Mr Briggs' Hat: The True Story of a Victorian Railway Murder (47 page)

167
A German-speaking police officer:
The Times
, 19 September 1864, p.7 col. d and e.

168
You are very kind
:
Widely reported, e.g. ‘The Murder of Mr Briggs’,
Manchester Guardian
, 19 September 1864, p. 5.

168
the police were busy:
MEPO 3/75. Tiddey’s expenses from 18 to 23 September show he was away from home for six days, getting up the case for inquest and committal.

169
Daniel Howie:
MEPO 3/76, Howie’s reports from 17 September through to the following week.

169
waif and stray of a foreign land
:
Daily Telegraph
, 19 September 1864, p. 4 col. e.

CHAPTER 23: I’VE COME TO TELL THE TRUTH

174
hear the testimonies:
MEPO 3/76, Thomas Durkin’s report dated 19 September from Division F, Covent Garden.

174
The watch, chains, black bag:
Daily News
, 20 September 1864, p. 5 col. f.

175
I could not positively identify
:
All testimony in this chapter is taken from widespread reporting of the hearing on 20 September in
The Times
,
Daily Telegraph
and
Daily News
.

176
House of Detention in Clerkenwell:
There had been prisons there since 1616 and in the Victorian period some ten thousand prisoners a year were incarcerated in Clerkenwell. Formerly known as the New Prison, it was rebuilt in 1847 and renamed.

176
pillared portal:
Descriptions of the House of Detention taken from Mayhew and Binny,
The Criminal Prisons of London
, p. 611 ff.

177
the question of the guilt or innocence
:
Daily News
, 20 September 1864, p. 5 col. f.

178
Is that a hat to suit me?
:
The Times
, 21 September 1864, p. 10 col. c. Unless otherwise indicated, all details of statements given at the inquest that day are from this source.

179
parramatta
:
A light but coarse fabric with a weft of wool and a warp of cotton or silk.

179
my father usually wore silk
:
Daily News
, 20 September 1864, p. 5 col. f.

CHAPTER 24: FIRST JUDGEMENT

180
Snippets of new information:
The Times
, 23 September 1864, p. 10 col. c. See also e.g.
Jackson’s Oxford Journal
, 24 September 1864, p. 3 col. d.

181
The sale of the photograph
:
The Times
, 23 September 1864, p. 9 col. e. See also
The Times
, 30 September 1864, p. 9 col. e.

181
Not even in the annals of crime
:
Penny Illustrated Paper
, 24 September 1864, p. 200.

181
It was even reported:
Reynolds’s Weekly Newspaper
, 25 September 1864, p. 5 col. b.

182
in possession of certain facts
:
Ibid.

182
removed from his cell:
Reports of the closing of the Hackney inquest and the Bow hearing are taken primarily from all three editions of the
Daily Telegraph
, 26 September 1864 (third edition, p. 5) and from
The Times
, 27 September 1864, p. 5. Police details are taken from orders and reports found in MEPO 3/76 from the week beginning 22 September.

184
Thomas Müller:
CRIM 4/681, case no. 40/1, 24 October 1864.

185
scribbling notes:
Widely noticed in the press; see e.g.
Reynolds’s Weekly Newspaper
, 2 October 1864, p. 6 col. a.

CHAPTER 25: A PINT OF MEAT AND VEGETABLE SOUP

188
For more than a thousand years:
White,
London in the Nineteenth Century
, p. 407.

188
mingled feelings of awe
:
Dickens, ‘Criminal Courts’,
Sketches by ‘Boz’
(1833–9).

189
vellum-bound register:
Newgate Prisoner Entry Register, PCOM 2/215, 26 September 1864.

189
several hundred prisoners:
Reports of numbers it could hold differ: five hundred in the
Illustrated London News
of 23 February 1850, fewer in other sources.

189
flagged corridors:
Descriptions of the interior of Newgate are taken from a number of sources including: report of the Revd Ordinary J. Davis,
Illustrated London News
, 23 February 1850; Bartlett,
London by Day and Night
, 1852; Dickens, ‘Visit to Newgate’,
Sketches by ‘Boz’
; and, particularly since it is the closest in date to 1864, Mayhew and Binny,
The Criminal Prisons of London
, 1862.

190
Central Criminal Court:
Known as the Old Bailey after the street onto which it opened.

191
exhibition
:
Sims (ed.),
Living London
; Edward Mogg,
Mogg’s New Picture of London: or, Strangers’ Guide to the British Metropolis
, 1848; George Frederick Cruchley,
Cruchley’s London in 1865: A Handbook for Strangers
.

