Chapter 13
The Murder of George James
1878
On the evening of Saturday, 9 January 1878, William Turnbull was making his way home, along Westmoreland Street. Continuing on his journey, William drew near to the railway arch of the Grosvenor Road station, when he heard someone moaning, followed immediately by a single cry of, ‘Police!’
Walking gingerly towards the darkened railway arch, William saw a man lying on the ground and a second man standing over him, striking him repeatedly on the head. William called out and this seemed to frighten the assailant for he immediately ran off into the night. William bravely gave chase but, after some 200 yards or so, lost his quarry. William ran on towards Chelsea Bridge where he found Constable Alfred Nichols. He quickly explained to the officer what had happened and the two men then went back to where the victim of the attack had lain.
The stricken man still lay close to the railway arch and was moving about, obviously in pain. Constable Nichols asked him who he was and what had happened to him. The man did reply but his voice was low and slurred and Nichols could not understand what he said.
Turnbull and Nichols helped the man to his feet and helped him to take a few steps but it was plain that he was in no condition to walk further. A cab was called and the man taken to St George’s Hospital where he was attended to by Mr Tidswell. A quick examination showed that the victim had a compressed fracture of the skull and would need an immediate operation. The operation was carried out that same night but soon afterwards, inflammation set in. Nine days later, on 18 January, Mr Tidswell’s patient died.
Police enquiries soon revealed that the dead man’s name was George James and he lodged at 58 Welling Street. His landlady, Mary Ann Anslow, told officers that Mr James had left the house on the evening of 9 January, to visit his niece. At the time, George had a parcel of clothing with him. Mrs Anslow was also able to say that her tenant habitually carried a gold watch and chain and wore two heavy gold rings on his fingers.
George James had been on his way to Camberwell. John Dixon, of 131 Bell Street, in that township, stated that the dead man was his wife’s uncle. George had been fifty-six years old at the time of his death, and he never arrived at their house on the night in question.
Both Constable Nichols and Mr Tidswell, the surgeon, testified that no parcel or money had been found on George James, but he still wore his gold watch and chain, and the two rings. It was clear that robbery had been the motive for the attack but it also seemed that William Turnbull’s arrival on the scene had disturbed the thief who had not had time to steal the other items.
The inquest on George James took place at St George’s Hospital, on 22 February, before the coroner, Mr Bedford. Not surprisingly, having listened to the various witnesses, the jury had little alternative but to return a verdict of ‘murder by person or persons unknown’.
Despite William Turnbull being able to give a rough description of the man he had chased away from the railway arch, the assailant was never found and the murder of George James remains unsolved.
Chapter 14
Henry Perry
1880
Mr Barham, a grocer, operated three shops across London. One, at 3 Raven Row, Spitalfields, which he owned outright, but he was also a partner in the other at 14 Aldersgate Street and 70 High Street, Kensington, Barham was in partnership with James Marriage. By all accounts, all three shops were quite successful.
As far as the shops at Aldersgate Street and High Street were concerned, it was company policy, each Saturday, to combine the takings of the two premises. In order to achieve this, one of the young apprentices would be sent first to the shop in Kensington, where he would collect the money from the tills, and would take this, travelling, via the underground, to the shop in Aldersgate Street, where he would hand the takings over to the manager. On Saturday, 21 August 1880, this duty fell to eighteen-year-old Clarence Lewis.
It was around 11.00pm when Lewis entered the ticket office at Kensington station. As he queued patiently for his ticket, a man grabbed him by the arm. Lewis pulled away, looked at the stranger with disdain and told him that he must be some sort of lunatic to simply grab hold of someone in that manner. Having paid for his ticket, Lewis then went on to the platform, followed by the man who had accosted him.
As Lewis waited for his train, the man approached him again and asked, ‘Don’t you know me?’ Lewis replied that he did not, whereupon the man continued, ‘I am Perry that used to be at Aldersgate, and I thought you were too proud to speak to me.’ Lewis thought for a moment and then realised that this was a man he vaguely recognised, as one who had served behind the counter at the Aldersgate Street shop.
