Wife Killer Caught in New York

A man who killed his wife in 1862 thought he had escaped the law when he sailed to New York but four years later he was apprehended and returned to Liverpool to face justice.

30 year old Robert Reid and his wife Ann lived an unhappy life in a cellar in Lower Myrtle Street, while their children were in the workhouse in Brownlow Hill. On the evening of 4th December 1862 Reid took his 13 year old son John from the workhouse back to the cellar, where they sat around a fire singing songs with Ann and her friend Mary Rogers. There was then a dispute over which song to sing and Ann struck her husband with a jug, which smashed. Reid then dragged Ann by the hair to the corner of the room and stabbed her in the arm, causing her to fall instantly.  He then took hold of John and ran off into the street, where he was seen to throw a knife into the gulley and disappeared down an alleyway.

Ann didn't say anything after the stabbing and was dead when a policeman went down to the cellar, having been called in by Rogers. On seeing Ann's condition he called a surgeon, who found that there were two stab wounds and a main artery to the arm had been severed and recovery would only have been possible if she could have been attended to immediately after the stabbing. Another police officer searched the area and recovered the knife but there was no sign of Reid.

It later transpired that that night Reid and his son slept at his brother's house in Richmond Row, but when John awoke in the morning he found his father had disappeared, leading to him finding accommodation with another uncle in Greenland Street.

A reward of £100 was put up for Reid's capture but no information was forthcoming, although it was believed America was his destination as he had lived there before and had relatives. A description was sent to police there but he couldn't be traced. Reid managed to eke out a living as a tinsmith but his decision to stay in New York was his undoing, as the police force regularly exchanged information with their colleagues in Liverpool. On 4th August 1866 Detective Farley from the New York police arrested a man in Brooklyn for being drunk and disorderly whose description matched that of Reid. He then communicated the information to Detective Inspector Carlisle, who arranged for Detective Marsden to sail across the Atlantic with Mary Rogers.

On 18th August Reid was taken into custody after being recognised by Rogers. He didn't deny his identity and made a statement to the effect that Ann had been spitting blood for four days and he used no weapon on her. He then said that he had spent many a night wandering the streets looking for her as he knew she would be drunk somewhere. Applications were then made to have Reid returned to England and on 13th September he appeared before Thomas Stamford Raffles at the Magistrates Court, where he was committed for trial at the next Assizes on a charge of murder.

On 19th December Reid's son John was then in the terrible position of being called to give evidence in a case against his father, but the prosecution kindly agreed to ask no questions of him. He told the court that his mother hit Reid with a jug and he then slapped her, leading to her falling over. Surgeon who saw the body though said that the wound could not have been caused in this way. His defence counsel Mr Pope told the broken jug could have caused the wound and irrespective of whether or not Reid used a weapon, there had been sufficient provocation to reduce the charge to manslaughter.

In summing up the judge told the jury that they first had to consider how Ann came to be wounded, and if it was as a result of a knife, then was there enough provocation to justify using it. The jury took twenty minutes to find Reid guilty and he showed no emotion as he was sentenced to death, walking firmly from the dock.

There was a great deal of sympathy for Reid given his wife's intemperance, the fact the murder did not appear premeditated and he had been struck first. The appeals for clemency were successful and on 1st January 1867, little over a week before his execution date, Reid's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Ticket of Leave Killer Guilty of Manslaughter

A man who stabbed another during a fight avoided a second transportation sentence when he was found guilty of manslaughter. 

In 1851 James Jeffers was sentenced to seven years transportation but secured a ticket of leave halfway through his sentence and arrived back in Liverpool early in 1855, taking a job as a tailor and finding himself a wife.

On the evening of 26th November 1855 Jeffers went drinking with sailor Patrick Baines at Blezzards public house in Addison Street. After drinking two quarts of ale each they went to Baines's lodgings in Gibraltar Row for more money then returned to Blezzards, where they found Baines's cousin John Craddock.

Baines ordered a half gallon of ale which was shared between the three, then him and Jeffers began to make arrangements to go to the theatre. Craddock pulled his cousin aside and told him that he should no better than to be hanging around with Jeffers and they stayed in Blezzards instead.

When it was time to go home Craddock told Baines he would take him back to Gibraltar Row as he was now quite drunk. Jeffers said he would do so but was told by Craddock that it wasn't necessary before being punched. The two men went out in the street arguing and Baines tried to calm then down but he was too drunk to do anything and collapsed. He was carried by some others into his aunts house nearby.

