from
|
Tony West, a historian of "British crime, murder and mayhem from the past," has researched the episodes of The Black Museum and matched the following episodes with the actual case histories. | |
| .22 Caliber Pistol | |
| The Shooting of Michael Scott Stephen by his lover Elvira Barney on May 31st 1932 in Belgravia London. She was found not guilty of his murder. | |
| .32 Calibre Bullet | |
| This was the murder of Alec D'Antiquis on April 29th 1947 by Christopher James Geraghty aged 21, Charles Harry Jenkins aged 23 and Terence Rolt. Geraghty and Jenkins were hung. Rolt was under age and was imprisoned. | |
| Bathtub | |
| "The Brides in the Bath Murders", the murders of Margaret Lofty in Highgate London, Alice Burnham, Bessie Mundy at Blackpool during 1914 commited by George Joseph Smith who was executed on August 13th 1915. | |
| Bedsheet | |
| The murder of minor actress Gay Gibson by James Camb aboard the liner Durban Castle, cabin 126, off the west coast of Africa, October 18th 1947. James Camb was sentenced to death but reprieved owing to a suspension of capital punishment. | |
| Brass Button | |
| The murder of Joan Pearl Wolfe by Native Indian French-Canadian soldier August Sangret at Hankley Common near Godalming Surrey in September 1942. Sangret was hanged at Wandsworth prison April 2nd 1943. | |
| Brickbat | |
|
The murder of architect Francis Rattenbury by their 18 year old handyman, George
Stoner, during March 1935. Francis Rattenbury's wife Alma was also implicated but
acquitted at trial. Three days after the trial Alma Rattenbury commited suicide,
Stoner was sentenced to hang but was reprieved by the Home Secretary.
Francis Rattenbury was the architect who designed the Provincial government buildings in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. | |
| Car Tyre | |
|
The murder of Police Constable George W. Gutteridge on a lonely country
road between Ongar and Romford in Essex on September 27th 1927 by
Frederick Guy Browne and William Kennedy. They were hanged May 31st 1928.
This is an alternate version of The Gas Receipt | |
| Champagne Glass | |
| Major Herbert Rowse Armstrong executed at Gloucester prison on May 31st 1922 for the murder of his wife in February 1921 at Hay-on-Wye South Wales. | |
| Claw Hammer | |
| The murder of Annie Louisa Kempson by Henry Daniel Seymour at Oxford on August Bank Holiday weekend 1931. Seymour was hanged Dec. 10th 1931 at Oxford prison. | |
| Dictionary | |
| The poisoning of Alfred George Poynter Jones by Jean Pierre Vaquier at Byfleet, Surrey, March 29th 1924. | |
| Four Small Bottles | |
| The poisoning of Edwin Bartlett by his wife Adelaide Bartlett on January 1st 1886 at Pimlico, London. She was acquitted of the murder. | |
| Gas Receipt | |
| see "Car Tire" | |
| Gladstone Bag | |
| The murder of Emily Beilby Kaye by Patrick Herbert Mahon on April 15th 1924 at The Crumbles, Eastbourne, Sussex. | |
| Hammerhead | |
| Known as the Brighton Trunk Mystery. The murder of Violette Kaye on May 10th 1933 at Brighton Sussex. Her lover Tony Mancini (real name Cecil Louis England who also used the aliases Hyman Gold and Jack Notyre), was found not guilty. | |
| Jack Handle | |
| The murder of George Heath by U.S. soldier Karl Gustav Hulten and Elizabeth Maud Jones, alias Georgina Grayson, at Staines London Oct. 7th 1944. Hulton was hanged Mar. 8th 1945. Jones was also sentenced to death but commuted to a prison term, she was released in May 1954. | |
| Jacket | |
|
The murder of Elsie Cameron by Norman Thorne at Crowborough, Sussex in Dec. 1924
This is an alternate version of Pair of Spectacles | |
| Jar of Acid | |
|
The murders of Mrs Olive Durand-Deacon, Mr & Mrs McSwann and their son,
Dr & Mrs Henderson and possibly others by John George Haigh during
the period 1944 to 1949. He was hanged at Wandsworth prison Aug. 6th 1949.
