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Murder !!!


RichardB

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The Sheffield Murders

July 1884

Hawker Joseph Laycock murdered his wife and 4 children.

He is sentenced to death, as he leaves court he exclaims

"Thank You, your worship - Thank you"

In prison he turns to God for forgiveness

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MURDER/SUICIDE AT SPITAL HILL CIRCA 1948

Does anyone have any knowledge of a murder on Spital Hill sometime in the late 1940s. A man murdered his wife, who had a clothes shop on Spital Hill, nearly opposite the end of Carlisle Street, and then set fire to the premises. He promptly ran across the road, down onto the railway track, and threw himself under a train. It was, of course, a sensation at the time, but I have never been able to track it down in the old newspapers. I was a boy when it happened, and feel sure I have got the date of abt 1948 right.

Of course, some years later the terrrible East House murders occurred just up the road from the shop where the woman was murdered by her husband.

Brought this post forward,

as 'Old Canny Street Kid' has been searching the newspapers, late 1946- 1948 era and hasn't come up with any results.

Can any of our members add more information to the above mentioned murder/suicide?

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Guest Old Canny Street Kid

MURDER/SUICIDE AT SPITAL HILL CIRCA 1948

Does anyone have any knowledge of a murder on Spital Hill sometime in the late 1940s. A man murdered his wife, who had a clothes shop on Spital Hill, nearly opposite the end of Carlisle Street, and then set fire to the premises. He promptly ran across the road, down onto the railway track, and threw himself under a train. It was, of course, a sensation at the time, but I have never been able to track it down in the old newspapers. I was a boy when it happened, and feel sure I have got the date of abt 1948 right.

Of course, some years later the terrrible East House murders occurred just up the road from the shop where the woman was murdered by her husband.

Just to put the record straight, thanks to Ceejee (see Bread & Jam Murder), it has now been established that this Spital Hill tragedy occurred at the end of August 1947.

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Guest Old Canny Street Kid

Brought this post forward,

as 'Old Canny Street Kid' has been searching the newspapers, late 1946- 1948 era and hasn't come up with any results.

Can any of our members add more information to the above mentioned murder/suicide?

Just to say that, as mentioned elsewhere on this thread, thanks to the help of Ceegee, it has now been ascertained that the murder/suicide mentioned occured on the last weekend of August 1947, and Ceegee has posted a cutting from the Manchester Guardian dated Sep 1 1947 with details --see Bread and Jam Murder thread.

Link :

http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/i...?showtopic=5453

Pw1867 ;-)

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Murder #5

April 1837 Constable John Waterfall, junior investigating.

W Jeffries was in Mr Moor's workshop

'when Williams came in ...

he appeared half drunk'

saw him strike Froggat 'who was sitting at work on a low board'

HANGED.

August 12th

12/8/1837

Thomas Williams – Sheffield

“Let me warn you all of the demon drink!” proclaimed Thomas Williams, 29, as he stood on the scaffold outside York Prison on Saturday, August 12th,

1837. The crowd, said to be “disappointingly small,” who had come to watch him hang, made no discernible response.

Williams killed a workmate, Thomas Froggart, in a ferocious attack at the little factory in Silver Street, Sheffield, where they were both employed as

basket makers. Williams, who certainly had a drink problem, had been fired by the factory-owner, and believed Froggart was after his work. He stabbed

Froggart with a sharpened billhook used to cut willows, then embedded it in his skull.

While another work colleague ran screaming into the street, Williams calmly walked off to the Windsor Castle pub, had a drink, and waited for the police.

Froggart took three weeks to die from his head wounds. Williams was convicted at York Assizes, and his execution was the first to be held in England

during the reign of Queen Victoria.

http://www.truecrimelibrary.com/index.php

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London Chronicle, 26 Mar 1782.

Francis Fearn of Bradfield, near Sheffield, filesmith

Date: 23 Jul 1782

Crime:

Murder of Nathan Andrews of Sheffield, watchmaker, by blows with a stick and stabbing him near the high road at Kirk Edge leading to Bradfield on 18 Mar 1782.

Body hung in chains on Loxley Common.

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Victorian Hangings.

