3 Haunting Victorian-Era Murderers...

although human nature may be to always look back on the past with a fondness for simpler and safer times the reality is that murder is as old as the human race itself and while he may be the most infamous jack the ripper was not the only grisly cold-blooded murderer who stalked the streets of victorian era england in fact he was one of many in today's episode of cold case detective we'll be taking a look at three terrifying victorian era murderers [Music] marie manning marie manning was born marie deru in lausanne switzerland 1821 and entered the domestic service line of work when she moved to england marie started off as a maid to lady palk of haldon house near exeter in devon before going on to be made to lady blantire of stafford house in the west end of london in 1846 the jobs that marie worked led to her gaining a taste for a luxurious lifestyle that she simply couldn't afford on her wages they also led to her obtaining a fear of living in poverty this lust for a lavish life is ultimately what led to her downfall on may 27 1947 marie 28 married publican frederick george manning at st james's church in piccadilly fred had a checkered past he'd worked on the railways but ended up being discharged after it was suspected that he was involved in several robberies prior to her marriage to fred marie had also been seeing another man a 50 year old named patrick o'connor patrick was a gouger or a tax collector on the london docks and was also a money lender who charged significant interest which led to him garnering an impressive amount of wealth initially marie had been torn between the two men who both expressed an interest in taking her hand in marriage fred was of her age but a less reputable character and earned less money patrick was older and a heavy drinker but wealthier in the end marie was swayed by fred who claimed that he would soon inherit a large sum of money however it wasn't long after the couple were married that marie realized the inheritance wasn't coming dissatisfied with this relationship or perhaps more precisely the lack of money within it marie continued her affair with patrick it is unclear exactly how marie's plot came into fruition driven by money and greed she hatched a plan to kill patrick o'connor and take his wealth purchasing a shovel and some quick lime in preparation on august 8th patrick dined with marie and fred in their home in a district in south east london mar marie had intended for patrick to come alone he had bought a friend so the foursome enjoyed each other's company and ate dinner together marie invited patrick for dinner again the following night requesting that he come alone so on august 9th patrick did so while patrick washed up before dinner marie shot him in the back of the head with a pistol however the wound did not immediately kill him so fred bashed his head in with a crowbar patrick's grave had already been dug by the couple in their kitchen beneath the flagstone floor and they placed him in it covering his body with quick lime which they believed would speed up the decay of his flesh within days marie had been to visit patrick's lodgings on greenwood street she conned her way past the landlady who let her into the home and she stole his railway shares gold jewelry and cash before leaving worried she might have missed valuable objects or money she returned the following day but found nothing new two days later two of patrick's friends came around looking for him knowing he had dinner with the couple on the night of the ninth marie and fred suspected that two men were police and so they decided to leave london immediately marie however had intended on double-crossing her husband the entire time she sent him off to sell furniture for money and while he was gone she packed up all the valuables she could and left without him by the time that the pair fled separately from london patrick had been reported missing and the police expressed their suspicions about marie and her husband upon investigating the couple's home a week after the murder they found a damp cornerstone on their floor which led to the body's discovery on august 17th marie manning was tracked down in edinburgh where scottish police had already arrested her for trying to sell patrick's railway stock which was known to be stolen fred manning was arrested a week later on jersey a british crown dependency off the coast of france he had been seen by a man who knew him in london and who had read about the murders in custody fred told police that marie had shot patrick but that he had been the one to use the crowbar on him saying i never liked him so i battered his head with a ripping chisel it's unclear what exactly fred's motive was for participating in the murder was he driven by money like his wife or did he want to kill the man who he considered his rival or maybe he just wanted to protect himself and his wife from facing jail the couple were tried at the old bailey on october 25th and 26 1849. interestingly according to reports it was argued that the jury had to include people of french and swiss ancestry in fairness to marie during the trial both marie's and fred's lawyers tried to pin the blame on the other party the jury took 45 minutes to find the pair guilty which led to marie losing her call ranting raving and swearing at the jury and the court officials labelling the british as deceitful and untrustworthy they were sentenced to death for their crime marie was guarded around the clock while in custody awaiting her death she was considered a suicide risk and two years prior another woman had hung herself in the jail cell so authorities