Baines's aunt Bridget Gorman went to Blezzards to retrieve his coat and Jeffers asked if he could go back to see his friend. Bridget said this wasn't necessary and saw he had a knife in his hand, which she told him to put away. Jeffers then said 'By my soul Jesus I will put this into Craddock.' Craddock heard this and went up to Jeffers, punching him to the ground. When Jeffers got up Craddock said 'come on then' which led to Jeffers stabbing him in the stomach and running away.

Jeffers was chased by Baines and a police officer who had been made aware of the situation quickly caught up and apprehended him. Craddock was taken to the Dispensary where a surgeon who attended to him said the wound would probably prove fatal. Craddock then opted to go to his Addison Street home, where he was able to give a deposition to magistrates the next day before he died of inflammation of the peritoneum.

After initially being charged with stabbing, Jeffers had this upped to manslaughter after the inquest on the 30th November and he was committed to trial at the Assizes. On 14th December it took the jury just a minute or two to return a guilty verdict. Jeffers' wife screamed and fainted, then was carried out of court. Luckily for him though he was sentenced to four years penal servitude rather than another transportation term. 

The Liverpool Cab Mystery

The death of a woman who was alleged to have robbed a seaman whilst riding in a cab led to his conviction for manslaughter and a plea for leniency by the jury.

In 1914 Ada Rimmer, the middle aged former wife of a Southport fisherman, lived at a lodging house in Devon Street where she had been for about six years. On the evening of 30th May that year she went out alone and returned with a bloodied nose, saying she had been punched by a man who accused her of robbing him.

Ada, who was addicted to drink and complaining of internal diseases, was taken to the workhouse hospital in Brownlow Hill (right) where she died on 3rd June. The cab driver came forward and recalled that on 30th May Ada had got in with a male at Monument Place then on Low Hill a struggle broke out leading to him stopping. A man was accusing her of stealing a sovereign and got out, then punched her as the cab drove off. He then ran away but the incident had been seen by a number of passers by.

A description of the man was circulated but nothing was forthcoming. On 17th June an inquest heard that Ada had died from pneumonia but her death had been accelerated by her injuries, which included fractures to her jaw on both sides. A verdict of 'manslaughter by an unknown man' was returned.

A further appeal for information led to Robert Barr, a 24 year old ships steward, being named as fitting the description of the killer. Barr lived in Farnworth Street, off Kensington where the cab had been told to head for. He was arrested on 26th June aboard the Calgaria as it docked at the Princes Landing Stage, having returned from a sailing to Canada.  Before the charge was even given to him, Barr said to Detective Sergeant Kinley 'Is she dead?'

Barr appeared at the Manchester Assizes on 10th July and gave evidence himself, saying that he had only left a ship that day and been paid. As well as taking the sovereign, Ada had tried to stab him with a hat pin leading to him pushing her back and leaving the cab, punching her as it drove off.

The jury found Barr guilty but with a strong recommendation for leniency. In sentencing, Justice Shearman said that Barr had been unfortunate as his actions would not have caused the death of a healthy woman, However he could not ignore the fact he had 'pummelled' a woman twice his age and sentenced him to six months imprisonment.

Robbed Sailor Kills Prostitute

In 1863 an Irish sailor was hanged after he killed a prostitute who he believed had taken money from him whilst he slept.

On Saturday 20^th June at about 4am O’Brien met a prostitute named Mary Mathers in Lime Street and after having some ale with her they both went to the brothel where she stayed in Spitalfields (near Whitechapel). Whilst O’Brien slept, Mathers later admitted that she took two shillings out of his pocket to purchase ale which she drank with Elizabeth Callaghan. When O’Brien awoke, he awoke he accused Callaghan of the theft but she denied it. O’Brien told the others in the house that he had been robbed of £5, but if he could have £3 back he would forget about it.

Mathers accompanied O’Brien to the police station but he was not satisfied with their response and when they refused to arrest all the women at the brothel, he said he would sort the situation out himself. He then bought a knife for 9d from a cutlery shop in Dale Street, asking for a stone on which to sharpen it then he and Mathers took a cab driven by John Hargreaves to Spitalfields. Once there, he was greeted by Callaghan who threw her arms around him and playfully took off his neckerchief and smacked him with it. O’Brien sent for some ale and invited the cabman in to share it, a request that was declined.

