← After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal
Loading summary
Transcript176 lines
- [00:00]
Anthony Delaney
Hi, we're your hosts Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling. And if you would like After Dark Myths, Misdeeds and the Paranormal ad free and get early access.
- [00:10]
Maddy Pelling
Sign up to History Hit with a History Hit subscription. You can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries with top history presenters and enjoy a new release every week.
- [00:21]
Anthony Delaney
Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com subscribe.
- [00:27]
Mario Lopez
Hey, what's up? It's Mario Lopez. Back to school is an exciting time, but it can also be overwhelming and kids may feel isolated, a vulnerability that human traffickers can exploit. Human trafficking doesn't always look like what you expect. Everyday moments can become opportunities for someone with bad intentions. Whether you're a parent, teacher, coach or neighbor. Check in, ask questions, stay connected. Blue Campaign is a national awareness initiative that provides resources to help recognize suspected instances of of human trafficking. Learn the signs and how to report@dhs.gov blue campaign.
- [01:04]
Ryan Reynolds
Mint is still $15 a month for premium wireless. And if you haven't made the switch yet, here are 15 reasons why you should. 1. It's $15 a month.
- [01:14]
Maddy Pelling
2.
- [01:14]
Ryan Reynolds
Seriously, it's $15 a month. 3. No big contracts.
- [01:19]
Maddy Pelling
4.
- [01:19]
Mario Lopez
I use it.
- [01:20]
Anthony Delaney
5.
- [01:20]
Ryan Reynolds
My mom uses it.
- [01:21]
Anthony Delaney
Are you.
- [01:21]
Ryan Reynolds
Are you playing me off? That's what's happening, right? Okay, give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront.
- [01:27]
Mint Mobile Announcer
Payment of $45 for $15 per month equivalent required. New customer offer first three months only, then full price plan options available, Taxes and fees extra.
- [01:33]
NetCredit Announcer
See Mint mobile.com NetCredit is here to say yes to a personal loan or line of credit. When other lenders say no, apply in minutes and get a decision as soon as the same day. If approved, applications are typically funded the next business day or sooner. Loans offered by Netcredit or lending partner banks and serviced by Netcredit. Applications subject to review and approval. Learn more@netcredit.com partner netcredit credit to People.
- [02:16]
Maddy Pelling
Hello and welcome to After Dark. Blood on the floor of a railway carriage, a battered banker found dying beside the tracks and a city in shock. It was July 1864, and the promise of the railway, the great marvel of the industrial age, suddenly looked like a death trap. Respectable passengers had believed themselves safe behind locked compartment doors. Now, whispered Londoners, if Thomas Briggs could be attacked on his way home, who might be next? The hunt for his killer would span oceans, leading Scotland Yard across the Atlantic in one of the first great manhunts of the Victorian age. At its centre stood a young German tailor, Franz Muller. But was the case against him watertight? Or did Fear and prejudice tip the scales of justice over to Anthony to set the scene.
- [03:19]
Anthony Delaney
On a balmy summer's evening in 1864, passengers sit on cushioned seats as their train rattles eastward from London's Fenchurch Street. Carriages rock, wheels clatter and in one compartment, voices murmur softly, lulled by the supposed safety of this marvel of travel. Private boxes on steel rails carrying respectable men home from the city. Then there's a noise, barely perceptible, a dull thud, a muffled commotion from the next carriage. For a moment, stomachs tighten, but the sound is swallowed by the roar of the train and the rhythm smooths passengers back into passive compliance. The railway was progress after all, a promise of security and sophistication. But at Hackney, the illusion shatters. The door to the neighbouring first class compartment is opened. Cushions are soaked in blood, the woodwork smeared dark. Its passenger banker, Thomas Briggs is missing. This is After Dark. And this is the first railway murder.
- [04:57]
Maddy Pelling
Hello and welcome to After Dark. I'm Maddie. And I'm Anthony and I feel like I am in an early detective novel. I am so excited for this episode. It's giving me glamour. It's got excitement, it's got a bloody crime, it's got mystery. We have a murder taking place on a first class train carriage heading to East London. It's a summer's evening, it's mid July, what's not to laugh? The scene is set. Anthony, how are you feeling about telling this story?
- [05:27]
Anthony Delaney
Well, it's set in summer, so that's not always something that I enjoy doing.
- [05:32]
Maddy Pelling
It's less than ideal.
- [05:33]
Anthony Delaney
It's about to get quite grim and that's something that I do usually find myself doing for fun here on our After Dark at least. So we're talking about it being the evening of the 9th of July. Maddy Pelling, it is 1864 and as we've just heard a carriage, well, a train pulls into the station at Hackney and on inspection one of those carriages is discovered to be blood stained and the seats blood soaked. And we have a lot of first hand account of what's happening at this moment in time from Benjamin Ames himself. So he is the man who discovers this. He's a guard for the North London Railway and he says, I then examined carriage. On the near side cushion there were marks of blood, that is the cushion nearest the engine on the quarter light on the near side there was blood trickling down. So we have blood in this carriage. We have also discovered a squashed beaver hat, just a kind of a version of a top hat.
- [06:31]
Maddy Pelling
This isn't a hat made from a beaver.
- [06:33]
Anthony Delaney
No, no, not. Not in this particular case. This does not belong to Briggs, however. And so obviously this looks like it is a key piece of evidence into where Briggs has gone. But we do get an answer to that question very, very quickly because Briggs is very soon found bloody, beaten and unconscious by railway tracks near Hackney Wick, and he dies two days later. So now we've gone from a disappearance, a missing man, to a murder investigation.
- [07:04]
Maddy Pelling
See. Okay, let me just recap all of this already, because we often on After Dark start right at the beginning of a tale, and there's not necessarily a crime scene at the beginning. So we have Benjamin Ames, the guard of the North London Railway, goes into this first class carriage. There's blood everywhere. There's a squashed hat not made from a beaver. There is blood on the cushions, there's blood everywhere. There's blood trickling down the sides, but there's no body. And so it's actually what's happened.
