Murder Most Foul

[Vixen]

This thread is about historical murders, solved and unsolved.

One interesting one, historically - owing to the times and mores of the 16th Century - is that of Christopher Marlowe, aged 33. Marlowe was a talented playwright and contemporary of Shakespeare.

Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (/ˈmɑːrloʊ/; baptised 26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era.[nb 1] Modern scholars count Marlowe among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights; based upon the "many imitations" of his play Tamburlaine, they consider him to have been the foremost dramatist in London in the years just before his mysterious early death.[nb 2] Some scholars also believe that he greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was baptised in the same year as Marlowe and later succeeded him as the pre-eminent Elizabethan playwright.

What is interesting is how accomplished a writer he may have become if not for his early demise.

The most commonly accepted theory of the incident leading to his murder, is a tavern brawl, in which Marlowe was stabbed above the right eye and died instantly.

These witnesses testified that Frizer and Marlowe had argued over payment of the bill (now famously known as the 'Reckoning') exchanging "divers malicious words" while Frizer was sitting at a table between the other two and Marlowe was lying behind him on a couch. Marlowe snatched Frizer's dagger and wounded him on the head. In the ensuing struggle, according to the coroner's report, Marlowe was stabbed above the right eye, killing him instantly. The jury concluded that Frizer acted in self-defence and within a month he was pardoned. Marlowe was buried in an unmarked grave in the churchyard of St. Nicholas, Deptford immediately after the inquest, on 1 June 1593.

wiki

This mirrors the death of my seventh great-grandfather b. circa 1665 d. 1714 who was stabbed in the arm and died three weeks later. I have no idea what happened to the perpetrator other than his first name (='Matti') and that he came from a nearby village. The fact that the name of my g-grandfather's killer is shown in the records indicates he must have come to the attention of the authorities. My sixth great-grandmother would have been fourteen at the time. G-Grandfather was nothing grand, like Marlowe, just a cavalry man. Historical background would have been just at the start of the Great Wrath at the tail end of the Great Northern Wars, so I wonder if that was a factor (The Russians rampaging and pillaging Finland for seven years 1714 - 1721.)

In those days reparations for murder could be privately negotiated with the relatives of the killer pledging to pay compensation. For example, bequeathing their estate to the victim's family instead of their own descendants. Later, crimes such as murder were considered 'a Breach of the King's Peace' and would be dealt with by a panel of magistrates (24 in the early days, who acted like members of a jury). They only met a few times a year in someone's manor house designated the courthouse and the penalty would often be financial. If there was a death penalty, there should surely be an official record but I can find none. I wonder if 'Matti's' descendants have been anonymised over the ages to prevent any of my g-grandfather's descendants coming after them.

As for detective work, was there any in those days? How did solving murders evolve?

It seems to me that Frizer got clean away with killing Marlowe and today would have been done for public affray and manslaughter.

 

[catsmate]

Well depending on hos far back "historical" goes, how about the Wallace murder/trial in 931?
Julia Wallace, wife of insurance agent William Herbery Wallace, was found bludgeoned to death on the evening of 20JAN1931 by her husband and two neighbours.
The police investigation was incompetent to a monumental degree; the scene of crime was contaminated and trampled. However the crime attracted a lot of attention and the police were under great pressure to "solve" it. So Wallace was arrested and indicted.

The background was this; the previous evening (19JAN) Wallace had attended a meeting of the Liverpool Central Chess Club where he was given a message, received by telephone about 25 minutes before he arrived, asking him to attend at 25 Menlove Gardens East at 7:30PM the following evening to discuss insurance with a man who had given his name as R. M. Qualtrough. It should be noted that the person who took the message, which was traced to a phone box about 400m from Wallace's house, was absolutely certain it was not Wallace speaking.

The next night Wallace duly made his way (by tram) there only to discover that the address did not exist. Wallace made inquiries in a nearby shop and of a police constable but nobody he asked was able to help him in his search for the address or the mysterious Qualtrough. He also called at 25 Menlove Gardens West, and asked several other passers-by in the neighbourhood for directions, but to no avail.

After searching the district for about 45 minutes Wallace returned home and apparantly experienced some difficulty in entering; he met two neighbours (John and Florence Johnston) in the back alleyway. In the presence he did open the back door and inside he found his wife Julia had been brutally beaten to death in their sitting room.

R v Wallace began at the Liverpool Assizes; the prosecution case was weak and circumstantial and the judge's summing up was clearly in favour of acquittal. However the jury convicted Wallace and he was sentenced to death.
The case was appealed to the Court of Appeal on the hitherto never successful grounds that the verdict was unsupported by the evidence (i.e. the jury were obviously wrong) and actually succeeded. Wallace was freed.

So who killed Julia Wallace? The most likely suspect is one Richard Gordon Parry, though P. D. James favours the guilt of Wallace.
Wikipedia article on Wallace.