Mr Briggs' Hat: The True Story of a Victorian Railway Murder (46 page)

130
he disappeared below:
US extradition file, op. cit., evidence of Richard Tanner and John Death.

130
was it a red stone?
:
CCC transcript, evidence of Richard Tanner.

131
photographed for police files:
Müller was photographed at the famous photographic gallery owned by Matthew Brady. Brady (1822–96) was a renowned photographer of celebrities and his assistants made graphic records of the battles of the American Civil War. He was credited with being the father of American photojournalism. As well as photographing the famous and the dead, his gallery took the likenesses of prisoners for police files and provided photographic cartes-de-visite, or albumen prints fixed to small pieces of card, for the middle classes.

131
the office of Marshal Robert Murray:
New York Herald
, 26 August 1864, p. 1 col. a.

131
cowering wretch
:
Ibid.

131
To look at him
:
‘Arrest of Franz Müller’,
New York Times
, 26 August 1864.

132
decidedly repulsive
:
New York Tribune
, 29 August 1864, reprinted
Leeds Mercury
, 10 September 1864, p. 12 col. a.

CHAPTER 18: NO SLIPSHOD EXAMINATION

133
The extradition hearing opened:
The detail of the extradition hearing is taken from the original US extradition papers held in the American National Archives (ARC Identifier 1229762 / MLR Number A1 857, series from Record Group 59: General Records of the Department of State 1789–2002). See also
New York Times
: ‘The Müller Extradition Case’, 27 August 1864; ‘Law Reports’, 28 August 1864; ‘Local Intelligence’, 29 August 1864. Richard Mayne’s own copy of the printed proceedings of the hearing has also survived in the files of the North London Railway: RAIL529/113 [Old ref. NL4/13 (3)chapter018.

133
ex-judge Beebe:
New York Herald
, 26 August 1864, p. 1 col. a.

133
small and stupefied:
‘The London Railway Murder’,
New York Herald
, 27 August 1864, p. 4.

133
diabolical
locus:
New York Herald
, 26 August 1864, p. 1 col. a.

134
The agent apparently employed:
The
Leeds Mercury
of 7 September named him as Mr Edwards but there is no substantiating proof of this.

134
to write with breathless lack of punctuation:
MEPO 3/75, letter from Kerressey to Howie, 26 August 1864.

134
appearance rather more gentlemanly:
See also
New York Tribune
, 29 August 1864, reprinted
Leeds Mercury
, 10 September 1864, p. 12 col. a.

134
a short, triumphant telegraph:
MEPO 3/75.

135
The United States Circuit Court house:
Restaurant owner Ferdinand Palmo built the original opera house in 1844. William Evans, the English actor, founded Burton’s Chambers Street Theatre there in 1848 and the company survived at that location until 1856.

135
Nassau Street:
139 Nassau Street. See
New York Times
, 27 August 1864, p. 8 col. b.

135
Shaffer:
Also spelled Schaffer. The lawyer would become New York’s district attorney.

136
British–American extradition treaty:
The Webster–Ashburton Treaty, signed August 1842, followed by legislation in 1843 (6 & 7 Vict c 76).

137
not admissible in New York:
New York Times
, 27 August 1864, p. 8 col. b.

CHAPTER 19: GATHERING CLOUDS

Material in this chapter is taken from the same sources as the previous chapter, specifically using the
New York Times
law reports of 28 August 1864, the printed proceedings of the extradition, op. cit., and the original transcripts of the hearing, op. cit.

141
a negro slave called Anderson:
See Hansard, 25 July 1864, House of Commons. During the debate over the new Prussian extradition treaty the Anderson case is referred to: Britain refused on the grounds
that he could not be delivered up for this reason – that a man who killed another while defending his own liberty could not be guilty of murder according to the laws of this country.

142
I do not claim
:
Law reports,
New York Times
, 28 August 1864.

142
The court erupted into applause:
MEPO 3/75, Tanner’s report to Richard Mayne, 28 August 1864.

143
something of sublimity
:
Printed extradition proceedings, op. cit., p. 17.

144
Grotius:
Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) was a jurist in the Dutch Republic. With Francisco de Vitoria and Alberico Gentili he laid many of the foundations for international law.

147
the Tombs:
Information on the Tombs is taken from Miller,
Miller’s New York
, p. 31 ff, and Dickens,
American Notes
, chapter 6.

149
Tanner managed:
Widely reported. See e.g. ‘The Murder of Mr Briggs’,
Manchester Guardian
, 19 September 1864, p. 3.

149
Tanner was worn out:
Begg quotes Tanner, but unattributed:
I was 20 days and nights in the Harbour of New York during which time I do not think I ever went to sleep waiting for that ship
.