took precaution to protect marie's life until she could be executed properly three other women slept in marie's jail cell with her eventually when her nails were long enough marie attempted to strangle herself and puncture her own windpipe but the three women worked together to stop her failing to take her own life she wrote to queen victoria whom she'd met through her employer lady blantire however queen victoria thought her sentencing was just and so denied her request for a reprieve growing increasingly desperate marie then attempted to make amends with her husband and asked him to take full responsibility for the murder fred refused marie and fred manning were hanged on november 13 1849 this was the first time a married couple had been executed together in england since 1700. marie wore a black satin dress to her execution resulting in the suggestion that as a result of her wearing it the material went out of fashion for some time after this is a colorful but untrue wives tale the public execution was attended by an estimated 30 to 50 000 people charles dickens was one of the attendees and he went on to base one of his characters on marie's life this character was madame hortense a maid in the book bleak house the murder of patrick o'connor by marie and fred manning was dubbed the bermonzey horror and its gruesome nature haunted the london area for years afterwards kate webster also dubbed the barnes mystery or the richmond mystery the murder of julia martha thomas was carried out by kate webster in 1879 and was one of the most notorious crimes of the late 19th century julia martha thomas was a 54 year old woman who lived in richmond a suburban town of south west london a former school teacher julia had been a widower twice over she was described as a small well-dressed lady and was known to travel frequently while neighbors saw her as an eccentric woman she was not particularly wealthy but she dressed up and wore shimmering jewellery that made it look like she was since her second husband died in 1873 julia had lived alone at two mayfield cottages on park road richmond it was not a heavily populated area which perhaps explains why neighbours were slow to catch on to julia's death in march of 1879 despite her charming put together appearance julia was well known for being a harsh employer with irregular habits as a result she struggled to find servants who were willing to stick out whatever she threw at them with most lasting just weeks at a time on january 29 1879 julia took on a 30 year old irish woman named kate webster born kate lawler in 1849 the details of kate's early life and upbringing are unclear in december of 1864 aged 15 kate was imprisoned for larceny in wexford before coming to england three years later in 1867. however england did not seem to suit kate any better as she frequently ran into trouble with the law in 1868 she was sentenced to four years of penal servitude for committing larceny in liverpool she was finally released in january of 1872 and by 1873 she had moved to rose gardens in hammersmith west london kate claimed to have been once married to a sea captain by whom she had four children according to her all five of them died within a short time of one another looking through all the sources that are available i can't confirm if this is true or not but what we do know is that on april 18 1874 she gave birth to a son named john w webster the true identity of john's father is unknown and she named various fathers at different times some reports have claimed that kate participated in sex work on the side and this is how she came to be a mother after having her son kate began to move around west london frequently using different aliases in may of 1875 she was convicted of 36 charges of larceny and spent 18 months in wandsworth prison she was soon arrested again and sentenced to a further year in february of 1877. during this time her son john was cared for by sarah crease a woman who worked as a cleaner for miss loda in richmond in january of 1879 sarah fell ill so she asked kate to take her place at work miss loda was familiar with julia thomas and so recommended kate to her as julia required a new servant julia hired the irish woman on the spot having no questions about her past or character initially it seems the pair got on well but it didn't take long for the relationship between julia and kate to deteriorate kate's quality of work was constantly criticized and complained about by her employer and as kate's resentment grew julia found herself becoming increasingly concerned about her safety when the two were alone together she often attempted to persuade her friends to stay with her while kate worked between this and the fact that kate frequented the nearby pub something which irritated the 54 year old the relationship completely fell apart eventually the two arranged that kate would leave julia's employment on february 28th julia had even noted this down in her final diary entry where she scrolled gave catherine warning to leave however this didn't go as planned kate convinced julia to keep her on for a further three days until sunday march 2nd that day kate was expected to return and help julia prepare for the evening service at church but kate returned late having visited the local pub again the two women argued and julia arrived at the service very agitated she told of how her servant had made her late and that kate had quote flown into a terrible passion after being told off the older woman arrived home again at around 9pm and confronted kate's once more according to kate's later confession during this argument she threw julia from the top of the stairs and