Julie Wallace

[sdreid]

Yes, I think the owner could make some proper cash from tours. The passage of time makes a difference I think. Maybe you should wait 40-50 years or even more if some who were directly connected are still living and don't approve.

Here in America, the Lizzie Borden murder house is a huge tourist attraction and, I believe, for pay.

[Jason]

i think its terry evans who died, not the owner but i may be mistaken

[louisa]

Mark - Yes I agree, we have more to fear from the living.


If I lived near Rhyl I would probably go on the guided tour (if there was one) of 'Ingledene' - the guest house where Hanratty stayed on the night of the murder.

At the time of the murder it was owned by a lady called Grace Jones and then her daughter Barbara Harris (who are now both dead). It has had a few owners since then.

Sorry to digress from the Wallace case.

[Jason]

That is strue about the Hanratty house, live about 8 miles from Rhyl. The guy who owned the house and gave evidence is dead i believe, though i cannot be certain as to when he died.

[Marko]

I would have no problem living in 29 Wolverton Street. It is the living I fear, not the dead.

I would assume any money made on a property would have to be 'declared'?? I remember neighbours that overlooked onto 25 Cromwell Street were charging the public to view the residence. I think that is tasteless though...

[louisa]

I'm not sure I'd like to live in a house where a brutal murder took place.....however it could be a nice little earner. The owner could give guided tours!

(Referring to another case - I think that the new owners of Rhyl guest house - where Hanratty stayed - still give guided tours of their home and the green bath is still in the attic! I don't know if they charge money for the guided tours though)

[Jason]

my uncle to this day still lives in wolverton st, on the same side, about 10 houses down. I remember him scaring the bejesus out of us as kids about the wallace place ...my sister, cousins and i used to play outside the house, daring each other to look in window or over the wall of back yard....house was empty when he moved in back in early 80s....used to say that new owners were weird for living there !!

[Limehouse]

Did he know she was that much older do you think?

[Penny_Dredfull]

Julia Wallace

I know some of us, in our more liberal and permissive age, don't find such a disparity in ages shocking. We are used to the idea of "toy boys" and "cougars" and couples who remain intentionally childless. I was only pointing out that sensibilities in 1911 and even 1931 were very different from our own, and for a 36 yr. old man to marry a woman 17 yrs. his elder- no matter how good she looked- would certainly have been considered remarkable. Unless he was marrying for money, of course, and that wasn't the case here.

[Limehouse]

1) So now we know that Julia was actually 72 at the time of her death and NOT 52- ie she was 17 years older than her husband. That means when they married he was 36 and she was a 52 year old childless spinster who was certainly not likely to produce children. It may seem a bit odd to us now but would have been even stranger in 1911 when they married. Why would a man his age marry a woman like that?

A woman 'like that'? Well - if she could pass for 52 when she was 72 she must have looked quite good at 52 when she married.

I agree it may have been more unusual for a woman to marry a much younger man in those days but they were described by most who knew them as 'devoted' so it may well have been a love match.

[Penny_Dredfull]

Julia Wallace

I'm coming back to this case after some years, but I still find it as intriguing as ever. The first book I read was The Killing of Julia Wallace, and I watched The Man From The Pru just last night, as it so happens ,for the very first time. I'm sure there was a considerable amount of poetic license taken- the implication of Wallace having some kind of affair with his sister-in-law, for example- another reminder how dramatized versions of crimes are not to be relied upon as entirely factual. But it was certainly entertaining to watch. Why is the 1930's always portrayed as so BROWN?!
But here are some more pertinent questions that occur to me when reviewing this case:

1) So now we know that Julia was actually 72 at the time of her death and NOT 52- ie she was 17 years older than her husband. That means when they married he was 36 and she was a 52 year old childless spinster who was certainly not likely to produce children. It may seem a bit odd to us now but would have been even stranger in 1911 when they married. Why would a man his age marry a woman like that? Was Wallace, the odd man with so many hobbies that didn't include his wife, a closet homosexual who used the marriage as a respectable cover?
2) Why would a supposedly innocent man accused of savagely murdering his wife and facing the hangman's noose NOT fight harder for himself, but instead be so resigned to his fate? Does this point to his guilt/complicity?
3) How do we know that the amount taken from the box in the kitchen, supposedly by the murderer, was four quid? If we only have Wallace's word for that then we have to wonder- did it actually contain more, ie a payment left for the killer Wallace hired to off his wife- Parry?
Just throwing a few thoughts out there- what do you think?

[sdreid]

It was great to finally speak to someone else who was likewise terrified on that Autumn/Fall night back in 1975!!

I did not even "hear" of the case until 1981.

As far as The Man From the Pru goes, I like it very much.

[louisa]

Hi Mark

I absolutely agree that Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer don't look like killers. (What does a killer look like anyway?). This is precisely how they managed to lure people into having a false sense of security and trusting them. Ted Bundy was good looking and had personality and charm (even the judge himself - after passing the death sentence - said something like 'You take care of yourself son' (or similar). Ted Bundy could have had his pick of girls anyway, but he didn't want those type of relationships - he just enjoyed killing.

Wallace on the other hand, if indeed he was the killer, didn't need looks or charm to entrap a victim. His victim was his own wife. This is why I really don't think he had the personality (not that I knew him of course!) to commit murder. He seemed too mild mannered. However, as you have said, looks can deceive.

Another rather strange thing about the Wallace murder was that the murderer replaced the lid on the money box and put it back on it's high shelf. This sounds like somebody methodical who was used to taking the box down and putting it back. An automatic reaction maybe, of somebody who is short of time and isn't thinking things through. That action could, of course, point to Wallace himself.

[Marko]

Hi Louisa

Yes, the time limit is what the whole of it hinges on...

I suppose what goes on underneath a person is something we can never know for sure. I was on a radio programme commemorating the 80th year of the murder back in January and the radio host said to me that Wallace didn't look like a murderer. A very dangerous statement to make! I suppose one would never think Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and Fred West were sadistic murderers on looks. That is the frightening thing about a psychopath.

I have always questioned the method used in Julia's death and always wondered if Wallace did want to kill his wife, why would he use such an error-laden way of dispatch? It was fraught with so many things that could have gone wrong.

Yes, you're right - his persistent questions in Menlove Gardens/Allerton seemed out of character and highly suspicious.

Best

Mark

[louisa]

Hello Mark

Yes, I was getting confused with Parry. Parry was the person whom Wallace suspected of being the murderer.

The problem that I have with the idea that Wallace himself killed his wife is just that he doesn't seem the type of person who could get into the kind of rage required for the act. I know that people can get angry very quickly and do things they regret, but we are supposed to believe that this murder was pre-planned and if it was, then it would have been carried out calmly and cold bloodedly. I can't see Wallace being that type of person. Also, he wouldn't have had a lot of time.

However.....would someone really go to lengths, and ask quite so many people, the way to an address? And then told 'No that address doesn't exist - still continue looking for it?