192
a disgrace to our nation
:
Spectator
, lix, 1861, p. 1397. See also Sweet,
Inventing the Victorians
, chapter 5.

192
an excellent likeness:
The Era
, 2 October 1864, p. 10 col. a.

192
An argument has been founded
:
Jackson’s Oxford Journal
, 8 October 1864, p. 6 col. c.

193
Mr Flemming:
MEPO 3/76, report dated 13 October following statement made on 7 October 1864.

194
substantial calendar:
The Times
, 25 October 1864, p. 9 col. a.

194
five … rules of evidence:
Stephen,
A General View of the Criminal Law of England
, p. 302.

194
reasonable doubt
:
Stephen,
A History of the Criminal Law in England
, vol. 1, p. 437.

194
reasonable hypothesis:
Stephen,
A General View of the Criminal Law of England
, p. 271.

195
Charles Cottu:
Page 91 of Cottu’s report, quoted in Stephen,
A History of the Criminal Law in England
, p. 439.

195
evidence of character:
Clarification to the law on evidence of character, 1863, see Stephen,
A History of the Criminal Law in England
, p. 449.

195
circumstantial evidence:
Stephen,
A General View of the Criminal Law of England
, p. 274.

CHAPTER 26: THE GREAT MÜLLER CASE

197
the start of the sessions:
Sessions at the Old Bailey took place eight times a year or, roughly, every six weeks.

197
the grand jury:
For an explanation of how the grand jury worked in the nineteenth century, see Bentley,
English Criminal Justice in the Nineteenth Century
, pp. 9 and 131.

197
one trial for wilful murder
:
The Times
, 25 October 1864, p. 9 col. a.

198
numerous and urgent
:
The Times
, 28 October 1864, p. 7 col. a.

198
Pubs and taverns:
Daily News
, 28 October 1864, p. 2 col. a.

198
Old Court:
For descriptions of the Old Court at the Old Bailey Sessions House, see
The Times
, 22 October 1864, p. 11 col. a. See also Mayhew and Binny,
The Criminal Prisons of London
, 1862, p. 73 ff, and Hooper,
Central Criminal Court of London
, 1909.

199
Allwood’s coffee and dining rooms:
Daily News
, 28 October 1864, p. 2 col. a.

199
William Ballantine:
May,
The Bar and the Old Bailey
, p. 169.

200
opposed to the death penalty:
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
. On capital punishment, see
Report of the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment 1864–66
.

201
trial witnesses:
The Treasury list of witnesses: CRIM 4/681, item 40 (reverse). Also Irving (ed.),
The Trial of Franz Müller
, introductory material.

CHAPTER 27: THE TRIAL: FIRST DAY

203
guilty or not guilty?
:
The trial chapters are based on four main sources: the Central Criminal Court trial transcripts, H. B. Irving’s
Notable English Trials
series, and the court reports of
The Times
and the
Daily Telegraph
in their various editions between 28 and 31 October 1864.

CHAPTER 28: THE TRIAL: SECOND DAY

220
injured his standing:
Daily Telegraph
, 29 October 1864, p. 2 col. a.

225
summarise the defence’s case:
Ewart’s Act (The Prisoners’ Counsel Act) of 1836 gave defence counsels the right to address juries for the first time but made no provision for them to sum up their argument once all witnesses had been called.

226
apparently exhausted and depressed:
‘The Murder of Mr Briggs’,
Freeman’s Journal
, 29 October 1864, no page col. d.

CHAPTER 29: THE TRIAL: THIRD DAY

230
Stupid and confused
:
Daily Telegraph
, 31 October 1864, p. 2 col. a.

233
massive, sinewy hands
:
The Times
, 31 October 1864, p. 7 col. a.

234
the scene in court
:
Daily Telegraph
, 31 October 1864, p. 2 col. b.

234
denied fire, food or refreshment:
Bentley,
English Criminal Justice in the Nineteenth Century
, p. 270 ff.

236
black cloth over his wig:
The black cloth was traditionally donned by judges prior to delivering a sentence of death.

236
Prisoner at the bar
:
Irving (ed.),
The Trial of Franz Müller
, p. 147.

CHAPTER 30: THE SHADOW OF DOUBT

238
The new cell was long and narrow:
Mayhew and Binny,
The Criminal Prisons of London
, p. 601 ff.

238
Müller turned twenty-four:
Müller was born 31 October 1840, according to the Home Office report from the consul in Cologne. MEO 3/75, dated 27 August 1864.