Murder of William Lamb

By 02 October 1801 73-year-old James Legg, and Mary and William Lamb shared an apartment at the Royal Chelsea Apartments in London, England. On the morning of 02 October, Mary Lamb woke up around 7 a.m. James Legg was already up and pacing the common room angry and swearing to himself. As a response to his behavior, Mary asked James "What's the matter?" He didn't take that kindly and responded with threatening to turn her out of the room if she said another word.

She went back to check on William and he was sleeping like she thought. He started to get up and then James rushed into the room and forced a pistol into William's hands. William responded with "What is this for?" and threw the pistol into the common room. William then began to get dressed.

This was when James shot William through the side. Another resident of the hospital, John Forester, came to the room after hearing the gunshot. He saw that William was dead and said that James came out of his bedchambers and said "I had done it" twice. John then took the pistol from James. He noticed it was discharged. He had also noted another pistol (the one William threw) was laying broken by the chest of drawers in the common room.

Another resident, Charles Coates, came into the room. He stated that James was also saying along the lines that he was the person or man who did it. He asked why he had killed him James responded with "I gave him a pistol to fight like a man but he threw it down and I fired." Charles stated he was so little agitated and it seemed as if he was joking with him. Charles then stated that he got agitated again and said: "I am satisfied with it."

On the stand, James claimed that he and William quarreled and he insulted James. He said that at one point he had two pistols and the two planned to end their quarreling. He asked William to chose his pistol and when William pulled it out his hand and this angered James and so he fired.

Friends of James claimed that he was deranged. They tried to prove he was insane at the time of the murder, but it wasn't proof enough for the case. He was calm and collective throughout the trial. James was found guilty and ordered to hang on 02 November 1801.

James was hanged on 02 November along with Richard Stark. James kept a soldier like appearance. The two men hung for an hour before being cut down.

SOURCES:
Capital Punishment UK
Aberdeen Journal, and General Advertiser for the North of Scotland

The Bury and Norwich Post

The Exeter Flying Post or, Trewman's Plymouth and Cornish Advertiser

The Caledonian Mercury

The Caledonian Mercury (Execution)