149
Extraordinary as it may seem
:
MEPO 3/75, Tanner’s report to Richard Mayne, dated 28 August 1864.

CHAPTER 20: TURNING BACK

150
to look for missing kin:
Faust,
The Republic of Suffering
, p. 127.

150
New York
Morning Star
:
New
York Morning Star
, reprinted
Birmingham Daily Post
, 14 September 1864, p. 3 col. e.

152
visited Francis Marbury:
MEPO 3/76, dated 3 September 1864.

152
who delivered a letter:
‘The Murder of Mr Briggs’, letter,
Manchester Guardian
, 22 September 1864, p. 3. Confirmation that the letter was delivered from marginalia to the Memorial on behalf of Müller in the Home Office Files HO 12/152/63401, first bundle. See also
Daily Telegraph
, second edition, 17 September 1864, p. 3 col. e.

153
The law of England:
Miller,
Cops and Bobbies
, p. 74 ff, and Bentley,
English Criminal Justice in the Nineteenth Century
, p. 230. Also
Daily Telegraph
, 17 September 1864, p. 3 col. f.

153
wearing anxiety:
From Begg,
The Scotland Yard Files
, p. 54 (no attribution for Tanner’s report). It may have been some consolation to Tanner that, during his time away from England, he was on double pay: MEPO 3/76, Tanner’s pay and reward note.

154
sessions were repeatedly rescheduled:
The inquest was adjourned until 8 September but reopened then only in order to re-adjourn until the 19th.

154
Rumours began to circulate:
Liverpool Mercury
, 6 September 1864, p. 7 col. f.

154
the country awoke to news:
The Times
, 7 September 1864, p. 9 col. a.

155
Müller may be innocent
:
Reprinted
Leeds Mercury
, 7 September 1864, p. 2 col. e.

155
the contagion of his example
:
The Times
, 7 September 1864, p. 8 col. a.

155
It is a strange story
:
Ibid.

155
perfect scale model:
MEPO 3/76, letter dated 12 September 1864, also report by Daniel Howie dated 17 September 1864.

156
being a married man
:
MEPO 3/75, undated: c. 10 September 1864.

157
we were hard up
:
‘The Murder of Mr Briggs, a Curious Episode’,
London Star
, 9 September 1864, reprinted
New York Times
, 25 September 1864.

157
seen drinking:
The Times
, 8 September 1864, p. 9 col. d.

CHAPTER 21: THE APPEARANCE OF GUILT

158
signalled her approach:
Description of the arrival of the boat at Queenstown from
Daily Telegraph
, second edition, 17 September 1864, p. 3 col. c.

158
Within twenty minutes:
Daily Telegraph
, 16 September 1864, p. 3 col. f.

159
Müller changed:
Description of landing in Liverpool from
Daily Telegraph
, second edition, 17 September 1864, p. 3 col. c. Hat from Kerressey: ‘The Murder of Mr Briggs’,
Manchester Guardian
, 19 September 1864, p. 3.

159
Fury
:
‘The Arrival of Müller at Liverpool’,
The Times
, 17 September 1864, p. 9.

159
Prince’s Pier:
Daily News
, 17 September 1864, p. 5 col. f. See also
Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper
, 18 September 1864, p. 12 col. b.

160
A ramshackle bed:
Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper
, 18 September 1864, p. 12 col. b. Folding his clothes: ‘The Murder of Mr Briggs’,
Manchester Guardian
, 19 September 1864, p. 3.

161
Much depended:
Daily News
, 15 September 1864, p. 7 col. c. Also
Reynolds’s Weekly Newspaper
, 18 September 1864, p. 1 col. f.

161
if he had been an innocent man
:
‘The Capture of Müller’,
Observer
, 11 September 1864, p. 5.

161
Reynolds’s
agreed:
Reynolds’s Weekly Newspaper
, 18 September 1864, p. 4 col. c.

162
the recent case of a traveller:
Reynolds’s Weekly Newspaper
, 11 September 1864, p. 4 col. b.

CHAPTER 22: A VERY PUBLIC ORDEAL

164
too late for a peaceful solution
:
Friedrich Engels,
The Condition of the Working Class in England
(1903; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 281 ff.

166
efforts to spruce himself up:
Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper
, 18 September 1864, p. 12 col. d.

166
The people seemed surprised at the slight … appearance
:
‘The Murder of Mr Briggs’,
Manchester Guardian
, 19 September 1864, p. 3.

166
Excitement quickly gave way:
Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper
, 18 September 1864, p. 12 col. d. Also ‘Arrival of Müller in London’,
The Times
, 19 September 1864, p. 7.