The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 1/2 / being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841.

by Camden Pelham

THE MURDER OF THE MARRS AND WILLIAMSONS.

THE close of the year 1811 was productive of two scenes of blood, which struck horror into all hearts; we allude to the murders of the families of the Marrs and Williamsons, in Ratcliffe Highway, which were accomplished under circumstances of the most frightful atrocity, and of the most extraordinary mystery.

It appears that Mr. Marr was a linen-draper in a respectable way of business living in Ratcliffe Highway, and that his household establishment consisted of himself, his wife, and infant child, a shop-boy and a servant woman. It was his custom to close his shop at about eleven o’clock, when he and his assistant proceeded to dispose of the commodities which had been exposed for sale during the day by placing them on the shelves. On a dark evening at the beginning of the month of December 1811, he was engaged in the customary manner, his shop being closed, when the servant woman was despatched to procure some oysters for supper from a neighbouring shop. On her quitting her master’s house she left the door a-jar, in order that she might procure a ready access on her return, and she went directly to the house of a person who resided only a few doors off to purchase the fish. She found, however, that they had sold the whole of their stock, and she was therefore compelled to go further; and having purchased the quantity required, and had them opened, she returned immediately to the residence of Mr. Marr. On her reaching the door, she found that it was closed, and she rang the bell. No answer was, however, returned and she repeated her application to the wire. Still no one came, and a watchman coming up at the moment inquired what she was doing there? She informed him of the errand on which she had been sent, and that she could not obtain an entrance, upon which he pulled the bell with great violence, but his efforts were attended with no better effect than those of the servant girl. Some alarm was now begun to be felt, and the next-door neighbour coming out, to learn the cause of the interference of the constables, three or four persons soon collected, amongst whom a consultation was held as to the best mode of proceeding. Various courses were suggested, a continued application to the knocker and bell being made in the mean time; and at length, no answer being given, it was determined that the wall which divided Mr. Marr’s back premises from those of the adjoining house should be scaled, in order that the cause of the silence might be ascertained. The watchman, aided by the strangers who had collected near him, soon made an entrance into Mr. Marr’s premises, but on going into the house a sight met his eyes, before which the stoutest heart would have quailed. The murdered remains of Mr. Marr and his shop-boy lay before him in the shop; the body of Mrs. Marr was in the passage, and that of the infant in its cradle, all warm and all steeped in gore.

The watchman, having recovered from the effect of the stupor which this horrid sight had produced in his mind, immediately ran to the door, and having opened it gave an alarm to those outside of the frightful murders which had been committed. An apprehension was entertained that the assassins might still be employed in plundering the house, and instant search was made, but without success; and it was ascertained that the murderers, intimidated probably by the girl’s ringing the bell, had escaped from the back window, across some mud which lay in the back yard, and through a way whose intricacies could have been threaded by none but persons who had previously reconnoitred the situation. In the mean time the report of the murders had spread like wild-fire, and thousands of persons collected round the house, notwithstanding the late hour of the night; but, although many volunteers were found, and an instant search was made through the whole of the surrounding district, nothing was discovered which could in the remotest degree afford a clue to the discovery of the persons implicated in the diabolical transaction. A minute examination of the house took place when daylight afforded an opportunity for it to be done with good effect, and then a ripping chisel or hook, such as are used by carpenters and joiners, was found lying near the body of Mr. Marr, and some marks of blood were discovered on the window, through which the murderers had escaped; but nothing was found which could induce a supposition that any goods or money had been carried off.