- [07:33]
Anthony Delaney
Yeah.
- [07:34]
Maddy Pelling
A little while later. Is this days later? Is this hours later?
- [07:37]
Anthony Delaney
No, no, it's between, you know, minutes and an hour. It's very.
- [07:41]
Maddy Pelling
Okay, so soon after.
- [07:42]
Anthony Delaney
Very soon. Yeah.
- [07:43]
Maddy Pelling
This person, who is not dead yet.
- [07:46]
Anthony Delaney
No.
- [07:46]
Maddy Pelling
But who is badly beaten and bleeding and unconscious is found next to the railway tracks. So presumably he's been thrown from the train, we have to assume. And he does not survive.
- [07:58]
Anthony Delaney
He doesn't survive, no. And the question very quickly turns to how did this man get to those train tracks? What exactly happened him that put him there? Because, as we will discover, and we'll get into this in a little bit more detail, Briggs is a gentleman. He is of the polite classes. He shouldn't be being found on the side of a railroad. And the fact that he's even traveling in relative luxury for this period in time means that he is of some standing. But we'll come to all of that. Let's just look a little bit at the time scale before we find the body on the tracks.
- [08:36]
Maddy Pelling
This feels to me like an Arthur Conan Doyle or something like that. Or later on, an Agatha Christie. This detective fiction. We already have this shocking opening scene. This person who should not be involved in a violent crime like this, who is he's been found in these unusual circumstances. There's already a mystery. And now you're going to tell me that we can walk backwards in time and reconstruct his day. And we have clues as to who he is, why he got there and why he was on the train and what happened to Him. This feels ready made for the press of the moment.
- [09:07]
Anthony Delaney
And what's so fascinating about it is, and do bear this in mind throughout this entire story. The railway is still relatively new and this is the first time a murder has occurred on the railway. So this is worlds colliding. This is, as you say, this is setting up a narrative here that is going to be absolutely fodder for the press. But in terms of Briggs movements that day, we know that at 10:10, so 9:50pm, he boards the London railway train from Fenchurch street, going to Chalk Farm. Now, he doesn't make it that far because somewhere between Fenchurch street and Hackney Wick, Franz Muller enters Briggs's carriage, we think.
- [09:49]
Maddy Pelling
And do we know anything about him at this stage?
- [09:52]
Anthony Delaney
We don't know anything about him at this point, but we will discover more as we go on. It is believed that Franz Muller took Briggs's gold watch and his chain, but left five pounds in his pockets. Whether or not he knew that was there or what exactly the situation is, we're not sure sure, but he still had five pounds on him. He allegedly throws him from a compartment near Bow. So this means that that's where Briggs is then ultimately found. He has been beaten, by the way, with a blunt object, so his skull is fractured. So about 10 minutes after he has set off from Fenchurch street at 10pm, the driver of a train traveling in the opposite direction spots this body, or what he thinks to be a body, a person lying on the embankment next to the tracks between Old Bow and Victoria park stations. And he describes it as follows. His foot was pointing towards London and his head towards Hackney at a spot about two thirds of the distance, 1 mile, 414 yards, between bow and Hackney stations. So this is a gruesome discovery, really. Can you imagine, like the first time that anyone will ever have been encountering such a sight?
- [11:01]
Maddy Pelling
Yes. Although I love that the details that the driver of this train gives are not the injuries or the blood or any of that. It's like the precise place that he is along the line, I think, that says so much about. The railways are so fresh and new, as you say, the immense familiarity that these drivers have with their patch and the sort of pride that they take in it. So tell me a little bit then about the setting of this crime before we get into who Franz Muller is and why he's thought to have done this attack at all. Because the railways are new, they're fresh, they're exciting. It's not that long since people were incredibly nervous, terrified Even to set foot on a vehicle that was moving in the way that this did. You know, steam travel allowed people to travel at speeds that early Victorians believed would mean their heads would fly off or they would simply die from how fast they were going. So what does it mean in the 1860s for someone to be murdered in this setting?
- [11:58]
Anthony Delaney
I always think of Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford, where they're getting on the TR and they're afraid that because their eyes are gonna be moving so fast, their eyes are gonna detach. So, yeah, absolutely. There is this idea that.
- [12:11]
Maddy Pelling
Love Cranford.
- [12:12]
Anthony Delaney
Oh, my God, I love it so much. It is my comfort thing. It's the only thing I can rewatch again and again and again.
- [12:17]
Maddy Pelling
See, we always disagree on this because for me, it's Lark Rise to Candleford.
- [12:20]
Anthony Delaney
I've never really seen it. I should.
- [12:21]
Maddy Pelling
It was like the competition. They came out in the same years, didn't they? We'll swap one year and do a watch of each of them.
- [12:27]
Anthony Delaney
I'm very open to watching Lark Rise, actually, because people love that too.
- [12:29]
Maddy Pelling
That's gorgeous.
- [12:30]
Anthony Delaney
But this is 1860s. This is the height of industrialism. So you are getting, as you say, you're right on the cusp of people getting a little bit more used to the idea of the railway and what it can bring. But what it does bring for people is this booming sense of growth. Cities are growing. There's therefore increased crime rates. People are traveling around with a little bit more ease. There's also a fear. I mean, again, I'll use Cranford, because there is a lot about the railway in there where they say, oh, but now the Irish will come and then we'll lose everything, essentially, because, you know, the Irish will get around in England. And we did.
- [13:05]
Maddy Pelling
That's just the British motto for several hundred years.
