured 4ft 10ii. The age was certainly over 30--perhaps over 40. The.probable cause of death was a stab just above the heart, and a hidden knife has been discovered with which it is supposed the deed was committed.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/38260893

Reminds me of Deeming.

Is this the Matilda Hacker Murder? I believe a maid was put on trial but acquitted so it is an unsolved case (as Jeff said). Seems like a lot of decomposed murdered women found in basements around this time.

[Rosella]

Lady Florence Dixie was a sister of the Marquess of Queensberry of boxing rules fame, and therefore aunt to Oscar Wilde's lover Lord Alfred Douglas, 'Bosie'.

Lady Florence lived a very full and colourful life, but unfortunately she was apparently quite eccentric and may have been subject to some of the mental illness that has plagued the Douglas family.

The Press breathlessly reported the attack on her and that it may have involved Irish men or women. Soon afterwards though, they stated that it was thought that 'Lady Florence was labouring under a misapprehension' about the attack, and there were broad hints that she had imagined the whole thing.

[Ausgirl]

Trust an Aussie to find a body in a barrel case (sorry Ausgirl!)

Bahahaha!

Rosella, just because a lady -might- be a wee bit dotty doesn't mean she can't be attacked by a gang of faux lesbians.

[jerryd]

Lady Florence Dixie was a sister of the Marquess of Queensberry of boxing rules fame, and therefore aunt to Oscar Wilde's lover Lord Alfred Douglas, 'Bosie'.

Lady Florence lived a very full and colourful life, but unfortunately she was apparently quite eccentric and may have been subject to some of the mental illness that has plagued the Douglas family.

The Press breathlessly reported the attack on her and that it may have involved Irish men or women. Soon afterwards though, they stated that it was thought that 'Lady Florence was labouring under a misapprehension' about the attack, and there were broad hints that she had imagined the whole thing.

Thanks Rosella,

To add a bit, if i may.

Lord Alfred's father, John Douglas (The 9th Marquess of Queensbury), was distraught about the relationship with Oscar Wilde and accused Wilde of being a sodomite. Wilde in turn, sued John Douglas for libel. It turned out to backfire on him as Wilde's indecency was exposed in the proceedings and he himself was put on trial with charges of gross indecency. After three trials he was convicted and sentenced to two years hard labor. Charges against John Douglas were dropped.

A similar situation occurred in Dublin ten years earlier in 1884 when William O’Brien publicly alleged same-sex activities involving Dublin Castle administrators and officers of his newspaper, United Ireland. He used his newspaper to make allegations about Gustavus Cornwall, the secretary of the General Post Office.Cornwall sued O’Brien for libel. This backfired on Cornwall, just as in the Wilde libel case years later against John Douglas, and the proceedings unearthed the truth of the goings on in Dublin Castle. (Almost the twin to the Cleveland Street Scandal in 1889), Subsequently charges relating to indecency and sodomy were filed against Cornwall and seven others and O'Brien was cleared of the charges against him.Cornwall was acquitted and due to retire anyway, he resigned his post in Dublin Castle.

Interesting too that both the Cleveland Street Scandal and Dublin Castle Scandal involved employees of the Post Office and high ranking officials in the government. That's why I say they are twins. Almost identical twins.

There is a lot to this story and I apologize for the rambling but it's all part of one big tangled web. Some of Oscar Wildes colleagues were men involved in the Cleveland Street Scandal. Two I have researched somewhat extensively with the little information out there on them. Namely Jack Saul and Paul Harry Ferdinando, aka Charles Carrington. It's through this Dublin Irish connection where I think Lady Florence Douglas (Dixie) had an assasination attempt on her life. They tried to get her to recant the story even discounting it as a lie but what else to do when you have the, excuse me for this sin Lynn Cates, 'Fenians' all over you. Hush money and intimidation go a long way. So the attack on Lady Dixie never happened.

Side Note: Many in the Cleveland Street Scandal were cross dressers or as they called themselves, Mary Annes. Jack Saul was a witness in both the CSS and Dublin Castle Scandal.

[Mayerling]

Wilde, "Cleveland Street" type Scandals, Queensbury, etc.

