Great Train Crimes: Murder and Robbery on the Railways by Jonathan Oates Page A
Book: Great Train Crimes: Murder and Robbery on the Railways by Jonathan Oates
Read Free Book Online
Authors: Jonathan Oates
Tags: TRUE CRIME / General
Ads: Link
explain why he wanted the gun.
Dr Simpson of South Lambeth Road reported his findings from the post mortem. Death was due to the laceration of the brain, where the bullet had been found. The shot had been fired at very close range. The killer had fired on his victim whilst the former was standing and the latter was seated. Reference was made to the prisoner’s letters which indicated his guilt. The jury concluded that this was murder and Parker was responsible. He was committed to trial at the Old Bailey by coroner’s warrant. There he was found guilty and sentenced to hang. Parker was resigned to his fate.
Parker was hanged at 9 am on 19 March at Wandsworth Prison. The executioners were James and Thomas Billington. As Revd Phipps the prison chaplain said, Parker maintained to the end that the shooting wasan accident carried out when he was drunk.
Alfred Bowker from Winchester had his own ideas about what should be done to prevent such outrages in future. He wrote to The Times with his ideas. He was particularly concerned because he had travelled on the same train as Pearson. The fact that the compartments were partitioned from each other isolated passengers from one another. Therefore:
we might at least take a leaf from our Continental friends, for in France and many other places we almost invariably find, when their railway coaches are divided by partitions into several compartments, each compartment has a means of communication by a sliding glass panel, which is inserted in the partitions slightly above the heads of passengers when seated.
People could then speak to others in other compartments and also see what was happening there. This would deter crime, because people in another compartment could see what was happening and then ring the communication cord. It would also reassure nervous passengers. It does not seem that this suggestion found favour.
This murder was hardly original. As with Muller in 1864 and Mapleton in 1881, Parker was a desperate young man in need of money. Selecting as his victim, a prosperous-looking man, he killed him for his money, but was subsequently arrested, tried and hanged; just as his predecessors had been. However, unlike them, he had accelerated the progress of his discovery and arrest by committing his crime in the presence of another, and this was a fatal error. Had he been even more ruthless than he was, he could have shot her dead as well, and this would certainly have delayed his apprehension; whether he would have escaped justice as other train killers in the future were to do is a moot point. Perhaps he would have done.
The Mystery of Merstham Tunnel, 1905
‘I can’t let you have it, I am going to meet a particular “Tart” tomorrow.’
On Sunday evening of 24 September 1905, the body of a young woman was found on the railway line in Merstham tunnel. At first it seemed that this was either a case of accident or suicide. The body was conveyed to the stables of the nearby Feathers Hotel. PC Burt and PC Carr were the first two policemen on the scene. On closer examination it appeared that this was a case of murder. This was because a scarf was found in her mouth; it was about ten inches within, though fairly loose, but was difficult to pull out. Furthermore, both her purse and her ticket were missing. Superintendent Brice of Surrey Police was in charge of the investigation.
Most of the public facts of the case were disclosed at the two hearings of the inquest, both held at the coffee room of the Feathers Hotel. The inquest was concluded on 2 October. Mr Nightingale, coroner of East Surrey, presided and Brice and Captain Sant of the Surrey Constabulary were also present.
The first fact to emerge was the identity of the victim. She was Miss Mary Sophia Money, born in 1882 in Watford. In 1901 she was employed as a book-keeper in a dairy and then lived in Harrow Wealdstone. By 1905, she was the book-keeper at Henry Bridger’s dairy on Lavender Hill, Battersea.
Dr Simpson of South Lambeth Road reported his findings from the post mortem. Death was due to the laceration of the brain, where the bullet had been found. The shot had been fired at very close range. The killer had fired on his victim whilst the former was standing and the latter was seated. Reference was made to the prisoner’s letters which indicated his guilt. The jury concluded that this was murder and Parker was responsible. He was committed to trial at the Old Bailey by coroner’s warrant. There he was found guilty and sentenced to hang. Parker was resigned to his fate.
Parker was hanged at 9 am on 19 March at Wandsworth Prison. The executioners were James and Thomas Billington. As Revd Phipps the prison chaplain said, Parker maintained to the end that the shooting wasan accident carried out when he was drunk.
Alfred Bowker from Winchester had his own ideas about what should be done to prevent such outrages in future. He wrote to The Times with his ideas. He was particularly concerned because he had travelled on the same train as Pearson. The fact that the compartments were partitioned from each other isolated passengers from one another. Therefore:
we might at least take a leaf from our Continental friends, for in France and many other places we almost invariably find, when their railway coaches are divided by partitions into several compartments, each compartment has a means of communication by a sliding glass panel, which is inserted in the partitions slightly above the heads of passengers when seated.
People could then speak to others in other compartments and also see what was happening there. This would deter crime, because people in another compartment could see what was happening and then ring the communication cord. It would also reassure nervous passengers. It does not seem that this suggestion found favour.
This murder was hardly original. As with Muller in 1864 and Mapleton in 1881, Parker was a desperate young man in need of money. Selecting as his victim, a prosperous-looking man, he killed him for his money, but was subsequently arrested, tried and hanged; just as his predecessors had been. However, unlike them, he had accelerated the progress of his discovery and arrest by committing his crime in the presence of another, and this was a fatal error. Had he been even more ruthless than he was, he could have shot her dead as well, and this would certainly have delayed his apprehension; whether he would have escaped justice as other train killers in the future were to do is a moot point. Perhaps he would have done.
The Mystery of Merstham Tunnel, 1905
‘I can’t let you have it, I am going to meet a particular “Tart” tomorrow.’
On Sunday evening of 24 September 1905, the body of a young woman was found on the railway line in Merstham tunnel. At first it seemed that this was either a case of accident or suicide. The body was conveyed to the stables of the nearby Feathers Hotel. PC Burt and PC Carr were the first two policemen on the scene. On closer examination it appeared that this was a case of murder. This was because a scarf was found in her mouth; it was about ten inches within, though fairly loose, but was difficult to pull out. Furthermore, both her purse and her ticket were missing. Superintendent Brice of Surrey Police was in charge of the investigation.
Most of the public facts of the case were disclosed at the two hearings of the inquest, both held at the coffee room of the Feathers Hotel. The inquest was concluded on 2 October. Mr Nightingale, coroner of East Surrey, presided and Brice and Captain Sant of the Surrey Constabulary were also present.
The first fact to emerge was the identity of the victim. She was Miss Mary Sophia Money, born in 1882 in Watford. In 1901 she was employed as a book-keeper in a dairy and then lived in Harrow Wealdstone. By 1905, she was the book-keeper at Henry Bridger’s dairy on Lavender Hill, Battersea.
Similar Books
