INFANTICIDE: Murder of Richard Davis

 20-year-old Maria Davis with her friend Charlotte Bobbette 23-year-old  would leave Maria's son 15-month-old Richard on Brandon Hill in Clifton, England. Maria left him there to be found and taken care of by someone else. She didn't think that the cold and bitter night would kill her son.

The women did not intend for Richard to die. Maria was a young widow and was desperate, her husband had died in Ireland around the time their son was born. She didn't believe she could have taken care of her child. Compared to London there was no Foundling Hospital in Bristol for Maria to bring Richard. She had tried to leave him at the work house, but had tried to do that before and was rejected. She may not have had relatives to step in and help.

The women would be set to hang on April 12, 1802. They knew that after their execution that their bodies were going to be handed over for dissection after their death like many criminals before and after their executions. They and their family pleaded for them to have a burial and not to be disected. Their pleas weren't heard and they were taken to the Medical School. The Medical School still have their bodies to this day. 

I couldn't find the date that Richard had died. 

SOURCES:

The Ipswich Journal April 17, 1802

The Morning Post  April 19, 1802

The Bury and Norwich Post April 21, 1802

Family History Directory

British Executions

Tumblr- Conor Houghton

Naomi Clifford

Capital Punishment UK Maria

Capital Punishment UK Charlotte

Murder of Sarah Mitchell

Samuel Mitchell and his wife officially separated on December 17, 1804. Against her father's wishes, 9-year-old Sarah stayed the first night with her mother. This would upset Samuel.

The next day Sarah would go to her father's who was a weaver on Wheeler Street in Spitalfields, England. Sarah had helped out in the shop with quilling and her wheel was heard that morning. At 11:30 a.m. Samuel called downstairs to ask for the time. Between 11:30 and 12:30 he had used his shaving razor to slit his daughter's throat, the cut was so deep she was almost decapitated. The scene was bloody. At 12:30 he left and soon after he was gone a William Godby discovered Sarah's body.

Samuel to go to a friend telling him he had killed his daughter. The two would get a drink and Samuel would smoke a pipe. Afterwards, his friend asked him what he was going to do. Samuel told him he was going to get money from some friends for prison because he planned to turn himself in.

 He would be arrested later that day. He stated that his reason for killing his daughter was because he cared for her deeply. She did not want to be deprived of her and only see her occasionally. He decided that if he could not have her his wife would not either. 

At trial, he was immediately found guilty by the jury. He would be executed on Jan. 14, 1805.

SOURCED:
Capital Punishment UK 

Find a Grave

The Bury and Norwich Post Dec. 26, 1804

Jackson's Oxford Journal Dec 29, 1804
The Morning Chronicle  Jan 12, 1805
The Leeds Intelligencer and Yorkshire General Advertiser Jan. 21, 1805

INFANTICIDE: Mary Morgan Killed Her Newborn Daughter

 In 1804  16/17-year-old Mary Morgan was working as an undercook at Maesllwch Castle in Glasbury, Wales. On the 23rd of September, Mary would feel ill and go to her room in the servant's quarters. A cook would go to Mary's room accusing her of giving birth and asking her where the newborn was. 

Mary would first deny that she gave birth, but admit that she did and killed the baby. The baby girl would be in the underbed deeply sunk in the feathers. She had cut open the baby and she was nearly decapitated with a penknife that she used on chickens. Mary was in a tough situation at the time. She was unwed and when she asked her unnamed lover for help he refused. She was sure she could not take care of the child on her own. 

Mary would be taken to trial in April of 1805. She would be found guilty and 17-year-old Mary would be set to hang that month. On April 13th large crowds of people watched as she was taken from the goal by cart to where she was to be executed at Gallows Lane. 

At the time it was a surprise that Mary had been set to hang. Hardly any women at the time got convicted let alone hanged. It's suspected that Mary's case was used as an example for other unwed mothers. To help prevent any more newborn deaths. 

Wikipedia

Executed Today

DBpedia

Powys Digital History Project

STRANGE HISTORY: Sylvester the Mummy

 

Sylvester the Mummy is a nickname of a mummy displayed in the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in Seattle Washington. He was purchased in 1955 and showed off at the Seattle World Fair in 1962. Before that, though he was used as a traveling sideshow attraction.

Legend has it that two cowboys stumbled across the half-buried mummified body of a man in the Gila Bend Desert in Arizona in 1895. That he had died of a gunshot wound to the chest. That the body belonged to some unknown gunslinger. This, of course, is just a legend.