The homosexual scandals were actually found all over the globe. A few years ago somebody suggested that the composer, Pyotr Tchaikovski, did not die from accidentally drinking unboiled water in a cholera epidemic in 1893, but may have either died in a duel or committed suicide in a scandal that was about to break regarding an aristocratic male lover. And in 1902 the head of the great Krupp empire, Fritz Krupp, died suddenly (an apparent suicide) when the gay life style he enjoyed on an island hideaway (I think at Capri) was about to be revealed. In 1903 a popular British military commander, General Hector MacFarland (who had led the last charge against the Sudanese at Omdurman in 1898 - he was called "Fighting Mac") shot himself when returning to London to face an enquiry into his governorship of Ceylon (there were rumors of his enjoying native boys).

Queensbury was a brutal bully, with little regard for anyone else - and diabolically hating anyone who tried to befriend his hated children. His oldest son killed himself, and it has been suggested the son (who was personal secretary to Prime Minister Lord Rosebery, and who had gotten a new title through Rosebery's influence) was the Prime Minister's lover. Rosebery was Prime Minister from 1894-95, and had a miserable time in the job. Partially this was due to his own personality, and his inter-party strife with his leader in the House of Commons Sir William Harcourt, but it has been suggested that Queensbury went after his oldest son to start pressuring Rosebery to resign his post. If so he succeeded. The Wilde Scandal with Bosie occurred during Rosebury's Premiership, and there seems to have been an attempt at foot dragging by that government in arresting Wilde for nearly a half day - just enough time for him to flee to France if he had been smart. But Bosie talked Oscar out of it.

Only one party ever properly handled Queensbury - he acted in his normal arrogant way at a club on one occasion towards a fellow member, and the member (getting fed up) turned around and punched the Marquess in the face! Queensbury, his face bleeding, fell back into a chair looking stunned. Nobody said a word of commiseration to him, and he slowly got up and left seeing how disliked he was. Unfortunately this was not the method used by most people.

Given his dislike for gay men, one wonders why nobody ever pushed it into him that his rules for boxing included tight fitting trousers for the pugilists. Why was that necessary, m'Lord?

[Rosella]

Long way off topic here, but wasn't Francis Shackleton, the brother of the famous explorer, supposedly gay and involved in the theft of the Irish Crown Jewels in 1907 ? He was apparently a very good friend of the elderly Sir Arthur Vicars, the Ulster King of Arms, who was in charge of the insignia. Another scandal partly squashed by the authorities.

[Mayerling]

You are correct, and there is a book (written years ago) about that jewelry robbery mystery (the Irish Crown Jewels were never recovered): Francis Bamford & Viola Bankes, "Vicious Circle: The Case of the Missing Irish Crown Jewels" (New York: Horizon Press, 1967). Sir Arthur Conan Doyle took an interest in the case, and wrote a Sherlock Holmes' mystery story, "The Adventure of the Bruce - Partington Plans" (1908) for the Strand Magazine, which was influenced by the relationship of Frank Shackleton to the explorer hero Sir Ernest Shackleton. The submarine plans in the story were supposed to be in the care of one Sir James Walters, who dies suddenly during the scandal. It turns out his brother Col. Valentine Walters is involved. (Of course, Ernest Shackleton did not die as a result of Frank's involvement in the Irish Crown Jewels theft). With typical Doylean fact twists that permeate all the Holmes stories, he is blending the Shackleton brothers with another earlier scandal involving an explorer and his brother - in 1875 Colonel Valentine Baker was disgraced when he apparently sexually assaulted a woman in a train carriage. Col. Baker was a friend of the then Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII), and that friendship ended with Baker going to prison for two years. Colonel Baker was the brother of the English explorer and discover of Lake Albert in Africa, Sir Samuel Baker. Colonel Baker did end up finding employment as the Sirdar of the army of the Khedive of Egypt in the 1880s.

The way Conan Doyle thinks is amazing. The "Bruce - Partington Plans" story also involves the murder of one Arthur Cardigan-West, who tried to stop the theft and sale of the plans. His dead body is placed on a London underground train and it falls off miles away from the site of the actual killing. In 1905 there had been an unsolved murder on a train in London (that of Ms Sophia Money), which probably was in Doyle's creative memory when he wrote his story. All this ties in nicely with Colonel Baker's sexual assault on the lady in the railway carriage in 1875.

By the way, the reason that the Irish Crown Jewels case was allowed to be unsolved seems to be that the homosexual ring in Dublin Castle included one of the brothers of King Edward VII.

Jeff

[martin wilson]

Hi all

I don't know about the rambling JerryD , fascinating stuff, everybody loves scandal in high places, and the more tangled the web the better!

Nobody can get enough of ACD either, particularly if the stories were based on real life cases. so as much of that as you like, thanks.

All the best.