May 11th

11/5/1880

John Wood – Rotherham

They met in a pub in Whiston, near Rotherham, and after a few drinks they began a serious pub-crawl. In the small hours of February 18th, 1880,

they ended up in a brothel near Rotherham town centre.

They were John Wood, a labourer and recently released burglar, and John Coe, both aged 27.

No one can be quite certain what happened after they left the brothel, but next morning Coe’s body was found in Canklow Road.

His head had been battered in by a heavy branch which a passer-by had seen Wood carrying. Wood was arrested in the act of attempting to steal

Coe’s watch, and was convicted of the murder at York Assizes in April, 1880. He was hanged on Tuesday, May 11th, 1880 at York Prison.

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Excellent work Syrup. Thank you, more Murders, suicides (Victorian), muggings, attacks and "evil-doings" most welcome !

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Victorian Hangings.

September 10th

10/9/1864

James Sargisson Rotherham

When John Cooper, a 26-year-old gardener, heard a fellow-drinker in the pub at Laughton, near Rotherham, asking the landlord the time of day, Cooper obligingly showed the stranger his watch. Then, finishing his drink, he set out to complete his journey on foot to his parents home, several miles away.He never arrived.

Bludgeoned to death with a hedge-stake, his body was found at a secluded spot near Roche Abbey. His watch, keys and money were missing.

The man to whom he had showed his watch in the pub was soon identified by the police as James Sargisson, of Rotherham. He knew all about the murder, he said. He claimed that he left the pub before Cooper and met his friend George Denton. He told Denton that there was a young man, a stranger, inside.

They talked together, and Denton said: Im going to kill yon man. Dont thee split a word. Ill give thee half of what he's got.Denton put on a fake beard, pulled a stake from a hedge, and they followed Cooper as he left the pub.

Grasping the stake in both hands, Denton knocked Cooper down, and I never heard him speak again, not from first to last, said Sargisson.Denton pulled out Coopers watch and money. Then he says, Is he finished, Jim? I says, I don't know. He says, Then Ill finish the bugger. He hit the man several more blows.

Sargisson went on to tell the police that he and Denton then left the scene. Denton pulled the money out of his pocket and says, Theres seven shillings and sixpence. He gave me the watch and keys.

Now, he says, Jim, whatever thou does, don't split a word to nobody. No ones seen us do it and they'll never find us out. Thee go tomorrow and look at the place where it was done with other people, which I did do Sargisson concluded: If I had never seen him that night I should never have been here. I've been foolish to myself and a friend to him for keeping it in, thats certain. That is the man and he knows it.

Sargisson and Denton were arrested, but the case against Denton was quickly dropped for lack of evidence other than Sargissons story. In trying to shop his friend, apparently to claim the reward, he had succeeded only in shopping himself.

He was tried at West Riding Assizes and sentenced to death. He mounted the scaffold on Saturday, September 10th, 1864, alongside Joseph Myers and before a crowd estimated at 80,000, outside Armley Prison, Leeds. Unlike Myers, Sargisson died hard, struggling for two or three minutes at the end of the rope.

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Victorian Hangings.

January 8th

8/1/1859

John Whitworth – York

“She killed herself when she tried to wrestle my knife off me,” John Whitworth, a 22-year-old farm labourer, told police when they found the

body of his girl friend, Sally Hare, 18, in a field at Dinnington, south Yorkshire. “It was an accident. She never liked me carrying a knife.”

As Sally, a servant girl, had had her throat cut, the police understandably didn’t believe him. Whitworth, advised to reconsider his story after

his arrest for her murder, finally confessed to killing her during an argument about her being too friendly with another man.

He added that on the night of the murder Sally had rejected his sexual demands.

He was hanged at 12 noon on Saturday, January 8th, 1859, outside York Prison before a crowd estimated at between four and five thousand.