The two men then fell into conversation and, at one stage, Perry asked Lewis what kind of ticket he had purchased. Lewis replied that he had bought a third-class return ticket. Perry said his was a first-class one and asked Lewis if he would ride with him in first class. If he did, then Perry would be happy to pay the excess fare. Lewis agreed and, when the train pulled into the platform, the two men climbed in to an otherwise deserted first-class compartment.
The train had not been moving for very long when Perry stood up and looked over a low partition that divided their compartment from the next. He then produced a small bottle, which he said was a non-alcoholic tonic, and invited Lewis to take a sip. Rather foolishly perhaps, Lewis took a sip and found that the liquid tasted foul. As he handed the bottle back to Perry, Lewis began to feel a little drowsy.
If anything, Perry’s behaviour then became even more strange. He now produced a handkerchief, poured some of the liquid from the bottle onto it, and invited Lewis to smell it. At first, Lewis refused but Perry then placed the handkerchief against Lewis’s nose. Lewis thought it better to humour his companion and pretended to sniff the material but actually held his breath.
After a few minutes, Perry removed the handkerchief and Lewis turned his head away. Almost immediately, Perry struck Lewis a severe blow on the head with his walking stick. A dazed Lewis fell from his seat onto the carriage floor where further blows were rained down upon his head.
When the train pulled into a station, Perry leapt upon Lewis, placing his knees on the injured man’s chest and clamping a hand over his mouth so that he could not call out for help. Lewis pulled free and cried, ‘Murder!’ but no one seemed to hear. At that Perry placed his hands around Lewis’s throat and tried to strrangle him. Then, as the train pulled out of the station, Perry let his victim go but then started hitting him again with the stick. At one stage Lewis managed to crawl part of the way under a seat so that now his head was protected. It did nothing to stop the furious attack upon him and Perry now struck him about the shoulders and upper body.
Finally, the brutal attack stopped. For a few seconds, Lewis lay on the carriage floor, before turning over to see that his assailant had left. The train had stopped at another station and Perry had left the compartment. Pulling himself painfully to his feet, Lewis saw his attacker strolling down the platform, his walking stick in one hand and a parcel in the other. That parcel contained the money which Lewis was taking to the Aldersgate Street branch.
Lewis managed, somehow, to stagger onto the platform and stagger after Perry. There was no way he was able to catch his attacker so Lewis called out, ‘Stop this man. He has taken my money and knocked me about.’ To his relief, as he fell to the station floor, Lewis saw a number of men seize hold of Perry, before he slipped into unconsciousness.
Henry Perry had been taken by some members of the public and some of the station staff, and given over to police custody. Though he had denied any attack upon Clarence Lewis, he had been charged with violently assaulting him and made his first appearance before the magistrate on Monday, 23 August.
This initial appearance took place at the Guildhall Police Court. Details of the charge were read out and it was suggested that this would later be amended to one of attempted murder. The court was told that the injured man was now in a ser
ious condition in St Bartholomew’s Hospital and was far too ill to attend court at this stage.
The court was also informed that Perry had, indeed, once worked at the Aldersgate Street branch and so knew the routine about combining the takings from the two shops, though he had never been asked to do this himself. Perry had worked at the shop from March 1879 up to April 1880, when he had been dismissed.
The Saturday in question had been the first time that Clarence Lewis had carried out the task of collecting the money. On the previous three Saturdays, the money had been collected by an apprentice named Frederick Emmett and on each occasion, Perry had been at Kensingon station, waiting for Emmett. Each time he had spoken with Emmett and each time he had travelled on the railway with him. This suggested that the crime had been planned over a number of weeks.