- [13:09]
Anthony Delaney
And what we get then is this idea that newspapers are picking up on this industrialization. They are growing themselves. They're printing more sensationalist crime stories. We have, of course, 20 years earlier, in the 1840s, 1842, Scotland Yard detective branches established. So this is, you know, still in the first generation of detective work, photos are being used in police investigations. So what I'm trying to paint a picture of here, I suppose, is change, change, change. It is all happening at this time, and it's really shaping travel, crime reporting, media. And that in itself is changing how people feel about the areas they live in, the country they live in, and having this pushback towards what they see as this infiltration of their Cities, their towns. Because of the railway.
- [14:00]
Maddy Pelling
Yeah, I suppose because people can move around with new levels of ease. There's a, well, phenomenon, really, of having to come into contact with people you wouldn't otherwise come into contact with. Right. Like, oh, the people over the hill in the next town, as my Yorkshire adoptive auntie would say, they're gone. Irongans, you know, they're not necessarily for us. And, you know, in the 18th century, you might never have seen them, you might never have ridden your horse and cart over that way. And now suddenly they're visiting your town, you can go to theirs. There's tension, there's new faces, there's strangers, there's anxiety.
- [14:30]
Anthony Delaney
I think it's really easy to underestimate as well. Like, I. When I read this in preparation for this episode, I questioned how accurate it was, just because it seems so immensely huge. But at this time, we're having 253 million journeys across the UK.
- [14:46]
Maddy Pelling
Wow.
- [14:47]
Anthony Delaney
In 1864, train journeys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't even fathom that like that. I mean, I'm sure it must be.
- [14:53]
Maddy Pelling
More now, but, like, imagine how many it is now.
- [14:55]
Anthony Delaney
Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Those are numbers that I just wouldn't have had imagined. 1863, we have the London Metropolitan Railway. That's the world's first underground. And we see this boom in class and commute and people using the train to take holidays or breaks. Can you imagine also what this does to the idea of the perception of distance at this time? Like before, Scotland is weeks away and then it's suddenly hours away. That's life altering. That changes your impression of the world.
- [15:25]
Maddy Pelling
In the early 18th century, you get travel accounts written about visiting far off places like Scotland or Wales. Yeah, Cornwall, exactly. And people being like, oh, the people up there, pretty weird, pretty outlandish. And now suddenly, yeah, you can get the train. I think as well. The important thing to remember and thinking about this murder taking place in a first class carriage is that, you know, today, obviously, we still have, like, first class and, like regular train travel. And you can upgrade your ticket to a first class if you want to sit in silence or in a slightly more comfortable chair. But it does still cost more money. But for the Victorian world, the class system that exists in society is replicated in this really rigid way that does not compromise on the trains themselves. And so, yes, you're getting this kind of influx of new people. You're getting people kind of pushed together. You can picture a crowded Victorian platform with all manner of people, but the performance of Social distinction is still taking place. And I think it's the fact that, that this murder takes place in the first class carriage that makes it stand out. Right. I wonder how infamous this would be if it had been a robbery or a scrap taking place in the third class.
- [16:31]
Anthony Delaney
For example, the first class carriage we're in, Briggs is there alone. Now, it can seat up to six to eight passengers. But it's one of those things when you get in and the tube's empty and you're like, oh, thank God. Or when you get like the four seats on a train to yourself and it's just like, oh, my God, this journey's gonna be okay.
- [16:47]
Maddy Pelling
I love a table. A table journey is so good.
- [16:50]
Anthony Delaney
I only love a table if it's going to be you and one other person, or just you on your own. If it's going to be all four of you, I don't want to be there.
- [16:56]
Maddy Pelling
No, no. I love it when it's just me. The second anyone else sits down, I loathe them. I wish them nothing. I'm like, you need I hope a train hits you on your way home? Like, you are not welcome here. Why? I think I have a right to those tables, I don't know. But no, there's nothing more romantic than having the. The table to yourself and looking out over, you know, nice rolling hills and countryside. Oh, perfection.
- [17:20]
Anthony Delaney
And if it's raining, all the better. But what we have here is Briggs. Essentially isolated within this first class train carriage. There's nobody there. He has no way to communicate with the driver. This is comfort and privacy. Yes, but it also means that there is seclusion and isolation. So it does really build the exact ingredients that one might need to find oneself.
- [17:43]
Maddy Pelling
Yeah, I hadn't really thought of the fact that, you know, we take those safety mechanisms for granted now, the ability to talk to the driver, we can pull the emergency stop, you can say it, see it sorted, you know, all of that stuff, none of that existed. And actually, if you are going to be murdered in your luxurious first class carriage, there's not a lot you can do about it, really.
- [18:02]
Anthony Delaney
And that is what's going to happen. Like, what is he going to do? So let's talk a little bit about the people involved. We've mentioned them already, but let's give a little bit more detail. We have Thomas Briggs. So this is our victim. He is 69 years old, born in around 1795, we think.
- [18:17]
Maddy Pelling
I love an 18th century person who's just accidentally wandered into the 19th century. To me, that's a Georgian.
- [18:23]
Anthony Delaney
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [18:24]
Maddy Pelling
I love people, so it's such a sidebar, but I love people who are born. So my great grandfather was born in like 1898 or something like that and he died in 2001. Like he lived in three centuries. That blows my mind. And I love when you find people who just, just creep on at the end of one century.
- [18:39]
Anthony Delaney
Yeah.
- [18:39]
Maddy Pelling
Beautiful. Love it.
- [18:41]
Anthony Delaney
So he's there and he's a widower with two married daughters now. And this gives you an impression of where he sits in society as the chief clerk at bank of England. Senior. He's very well paid, he's a long serving employee and he's essentially nearing retirement. He could be retired if he wanted to. I'm sure at this particular moment in time he's living in Hackney and he is essentially. Well, not essentially. He is an early commuter, but the term wasn't actually used at this time. But he is commuting into town to do his job. He's respectable. He's a family man. He's quiet. He has an otherwise unremarkable life. We would not know his name had this event not occurred.
- [19:19]
Maddy Pelling
Okay. I thought he was exciting because he was born in the 18th century and now he works in a bank and.