It was found that the act of Sylvester preservations wasn't done naturally. He was injected with arsenic-based embalming fluid right after death. This allowed the body to dry out and mummify. It's possible it was done so his body would be used as a sideshow attraction.

The gunshot wound that supposedly killed him was at some time actually drilled into him and paint was used as blood. At the same time, the one thing that was kind of true was that he was shot at one point. It wasn't his cause of death and he had been shot way before he had died, but his right cheek, body, lungs, and neck had shotgun pellets. It was indicated his cause of death was tuberculosis.

It's still unknown who Sylvester was and why he was chosen to be part of a traveling attraction.


SOURCES:
Seattle Times
Mummipedia 
Smithsonian Channel
Strange Remains

STRANGE HISTORY: Swedish Spheres

 On May 16, 1808 something strange was seen in a little town called Biskopsberga, Sweden. The village was located near Skanninge in Ostergotland, Sweden. The town at the time housed 300 people, but in the present doesn't exist anymore. The unusual phenomenon that was seen that day is remembered.

That afternoon was described as cloudless and warm. A hard wind was blowing from the west. Weirdly enough without any clouds in the sky, the sun began to grow dim. It turned their village a dim brick red. It was so dark that people could stare at the sun and not feel pain.

It was noticed that in the western horizon round spheres appeared. The spheres weren't very big. The spheres headed towards the sun and turned from a dark brown to a black color as they got closer. They slowly began losing speed, but by the time they passed the sun they sped up again. They seemed to have disappeared when it reached the East. The event lasted for around two hours. During which it seemed like millions of similar spheres appeared to do the same thing.

K.G. Wettermark was a respectable citizen and secretary of the Swedish Academy of Sciences. He was there to witness the spheres. He had claimed that one of the spheres fell near him. He claimed that before it fell to the ground that it looked similar to soap bubbles. The kind children created when playing with soapsuds and reeds. The place where the bubble had fallen left a gelatinous film. It was described as thin and fine like a cobweb. It was still changing colors but had soon dried up.

SOURCES:
How Stuff Works

Murder of Mary Stark

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

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)

Murder of Miss Lydia Bell

 16-year-old Miss Lydia Bell was asked by a private in the York volunteers asked her to walk that night. She did so without telling her father between the night of May 11th and 12th of 1804 She snuck out of her Scarborough, England home around 9 p.m. leaving through a neighbor's home to not be seen by her family. The neighbor warned her not to go because the man she was meeting was married. She ignored their advice and left with him anyway. Her family became aware she snuck out and worried about her.

The next morning Lydia's body was found around 11 a.m. she was lying on the Cayton Sands about two yards in the water with her head towards the sea. It was obvious whoever killed her expected her body to be brought out to sea. She had been brutally killed. Her clothes were torn and it seemed as if someone tried to sexually assault her. She had been beaten about her face and had scars, and skin on her arm had been torn from the bone. It was obvious she fought back from her attacker.  Her killer had strangled her to death. There were footprints in the sand near her body but unfortunately didn't extend to either side of the beach.

There was a malicious rumor that she was pregnant and had jumped off of a cliff to kill herself. This was not true as autopsy did not show that she was pregnant was in fact murdered.

The York Volunteer was taken in and questioned. He claimed he wasn't acquainted with the girl, but did speak with her before her death. The neighbors who she left the home of state he was the one who they saw her leave with that night. Her sister stated he was the same man to ask her on a walk and her brother stated that he had also seen him talking to his sister another day. He was found to have an alibi and magistrate was satisfied with it and released him.

The family believed he did it. Her father wrote a letter to the newspaper stating that he wasn't claiming that the whole York Volunteer was bad, but the man who killed his daughter was. He felt that people who were in the York Volunteer would understand.

It was later found out that four "witnesses" from the York Volunteers, Val Nicholson, William Short, Jonathan Simpson claimed to see another York Volunteer with Lydia on Cayton Road. He was taken to trial but was acquitted for the crime as there was no evidence.

It turned out the four had committed perjury to protect Val Nicholson. All four had suffered torments from the murder with guilt, chronic nightmares, and untimely deaths. Shortly before Val Nicholson died he confessed to killing the teen girl.

SOURCES:
Historic UK
The Times 24 May 1804
The Ipswich Journal 26 May 1804
Aberdeen Journal, and General Advertiser for the North of Scotland 06 June 1804
The Hull Packet; and East Riding Times 10 July 1804
The Monthly Mirror Volume 17

The Orthodox churchman's magazine; or, A Treasury of divine and useful knowledge

Filey Mercury 

Murder of Naomi Wise

Many don't realize that many Murder Ballads are based on actual murders. The Ballad of Omie Wise is based on the murder of a young woman in Randolph County, North Carolina.