to prevent her from screaming which may end up leading to kate's arrest she decided to strangle the 54 year old to death while the neighbors heard a thump around this time they thought nothing of it things took a chilling turn after this however as kate decided that she needed to dismember the body so that she could conceal it she utilized a razor carving knife and meat saw in order to take the body into pieces before boiling the body parts and burning the bones in the hearth over the next few days kate dedicated her time to cleaning the house and julia's clothing she otherwise went about her day as if nothing had happened it seemed that the young woman showed no remorse for what she had done as she began to parcel up the remains of julia kate put the remains into two boxes but julia's head and feet wouldn't fit she left the feet in a rubbish heap near twickenham and she buried the head beneath the stables of the local pub nearby on march 4th she deposited the two boxes into the river thames one of these boxes has never been recovered while the other washed up and was found by a cole porter who alerted authorities when he opened it and found body parts wrapped in brown paper inside it wasn't long before the feet that had been dumped in the rubbish tip were located too although there was nothing that could identify who the body parts belong to a doctor who examined the remains claimed they belonged to a young person with dark hair what corpse could be found was laid to rest in barnes cemetery on march 19th the local media speculated that the body had been used for dissection and anatomical study meanwhile kate remained in julia's house she wore julia's clothing and dealt with the tradesmen under her new identity she made a deal with a man named john church to sell julius furniture little did kate know that this would be the thing to blow her cover when her removal horse and cart arrived on march 18th neighbours grew suspicious having not seen julia in two weeks the landlady of the home and one of julia's neighbours miss ives asked the delivery men who had ordered the removal one of them pointed to kate and said mrs thomas realizing she'd been caught kate took off she fled first to liverpool and then to her family home in ireland the authorities were called and they began to search the home where they found blood stains burned finger bones and fatty deposits a letter left behind by kate had her address in ireland written on it it didn't take long before a wanted notice went out for kate webster describing her and her son detectives soon found out she'd fled to ireland with her son john and the head constable of the royal irish constabulary realized that the girl from the wanted poster was the same girl he had arrested for larceny 14 years ago kate was eventually arrested on march 29th upon hearing of her crime her uncle refused to give her son shelter and so the authorities sent him to the local workhouse until a place could be found for him in an industrial school the case of julia thomas blew up the media was in a frenzy as the story unraveled before them and people travelled to richmond to see the cottage where it all happened prior to her trial kate had attempted to implicate john church the man who was going to buy julia's belongings and also her old neighbor a man named porter both of the men had solid alibis however which cleared them of any involvement during the trial which occurred at the old bailey on july 2nd a bonnet maker came forward and said that the week before the murder occurred kate had told her that she had plans to go to birmingham to sell goods jewelry and a house that her aunt had left her this left the impression that the murder of julia thomas was premeditated and not accidental as kate later claimed kate entered a plea of not guilty and her defense emphasized that the evidence against her was circumstantial and that she was a devoted mother who was incapable of murdering anyone however kate's unpopularity and her impassive demeanor did not impress the jury who found her guilty within an hour and 15 minutes after a six-day trial before her execution kate made two statements in one of which she implicated a man named strong the supposed father of her child whom she later said led her to a life of crime and had participated in the murder kate also tried to avoid her death sentence claiming that she was pregnant but this was rejected then on july 28 kate recanted all her accusations definitively clearing porter church and strong of any involvement and she took sole responsibility for the murder and dismemberment of julia thomas kate was hanged at wandsworth prison on july 29 1879 and was buried in an unmarked grave in one of the prison's exercise yards kate was only the second person hanged at the prison and of the 135 people who came to die there she was the only woman the cottage where the events unfolded stood unoccupied until 1897. people simply refused to live in it after the murder even when the new tenants arrived and made themselves at home in the old cottage servants were hard to come by and reluctant to take any jobs there interestingly in a grizzly sort of way items that once belonged to julia were auctioned off including the knife which had dismembered her and the copper that had boiled the body some people took small stones and twigs from the garden as morbid souvenirs in october of 2010 julia's skull was found by workmen who had been carrying out building work for sir david attenborough it had been buried underneath the pub's foundations since kate webster had stashed it there in the 1870s there is also an eerie tale attached to julia's story which says