- [19:24]
Anthony Delaney
He commutes in from very Victorian. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [19:27]
Maddy Pelling
The boredom, okay. I'm, I'm, I'd push him off a train myself.
- [19:38]
Anthony Delaney
Foreign.
- [19:44]
Mario Lopez
Hey, what's up? It's Mario Lopez. Back to school is an exciting time, but it can also be overwhelming and kids may feel isolated, a vulnerability that human traffickers can exploit. Human trafficking doesn't always look like what you expect. Everyday moments can become opportunities for someone with bad intentions. Whether you're a parent, teacher, coach or neighbor. Check in, ask questions, stay connected. Blue Campaign is a national awareness initiative that provides resources to help recognize suspected instances of human trafficking. Learn the signs and how to report@dhs.gov blue campaign.
- [20:21]
Ryan Reynolds
Hey, Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. Now, I don't know if you've heard, but Mint's Premium Wireless is $15 a month. But I'd like to offer one other perk. We have no stores. That means no small talk. Crazy weather we're having. No, it's not. It's just weather. It is an introvert's dream. Give it a try@mintmobile.com switch upfront.
- [20:44]
Mint Mobile Announcer
Came in a 45 for 3 month plan, $15 per month equivalent required. New customer offer first 3 months only, then full price plan, options available, taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com NetCredit is here to say yes because you're more than a credit score. Apply in minutes and get a decision as soon as the same day. Loans offered by NetCredit or lending partner bank and service by NetCredit applications subject to review and approval. Learn more at netcredit.com partners NetCredit credit.
- [21:05]
Greenlight Announcer
To the People did you know that parents rank financial literacy as the number one most difficult life skill to teach? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app for families. With Greenlight, you can set up chores, automate allowance and keep an eye on your kids spending with real time notifications, kids learn to earn, save and spend wisely. And parents can rest easy knowing their kids are learning about money with guardrails in place. Sign up for Greenlight today@Greenlight.com podcast.
- [21:47]
Maddy Pelling
Come on, Len, Tell me a little bit about Franz Muller, the other person in the story. Because something tells me from the way that you have been using the language around Tom Anthony, that your repeated use of the word allegedly in particular something tells me maybe he's not going to be the person we think he is or there's going to be some ambiguity. So what are the facts that we have about him?
- [22:06]
Anthony Delaney
I'll clarify this before we get into it. There was pushback around Franz Mueller at the time, particularly from other immigrant communities. Some of the details that we will go through here seem very straightforward. And then there are other accounts that make it not so straightforward, but there is some damning evidence too. So I think, I tend to think he probably did do it, but it's just interesting to see the gray area that comes in later. But let's look at what we do know about him. He's born in the 1840s in Germany. He arrives in London in the early 1860s. He's looking for work. He is a tailor. He's struggling financially. We always have this idea that you come with a trade, you come with a skill, and you're kind of going to be all right. But actually we see again and again for people in the cloth industry, for tailors, they will very often struggle like it's an oversubscribed skills that at this moment in time, and has been for probably, you know, maybe the last 50, 60 years actually.
- [23:01]
Maddy Pelling
Yeah. And I suppose we have to think industrialization is barreling on at this point. And whilst people still did go to haberdashers, to tailors, to dressmakers, well throughout the 19th century, increasingly things are ready made to the point where you don't need to visit these services if you are of the lower classes, like, that's not where you're going to be spending your money. So I guess there is, yeah, like you say, kind of an influx of immigrants with this skill and then not necessarily the market maybe, I mean, maybe not in the 1860s, but it is gonna start to dwindle as time goes on.
- [23:32]
Anthony Delaney
Yeah. And so he's struggling to find work, he's struggling financially. He's living and moving an awful lot in lodging houses around London. But he keeps himself looking very neat. He's very fashion conscious, apparently. And of course, I mean, it's interesting, isn't it? Like, it says in my notes here that he's noted as speaking with a German accent. But of course he does because he's from Germany. And so it' like that's how that would be. But the reason it's noted in my notes that way is because it was noted at the time. You know what I mean? Like, this is how people were saying, oh, he had a German accent. Yes, he was German.
- [24:03]
Maddy Pelling
I am obsessed with accents in the past. I find them so interesting. You know, when you hear, you'll see like a bit of like old BBC archive footage from, I don't know, maybe the 50s or 60s, and there'll be someone who's like 90 years old and they were a Victorian and they sound so different to people in the 20th century. And you think, what do people sound like going further back in time where we don't have recordings of their voice? And especially immigrants coming into Britain at this time, I had family who were German Jews and they came to. Well, first to Glasgow, then Manchester, then London over the course of a generation. What the hell was that accent? By the time they got to the East End of London, like, what did that sound like? Their children were born in Glasgow in Scotland, but then grew up in Manchester. And then by the time they're in the East End, you know, they stay there for generations. So I would love to. To hear their voices. And I just think that's so interesting that his voice, his accent here in this story, Muller's voice is noted, obviously, in terms of xenophobia, but I just. It's like a description of smell to me. Like it brings that world rushing up to meet me.
- [25:07]
Anthony Delaney
Yeah, yeah. I think that's a really good comparison, actually, because it's something a bit nebulous. You can't quite touch it or see it.
- [25:13]
Maddy Pelling
It's possible.
- [25:13]
Anthony Delaney
It has to be experienced. Yeah. In that moment. Now there's inquiries into Muller about his involvement in this murder, you say? Well, why are they inquiring into him? They don't even know he ex at this point. But it's because a man called Jonathan Matthews comes forward and Jonathan Matthews is a cab driver. And he identifies Muller as having been acting suspiciously, having left the railway station and says that he hailed his cab and then quickly changed his mind. But I have also read an account that says that he just knew him. Matthews happened to just know him, had bought something from him which he associated with the items that had been robbed. So this is where I've seen a couple of conflicting accounts as to how Mueller becomes the main suspect. It always involves the cab driver, it always involves that. But the details of that are sometimes changeable. So it's just something to bear in mind. I do find it interesting nonetheless.