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Brutal Murder nr Sheffield

Chapeltown

March 1865

61 yr old Grandmother of Greenhead Cottage Chapeltown was brutally killed by her Grandson

1861 census

264 Chapeltown

Eliza Drabble widow 55 Housekeeper

Solomon Stenton g/s 16

Solomon was charged with the murder of his grandmother on 25th March 1865 after he had been drinking heavily. Trial at Leeds - Plea changed to Manslaughter

He recieved 20 years for manslaughter and was said to have a reputation for drunkeness and violence. Transported to Western Australia on SS Corona Solomon Stenton prisoner 9305 20yrs penal servitude aged 22 sentenced at Leeds of Manslaughter - sent to Western Australia a fetler by trade Single 5' 5 1/4" tall light brown hair, hazel eyes, oval face, sallow complexion Build - middling stout Distinguishing marks - First joint middle finger right hand smashed, cut under left eye

After Solomon obtained his ticket of freedom he moved to Tasmania - there the trail grows cold.

Solomon was cousin to my 2 x gt. grandmother

Lyn

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Victorian Hangings.

November 29th

29/11/1886

James Murphy – Barnsley

When Constable Alfred Austwick was called to a disturbance at a house in Dodworth, Barnsley, the homeowner, James Murphy, opened the door.

“Ah! You’re just the one I want,” Murphy shouted at the officer. “Just wait here a moment, will you?” He went off, returned with a loaded shotgun, and

shot the policeman dead on the doorstep.

It was a grudge killing. Four months earlier Murphy, a 30-year-old miner, had been arrested by PC Austwick, charged with drunkenness, and fined.

He had sworn to his friends that he would get his revenge.

He went on the run after the shooting and was at large for six weeks. Tried at York Assizes, he claimed he hadn’t intended to kill the policeman,

but he had been drinking.

As hangman James Berry adjusted the noose on the scaffold at York Prison on Monday, November 29th, 1886, Murphy told him:

“Put it right, old boy, and don’t be nervous.”

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Victorian Hangings.

May 22nd

22/5/1888

James Richardson – Barnsley

A king-size row between the works manager and a brickworks labourer at Messrs. Chamberlains Brick and Carbon Works, Dodworth Road, Barnsley, ended in murder on March 21st, 1888. The labourer, James Richardson, 23,

stormed out in a huff, but returned with a gun and opened fire on the manager, William Berridge, 36, wounding him. Richardson fled, but was caught and charged with attempted murder. The charge was upgraded to murder a week

later when Berridge died of his wounds.

The jury at Leeds Assizes was told that the row started over a carbon brush which Berridge accused Richardson of breaking deliberately.

They recommended mercy on grounds of provocation, but he was hanged on Tuesday, May 22nd, 1888,

at Armley Prison, Leeds.

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George PEPPERDINE 1839 to 1918

We can read in The Times 1903:

The Assizes

North-eastern circuit

At Leeds yesterday before Mr A T LAWRENCE KC sitting Commissioner, George PEPPERDINE 63 grocer was charged with the murder of Elizabeth PEPPERDINE at Sheffield on February 14 1903.

Mr C MELLOR and Mr T R D WRIGHT prosecuted on behalf of the Treasury and the prisoner was defended by Mr H T WADDY and Mr Harold NEWELL.

The facts of the case were shortly as follows:

The woman who was the wife of the prisoner was at the time of her death 54 years of age and had been married to him for six years. It was proved that the two had lived fairly comfortably together/ They lived at No 67 Bridge Street Sheffield just opposite to the Punch Bowl Inn, which was kept by a Mr MARPLES.

During the afternoon of the day in question there had been a slight quarrel between the prisoner and his wife. At 9.20 pm on the same day the prisoner and his wife were together at the Punch Bowl Inn. They had for some time been on friendly terms with Mr MARPLES. In about a quarter of an hour the prisoner went out leaving his wife sitting in the smoking room. He returned very shortly afterwards carrying in his hands a double-barrelled gun which had been in his possession for some time past. He stood in a passage in which there was a window looking into the smoking room and his wife was standing in that room at a distance of 12ft 6in from him. Mr MARPLES who was at the bar turned round and saw the prisoner raise the gun to his shoulder pointing it in the direction of his wife. Mr MARPLES who was between the prisoner and his wife seeing the gun raised jumped back. The gun was immediately fired and the woman received the full charge of one barrel about her waist the charge having gone through the passage window.