Naomi was born in 1789 and was orphaned. When she was a child she was taken in by the family of William Adams. She had to earn her stay by working in the home for the family. Regardless the family treated her great and as if she was a part of the family.

She had grown up to become a dark-haired beauty. Soon enough a young man became infatuated with 18/19-year-old Naomi. His name was Johnathan Lewis and he was seemingly a nice man from a prominent family in the area.

It was believed that the two soon fell in love, but there were some complications.

Because he was from a prominent family his family was against the two being in a relationship. His mother wanted him to marry a girl from another prominent family in the area. The one she had in mind was young Hettie Elliot.

It was believed that Johnathan didn't love Hettie like he did Naomi. He seemed to have more love for that Hettie's money, status, and family connections. Not for who she was. He wanted to appease his parents and planned to marry Hettie.

Naomi believed that he was being forced to marry another. That he didn't want it as much as she did. This may have been true, but it was a more appealing lifestyle than to be with Naomi.

In 1808 Johnathan promised Naomi that they would instead run away with each other. Naomi may have been pregnant at the time and believed that they were going to raise a family together. He told her that he was going to defy his family's wishes and instead be happy with her.

Which was far from the truth.

The night they planned to run away Naomi felt uneasy after she arrived. She thought it was strange they were going to get married at night. They were supposed to go to Asheboro to get married, but instead, he leads her to the river.

Naomi afraid told him they were going the wrong way. He admitted to her his plans. He knew he couldn't bear to not have Naomi as a wife and it would be painful seeing her. He didn't want anything to ruin the intended marriage with Hettie.

Naomi begged him not to kill her. He struggled as he held her down in the river. He eventually pulled her dress over her head and drowned her.

A local woman had heard Naomi's screams and had her boys go and check it out. Johnathan was gone by the time they got to the river, and the boys didn't see Naomi in the water. The next day a search party was conducted. She was found in the water with bruises on her neck.

Johnathan was arrested for the crime, but not prosecuted. There wasn't enough evidence to definitively say it was him who killed her. He didn't marry Hettie and was free for many years. He ended up getting really ill and returned to his father's home to die.

It's said he made a deathbed confession to his father that he did, in fact, kill her. It's the only assumption that Johnathan Lewis killed Naomi. Most of what had happened that night had been theorized.

Naomi's tragic death will always be remembered through the song.

SOURCES:
https://archive.org/stream/storyofnaomiwise00rota/storyofnaomiwise00rota_djvu.txt
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15846775/naomi-wise
https://web.archive.org/web/20051027223818/http://www.itpi.dpi.state.nc.us/counties/Randol/Randlph/nwise.html
http://www.murderbygaslight.com/2009/09/naomi-wise_05.html

Murder of George Scott

29-year-old James Hartley and George Scott and other soldiers from the first regiment of guards decided to go for drinks at the Black Lion Pub on 123 Bayswater Rd, Bayswater, London, England. George invited James Hartley a soldier from the third regiment to join them. Henry Kendrick did not seem to like James.

Everyone was nearly drunk by 10 p.m.George insisted on splitting a parting pot. It would cost everyone a penny. Henry stated that James needed to pay a penny to and it was heard that James said "I'd be damned". A patron at the pub told James to watch his language. And In order to avoid any conflict, George said he'd pay James's penny because he invited him.

George needed to go to the bathroom. He got up and was about to the outside door when James stabbed George with a short sword. George collapsed on the floor screaming "Oh Lord, Kendrick I am killed, I am dead! James tried to escape, but he was stopped by a Hawker named William Davis by being hit in the face. Then a soldier named Rudkin helped stop him.

On 19 Feb. trial began. James claimed that he was attacked by  George Scott, Henry Kendrick, and Rudkin attacked him. He said that he was merely trying to defend himself. Henry and Rudkin claimed that there was no roughing up James, but Rudkin stated to another witness that Henry and James argued over a game of Dominos right before the stabbing. This was denied by Rudkin and Henry though. A barista was supposed to testify on James's behalf but wasn't able to. William Davis the patron that stopped James and had no ties to the soldiers agreed with Rudkin and Henry's stories.

James was convicted and was hanged at Newgate on 24 Feb 1800.

SOURCES:
The Exeter Flying Post or, Trewman's Plymouth and Cornish Advertiser 06 Feb 1800

Murder Houses of London by Jan Bondenson

Death Diary: A Year of London Murder, Execution, Terrorism and Treason by Gary Powell
British Executions
Capital Punishment UK