Do you think William Herbert Wallace was guilty?

[RodCrosby]

Excellent piece of research, Rod, which further highlights what a thoroughly disreputable character Parry was.

Just returning to your theory. As I understand it the accomplice, rather than Parry, carries out the theft, because presumably the accomplice would be unknown to Julia.

However, in that case, and assuming Julia caught the accomplice attempting to steal the money, why murder her? After all, the obvious implication is that he would be assumed to be the thief even if he wasn't actually caught in the act, but as he was unknown to Julia he would be unlikely to be identified.

Unsophisticated criminals can panic, sometimes with disastrous results.
As mentioned previously, my own grandmother was threatened with a poker in her own home, just a few miles from Wolverton Street [around 1978, IIRC - I've still got a newspaper cutting somewhere. "A nasty incident", the police called it... ]

If she'd said or done the wrong thing, she could well have ended up like Julia Wallace.

[RodCrosby]

Tracking Parry...

In 1939 he's in Stockport, at 46 Hillcrest Road [from the Register taken at the outbreak of the War, an excellent resource and census substitute, as both the 1931 and 1941 censuses are missing: he's misindexed under PANY, btw]. It looks like it says "Commercial Traveler (Cereals)", although it runs off the page. The closed record is for his daughter, I believe, who is still alive. The reference to EVENDON and 1949 next to his wife's name is a reference to her later second marriage [amazing the government was still using this list to track people decades later!]. She died in 1997, I believe.

In 1956 he's living in Camberwell, London running a TV aerial installation business [probably quite in demand in the 1950s], but seems to go bust. [From the London Gazette, 1956]

[John G]

Unsophisticated criminals can panic, sometimes with disastrous results.
As mentioned previously, my own grandmother was threatened with a poker in her own home, just a few miles from Wolverton Street [around 1978, IIRC - I've still got a newspaper cutting somewhere. "A nasty incident", the police called it... ]

If she'd said or done the wrong thing, she could well have ended up like Julia Wallace.

Yes, and that gets to the crux of the matter: "if she'd said or done the wrong thing." However, all the evidence points to an unprovoked assault in which Julia was taken completely by surprise: no evidence of defensive wounds; no evidence of a heated argument or Julia crying out in alarm, which might have caused the assailant to panic, and which the Johnsons would surely have overheard. In this respect I would have to agree with AS: the murder appears to have been premeditated.

We also need to consider context: the murder happened in the 1930s, a time when there was no CCTV or mobile phones. This gave the assailant a much bigger advantage than would be the case today: should Julia have attempted to raise the alarm she would have to wait for the Johnsons to respond; then she would have to explain what happened and, whilst in a state of distress, she may initially have been incoherent; then someone would have to phone the police, and the call box was 400 yards away; then the police would have to arrive; then Julia would have to give a description of the assailant to the police, which might not be accurate. By which time the thief might be half way to Manchester!

And what about the issue of the Macintosh? Doesn't that also suggest a premeditated murder? Thus, it's clear that the murderer utilized the Macintosh to reduce the amount of blood he might get on his person. That again indicates a well-thought out plan, not someone acting irrationally whilst in a state of blind panic.

In fact, taking into account the Qualtrough ruse, every aspect of this crime appears to have been well-planned and therefore premeditated.

[RodCrosby]

The ladies opine on the case...

The Anatomy of Murder by Dorothy L. Sayers (1936)

https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.220696/2015.220696.The-Anatomy#page/n165/mode/2up

Checkmate by F. Tennyson Jesse (1953)

http://wqq.epubbud.com/read.php?g=LXP66YAL&tocp=12#chapter12

Sayers makes a couple of minor errors, including thinking [James] Allison Wildman was a girl.

Tennyson Jesse offers the nutty idea that Wallace disposed of the murder weapon in the river - this despite having visited Anfield, which she might have noticed is about 3 miles inland...

[AmericanSherlock]

The ladies opine on the case...

