Murder Files from Scotland Yard and the Black Museum

From the files of Scotland Yard’s “Black Museum” (open only to police officers) come true crime stories of some of the most infamous murder cases of the 19th and 20th centuries—the Lambeth Poisoner, “baby farmer” Amelia Elizabeth Dyer, the Gentleman Vampire of Bournemouth, the Brides in the Bath Murders, the Rillington Place murders and many others. Along the way, investigators pass a number of crime-solving milestones, included the first use of fingerprint technology, the early use of photography and the first time “The Yard” enlisted the press to help hunt down a killer.

R. Michael Gordon is the author of several books, and has written extensively on Victorian London and the Ripper phenomenon. He lives in Long Beach, California.

R. Michael Gordon
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 280
Bibliographic Info: 34 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7254-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3127-1
Imprint: Exposit Books

Introduction 1

Section I: Scotland Yard and Its Museum of Crime

History of Scotland Yard 3

The Black Museum 7

Section II: The 19th Century—The Victorians

James Greenacre, the Dismemberment Killer of Edgware Road (1837) 13

William Sheward and the Tabernacle Street Murder (1851) 19

Dr. William Palmer, the Rugeley Poisoner (1856) 26

Madeleine Hamilton Smith, Arsenic “Not Proven” (1857) 37

Constance Emily Kent and the Road Hill House Murder (1860) 45

Dr. Edward William Pritchard, Death by Antimony (1865) 51

Christiana Edmunds, the Chocolate Cream Poisoner (1870–1872) 57

Mary Ann Robson (Cotton), the Dressmaking Serial Killer of Durham (1873) 63

Kate Webster (Catherine Lawler) and Her Bloody Little Axe (1879) 71

Charles Frederick Peace and the Banner Cross Murders (1879) 79

Percy LeFroy Mapleton and Murder on the Brighton Line (1881) 88

John Henry George Lee, the Man They Could Not Hang (1885) 96

Adelaide Blanche Bartlett and the Pimlico Mystery (1886) 104

Florence Maybrick and a Little Arsenic with Breakfast (1889) 111

Mary Eleanor Wheeler Pearcey, a Woman Scorned (1890) 120

Dr. Thomas Neill Cream, the Lambeth Poisoner (1891–1892) 127

Amelia Elizabeth Dyer, the Baby Farmer Most Foul (1896) 136

Samuel Herbert Dougal and the Moat Farm Murder (1899) 143

Section III: The 20th Century—A New Era for Murder

The Stratton Brothers and a Thumbprint to the Gallows (1905) 151

Dr. Peter Hawley Harvey Crippen and Miss Ethel Clara Le Neve (1910) 157

Mr. and Mrs. Seddon and the Death of Miss Barrow (1911) 166

George Joseph Smith and the Brides in the Bath Murders (1915) 171

The Murder of Police Constable George William Gutteridge (1927) 177

Cecil Louis England (Toni Mancini) and the Brighton Trunk Murders (1934) 183

Gordon Frederick Cummins, the Blackout Ripper (1942) 189

Neville George Clevely Heath, the Gentleman Vampire of Bournemouth (1946) 195

John George Haigh and the Acid Bath Murders (1949) 201

John Thomas Straffen, British Serial Child Killer (1951–1952) 209

John Reginald Halliday Christie and His Special Gas (1953) 219

Ruth Neilson Ellis and the Public House Murder (1955) 230

Peter Thomas Anthony Manuel, Scottish Serial Killer (1956–1958) 235

Edwin Bush and the Antique Shop Murder (1961) 241

Peter William Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper (1975–1980) 245

Bibliography 259

Index 263

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