- [26:05]
Maddy Pelling
Okay, so hold on. So Muller is implicated in this crime because when he gets off the train, the cab driver Matthews says he's behaving suspiciously. And there's a possibility of saying that he actually knew Muller as a tailor and had purchased things from him. And Watt noticed when he was hailing a cab that he was wearing things from the crime scene.
- [26:26]
Anthony Delaney
Well, see, this is where it's confusing. Certainly that first thing is an option. Oh, he got into my cab and then he changed his mind and he was acting erratically. So now I'm reporting him. So that's probably the most straightforward option. There is another account that I read that said that Matthews purchased jewelry from Muller and that jewelry happened to be turned out to be Briggs's jewellery.
- [26:48]
Maddy Pelling
So potentially Muller is getting off the train, getting out of the train station, hailing a carriage, a cab, and then selling some of the things to the cab driver.
- [26:58]
Anthony Delaney
So disentangle both of those narratives because in the narrative where he's selling, he's not necessarily hailing that cab.
- [27:03]
Maddy Pelling
Oh, this makes no sense. Okay, this is patchy.
- [27:06]
Anthony Delaney
I think the most likely thing is the hailing of the cab. But as I say, just in my research for this, I have read another account where it doesn't comply with this and it says something else that's more confusing. I think as soon as you introduce the confusion, everything starts to look a bit dodgy. Well, certain things start to look a bit dodgy. So anyway, it's because of Matthews that Muller is identified and he is then the sole focus of this entire investigation. And he is found because he has an unusual low crowned silk hat. Basically it's like a shorter top hat which has been swapped for Briggs at the murder scene. Now remember, there was A hat at the scene. At the murder scene. Murder scene in the carriage.
- [27:46]
Maddy Pelling
Made of a beaver.
- [27:47]
Anthony Delaney
Made of a beaver. That was not Briggs. And now they think that they have found Briggs's hat with Muller and that Muller's hat is in the carriage.
- [27:57]
Maddy Pelling
I mean, that's quite a decision to take a hat again, to us today that might not seem that distinctive, especially compared to the. If he's taken the gold chain and the pocket watch instead, that would potentially, you know, be something to identify the killer as having taken that from the scene. And Muller would know this as a tailor. This is a moment in which people's clothes are incredibly personalised to them. Surely a hat has been made to Briggs's measurements. It's obviously a distinctive kind of hat. The fact it's silk, that it's low crowned, this is a wild thing to take. Even if your hat is crap and you want a better hat, this seems odd.
- [28:33]
Anthony Delaney
And whatever about taking his hat, leaving your own doesn't seem like the smartest move in the entire world.
- [28:40]
Maddy Pelling
Even if it's made of beaver and you desperately want to get rid of it.
- [28:42]
Anthony Delaney
Even if it's like, I really regret buying this hat. It is interesting. There are other accounts. Listen, I'm just going to keep saying it when, when I remember them from researching for this. There are other accounts have said there is absolutely every world in which, because of his trade and because of where the. The work he did do, that Mueller would have had access to a hat like this, that, you know, he could have had one for himself. So it's there. But it's very. In the media coverage, it's very much said, this is Briggs's hat, it couldn't be anybody else's. So, you know, that's what we're dealing with.
- [29:14]
Maddy Pelling
So there's already a painting of Muller as more lowly than he maybe is immediately in terms of, you know, he couldn't possibly have a hat like this. This is not for him. Even though actually in his trade, you're saying there's every likelihood he might dress like this.
- [29:26]
Anthony Delaney
Yeah, there was a world in which he could have access to it. It's not beyond the realms of possibility. I mentioned jewellery before. Again, there's this idea that jewelry is coming into it because there is another alternative option that on 11 July, Muller visits a jeweler in Cheapside whose name Apparen is John Death.
- [29:45]
Maddy Pelling
What's that for him?
- [29:45]
Anthony Delaney
Good for narrative, little flourish. And he's there to sell jewelry. And of course they're saying that this is Briggs's gold chain. So it's apparently because the police have circulated a description of Briggs's stolen property and then Death recognizes this when Muller comes to him. And so this is how we are getting all of this picture of Muller being the only person that is in the frame for this.
- [30:11]
Maddy Pelling
Okay, so things are not looking good for Muller. He's been identified as the potential perpetrator of the crime he is being accused of having on his person and trying to sell items that have come from the crime scene. Does he take this lying down or does he leg it?
- [30:29]
Anthony Delaney
It depends what way you look at it, because he either legs it very intentionally and that would make sense, or has nothing got to do with this crime and just so happens to be leaving England at that time. Either way, he certainly leaves England because on the 12th of July, Muller buys a first class ticket on the SS Victoria, which sets sail on the 13th of July from Southampton to New York. And by the 17th then of July, we've seen this before in Hally Rubenhol's the Story of a Murder. The police board a faster ship, the SS City of Manchester, particularly Detective Inspector Richard Tanner. He's on board the city of Manchester and this ship is going to get there before Muller's ship does. They arrive three days later on the 20th of July. Again, thinking about that time of the world becoming such a smaller place. And it's not until five days after that, the 25th of July, that Muller arrives, and because of the hat, they recognize him straight away and he's arrested instantly. So you can see the parallels there between the Crippen case from Story of a Murder and this particular case.