The Anatomy of Murder by Dorothy L. Sayers (1936)

https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.220696/2015.220696.The-Anatomy#page/n165/mode/2up

Checkmate by F. Tennyson Jesse (1953)

http://wqq.epubbud.com/read.php?g=LXP66YAL&tocp=12#chapter12

Sayers makes a couple of minor errors, including thinking [James] Allison Wildman was a girl.

Tennyson Jesse offers the nutty idea that Wallace disposed of the murder weapon in the river - this despite having visited Anfield, which she might have noticed is about 3 miles inland...

Thanks Rod, I'm reading Sayers now.

Do you know if the part 1 and 2 of the radio city is available anywhere?

I was not aware F. Tennyson Jesse was a woman.

So that's 3 women that have written about this case, including Yseult Bridges.

[RodCrosby]

Oh sorry, I thought I'd linked them previously...

Part One of the 1981 Radio City show - "Who killed Julia?"

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w0g22us7ey649a4/01-1981%20Radio%20City%20-Who%20Killed%20Julia%20part1.mp3?dl=0

Part Two of the 1981 Radio City show - "Who killed Julia?"

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b9gexrwe80ap4qr/02-1981%20Radio%20City%20-%20Who%20Killed%20Julia%20part2.mp3?dl=0

Part Three of the 1981 Radio City show - the Phone In

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ai4l8m284gc04d6/04-1981%20Radio%20City%20-%20Phone%20In.mp3?dl=0

Part Four of the 1981 Radio City show - "Conspiracy of Silence"
John Parkes' explosive testimony, in his own words

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jv4vtb239oa1tvm/03-1981%20Radio%20City%20-%20Conspiracy%20of%20Silence.mp3?dl=0

"Conspiracy of Silence" was broadcast 5 weeks after the phone in, so the panel don't discuss Parkes' testimony...

"Who killed Julia?" is extraordinarily well-done, and it's spine-tingling to hear all the people who were there on that night in 1931 recall it in their own words...

And the Liverpool kids' nursery-rhyme

"They seek him here, they seek him there,
Is he alive, do you know?
Either in Hell, or The Prudential,
That damned, elusive Qualtrough..."

[AmericanSherlock]

Oh sorry, I thought I'd linked them previously...

Part One of the 1981 Radio City show - "Who killed Julia?"

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w0g22us7ey649a4/01-1981%20Radio%20City%20-Who%20Killed%20Julia%20part1.mp3?dl=0

Part Two of the 1981 Radio City show - "Who killed Julia?"

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b9gexrwe80ap4qr/02-1981%20Radio%20City%20-%20Who%20Killed%20Julia%20part2.mp3?dl=0

Part Three of the 1981 Radio City show - the Phone In

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ai4l8m284gc04d6/04-1981%20Radio%20City%20-%20Phone%20In.mp3?dl=0

Part Four of the 1981 Radio City show - "Conspiracy of Silence"
John Parkes' explosive testimony, in his own words

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jv4vtb239oa1tvm/03-1981%20Radio%20City%20-%20Conspiracy%20of%20Silence.mp3?dl=0

"Conspiracy of Silence" was broadcast 5 weeks after the phone in, so the panel don't discuss Parkes' testimony...

"Who killed Julia?" is extraordinarily well-done, and it's spine-tingling to hear all the people who were there on that night in 1931 recall it in their own words...

And the Liverpool kids' nursery-rhyme

"They seek him here, they seek him there,
Is he alive, do you know?
Either in Hell, or The Prudential,
That damned, elusive Qualtrough..."

Thank you Rod very much, I enjoyed the whole production also.

It is obvious Parry was of an extremely ugly character.

[AmericanSherlock]

In the Who Killed Julia segments, particularly the 2nd one that details the trial and subsequent reversal and then lays out Parry's crimes (setting the stage for the more indepth Conspiracy of Silence), I find the narration brilliant. As an American, the British accent of the narrator really adds to the gravitas.

