PAST CRIMESentered the now empty carriage and saw bloodstains. They called the guard
who inspected the carriage and found a walking stick, a bag and a beaver hat.
The train was taken to Chalk Farm, and the carriage detached and sent to Bow
for examination. The items found within the carriage were handed to the
Metropolitan Police. Meanwhile, the driver of another train spotted something
on the track between Hackney and Bow. He stopped his train and got out to
investigate. There he found the unconscious, bleeding body of Mr Briggs.
Though taken to hospital, Mr Briggs died the following night.
The press seized on the murder and reported every gory detail. An article in
the Daily Telegraph reported that
As news of the murder spread a feverish fear emerged. It was said that no-
one knew when they opened a carriage door that they might not find blood on
the cushion, that not a parent would entrust his daughter to the train without a
horrid anxiety. That not a traveller took his seat without feeling how he runs
his chance.
The police identified the stick and bag as belonging to Mr Briggs, but the
hat was not his. A label testified as to its maker, whose business was in
Marylebone. Mr Briggs’ gold watch and chain, and his spectacles, were
missing.
Evidence began to accumulate. A jeweller gave a description of a German
man who had brought a gold chain into his shop. A cabman identified the hat
as one he had bought on behalf of his daughter’s exfiancé, a man called Franz
Muller (Figure 32). Shipping lists showed that Muller had sailed for New York
on 11 July. Two police officers were sent to New York by steamship, reaching
the city on 5 August, three weeks before the arrival of Muller’s sailing vessel.
On arrival, Muller was arrested and searched–he had Mr Briggs’gold watch
on his person, as well as the murdered man’s hat. On 3 September, Muller was
extradited back to Britain for trial, sentenced and hanged.
A positive result of this case was the introduction of the communication
cord in railway carriages, to alert staff to incidents in the carriages.^4
Other social advances also introduced new opportunities for crime. The
ability to use portable electroplating equipment allowed forgers to‘silver’
coins from base metal copies, and a whole range of specialist tools became
available for the burglar–skeleton keys, lockpicks, gimlets and so on.
Forgery of antiquities also became more common, with the new
technologies enabling the copying of ancient artefacts, especially coins. The
rise of a relatively affluent lower middle class in the suburbs gave many
more opportunities for the housebreaker. The introduction of the penny post
created another new set of crimes to be attempted–the forging of postage