- [31:35]
Maddy Pelling
It's really interesting. The thing that's standing out for me there that potentially points to Muller's guilt is the first class ticket. We know that he is not buying a first class ticket. Well, maybe he did buy a first class ticket on the train in order to get into the carriage, but you don't necessarily spend that money, make it clear that you are going into the first class area and then bludgeon someone almost to death if you're doing it. And we know that he's not necessarily that wealthy as a struggling tailor, and suddenly he's buying a first class ticket on a transatlantic voyage. I mean, we know from our Titanic episodes, which, you know, admittedly are several decades later, that these tickets are expensive. Even if you're on, you know, not on the virgin voyage of one of the most luxurious vessels ever, that's still going to cost you a lot of money. People Save up for lifetimes in this period to send immigrant families who want to send a member of their family across the water if they can. In what world is he suddenly just doing that? Or had he saved up? Had he planned this all along? He wasn't involved in the murder. He simply. This was his moment when he was emigrating to America and he just got caught up in it.
- [32:46]
Anthony Delaney
And the other thing to bear in mind is that people at the time said with this five pound note that he could have taken from Briggs if it was him, he didn't and he would have needed that money. So why, if he was desperate for money, would he have left? Would he not have searched the body anyway? Look, we don't know these are questions that were being asked at the time, let alone still now. But what we do know is that he is extradited to the UK in August. On August 25, 1864, he's taken to Clerkenwell Prison and he awaits trial. So there is enough there for him to be taken back to Britain for trial.
- [33:18]
Maddy Pelling
See, I just. I find this so interesting because I think the case is quite flimsy. I am not saying that he didn't do it because there is a very clear possibility that he did. But thinking about the detective fiction of the 19th and early 20th centuries, one of the questions I would like the police to be asking is, do the victim and the killer know each other?
- [33:40]
Anthony Delaney
Yeah.
- [33:41]
Maddy Pelling
What is the connection between and Briggs? Has he just gone out and thought, I'm great, I'm going to walk into the first class carriage, there'll be someone rich there, I'll bludgeon them to death. Death. Chuck them off the train and take their jewellery. Because that doesn't seem like the behaviour of a man who is then buying a first class ticket. Unless that. Because also, if you're running away from a murder you've done, do you buy a first class ticket? Is that a good disguise? Or do you just go in steerage with all the other third class passengers and disappear into a crowd of anonymous poor people who won't be necessarily taken notice of? Or is going in first class actually a very good disguise? I just, I have a lot of questions here.
- [34:19]
Anthony Delaney
Yeah, same like you. I'm not saying he didn't do. And there are certain things, like if you, if you really do trust. One version is like, well, then this is very obviously him that did this and there's something coming for me which is. I'll tell you when we get there, but it's the. It's the one piece where I go, if that's true, then. Then we have it like that.
- [34:39]
Maddy Pelling
He did do it.
- [34:40]
Anthony Delaney
But at the same time, there's even a question mark over that. But you would hope that some of that gets ironed out at his trial, which happens at the old Bailey on the 24th of October, 1864, that you could maybe get some detail that would help us to decide. Certainly the jury do decide. This doesn't help him, I think. Or it just catches him out. If he is guilty, he says he was visiting a friend in Bethnal Green at the time of the attack, but he couldn't name the friend, so no one would verify that he wasn't there.
- [35:11]
Maddy Pelling
That's like me, though. If people pressure me to come up with the name of someone who I've been with 10 minutes ago, I'll be like, oh, Anthony someone.
- [35:19]
Anthony Delaney
Yeah.
- [35:20]
Maddy Pelling
I don't know. Tallish, Irish. I don't know.
- [35:23]
Anthony Delaney
Google him. I don't know. I don't know what's gonna.
- [35:25]
Maddy Pelling
I don't know.
- [35:26]
Anthony Delaney
And also, he may have been, like, lying, but for. I don't know why I feel that I need to defend him, because he probably. There's every chance that he did this, but it just. I don't know. It's so circumstantial that it. I find it a little bit problematic. I think that's what it is.
- [35:38]
Maddy Pelling
There's just so much hearsay, right? Like, this is just sort of little anecdotes from different people who don't seem connected. There doesn't seem to be a connection between the killer and the victim, as they say, unless it is just a, you know, by chance he was going to kill someone and it just happened to be Briggs. So. Okay, here's my other question about the trial. Obviously, Muller is an immigrant. He's German. He's foreign. We know that his accent has been emphasized in the press as being, you know, something other, something different. How does his immigration status play into this trial? I assume it comes into it somehow.
- [36:10]
Anthony Delaney
It does. The first thing to say is kind of maybe in a positive way, because the German society in London pay for his legal fees, and they're suggesting that the trial is xenophobic, which is understandable from the German society in London's point of view. I suppose they're saying, look, he's not getting a fair trial here, so we're going to pay for the legal fees. But also then we do have this idea that he has Briggs possessions about his person or that he tried to sell them but the jury, whether it's because of his Germanness or not, the jury are quite convinced and they find him guilty of willfulness murder on the 24th of October, 1864. So, again, it escapes our definite inference as to whether or not the fact that he was German comes into this. But certainly it is a part of the trial because the German society are there and they're paying the legal fees, so we can't say it wasn't a factor.
- [37:01]
Maddy Pelling
So we know that that Germanness, that issue of his German identity, is taken forward into his execution. So he's obviously been found guilty of willful murder, the penalty is execution, and we are going to see him die. But his identity as a German immigrant continues to play a part, doesn't it?
- [37:19]
Anthony Delaney
Yeah. I mean, we even have Wilhelm I of Prussia, who's soon to be the German emperor, trying to delay the execution because he sees it as a diplomatic concern. And because Mueller had huge support back in Germany, he felt like he needed to intervene. And they were concerned about how flimsy the case was and how circumstantial the case was. Case was. But here's where it gets. Despite all of that, it gets a little fuzzy because as you said, he is hanged on the 14th of November, 1864 at Newgate Prison. But apparently before he is hanged, he confesses to the murder to the German Lutheran Dr. Louis Capel. And apparently he just says, ich habe es garten. I'm sorry, I don't speak German, but apparently it means I did it. Then question mark comes in here because then apparently he said, I alone committed the deed and no one else had anything to do with it. I know, yeah, that's confusing to me. And nobody witnesses that confession apart from Louis Capel. So again, it's a question mark. But he hangs either way. But I just think it's fuzzy. I don't know, it's fuzzy.
