The Chronicles of Newgate, vol. 2/2Griffiths, Arthur
History
The Chronicles of Newgate, vol. 2/2
Griffiths, Arthur
Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England); Prisons -- England; Punishment -- Great Britain
Discovery of the murder came in this wise. O'Connor, a punctual and
well-conducted official, was at once missed at the London Docks. On the
third day his friends began to inquire for him, and at their request two
police officers were sent to Bermondsey to inquire for him at the
Mannings, with whom it was well known that he was very intimate. The
Mannings had seen or heard nothing of him, of course. As O'Connor still
did not turn up, the police after a couple of days returned to Minver
Place. The house was empty, bare and stripped of all its furniture, and
its former occupants had decamped. The circumstance was suspicious, and
a search was at once made of the whole premises. In the back kitchen one
of the detectives remarked that the cement between certain stones looked
lighter than the rest, and on trying it with a knife, he found that it
was soft and new, while elsewhere it was set and hard. The stones were
at once taken up; beneath them was a layer of fresh mortar, beneath
that a lot of loose earth, amongst which a stocking was turned up, and
presently a human toe. Six inches lower the body of O'Connor was
uncovered. He was lying on his face, his legs tied up to his hips so as
to allow of the body fitting into the hole. The lime had done its work
so rapidly that the features would have been indistinguishable but for
the prominent chin and a set of false teeth.
The corpse settled all doubts, and the next point was to lay hands upon
the Mannings. It was soon ascertained that the wife had gone off in a
cab with a quantity of luggage. Part of this she had deposited to be
left till called for at one station, while she had gone herself to
another, that at Euston Square. At the first the boxes were impounded,
opened, and found to contain many of O'Connor's effects. At the second
exact information was obtained of Mrs. Manning's movements. She had gone
to Edinburgh. A telegraphic message, then newly adapted to the purposes
of criminal detection, advised the Edinburgh police of the whole affair,
and within an hour an answer was telegraphed, stating that Mrs. Manning
was in custody. She had been to brokers to negotiate the sale of certain
foreign railway stock, with which they had been warned from London not
to deal, and they had given information to the police. Her arrest was
planned, and, when the telegram arrived from London, completed. An
examination of her boxes disclosed a quantity of O'Connor's property.
Mrs. Manning was transferred to London and lodged in the Horsemonger
Lane Gaol, where her husband soon afterwards joined her. He had fled to
Jersey, where he was recognized and arrested. Each tried to throw the
blame on the other; Manning declared his wife had committed the murder,
Mrs. Manning indignantly denied the charge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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