In the mean time the murders had caused a most extraordinary sensation throughout the metropolis, and various reports were in circulation as to the manner in which they had been committed; and the most active inquiries were made with a view to the collection of evidence to be produced before the coroner’s jury. Upon an inquest being held, in addition to the facts above detailed, it was proved by the servant girl that, on her quitting her employer’s house, her master and the shop-boy were in the shop, and her mistress and the child were in the kitchen below; but no facts were proved which could at all lead to the discovery of the persons implicated in the foul deed. From the testimony of the girl it was supposed, that very soon after she had quitted home, the ruffians had entered the shop, probably under pretence of making a purchase, and, having closed the door, had attacked Mr. Marr, whom they had knocked down and there killed by cutting his throat. They had next seized the boy, who apparently had made some resistance, and despatched him in a similar manner; and Mrs. Marr now coming up stairs to inquire into the cause of the tumult and confusion which was doubtless created, she was in turn murdered in the same manner with her husband and the shop-boy. One would have imagined that the infant in its cradle would have escaped in this scene of carnage; but it was imagined that it had cried at being so long left alone, and the blood-thirsty monsters, afraid lest a discovery should take place in consequence of its calls, descended and terminated its existence by cutting its throat, so as almost to sever its head from the body. There being no further evidence to produce, the inquest was at length, after several adjournments, concluded, and a verdict of “Wilful murder against some person or persons unknown,” was returned.

The funeral of these victims of villany took place on Sunday the 15th of December, 1811, at the church of St. George in the East, when the bodies of the family of Mr. Marr were deposited in one grave, in the presence of their sorrowing friends, and of an immense concourse of people, by whom the utmost respect and decorum were exhibited. The body of the shop-boy was interred by his friends.

Would that our tale of blood could terminate here! It is, however, our painful task to inform our readers of other murders, taking place under precisely similar circumstances with those of the Marr family, and within ten minutes’ walk of the place in which they were perpetrated.

The horror and dismay produced by the atrocious event which we have just detailed had not yet subsided; the exertions of the police to discover the parties concerned in it had not yet been abated; the earth which had been thrown over the graves of the unhappy victims was not yet settled, ere the neighbourhood of Ratcliffe Highway was again the scene of a crime as horrible as that which still struck terror into the minds of all persons.

On Thursday night, the 19th of December, the neighbourhood of New Gravel-lane was thrown into a state of the most violent confusion by loud cries of “Murder!” proceeding from the King’s Arms public-house, situated at No. 81 in that lane The recollection of the late event was still fresh in the minds of all, and crowds of persons instantly ran to the spot to learn the cause of alarm, rendered doubly appalling by recent circumstances. Nor was the sight which met their eyes at all calculated to allay the apprehensions which had been raised. A man almost in a state of nudity was seen descending from the second-floor window of the house mentioned by means of two sheets tied together, and exclaiming, with expressions of the most violent agitation and terror, “They are murdering the people in the house.” On his reaching the extremity of the line which he was using, he was still eight feet from the ground; but he was assisted in his descent by the watchman, who received him into his arms, and he then repeated the alarm which he had already given. The greatest horror was felt at what was supposed to be a repetition of the frightful scene which had been so recently enacted, and a short consultation was held as to the best mode of affording relief to the inmates of the house. It was determined that the most speedy means must be taken; and, in accordance with a resolution which was arrived at, an entry was forced through the cellar flap. A man named Ludgate, a butcher living in Ashwell’s Buildings, close by, and a Mr. Hawse and a constable, were the first persons who entered by this means; and almost at the same instant a gentleman named Fox obtained admission through some wooden bars at the side of the house, with a cutlass in his hand. The first object that was seen in the cellar was the body of Mr. Williamson, which lay at the foot of the stairs; and on its being examined, it was found that his throat was dreadfully cut, and that besides his leg was broken, and he had sustained a severe fracture of the skull, while the weapon with which he appeared to have been attacked, an iron crow-bar or maul, was lying at his side. In the parlour, the body of Mrs. Williamson was found with the skull fractured and the throat cut, the blood still issuing from the wound, while at her side lay that of the servant woman, whose head was horribly bruised, and whose throat was cut in a similar manner.

Surgical aid was instantly procured; but upon the bodies being examined, it was found that the vital spark had fled.