that kate offered jars of the older woman's body fat to republican neighbors and children claiming that it was lard this is unproven but a grisly thought nonetheless richard dad born in kathem kent on august 1 1817 richard dad was a renowned english painter known for his depictions of fairies and other supernatural subjects his most popular works were created when he was staying in broadmoor hospital but the story of how he got there is both tragic and chilling at the same time richard was born to a chemist named robert and his wife marianne and was one of seven children he lost his mother at the age of seven and his father went on to remarry as a child richard attended king's school in rochester his drawing skills became evident very quickly and from a very young age when he turned 20 he attended the royal academy of arts three years later in 1840 richard was awarded a medal for his life drawing skills at some point during his early career he is noted to have also attended william dadson's academy of art then along with other significant artists of the time like augustus egg and william powell frith richard founded what was known as the clique a group of young and ambitious english artists who favored genre painting instead of academic high arts they shared the belief that art should be judged by the public and not by its conformity to academic ideals of all these skilled artists who were a part of the group richard was heavily considered the leading talent in july of 1842 sir thomas phillips a welsh lawyer and politician chose richard to accompany him as a draftsman on an expedition through europe and the middle east with the pair traveling to greece turkey syria and egypt in november of that same year they spent two weeks in south syria passing from jerusalem to jordan and returning across the en guardi wilderness then at the end of december while traveling up the nile by boat richard underwent a drastic personality change becoming delusional and increasingly violent he claimed that he was being watched by someone who was attempting to cause him harm and as the pair made their way up the nile they discussed religion and the egyptian gods by the time they arrived in paris their last stop richard ended up returning home alone in gallery paintings he saw demonic horns and occult messages his strange perplexing behavior had most of those around him believing he was suffering stroke or some sort of mental breakdown when richard returned home in the spring of 1843 he was diagnosed with having an unsound mind his family took him in to recuperate in the rural village of cobham kent on august 28th that year richard and his father had drinks together then decided to go for a walk around 9pm while out walking through the park richard 26 at the time punched his father before cutting his throat with a razor and stabbing him with a five-inch sailor's knife reportedly afterwards he told authorities that osiris the egyptian god had told him to carry out this attack upon killing his father richard fled to france on route to paris he attempted to kill another passenger with a razor inflicting several wounds on the innocent man before police overpowered and arrested him richard claimed he was the son and envoy of god sent to exterminate men most possessed with the demon he went on to confess to murdering his father and was returned to the united kingdom for punishment back home richard was deemed unfit for trial and committed to the criminal department of the bethlehem royal hospital later he would be transferred to broadmoor in both hospitals richard was cared for by three doctors he is suspected to have suffered from paranoid schizophrenia which was back in the 1800s not something that was commonly spoken about or recognized until 1878. reportedly two of his siblings had also suffered from the condition while another had a private attendance for unknown reasons during his time in hospital richard was actively encouraged to continue painting in 1852 he created a portrait of one of his doctors alexander morrison which to this day hangs in the scottish national portrait gallery while in psychiatric care he also painted one of his most famous pieces the fairy fella's master stroke which he worked on for almost a decade between the ages of 1855 and 1864 and which inspired freddie mercury to later pen a song of the same name richard spent 20 years in bethlehem before being moved to broadmoor where he lived out his remaining years painting constantly and receiving infrequent visitors until his death on january 7th 1886 he passed away from an extensive disease of the lungs however the murder and the assault he committed prior to his stays in psychiatric care were not forgotten about while he was in hospital according to doctors richard spoke about the murder as if it was perfectly executed his story theatrical and his mood unregretful he was also known to lash out at other inmates and insist that the son of osiris dwelled within his body but he would apologize for his outbursts afterwards doctors noted that he became less violent with age but that he continued to suffer under his delusions until the day of his death and there you have the facts please leave a comment down below with your own theories and speculations and remember to like this video and subscribe to support the channel if you're still hungry for true crime content you can check out the cold case detective podcast by following the link below thank you for watching stay alert stay safe and i'll see you next time

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Length: 25min 19sec (1519 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 21 2020