The Ratcliff Highway Murders

The Ratcliff Highway Murders

Timothy Marr ran a draper’s shop on what was known in the 1800s as Ratcliffe Highway, one of the three main roads leaving the city of London. This area was rundown and dangerous, with dark alleys and dilapidated tenements. Marr lived above his shop with his young wife, Celia, and their 14-month-old son, also Timothy. Marr employed an apprentice, James Gowan, who also lived with them along with Jewell, a servant girl. On December 7, a cold Saturday night in 1811, just before midnight, Marr sent Jewell to pay the baker’s bill and buy some oysters while they closed up shop.

Jewell found the oyster seller closed for the night, so she went on to another shop, and on finding that one also closed, she made her way to the bakery. Passing her employer's shop, she saw Marr through the window preparing to close up for the night. On her return from the bakery at twenty minutes after midnight, Jewell found the shop dark and closed. Banging on the door, she heard the baby cry out and the sounds of footsteps, but no one opened the door for her. Her constant banging caught the attention of George Olney, a night watchman who came over to find out what was going on so late at night. Olney knew the Marr family and noted that, although the shutters were in place, they were not locked. The noise awakened John Murray Marr's next-door neighbour. Murray scaled the back wall between the two homes; he saw the back door open and a light on. He entered the house, calling Marr’s name. He returned down the stairs and went through to the shop, where he found the carnage.

He discovered Gowan first lying just inside the shop door; his face and head had been so badly beaten that brain matter and blood were cast all over the walls. Shocked Murray went to let Olney in and stumbled over the body of Celia Marr lying face down, her head also battered and her wounds still bleeding. Murray and Olney found Timothy Marr behind the shop counter, beaten to death. Upstairs, they found the baby in his cot, his throat slashed, and one side of his face crushed. By now the alarm had been raised and more people from the neighbourhood had gathered, the Thames River Police arrived soon. There seemed to be no motive for the grisly murders; nothing appeared to have been taken; money was in the till; and £152 was found in a drawer in the bedroom.

A heavy, long-handled shipwright's hammer, or maul, covered with blood and with hair stuck to it was found in an upstairs bedroom resting against a chair. This was assumed to be the murder weapon. Two sets of foot prints containing blood and sawdust were found leading away from the house, and witnesses claimed to have seen ten men running away soon after the alarm had been raised. It was thought the murders were gang-related, and a reward of 50 guineas was offered for the apprehension of the perpetrators. A handbill was drafted and stuck on church doors. Despite many men being brought in for questioning based on eyewitness accounts, even Marr’s own brother, no one was ever considered a credible suspect. When the hammer had been cleaned of gore, initials were found carved into it, either I.P. or J.P. This was the only lead those working on the case had.

The four victims were given a memorial service and then buried beneath a monument in the parish church of St. George in the East, where the infant had been baptised three months earlier.

Twelve days after the first killings, the second set of murders occurred at The King's Arms, a tavern. The victims were the publican, 56-year-old John Williamson, his wife Elizabeth, 60, and their servant, Bridget Anna Harrington, who was in her late 50s. Despite its proximity to the ill-reputed Highway it was not a rowdy establishment. The Williamsons were well known well liked, and liked to retire early. Before turning in that night, Williamson had told one of the parish constables that he had seen a man wearing a brown jacket lurking around and asked the officer to keep an eye out for the stranger. A couple of hours later, the same constable was alerted to a crowd gathered outside The King's Arms as a nearly naked man descended from the upper floor using a rope of knotted sheets. Terrified and crying incoherently, he identified himself as John Turner, a lodger at the tavern for some eight months.

Forcing the tavern doors open, the crowd saw the body of John Williamson lying face up on the steps leading into the taproom. His head had been beaten, and his throat had been cut. Elizabeth Williamson and the maid were found in the parlour, their skulls smashed and their throats cut. Armed, the crowd stormed through the inn in search of the murderer. Miraculously, upstairs, they found the Williamsons' 14-year-old granddaughter, Catherine Stillwell, in her bed, alive and untouched. Fire bells were rung to call out volunteers, while London Bridge was sealed off.

A cellar flap had been forced open, and this was how the murderer had gotten in, bloodstains on the sill of an open window indicating this was the murderer's escape route.

Much like the first, there seemed to be no apparent motive for the murders, and the two families were also found to be unconnected.

A new reward was of 100 guineas was announced for information leading to the capture of the culprit, and handbills were drafted and posted within the hour.

John Williams, a 27-year-old possibly Irish or Scottish seaman who, despite having a good reputation for being honest, paying his bills on time, and being popular with the ladies, fell under suspicion, His roommate claimed that Williams had returned after midnight on the night of the tavern murders, and he was known to Timothy Marr. Williams admitted to drinking in the tavern earlier in the evening before the murders with a friend. Suspicions intensified when people came forward saying Williams had been complaining of not having any money, but after the murders he did. He claimed he had pawned some items of clothing and indeed had two pawn shop tickets in his pocket. These leads were never followed up, and Williams remained under suspicion.

A ‘break" in the case came more than two weeks after the Marr family had been murdered and five days after the killing of the Williamson family, when the maul was identified as belonging to a sailor named John Petersen, who was away at sea. Peterson lodged at the same inn as Williams. The landlord of the inn, who was incarcerated in Newgate Prison for debt, claimed Peterson’s trunk was at the inn and that Williams had access to it. It should be noted that the reward for information would have cleared the landlord’s debt and garnered his release.

Williams's laundress testified that two weeks earlier she had washed one of his shirts that was torn and another that had blood on the collar, as if from bloody fingers. Williams claimed that the torn and bloodstained shirts were the result of a brawl after a card game, but he was silenced by the magistrates and returned to prison.

Williams never went to trial. On December 28, he used his scarf to hang himself from an iron bar in his cell. Williams' suicide was surprising to those who had last spoken to him. They claim he was in good spirits and was sure he would be exonerated and released soon. The courts took his death as a sign of guilt and proclaimed him guilty of the crimes. On New Year’s Eve, William’s corpse was paraded through the streets of the area where the crimes had been committed; some claim the crowd was as large as 180,000 people. Because suicides could not be buried on consecrated land, William’s body was staked and buried at the crossroads of New Road and Cannon Street Road. The stake was meant to keep the restless soul from wandering, while the crossroads were meant to confuse whatever evil ghost arose from the grave. In 1886, a gas company digging in the area came across a body buried upside down with a wooden stake through it. The landlord of the nearby Crown and Dolphin pub is said to have retained the skull as a souvenir; the skull’s whereabouts today is unknown.

Sources:

https://londonist.com/.../200th-anniversary-of-the...

http://www.thamespolicemuseum.org.uk/h_ratcliffehighwaymu...