The three sat drinking and there seemed no cause for alarm and Mathers motioned to O’Brien to join her upstairs. As she was going up to the bedroom O’Brien got up and stabbed Callaghan, who was sat by the fire holding a small dog, in the stomach. He then walked out and got inside the same cab that had dropped him off there. Mathers had screamed ‘murder’ from a window leading to the cabman stopping the first policeman on Manchester Street he saw to alert him to his suspicions. O’Brien was taken to the Bridewell and Hargreaves then returned to Spitalfields and took Callaghan to the Infirmary, where she died a few hours later.  

At the Bridewell, the police officer who had earlier not been willing to arrest all the women asked O’Brien why he had done what he did, to which he replied that it had been justified as he was robbed. He apologised for his actions and surrendered his blood stained knife. A post mortem revealed that Callaghan’s liver had almost been severed and when he was committed for trial O’Brien said that his actions had taken place because of how drunk he was. He said to the court ‘No man would do the likes of that if he was right in the head.’

O’Brien was tried on 20^th August, with Mathers and other prostitutes who had been there on the day giving evidence. Hargreaves also testified as did the owner of the cutlery shop, while all those who saw him including police officers said he was quite sober. His defence counsel Mr Pope said that there had been no premeditation but that he had been driven by intense passion and a sense of wrongdoing. As such, he urged the jury to find him guilty instead of manslaughter, which he admitted was of an aggravated character. The judge did not give him much hope though when summing up, pointing out the evidence which suggested O’Brien had a clear intent in his mind to kill. 

The jury returned a verdict of guilty after just a few minutes and O’Brien wept as the sentence of death was passed. O'Brien was hanged at Kirkdale on 12th September in a quadruple execution before a crowd of 100,000.

Woman's Prophecy of Husbands Execution

A woman who told her husband he would be the next person to be hanged at Kirkdale gaol turned out to be right after he brutally battered her to death.


In 1863, fifty one year old shoemaker John Hughes and his wife Mary lived unhappily together in Great Homer Street where Mary ran a grocers shop, the profits of which funded her husband’s intemperate habits as he rarely put his trade to good use. 

On 23^rd April that year Hughes went to Kirkdale gaol to witness the execution of two men who had killed a woman near Blackburn and was prophetically told by his wife that if he carried on the way he was going, he would be up there next. Mary was a sober industrious woman and her friends knew how badly she was being treated by her husband.

On the evening of Sunday 26^th April Hughes asked Mary for money for drink, striking her when she refused and saying again that he’d be hung for her. The following night they argued again and he pushed her before going out to a pub in Scotland Road. Mary went along there at midnight with her shop servant, 12 year old Elizabeth White, who persuaded him to return home. Being too afraid to go to bed with him, Mary stayed up all night and when Hughes woke at 5am, he demanded more drink and Elizabeth got him some whisky.

A few hours later Hughes got up as Mary went to bed. When she told him she had no money he hit her with his fist, causing her to fall out of bed onto the floor. He then put on his boots and jumped on top of her several times and kicked her until she was unable to move. Hughes then left her lying on the floor and eventually Elizabeth plucked up the courage to ask for help from a neighbour, Mrs Jones. Mary told her what had happened and a doctor was called, Hughes denying to him that any assault had taken place. As a consequence of the injuries the police were called and Hughes brazenly sat on a chair and joked that she would be alright if she was just given another pint.

Hughes was arrested and initially charged with carrying out a murderous assault, being remanded for seven days. Mary remained in a paralysed state and died on the evening of 30^th April. A post mortem revealed that part of her vertebrae had fractured, causing pressure on the spinal cord and paralysis and death was a direct result of her injuries. The coroners inquest returned a verdict of manslaughter but the police were happy to persist with a murder charge and Hughes was committed to the Assizes.

On 19^th August Hughes appeared before Mr Justice Blackburn, with evidence being given by Elizabeth, Mrs Jones and another neighbour Mrs Halpin in respect of what happened between 26^th and 28^th April, as well as the marriage in general. The surgeon who had attended said that given the way in which Mary was lying, the injuries sustained could not possibly have been caused as a result of a fall. Hughes’s defence counsel had a tough job to do and the best they could come up with was that he was drinking solidly for three weeks prior so was too drunk to understand the consequences of his violence, therefore a manslaughter verdict was more appropriate.