The only witness was Constable Joseph Eve, who gave details of Perry’s arrest. Eve testified that it had been approximately 11.07pm, when he had been called to the Aldersgate Street station on the Metropolitan railway. He found Perry being held by a railway constable and a gentleman named John Bell. Perry had a parcel in his right hand and Eve had taken this and handed it to his inspector at the police station. He was present when this parcel was opened and saw that it contained two cheques for £8 each, seven £5 banknotes, £58 10s in gold and some lesser coin. The total amount in the parcel was £104 14s 1d and it had been confirmed that this was the money from the shop in Kensington.
Perry had been searched at the station and two small bottles, containing liquid, were discovered. One of these seemed to contain port wine, whilst the other held chloroform, but these had been handed to a chemist for proper examination. After Perry had been charged, Eve returned to the railway station and found a heavy walking stick in a recess behind an advertisement board. The stick had blood and hair adhering to one end.
After this testimony had been heard, the proceedings were adjourned until Friday, 27 August. On that date, the prosecution opened the proceedings by stating that it had now become clear that Perry had given his real name to Lewis, before the attack. Had this been a simple robbery, he would have certainly been caught when those details were passed on to the police. This, in turn, suggested that Perry had intended that Lewis should not survive the attack upon him and, for that reason, the charge was now changed to one of attempted murder.
Another policeman was the first witness at this second hearing. Constable Henry Hird was a railway policeman, working for the Metropolitan Railway. He had been at the Aldersgate Street station when a train pulled in at 11.06pm. Hird saw a crowd of people at one end of the platform, and some sort of disturbance, so went to investigate. On arrival at the far end he saw Lewis, bleeding badly from a head wound, lying on the platform. Perry stood nearby, being held by John Bell and a porter. The prisoner had a parcel in his hand and at first claimed that it was his property. He claimed that the injured man was a friend of his and that he had had nothing to do with any attack upon him. Perry suggested that his friend may have fallen over inside the carriage.
Alfred Stickley was the station inspector and he had been standing around the middle of the platform as the train pulled in. Just as the train was about to leave, Stickley heard a cry from the far end of the platform. Going to see what the problem was, Stickley found Lewis being supported by some members of the public. He was only semi-conscious but managed to say that Perry had attacked him and stolen his money. Stickley asked for more information and Lewis managed to gasp out, ‘We were coming in a first-class carriage together and he tried to give me laudanum or poison, and he tried to chloroform me, and afterwards tried to murder me by beating me over the head with a stick.’
John Bell was a bricklayer by trade and, on the day in question, was at the station with his brother, Thomas. The train pulled into the station and almost immediately John heard someone calling ‘Stop thief!’ or something similar. Turning they saw Perry, strolling along the platform with a walking stick in one hand and a parcel in the other. It had been Thomas who ran after Perry and seized him. Perry began to struggle violently and John went to his brother’s aid. As they held him, Perry tried to throw the parcel onto the railway line but Thomas prevented him from doing so. This evidence was confirmed by the next witness, Thomas Bell himself.
Lewis Watson was a porter at the station and he testified that he had helped John Bell to hold on to Perry, once he had been seized. He was followed to the stand by James Marriage, the partner in the grocery shops, who confirmed that Perry had once worked at the Spitalfields shop, which was run by his partner.
Frederick Emmett was the apprentice who had collected the money from the Kensington shop on the three Saturdays before the attack. He confirmed that each time Perry, who he knew well from the time he had worked at the shop, was waiting for him. On the second Saturday, Perry had tried to get him to take a drink of what looked like port wine, but he had refused and in a temper, Perry threw the bottle out of the carriage window.
The two bottles taken from Perry had been given to Otto Hehner, a Fellow of the Chemical Society, for examination. He confirmed that one contained pure chloroform whilst the other held port wine, which had been dosed with a liberal amount of laudanum.
Dr Walter Griffiths was the house surgeon at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and he detailed the injuries Lewis had suffered. There were a large number of wounds on his head and they could have been inflicted by the walking stick found at the station. There was no way that such injuries could have been sustained by a fall in a railway carriage.