Immediately afterwards the prisoner left the inn and whilst standing near the door of his house placed the muzzle of the gun under his chin and fired off the other barrel but did not inflict any injury upon himself. Mr MARPLES then assisted the woman to her house and whilst he was doing so she said that her husband had shot her but she could not believe that he had done it on purpose.

Mr MARPLES himself thought that the prisoner had brought the gun over for him to look at. When the woman had been taken to her house she said to Mrs AMOTT who was a neighbour "George has shot me; God love him, he didn't mean it". After the occurrence Walter BUNNY went to the house and saw both the prisoner and his wife. The latter said "My husband shot me; he's there". On hearing this, the prisoner replied, "Yes, I did; I ought to have done it long since". He was then charged with wounding his wife with intent to murder her and he made no reply to the charge. The prisoner and his wife were then taken to the Infirmary.

The prisoner was only detained there for a short time but his wife died there on February 21 last. The prisoner had been examined by Dr CLARK the medical superintendent of the West Riding Asylum who stated that he had spoken to the prisoner about the charge but he gave no account of the matter.

The witness however added that there was nothing to show that the prisoner could not have given an intelligent account of the occurrence if he had been so minded. The prisoner did not give evidence and no witnesses were called on his behalf. Mr WADDY commented strongly on the absence of motive for the crime and placed great reliance on the words used by the woman. He asked the jury to come to the conclusion that the death of the woman was the result of an accident.

After the summing up of the learned Commissioner the jury retired to consider their verdict. After an absence of 50 minutes they returned into Court with a verdict of Guilty. When the prisoner was asked if he had anything to say why sentence of death should not be passed upon him he replied: "I don't know anything about the charge. I don't remember anything".

The learned Commissioner passed sentence of death in the usual form.

The Police Budget of 1903 gives a shorter account:

Sent to the Scaffold

George PEPPERDINE, a grocer and off-licence holder aged sixty-three years was sentenced to death at the Sheffield Assizes for the murder of his wife

On February 14 the parties quarrelled and the woman left the house and went to the Punch Bowl Inn. There she was followed by the prisoner who went out five minutes later and returning with a double-barrelled gun shot the woman.

“I ought to have done it sooner” was PEPPERDINE’s comment when charged with the crime. At the hospital the woman asked; “Is it our George?" and being assured that it was added; “God bless him, he cannot have done it on purpose”.

The judge held out no prospect of mercy

Subsequently a 45,000 signature petition meant that he was not hanged.

The above accounts were found by contacting the Black Sheep Police Index

It will be interesting to see where George was at the time of the 1911 census when it is released in 2011

George died 1918 age 79

SOURCE

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Sheffield Victorian Diary

February 27th 1846.

Mr. Greaves, Surrey Arms Inn Hollowmeadows, shot by Joseph Hodkin. Hodkin and Joshua Eastwood went with intent to murder the family and rob the house. Hodkin shot & escaped from the house, but was taken in Sheffield the same night with the pistol. Eastwood was seized on the spot by the servant man with a pistol in his pocket.

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Guest loxleyfox

Murder in Chapeltown March 1865 Greenhead Cottage

I live in Greenhead Cottage Chapeltown and have had ghostly goings on for four years, seem to thiink this is an older lady.

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Great stuff Lyn, keep looking for him.

Wow, a Murderer in the family, nothing quite so interesting in mine, I'm afraid just lots of people that worked with steel/iron/cowpats etc.

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Attempted murder in Sheffield

15th December 1860

2 men shoot File Cutter and Assistant Gamekeeper at his house in Smithy Wood

I drink with the Great Grandson of one of these two villains most weekends. And when he found out i was researching

my Family Tree he happened to mention that one of his own Children was asking his Mother about her Parents and

Grandparents and her reply was YOU DONT WANT TO GO THERE best left alone, Well the temptation was to great

for me and i delved into it and found out all about it and then sat on it for a few weeks before i dare tell him but he

was pleased to hear about it and told his Children who carried on the research. He got 7 years in Freemantle and

his associate got 7 years in South America or South Africa not sure which sorry.

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Some interesting stuff here, completely forgotton all about it.

And, quite amusing in places .... :o

Nice work Hugh.

So ...

Stringer had his 'bowels let out' near to the 'Brown Cow at Red Croft'

biggrin.gif

wink.gif

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