In summing up, the judge said that drunkenness was not an excuse and the charge could only come down to manslaughter if Hughes was so drunk that he did not even know harm could be caused by his actions.  The jury deliberated for just a few minutes before asking some clarifications as to the injuries. After just a few more minutes a guilty verdict was returned and Hughes declined to comment before sentence was passed. Justice Blackburn was brutal with his words, telling him that ‘it is absolutely necessary for the ends of justice that wives should be protected from the violence of their husbands and now all I have to do is pass upon you the sentence which the law requires. 

After the death sentence was passed Hughes fainted and had to be carried from the dock to the cells by court officials. He was was one of four prisoners hanged in front of a crowd of 100,000 at Kirkdale on 12th September 1863.

Brother Shot by Mistake at New Year

In the early 1920s there was a tragic occurrence when a man shot his brother dead by accident at a New Years party.

On 1st January 1923, 25 year old Peter McDermott was at a stay behind at the Hare & Hounds pub in Commutation Row with his 18 year old brother Michael and some other friends. At around 130am Michael, who had drank a large volume of port, complained of feeling ill. Peter playfully told him to pull himself together and pointed a revolver at him, not knowing it was loaded. The gun went off and Michael, a ship steward, slumped from his chair and died instantly.

Peter panicked and took a cab home, where he was arrested on suspicion of murder soon afterwards, saying to the sergeant 'Oh my God please don't tell me he is dead.' He was initially charged with wilful murder when he appeared before Mr Deacon, the Stipendiary Magistrate the following day, although prosecutors did indicate they may seek another charge when all the facts were known.

The gun in question had been given to Peter earlier in the year while he was working for the Criminal investigation Department in Dublin, as he feared he was being tailed by irregular forces. Enquiries established that although he had been given it lawfully, he was not meant to have taken it out of Ireland.

After an inquest returned a verdict of death by misadventure, Peter was back before the magistrates court on 11th January. Prosecutors withdrew the murder charge and instead he pleaded guilty to an offence under the Firearms Act, that of having a revolver and ammunition without a permit. Peter, who said his brother was also his best friend, was then sentenced to three months imprisonment.

A Barbarous Sea Captain

A shocking case of cruelty on a vessel sailing from Barbados to Liverpool led to the captain of the ship being hanged in public at Kirkdale.

The Martha and Jane was a Sunderland registered vessel that sailed from Hartlepool to Calcutta in 1856, then on to Demerara and Barbados, where she underwent repair and a change of crew. On 29^th April 1857 an able seaman named Andrew Rose joined the crew but ran away after being beaten by the second mate, Charles Seymour, who found fault with his work. Rose remained at large for a few days but was captured by police and returned to the ship and put in irons.

On 11^th May the ship sailed for Liverpool and Rose was briefly freed, but he was suffering from diarrhoea and frequently beaten with a rope and whip by Seymour, Rogers and the chief mate William Miles for dirtying the decks. One Sunday morning, Rose was on deck singing a hymn and Rogers forced an iron bolt into his mouth, then Seymour and Miles secured it with a rope tied behind his head, leaving Rose like that for an hour and a half.

As the days went on the sadism increased with Rogers whipping Rose then setting a dog on him to bite the wounds, which covered his whole body as his clothes had been thrown overboard due to being soiled. Most of the time he remained in chains but on one occasion asked to go to the bows to relieve himself, a request which was refused. After doing what he had to do on deck, Rose was beaten by the two mates and then held down, while Rogers got a wooden stick and shoved the excrement up his nose and into his mouth shouting ‘isn’t it nice.’

A few days later Rose was put in a water cask by Rogers and rolled up and down the deck, then cast over the side of the ship for twelve hours. As the poor man begged for some food or drink, Rogers told him he wished he would drown or hang himself. When Rose replied that he wished Rogers would do it for him, the captain put a rope around his neck and hoisted him above deck, leaving him dangling for two minutes. As he was cut down his skin was black, his eyes were protruding and foam was protruding from the mouth. Rogers mocked that another half a minute and Rose would have been dead.

Two or three days later on the morning of 5^th June, Rose crawled along the deck until he could move no more, then laid down and died. When fellow crew members found him an hour or two later his wounds were maggot infested and they were loathe to touch him. At the order of Rogers, his body was hauled by a rope along the deck and thrown overboard. On 9^th June the ship arrived in Liverpool, where Rogers, Seymour and Miles were arrested, the three of them claiming that they had only been reported as the crew wanted 10 shillings a day for attending court.