[ColdCaseJury]

Thanks Rod, I'm reading Sayers now.

Do you know if the part 1 and 2 of the radio city is available anywhere?

I was not aware F. Tennyson Jesse was a woman.

So that's 3 women that have written about this case, including Yseult Bridges.

And don't forget Winifred Duke.

[RodCrosby]

In the Who Killed Julia segments, particularly the 2nd one that details the trial and subsequent reversal and then lays out Parry's crimes (setting the stage for the more indepth Conspiracy of Silence), I find the narration brilliant. As an American, the British accent of the narrator really adds to the gravitas.

I'm interested in how the accents, generally, and the Liverpool accent - in particular - have changed over the past century. Generally for the worse!

Interestingly, the actor who played Wallace, Pete Postlethwaite, was also non-Liverpudlian, although born not far away in Warrington.

Like Wallace [who had spent most of his life ~100 miles from Liverpool], he too developed his career in Liverpool, first in the theatre then on TV, before making it as far as Hollywood.

My point being, he sounds very different to all the other actors in the radio show, and identifiably non-Liverpudlian. Wallace would also have sounded very different in 1931 to those who heard him speak.

Not so easy to fathom for people who are not from the UK, but the diverse regional accents in this country are almost as good as a fingerprint. It's almost impossible to conceal one's accent [or adopt another convincingly] without training and lots of practice.

That's why Wallace could not have fooled Beattie, or the telephone operators for that matter...

[RodCrosby]

CCJ, did you notice the political anorak's question hidden in the show?

[AmericanSherlock]

I'm interested in how the accents, generally, and the Liverpool accent - in particular - have changed over the past century. Generally for the worse!

Interestingly, the actor who played Wallace, Pete Postlethwaite, was also non-Liverpudlian, although born not far away in Warrington.

Like Wallace [who had spent most of his life ~100 miles from Liverpool], he too developed his career in Liverpool, first in the theatre then on TV, before making it as far as Hollywood.

My point being, he sounds very different to all the other actors in the radio show, and identifiably non-Liverpudlian. Wallace would also have sounded very different in 1931 to those who heard him speak.

Not so easy to fathom for people who are not from the UK, but the diverse regional accents in this country are almost as good as a fingerprint. It's almost impossible to conceal one's accent [or adopt another convincingly] without training and lots of practice.

That's why Wallace could not have fooled Beattie, or the telephone operators for that matter...

Didn't the caller say "ca-fay" in a way that sounded odd to the operators? (That is how I would say it too)

[RodCrosby]

Didn't the caller say "ca-fay" in a way that sounded odd to the operators? (That is how I would say it too)

I think there are three ways.

KAFF-ee
which is probably uneducated Liverpudlian, to this day. [the actress who plays Harley uses this pronunciation]

KAFF-ay
more neutral, suggesting some education.

ka-FAY
which would sound highly educated and affected, even in 1931. "hoity-toity", or "far back" as such accent is called...

[AmericanSherlock]

I think there are three ways.

KAFF-ee
which is probably uneducated Liverpudlian, to this day. [the actress who plays Harley uses this pronunciation]

KAFF-ay
more neutral, suggesting some education.

ka-FAY
which would sound highly educated and affected, even in 1931. "hoity-toity", or "far back" as such accent is called...

I'm hoity toity

The 2nd and 3rd is a subtle distinction to me though, I had to think about it for a second.

[AmericanSherlock]

Last post before 100 pages. A little over 500 posts to go to break the yoliverpool thread record.

In Sayers book, she mentions the part of the prosecution where Hemmerde notes that the call was made at 7:18; WHW said he left for the chess club at 7:15 and the phone box was roughly 3 minutes away.

Therefore, I would say 1 of these 2 is almost certainly true:

1. Wallace was the caller (and therefore guilty).

2. Wallace was innocent and the caller was stalking Wallace, saw him leave for the chess club and made the call as soon as he was out of sight.