- [38:28]
Maddy Pelling
It seems unreliable, the fact that when he's confessing, he confesses in German and then he's speaking English and obviously he would have been able to speak both languages. But. But there's something simple about saying, I did it in German and then saying in English, I alone committed the deed. First of all, was there a suggestion that there was anyone else? Because that's really interesting. And why has that disappeared from the narrative if that's the case, and if it was never a suggestion that he didn't do it alone, why would he then say that?
- [38:56]
Anthony Delaney
I know, I've never heard of anybody else, and as I said, I've Looked at a few different sources for this and I've never seen anybody else implicated. So why is he saying, oh, there was nobody else else? Like, yeah, I know we're not thinking about anyone else. I don't know, it just all feels very. We know how rare confessions are, particularly because he's denied this the whole way up, by the way. He's denied, denied, denied. He was not him, Was not him, was not him. And then just at the. I know that would be the point at which I suppose you're like, all right, well, I'm about to die. But I don't know. Confessions are very rare actually on the gallows. Gallows. Confessions are not something that really happens happens. But either way, he hangs.
- [39:48]
Mario Lopez
Hey, what's up? It's Mario Lopez. Back to school is an exciting time, but it can also be overwhelming. And kids may feel isolated, a vulnerability that human traffickers can exploit. Human trafficking doesn't always look like what you expect. Everyday moments can become opportunities for someone with bad intentions. Whether you're a parent, teacher, coach or neighbor. Check in, ask questions, stay connected. Blue Campaign is a national awareness initiative that provides resources to help recognize suspected instances of human trafficking. Learn the signs and how to report@dhs.gov Bluecamp campaign.
- [40:25]
Ryan Reynolds
Hey, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Now, I don't know if you've heard, but Mint's Premium Wireless is 15amonth. But I'd like to offer one other perk. We have no stores. That means no small talk. Crazy weather we're having. No, it's not. It's just weather. It is an introvert's dream. Give it a try@minmobile.com Switch upfront payment.
- [40:49]
Mint Mobile Announcer
Of 45 per 3 month plan. $15 per month equivalent required. New customer offer first 3 months only, then full price plan, options available, taxes and fees extra. Cmnobile.com.
- [41:07]
Maddy Pelling
He does go to the gallows and there's quite attendance. We're only four years off public execution being banned in Britain in this moment, but there's quite a turnout here.
- [41:17]
Anthony Delaney
Yeah, 50,000 people. And we've seen this in the 18th century before, haven't we? We've spoken about it where you see this disorder, this drunkenness, this brawling going on. So there's nothing necessarily unusual about that in terms of this, apart from the fact that we're seeing it in the 19th century and not just in the 18th, but as you say that, yeah, public executions are outlawed four years later. So we see that this kind of rabble atmosphere takes over and starts to shape the day. When you have public executions, what is fascinating about this, whether he did or he didn't do it, and you know, you and I aren't going to solve that today, but whether he did or he didn't, it does prompt reform in train travel. So we see things having to change because of this first murder. And we get like the installation of communication cords so that if there's a problem in your carriage, you can pull the cord and somebody will come.
- [42:05]
Maddy Pelling
How many upper class women do you think pulled those cords to ask for a cup of tea or something or to be brought? So that'd be me. I'd be like, excuse me, Hot Belgrade, please.
- [42:16]
Anthony Delaney
When is that trolley coming around?
- [42:19]
Maddy Pelling
Do you have any snacks?
- [42:21]
Anthony Delaney
But they put guards on there, too. So the guards are doing patrols of the carriages. This I love, okay? This I absolutely love. They put lamps in the carriages, which, by the way, think about it, before the lamps were put in the carriages, that would have been a pretty dim, dark little enclave that you've got for yourself. But they're called, in memory, I suppose, of Franz Muller. They're called Muller lights. Like the yogurt.
- [42:46]
Maddy Pelling
Like the yogurt.
- [42:47]
Anthony Delaney
I'm obsessed with that.
- [42:48]
Maddy Pelling
I'm also obsessed with the fact they didn't call them Briggs lights. They were like, let's name them after them.
- [42:53]
Anthony Delaney
Why did they go with Mueller Lights? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [42:55]
Maddy Pelling
Okay. That's kind of fascinating. Yeah. I mean, I suppose this case highlights a lot of tensions in Victorian life, right? Class struggles and conflict, sort of modernity and technology and the danger that comes with that. And, you know, to be murdered in such a brutal way as, well, to be clubbed to death around your head, there's something very sort of primal and basic about that. And for that to happen aboard this new piece of technology that's still so kind of fresh and exciting and complicated seems like a very strange juxtaposition. So there is that as well, in terms of the xenophobia and British attitudes to immigration in this moment, which haven't changed a huge amount. What does the Mueller case do for that?
- [43:40]
Anthony Delaney
In Britain, there is a huge surge in anti immigrant sentiment. Can I just share this at this point as well? You know, because there is an idea that there was, you know, the arrival of the Irish as well at this point and how problematic that was and how the Irish are referred to as rats and.
- [44:00]
Maddy Pelling
And the Irish are coming across. Because this is post famine at this point.
- [44:03]
Anthony Delaney
Well, yeah, it's a generation, kind of a generation after the famine, 20 years or so after the famine, so, you know, the next generation, a generation like.
- [44:10]
Maddy Pelling
Desperately seeking opportunities that they just don't have at home.
- [44:14]
Anthony Delaney
Yeah. But to Fast forward to 2000 and, I don't know, 10, I can't remember what year it was exactly. I was. Not to be too stereotypical, but it did happen like this. I was in a black cab. And the thing about immigration came up. This is, you know, ten plus years ago now. And it's always a really difficult thing to have to kind of go, oh God, we're going to have to have this. And I just said, well, I'm an immigrant. Like, you know, I'm Irish, like I'm not from here. And was told that I was the right kind of immigrant.
