Mr Briggs' Hat: The True Story of a Victorian Railway Murder (45 page)

105
Summoned by a concerned Mr Henry to Bow Street:
The Times
, 25 July 1864, p. 12 col. c.

105
ferocious
in appearance:
MEPO 3/75, report, Paris, 23 July 1864.

CHAPTER 15: WHO BUT A MADMAN?

107
The assassin
:
‘Crime and Detection’,
Liverpool Mercury
, 12 July 1864, no page.

107
little heed to prohibitions:
Bentley,
English Criminal Justice in the Nineteenth Century
, p. 43 ff.

107
a frisson of unease:
Looking back, the eminent barrister William Ballantine would write in his memoirs that the ‘new’ breed of detectives might have behaved better had they followed the example of their predecessors, the Bow Street Runners, who never broadcast their plans but worked out their cases instead in silence and secrecy. Ballantine,
A Barrister’s Life
, 1882. See also Bentley, op. cit., p. 43 ff.

108
good and even gentlemanly
:
Daily News
, 22 July 1864, p. 5 col. e.
Shoreditch Advertiser
, 22 July 1864, p. 3 col. e.

108
the importance of self-control:
Martin J. Wiener, ‘The Sad Story of George Hall: Adultery, Murder and the Politics of Mercy in Mid-Victorian England’,
Social History Journal
, vol. 24, issue 2, May 1999.

108
a noble wretch or an underhand fraud:
Daily News
, 21 July 1864, p. 5 col. b.

108
prone to paying
particular notice
:
The Times
, 23 July 1864, p. 7 col. a.

109
We hear it complained
:
Ibid.

109
Neither Sir Richard Mayne nor his men
:
Reynolds’s Weekly Newspaper
, 24 July 1864, p. 1 col. a.

109
glaring incapacity
:
Ibid.

110
anxieties about the dangers of modernity:
For more on this, see Boyle,
Black Swine in the Sewers of Hampstead
, p. 78 ff.

110
not turning the excitement of the present moment:
Letter to the editor from ‘BN’,
Daily News
, 21 July 1864, p. 5 col. b.

110
Suggestions … came from every quarter:
For example,
Daily Telegraph
, 14 July 1864, p. 4, col. e, and 15 July 1864, p. 5 col. f.

110
an estimated ten thousand men:
Reprising
The Times
, ‘The Situation in America’,
Freeman’s Journal
, 26 July 1864, no page col. h.
Jackson’s Oxford Journal
, 23 July 1864, p. 3 col. e.

111
letter … from Worthing:
The Times
, 23 July 1864, p. 7 col. c, and
Preston Guardian
, 23 July 1864, p. 8 col. f.

111
the reopening of the inquest in Hackney:
Description from notes at inquest reported in
The Times
, 9 August 1864, p. 7 col. c.

111
findings were inconclusive:
Reported in
The Times
, 26 July 1864, p. 12 col. d.

112
it was the lamp
:
Daily Telegraph
, 26 July 1864, p. 6 col. b.

113
on the off-chance that it might fit:
MEPO 3/75, letter dated 25 July from W. C. Rubidge, Oxford Street, and John Coles, Berkeley Square.

113
Do Justice:
Daily Telegraph
, 25 July 1864, p. 3 col. e.

113
collection of crochets:
Braddon,
Lady Audley’s Secret
, p. 202.

113
the species of argument
:
Braddon,
Aurora Floyd
, p. 314.

114
A Barrister from Lincoln’s Inn:
Daily Telegraph
, 25 July 1864, p. 3 col. d.

114
In an editorial:
Daily Telegraph
, 25 July 1864, p. 4 col. d.

115
truth had not been established:
Ibid. The view of the
Daily Telegraph would be repeated only in the Penny Illustrated Paper
, 13 August 1864, p. 1 col. a.

CHAPTER 16: CITY OF STRANGERS

116
begun to confess:
For example,
The Times
, 20 August 1864, p. 11 col. b; 4 August 1864, p. 11 col. e; 30 July 1864, p. 10 col. f.

116
Sick with fear:
‘Alarming Incident in a Railway Carriage’,
Liverpool Mercury
, 29 June 1864, p. 3 col. g.

117
the
Victoria,
was making little headway:
The Times
, 29 July 1864, p. 9 col. b.

117
flung, in a matter of minutes:
‘News from Europe’,
New York Times
, 25 July 1864, p. 8.

117
in severe pain:
MEPO 3/75, reports to Mayne. See also
Daily Telegraph
, 7 September 1864, p. 3 col. f.