The trial took place on 20^th August, with witnesses telling the court that Rose had been beaten daily voyage, including twelve times on one day. They had never seen him neglect his duty or orders and he got on well with the rest of the crew. Even though his contract stipulated he would receive meat and tea, his daily meals consisted of just dry bread and water. Three doctors were called and stated that if the witnesses were truthful, then Rose’s death would have been directly caused or accelerated by his treatment. In defence, it was claimed that any sores on Rose’s body were as a result of sleeping in fields in Barbados, while the defence counsel tried to suggest that the Martha and Jane wasn’t a British ship, therefore it wasn’t subject to British laws. Rogers defence was that any punishment was to keep discipline and that it was illogical to disable an able seaman when the ship was already short on crew. Miles and Seymour’s defence was that they were simply following the captain’s orders.

The judge took two hours to sum up, pointing out that the three defendants were of enough intelligence to know that what they were doing could eventually have fatal consequences. After an hours deliberation the jury found all three guilty of murder and there were cheers from the public benches when a guilty verdict was returned, although there was a recommendation for mercy. Passing sentence, the judge described Rose’s treatment as barbarous and it was right that their lives should be ‘forfeited to the laws of this country.’ No emotion was shown by any of the men and as they were taken to the cells word reached those gathered outside what had happened, leading to more cheering.

There were hopes all three convicts may be reprieved but two days before the execution word came from the Home Office that although Seymour’s and Miles’s sentences would be commuted to life imprisonment, Rogers would still be hanged. The following day Rogers’s wife and three of his five children visited him in the condemned cell, where he visibly shook as he was bade goodbye. They were then taken in a cab to their hotel in Lord Nelson Street, while Seymour and Miles remained with Rogers at his request. He accepted his fate and was prepared for it, believing his prayers of repentance would be acknowledged by the Redeemer. He did not however, accept that his actions had been directly responsible for Rose’s death. His main concern was for his children and the stigma such a horrible fate as his would have on them. That Friday night prison philanthropist Mr Wright arrived to see another prisoner, having been under the impression all three were reprieved. On hearing he was mistaken, he agreed to stay overnight to comfort Rogers, who then slept far better than previously.

Crowds began to gather at 6am on 12^th September, the morning of the execution and the Liverpool Mercury reported that a black man was seen on Walton Road asking for directions to the gaol. The paper said that the crowd was much more of ‘sober appearance’ than previous, with many passing the time before noon reading newspapers. On the periphery though, ‘shoeless and stockingless urchins’ spent their time rolling in mood and fighting each other with caps, presenting an ‘incongruous scene’. It meant the 200 police on duty were not totally unoccupied especially as noon drew near, the paper reporting that ‘a great portion of the scum of society were to be seen in large masses’ travelling up Walton and Vauxhall Roads in he direction of the gaol. There were also a number of seamen present of varying ranks, expressing little sympathy for Rogers and showing only regret that his two mates had been reprieved.

The 40,000 strong crowd was swelled by spectators arriving on trains from Rochdale and Manchester, and omnibuses from Liverpool were full to capacity. One 70 year old had come from Bolton and told a reporter it was such a terrible case that he would gladly have made the rope himself and he had seen his first hanging at Ipswich in 1804. Despite the early hour many were drunk, one man who was ‘in an advanced stage of intoxication’ staggered and fell into a gutter, while another fell asleep under a hedge and missed what he had gone there for.

Rogers refused a final breakfast, preferring to just have some milk. He remained in the prison chapel most of the morning and just after noon he was taken to the scaffold, accompanied by the prison chaplain and Mr Wright. As the rope was placed around his neck he said ‘Lord receive my spirit, Lord save me’ before the bolt was drawn. Calcraft had calculated everything perfectly and there were convulsions for just a few seconds.  Sailors in the crowd were heard to say ‘serves him right’ and as there was a surge towards the scaffold, one man had his arm broken and was taken to the Northern Hospital. After an hour Calcraft re-appeared and cut down the body, which was buried that evening in the gaol grounds. The clothes were given to Mr Allsop of the Crystal Palace waxworks in Lime Street, where  a model of Rogers was being put on display the following Tuesday.