One more adjournment followed, to Monday, 26 August. On that date, the only witness called was Clarence Lewis who was, by now, out of the hospital. After he had given his evidence, Perry was sent for trial on two charges: robbery and attempted murder.
Perry’s trial took place on 15 September, before Mr Justice Stephen. Mr Poland and Mr Montagu Williams appeared for the prosecution, and Perry was defended by Mr Greer and Mr Morice. All the evidence previously detailed was heard again and the jury took just a few minutes to return a verdict of guilty of both charges. The sentence given was that Perry must suffer thirty lashes from a cat-o’-nine-tails and then serve twenty years in prison. Perry screamed as the sentence was announced.
In the days that followed, a number of people wrote to the newspapers, expressing their views on the sentence. Many wrote that the sentence was well deserved. Some of the more humane writers stated that they believed that thirty lashes were much too severe and that a mere twenty-four might have been better!
Chapter 15
Robert Booley
1883
Frances Croft lived at 31 Gertrude Street, Kensington, and made a living by taking in lodgers. In 1883, she had three ladies living with her: Minnie Clayton, Hetty Castleton and Blanche Lowry, who preferred to use the name ‘Jennie’.
One of those three lodgers, Hetty Castleton, earned her living as a prostitute and in the early hours of Wednesday, 2 May 1883, she returned home with a client. They were admitted to the house by Blanche, and went into the drawing room. Almost immediately there was a loud knock on the front door.
It was Frances herself who went to the door this time. A man she knew as Robert James Booley then pushed past her without so much as a word and stormed into the drawing room. Booley was a regular client of Hetty’s and it seemed he was not too pleased with the fact that she was now with another man.
Strong words passed between Booley and Hetty, during which her potential client thought better of things and ran out of the house. Satisfied that he had achieved what he desired, Booley then began to leave the house himself. Frances was still in the hallway and another argument then followed between her and Booley, during which she told him what she thought of him barging into her home.
The argument grew ever more heated and Frances, not one to mince her words, used some rather foul language towards her unwanted visitor. Still not satisfied that she had done enough, Frances then lashed out and struck Booley on the face. He immediately hit her bac
k and a brief scuffle followed. Meanwhile, Hetty Castleton ran after her potential client, caught up with him across the road, and began trying to persuade him to return to the house.
Booley was a cabman by trade and he now stormed out of the house and climbed into his cab, which was standing outside. He only moved the cab to the corner of Gertrude Street though, where he stopped, no doubt to cool off a little. If he thought, however, that he would now be left in peace, he was very much mistaken. Hetty was having no luck in persuading her gentleman to return to number 31 with her, so she marched up to Booley to let him know what she thought of him.
Having given Booley a piece of her mind, Hetty Castleton returned to number 31 where she found the front door locked, Frances Croft lying on a grass verge outside and Blanche Lowry trying to lift her. By this time, Minnie Clifton had also gone to speak to Booley about his behaviour and they were still on the corner of Gertrude Street. Hetty went back to the corner of the street, told Minnie that Frances had fallen over and asked her to return and help her to lift the stricken woman. Minnie did as she was asked and, when it was clear that Frances could not be roused, ran off to fetch the doctor. However, when the doctor did attend, he found that Frances Croft was dead. The police were called and Booley was taken into custody, where he was charged with manslaughter.
Booley’s trial on that charge took place on 28 May. His defence lay in the hands of Mr Strong, whilst the case for the prosecution was led by Mr Poland, assisted by Mr Montagu Williams and Mr A E Gill.
After Hetty Castleton had given her testimony, Blanche Lowry took the stand. She had heard the scuffle in the hallway and heard Frances call Booley a brute, for hitting an old woman. After Booley had left the house, Blanche had seen him park his cab on the corner of Gertrude Street and, after Hetty had had words with him, Blanche went to talk to him too. Booley had obviously had enough by this time, for he informed her that if she rounded on him, he would ‘smash her face in’.
Foul Deeds in Kensington and Chelsea Page 6
