On 17 October 1801, Sarah Pafquin came home about 8 that night. She lived on the second floor of a Clements Lane, London, England apartment. Mary Stark and her husband 32-year-old Richard lived on the third floor. Mary and Sarah visited several times that night. It was about midnight when Richard came home and Sarah was lying on top of the bed with their child sleeping. Before going upstairs he asked Sarah for candlelight.
This was when Sarah heard the mother and child start to scream. This was a common occurrence in the residence. He would beat Mary. On this night she went upstairs to try to get him to stop beating Mary. The door was shut and she could hear Mary beg him to not beat her and Richard swearing at her. He opened the door for Sarah and she came into the room. He continued to beat Mary. He told Sarah it was because Mary had pawned his breeches.
She got Mary to come downstairs with her to her room. Richard followed them down and once they got to the room Richard went inside to and hit Mary in the head knocking her down. Sarah told him to stop beating Mary and not to do it in her home and he asked her to turn her out of her home then. He continued to beat Mary.
Sarah helped Mary up and she was trembling and Sarah asked him to bring her up to their room. Instead, he took a hand full of Mary's hair and dragged her out to the hallway where he bashed her head on the floor. Somehow Mary made it upstairs and Sarah and Richard followed. Mary collapsed on the bed hard. Sarah covered her up and told Richard to not beat her anymore. She said she didn't hear anymore beating after that.
The next morning Sarah saw Richard leave for work. She went upstairs to check on Mary but did not get a response. Sarah thought that Mary had been asleep. Mary Terry who lived in the room under Mary stated that she heard everything that night.
She went upstairs after around 10 in the morning on Sunday after the beating to check on Mary. She found Mary was laying on her left side and her child was trying to drink milk from her breast. Mary was already dead at this point.
During the trial, they tried to make it seem as if Sarah and Mary were drunk, but Mary Terry stated that neither was drinking that night as she had also seen them a few times through the night before the beating. Richard was found guilty at trial and was set to hand on 2 November. He was also hung with James Legg who had killed his roommate William Lamb. The two hung for an hour before being cut down.
SOURCES:
The Caledonian Mercury
The Caledonian Mercury (Execution)
Capital Punishment UK
The Derby Mercury
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