118
quadrupled in the three decades:
Lankevich,
American Metropolis
, p. 91.

118
Everything is done in a hurry
:
Miller,
Miller’s New York
, p. 23. See also Dickens,
American Notes
, chapter 6.

119
Broadway was bewildering:
An estimated eighteen thousand vehicles a day: Miller, op. cit., p. 23 ff.

119
Everett House Hotel:
Ibid., p. 62.

119
English railcars
:
‘Francis Müller the Murderer’,
Harper’s Weekly
, 10 September 1864, no page.

119
witnesses were also expected:
‘Great Britain: Mysterious Murder’,
New York Times
, 4 August 1864, p. 2.

120
fifteen daily papers:
Miller, op. cit., p. 53 ff.

120
remorseless lists:
For the scale of this war, see e.g.
New York Times
, 26 August 1864, which reports General Grant’s Sunday losses of 4255 and rebel claims that they have taken 3000 prisoners.

120
Pierrepont Edwards:
Edward Mortimer Archibald, who held the post for twenty-five years from 1857, was on leave. See Edwards’ obituary,
New York Times
, 1971.

120
Francis Marbury:
Obituary,
New York Times
, 19 March 1895.

120
United States Marshal:
The head of the state law enforcement with a responsibility to ensure the effective operation of the judicial system and locally to represent national government.

121
New York Police Headquarters:
The new building was occupied on 23 February 1863. For its history, see
New York Times
, 17 August 1891, p. 8.

121
inefficient and corrupt:
Miller,
Cops and Bobbies
, p. 29 ff.

121
proposed a plan:
New York Times
, 7 August 1864, p. 6. See also:
New York Times
, 17 August 1891, p. 8;
New York Tribune
, 29 August 1864, reprinted
Leeds Mercury
, 10 September 1864, p. 12 col. a.

121
arrest Müller and hold him:
MEPO 3/75, Tanner’s second report to Sir Richard Mayne (the first lost), dated 9 August 1864.

122
placed at the detective’s disposal:
New York Times
, 7 August 1864, p. 6.

122
proofs of his stupidity
:
‘News from Great Britain’,
New York Times
, 7 August 1864, p. 3.

CHAPTER 17: THE LAST PERSON IN THE WORLD

123
Quackembos:
Daily Telegraph
, second edition, 17 September 1864, p. 3 col. d.

123
a possibility of Müller escaping
:
MEPO 3/75, report dated 9 August 1864.

124
sixty-dollar … reward:
The Times
, 8 September 1864, p. 7 col. a. Also MEPO 3/75, Tanner’s reports back to Mayne. $60: see ‘The Murder of Mr Briggs’,
Manchester Guardian
, 19 September 1864, p. 3.

124
a plan to intercept the
Victoria
:
MEPO 3/75, clip in Mayne’s file from the
Courrier des Etats-Unis
, also a handwritten note with reference to Tanner’s report.

124
cracked vases, bird cages
:
New York Times
, 29 September 1864.

125
the
James Funk
:
‘The Murder of Mr Briggs’,
Manchester Guardian
, 19 September 1864, p. 3.

125
Deutscher Rechtsschutz Verein:
The Times
, 11 November 1864, p. 5 col. c.

126
73 Moorgate Street:
Leeds Mercury
, 7 September 1864, p. 3 col. b.

126
earnestly inviting
any person
:
The Times
, 9 August 1864;
Morning Advertiser
, 10 August 1864. Both clipped and located in MEPO 3/75.

126
The German authorities wrote:
MEPO 3/75, reports dated 18 August (Munich) and 27 August (Cologne).

127
Two armed crewmen:
‘Arrest of Franz Müller’,
New York Times
, 26 August 1864.

128
his arms grasped firmly:
For details of the arrest see ‘Arrival of Müller the English Murderer’,
New York Times
, 25 August 1864. See also
The Times
, 9 September 1864, p. 7 col. a and b.

128
What is the matter?
:
CCC transcript, evidence of George Clarke.

129
I never was on the line
:
US extradition file. Record Group 59: General Records of the Department of State 1789–2002, American National Archives, Franz Müller 1864, Loc. 250/48/9/7, Box 2: evidence of George Clarke.

129
a large black trunk:
Irving (ed.),
The Trial of Franz Müller
, p. 67.

129
answered all his questions:
CCC transcript, evidence of George Clarke and Richard Tanner. See also Tanner’s interview with the
Daily Telegraph
, second edition, 17 September 1864, p. 3 col. e.

130
a crowd of thousands:
MEPO 3/75, Kerressey letter to Daniel Howie, 26 August 1864.