Mr Briggs' Hat: The True Story of a Victorian Railway Murder (15 page)

The newspaper reminded its readers of the notorious frailty of circumstantial ‘proofs’, that Müller had worked for a reputable company, that the Blyths were a respectable married couple whose opinion of Müller’s good character should not be ignored, that he gave more than a week’s notice, and that some evidence suggested that he had injured his foot on Thursday 7 July and
was wearing a slipper on the night of the murder. It questioned whether it was possible for a murderer to appear in good cheer at breakfast the next morning, wearing the same suit of clothes he had worn the night before without any signs of their being cleaned in a hurry. It seemed to the paper most unlikely that a guilty man would so conspicuously boast about his new chain and hat or that he would broadcast so freely the name of his escape vessel.

If the evidence stopped here
, the editor continued,
we should have no hesitation in saying not merely that it is insufficient to convict Müller but that it renders his guilt extremely improbable.
As for Matthews’ testimony about the hat, it remained to be seen whether it would stand up under cross-examination. For now, the paper considered that its
truth had not been established
.
We are particularly anxious to impress this observation on the public mind
.
He should be judged without prejudice … No wise and cautious man will dare to say at present that Müller
cannot
be innocent.

If this were true, where did it leave the London detectives?

Mare Street Hackney, 1853. The church tower of St Augustine’s is in the background. The line of the North London Railway runs overhead.

Hackney station and viaduct, 1851. Watercress fields stretched south from the line.

The only known image of Senior Banking Clerk Thomas Briggs, taken from an illustrated newspaper circa 1914.

The west side of Clapton Square, Hackney: one of the best addresses in the neighbourhood.

Lombard Street, City of London, 1849: a narrow, curving thoroughfare whose tall stone buildings dwarfed the scuttling commuters.

Fenchurch Street Station: London’s smallest terminus, tucked into the southeastern corner of the City.

Anxieties about the safety of the railways grew.
Left:
George Cruikshank depicts the steam engine literally eating up house and home in the late 1840s.
Below:
‘Going by train, sir?’ – an undertaker presenting his card to a railway passenger, 1852.

Old Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police until 1890.

Richard Mayne, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, circa 1869.

The only known images, taken from an illustrated newspaper circa 1914, of Detective Inspector Richard Tanner (
left
) and Detective Inspector Adolphus ‘Dolly’ Williamson (
right
).