(You'll notice that in Britain there is no lengthy appeals process, his last murder was commited less than six months before he was executed)! | |
| Khaki Handkerchief | |
| The murders of Doreen Hearne & Kathleen Trendle by Harold Hill at Penn in Buckinghamshire in 1941. | |
| Lady's Shoe | |
| The murder of Camille Cecily Holland by her common-law husband Samuel Herbert Dougal at Saffron Waldon, Essex on May 19th 1899. | |
| Leather Bag | |
| see The Tan shoe | |
| Letter | |
| Barrister fraudster James Townsend Saward (alias "Jim the Penman" to the criminal fraternity), crimes of fraud at Yarmouth England during 1857, sentenced to penal servitude in Australia. | |
| Mallet | |
| One of the most famous of all the English murder cases, the murder of an unknown tramp by Alfred Arthur Rouse on the evening of November 5th/6th 1930, near the village of Hardingstone, Northamptonshire. November 5th is an English custom called Guy Fawkes night or Bonfire night. | |
| Meat Juice | |
| The Murder of James Maybrick by his wife Florence, May 11th 1889 at Liverpool. Florence Maybrick was born Florence Elizabeth Chandler in Alabama. She was sentenced to death but reprieved three days before her execution date. She spent fifteen years in jail, released in January 1904 and died in poverty in Connecticut on October 23rd 1941. | |
| Notes | |
| On 2nd October 1922 Percy and Jessie Thompson were on their way home along the Belgrave Rd, Illford, Essex, after a trip to the theatre when a man rushed out of the darkness and stabbed her husband, Percy, to death. The assailant was heard to shout "Why don't you get a divorce you Cad". Edith was heard to cry "Don't oh Don't". Edith told police that she had no idea who the attacker was, but her neighbours told the police about the affair that Mrs. Thompson had been having with Freddy Bywaters. He was duly tracked down and taken to Ilford police station. In Freddy's locker they found no fewer than 83 letters from Edith, 49 of which were eventually used as evidence at the trial. Some of the letters discussed poisoning Percy, and one even discussed the fact that Edith had put ground glass into his food. One of the letters from Edith to Freddy said "be jealous so much that you will do something desperate". They were hanged at the same time, 9am on 9th January 1923. Freddy at Pentonville, and Edith at Holloway, she had to be drugged and dragged to the gallows. | |
| Post Card | |
| The Murder of Phyllis Dimmock at Camden Town, London on Sept.12th 1907. An artist-engraver Robert Wood was charged with her murder. He was found not guilty at trial, the murder remained unsolved. | |
| Powder Puff | |
| The Murders of Margery Gardner at Notting Hill London and Doreen Marshall in Bournemouth during June and July of 1946 by Neville George Clevely Heath. These were quite sadistic and perverted murders the details of which are not accurately portrayed in the episode. Heath was hanged on Oct. 26th 1946. | |
| Prescripton | |
| The murder of Ada Baguley by Nurse Dorothea Waddingham on Sept. 11th 1935 at Nottingham. Waddingham was hanged Apr.16th 1936. | |
| Raincoat | |
| The arrest of William Wallace for the murder of his wife Julia, Liverpool 1931. Sentence later quashed by criminal court on appeal and he was freed. | |
| Service Card | |
| The Murder of Mr & Mrs Giffard by their son Miles Giffard in November 1952 at Cornwall. | |
| Small White Boxes | |
| The poisoning of Emile L'Angelier by Madeleine Smith on March 23rd 1857 at Glasgow, Scotland. At her trial in Edinburgh Scotland on June 30th that year the case was found "Not Proven", a verdict that is unique to Scotland whereas in the rest of the British Isles the equivalent verdict would be Not Guilty. | |
| Spectacles | |
| see The Jacket | |
| Straight Razor | |
| London 1903, George Chapman murdered three women and believed by some to have been Jack the Ripper. | |
| Tan Shoe | |
|
The murder of John Innes Nesbit, a wages clerk, on a train near Newcastle
by John Alexander Dickman, March 18th 1910.
This is an alternate version of Leather Bag | |
| Telegram | |
| The murder of Irene May Wilkins by Thomas Henry Allaway at Bournemouth, Dec. 22nd 1921. | |
| Trunk | |
| The Murder of Minnie Bonati by John Robinson in London 1927. | |
| Two Bullets | |
|
The Murder of Police Constable Miles by Christopher Craig and Derek Bentley
at Croydon London, Nov. 2nd 1952. Craig was only 16 at the time and was
sentenced to be "detained at Her Majesty's pleasure" and was released in
1963. Bentley at age 18 was what is termed "feeble minded" with the mental
age of perhaps a 12 year old and was executed. There was a recommendation
for mercy from the jury which was ignored by the judge and he was hanged
whilst 5000 people demonstrated against the sentence outside the prison.
This was one of Britain's most controversial executions and after 50 years of campaigning by his family and public figures he was just recently given a posthumous free pardon. It should be noted that Bentley had been in police custody for twenty minutes BEFORE PC Miles was shot dead by Craig and there is a strong rumour that the bullet that killed the policeman was fired by another policeman! It was never produced in court and there was no ballistics match done on the fatal bullet. There is a movie that can still be found at some video stores titled "Let Him Have It" which is about the Craig & Bentley case. As a point of interest I picked up Christopher Craig's older brother Niven in my taxi way back in 1973. He was a small time gangster during the 1950's whom Chris Craig strived to emulate. | |
| Walking Stick | |
| Dr Edward Pritchard murdered his wife and his mother-in-law in Glasgow Scotland during February and March of 1865. He was hanged four months later. | |
| Weed Killer | |
| Harold Greenwood of Carmarthen Wales was found not guilty at trial in the poisoning death of his wife Mabel who died June 16th 1919. He was arrested and charged with her murder on account of village gossip! | |
| Woman's Glove | |
| The murder of Mrs Dorothy Fisher and her 19 year old daughter Freda along with their maid Charlotte Saunders, at Matfield in Kent on July 9th 1940 by Mrs Florence Iris Ouida Ransom. | |
|
The following episodes have yet to be matched with case histories. | |
| Canvas Bag | |
| Chain | |
| Frosted Glass | |
| Key | |
| Mandolin String | |
| Open End Wrench | |
| Sash Cord | |
| Sheathed Knife | |
| Shilling | |
| Shopping Bag | |
| Silencer | |
| Tartan Scarf | |