Mrs. Orr, residing near the Pear Tree, stated, that on the Saturday before Marr’s murder, about half-past one o’clock in the morning, she was getting up linen, when she heard a noise about the house, as if a man was attempting to break into the house. She was frightened and asked, “Who was there?” A voice answered, which she knew to be Williams’s, “I am a robber!” She answered, “Whether you are a robber or not, I will let you in, and am glad to see you.” Williams entered, seating himself till the watchman was calling the hour of past two o’clock. He then got up from his chair, and asked the landlady if she would have a glass. She assented, but as he would not go for it, she went to the Pear Tree public-house, but could gain no admittance. She returned, when Williams inquired how many rooms there were in her house, and the situation of her back premises. She replied, there were three rooms, and that her back yard communicated with Mrs. Vermillee’s house. The watchman came into Mrs. Orr’s house, although Williams resisted it for some time, and he told her that he had picked up a chisel by the side of her window. Williams ran out unobserved at this information; soon afterwards he returned. The watchman was going, when Williams stopped him, and desired him to go to the Pear Tree and get some liquor. The house was then open. While the watchman was gone for the liquor, Williams took up the chisel, and said, “D—n my eyes, where did you get this chisel?” Mrs. Orr did not part with it, and retained the instrument till the Monday following. Hearing that Williams was examined, she went to Mrs. Vermillee’s, and showed her the chisel.—Mrs. Vermillee looked at it, and compared it with the tools in one Patterson’s chest, when it was found to bear the same marks, and declared that it was taken out of her house. Mrs. Orr instantly delivered the chisel to the magistrates of Shadwell-street office, as being a further trace to the villany. Mrs. Orr said she knew Williams for eleven weeks; he frequently nursed her child, and used to joke with her daughter, and once asked her whether she should be frightened if he came in the dead of the night to her bedside? The daughter replied, that if it was he who came, she should not be frightened. They both thought him an agreeable young man, of a most insinuating address.
In consequence of the information of this witness, a minute examination of the ripping chisel found at Mr. Marr’s took place, and it was found also to be marked like that discovered by the watchman at Mrs. Orr’s. The husband of Mrs. Vermillee was in custody on suspicion in Newgate, and he was consulted, and expressed his belief that it was taken from the same tool chest as that chisel. The plot now seemed to thicken against the prisoner, and little doubt was entertained of his connexion with the carpenter and joiner, and of their having all been engaged in the perpetration of these most horrid murders, when all further efforts on the part of the police were checked, by his adding another crime to those which it was fully believed he had already committed, by destroying himself.
He had been remanded for further examination to Cold Bath Fields Prison, and the police of the district had redoubled their exertions to detect and bring to justice his accomplices. Mr. Vermillee had been ordered to be set at liberty, in order that he might give evidence upon the day of the next inquiry before the magistrates, when, on the very morning on which the prisoner was to be carried before the magistrates, upon the gaoler going to call him from his cell, in order that he might prepare himself to be carried to the Police Office, he was found, heavily ironed as he was, suspended by a handkerchief from a beam in the apartment in which he was confined. He was instantly cut down, but upon his body being examined, it was found that he was quite dead and cold, and that he had evidently been hanging during several hours.
The excitement produced by this termination of the investigation would be difficult to describe, but all persons now expressed their full belief that the deceased prisoner was the author of the crimes which had attracted such universal attention. An inquest was held upon his body, and a verdict of felo de se was returned by the jury, but now became a question, how the public indignation could best be satisfied? The rule in such cases was that the deceased should be buried in the nearest cross roads, but a conference was held with the Home Secretary by Mr. Capper, the magistrate, with the view of ascertaining how far this regulation might be departed from, at which it was determined that a public exhibition of the body should be made through the neighbourhood which had been the scene of the monster’s crimes. In conformity with this decision, on the 31st of December, the body of the deceased was privately removed from the prison at eleven o’clock at night, and conveyed to St. George’s watchhouse, near the London docks, and on the following (Tuesday) morning, at half-past ten o’clock, a procession was formed in the following order:—
Several hundred constables, with their staves, clearing the way.
The newly-formed patrole, with drawn cutlasses.
Another body of constables.
Parish officers of St. George’s, St. Paul’s, and Shadwell, on horseback. Peace-officers, on horseback.
Constables.
The high constable of the county of Middlesex, on horseback.
The body of Williams,
Extended at full length on an inclined platform, erected on the cart, about four feet high at the head, and gradually sloping towards the horse, giving a full view of the body, which was dressed in blue trousers and a white and blue striped waistcoat, but without a coat, as when found in the cell. On the left side of the head the fatal maul, and on the right the ripping-chisel, with which the murders were perpetrated, were exposed to view. The countenance of Williams was ghastly in the extreme, and the whole had an appearance too horrible for description.
A strong body of constables brought up the rear.
The procession advanced slowly up Ratcliffe Highway, accompanied by an immense concourse of persons, eager to get a sight of the murderer’s remains. When the cart came opposite to the late Mr. Marr’s house, a halt was made for near a quarter of an hour. The procession then moved down Old Gravel-lane, along Wapping, up New Crane-lane, and into New Gravel-lane. When the platform arrived at Mr. Williamson’s late house, a second halt took place. It then proceeded up the hill, and again entered Ratcliffe Highway, down which it moved into Cannon-street, and advanced to St. George’s turnpike, where the New Road is intersected by Cannon-street. There a grave, about six feet deep, had been prepared, immediately over which the main water-pipe runs. Between twelve and one o’clock the body was taken from the platform, and lowered into the grave, immediately after which a stake was driven through it; and, the pit being covered, this ceremony concluded.
During the last half-hour the crowd had increased immensely—they poured in from all parts, but their demeanour was perfectly quiet. All the shops in the neighbourhood were shut, and the windows and tops of the houses were crowded with spectators. On every side, mingled with execrations of the murderer, were heard fervent prayers for the speedy detection of his accomplices.
A conclusive evidence of the guilt of this wretched suicide was afterwards found, in the discovery of a knife which he always carried with him, concealed in a hole in the room which he occupied, encrusted with blood.