- [44:45]
Maddy Pelling
What a load of absolute shite.
- [44:46]
Anthony Delaney
And also to extrapolate what the right kind and the wrong kind of immigrants are.
- [44:51]
Maddy Pelling
Where do you even start?
- [44:52]
Anthony Delaney
I think you know exactly what he was saying. But yeah.
- [44:54]
Maddy Pelling
Shall we draw this episode to a conclusion? That is a really interesting case. I can see that as a period drama. I can see the opening scene. It feels, it does feel very Conan Doyle or very Agatha Christie. The setting, the fast paced train, I'm sure it was going at like two miles an hour in 1860. But sure. You know, there's just so much kind of cinematic scene setting going on there. But ultimately, as you say, it's a story that is incredibly woolly and hard to get to the bottom of. I am not convinced that he did it. There's definitely an easy way in which he did do it. He could very well have done, but there's not enough compelling. If I was on that jury, I would be not happy.
- [45:33]
Anthony Delaney
Like, you need to give me more, babe. This isn't enough. Yeah, but then it's 1864, isn't it? But yes, I agree. There's not enough there for me. And I think there's very much a world which he did it I couldn't convict. As you say, if you're on the jury. But also just this thing, Maddy. And this is what really sticks with me about this case, about the newness of rail travel and the excitement, but the fear that that also brings. And then for this to be the very first murder on the railway just brings to life those fears and means they're true. Means you should be afraid of this piece of technology and the speed at which we are hurtling towards modernity. It will. That's what this case tells people.
- [46:18]
Maddy Pelling
Last question before we go. What is your favorite train journey?
- [46:21]
Anthony Delaney
Oh, God, none. No, Zero train journeys.
- [46:24]
Maddy Pelling
No, no, no. Okay. Anthony prefers a private jet.
- [46:27]
Anthony Delaney
I want to go on one of those Ye olde train journeys. I do want to do that. Like, you know, the kind of.
- [46:33]
Maddy Pelling
Do you mean just a steam engine?
- [46:35]
Anthony Delaney
Well, yeah, maybe. Probably they are done by steam, I think. But, you know, the way they're all, like, done out and they're all like. They have the little lamps and you can have your little lunch and you can do all of that kind of thing.
- [46:43]
Maddy Pelling
You want like a proper Agatha Christie.
- [46:45]
Anthony Delaney
Yeah.
- [46:45]
Maddy Pelling
Like Orient Express.
- [46:46]
Anthony Delaney
Yeah. But nobody will be allowed to talk to me, apart from the person I was there with, because I don't have to talk to people. Like, that's one thing about trains. I'm like, don't talk to me, please. We are not sharing this experience. I'm in my own world. Shush. But I would like to do all of that. And you can get, like, cabins that you can sleep in and that you can. They're really, really expensive, though, because I have looked up the prices. They're like thousands and thousands of thousands of pounds. But that's a train thing I would like to do.
- [47:08]
Maddy Pelling
Well, next episode, we're going to be sponsored by Yoldi Worldy Train.
- [47:12]
Anthony Delaney
Trans Siberian Express.
- [47:14]
Maddy Pelling
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anything with sn snow would be good for me. It is the train journey up the northeast coast of England. If you go from something like York to Edinburgh and you see all the Northumbrian coast out of the window and past the Farne Islands and Lindisfarne. Oh, perfection. On a sunny day. Can't beat it.
- [47:32]
Anthony Delaney
I mean, it doesn't sound bad.
- [47:33]
Maddy Pelling
Yeah, yeah. As long as there's no murder on the way. Of course.
- [47:35]
Anthony Delaney
Of course, yes.
- [47:36]
Maddy Pelling
If you've enjoyed this episode, you can listen. I was gonna say you can listen to our back catalogue of train episodes, but I think this might very well be the first train episode we've ever done.
- [47:45]
Anthony Delaney
I can't think of any other trains. I can't remember the last episode we did an hour ago, though, to be fair.
- [47:49]
Maddy Pelling
So, you know, that is very true. I thoroughly enjoyed this and I would like to do more train related content. So if you have dark train stories.
- [47:58]
Anthony Delaney
Then we're doing all the transport things. Trains, ships, everything.
- [48:02]
Maddy Pelling
Should we do a plane one? No, it's too modern.
- [48:04]
Anthony Delaney
Yeah, no, too modern for us.
- [48:05]
Maddy Pelling
Although I do want to do Amelia Earhart desperately.
- [48:08]
Anthony Delaney
Oh, well, that's a good one. That's not that much. Let's do that one. We can do Amelia Earhart. That makes sense.
- [48:12]
Maddy Pelling
Okay, Producer Stu. We're doing Amelia Earhart. You can leave us a five star review of you. Please and thank you wherever you get your podcasts. It's not just nice to boost our ego, but it does help other people to find us and to see that the podcast is well loved and they might even give it a go and listen to it. So please do that. If you have a suggestion for any topic train related, transport related. I'm trying to think of other transport now. If you have bicycle unicycle, if you have a historic bicycle pogo stick story, or a parachute story, or a horse riding story, or a donkey and cart.
- [48:49]
Anthony Delaney
You get it Marty, we get it. Don't keep saying or.
- [48:51]
Maddy Pelling
Okay, we're going. Goodbye.
- [49:01]
Greenlight Announcer
Did you know that parents rank financial literacy as the number one most difficult life skill to teach? Meet Green Greenlight, the debit card and money app for families. With Greenlight, you can set up chores, automate allowance and keep an eye on your kids spending. With real time notifications, kids learn to earn, save and spend wisely and parents can rest easy knowing their kids are learning about money with guardrails in place. Sign up for Greenlight today@Greenlight.com podcast.