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Authors: Rodney Castleden
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Mary Wheeler’s house, and he confessed to having an affair with Mary.
Next the police went to interview Mary. They had been suspicious of her behaviour at the mortuary. They searched the house in Priory Street. They found many blood stains and spatters in the kitchen, and a bloodstained carving knife and poker. There was also evidence of a violent struggle in the kitchen. Two of the window panes were broken. During the search Mary Wheeler’s behaviour was very peculiar. She sat at the piano singing and whistling loudly. She explained the bloodstains away by saying that she had been killing mice, which obviously was not the true explanation. When Mary herself was examined, her clothes were found to be bloodstained and she had scratches on her hands. She was also wearing two wedding rings, one of which was Phoebe Hogg’s.
Detective Inspector Banister arrested Mary Wheeler, and charged her with the murder of the two Phoebe Hoggs, mother and child. While in the police court awaiting her committal hearing, Mary Wheeler made a partial confession to Sarah Sawhill, the woman who was looking after her. She said that Mrs Hogg had indeed gone to her house for tea that afternoon, that Mrs Hogg had made an offensive remark and that a quarrel had developed. At that point, she seems to have realised she was incriminating herself and decided not to say any more.
Mary Wheeler’s trial at the Old Bailey under Mr Justice Denman opened on 1 December 1890. Mary entered a plea of not guilty through her defence counsel, Mr Arthur Hulton. Then the prosecution, conducted by Mr Forrest Fulton, outlined its case. Letters were read out to show her passion for Frank Hogg. The suggested motive was jealousy, that Mary wanted to supplant Phoebe and be Frank‘s wife. The counsel for the prosecution was also mischievously turning the jury against the accused by emphasizing her immorality. Evidence was produced that linked Mary closely to the killing. John Pearcey was able to identify the cardigan wrapped round Phoebe’s head as one that he himself had given to Mary. Evidence was also given that the blinds in Mary’s house were drawn on the afternoon of the murder, which implied premeditation.
Arthur Hulton was hard pressed to present any kind of case for the defence. He tried to argue that the evidence against Mary was circumstantial and that a woman of Mary’s moderate build would be able to inflict the dreadful injuries suffered by Phoebe Hogg, who was similar in size and build to Mary Wheeler.
Mary remained completely impassive throughout her trial and gave no evidence at all. Presumably Arthur Hulton did not feel able to trust her to give a sensible or consistent account of herself; he had perhaps had the experience of hearing Mary singing or whistling when confronted by her crime, and did not want her doing that in court. Just halfway through the third day of the trial, the jury found Mary Wheeler guilty, though it did take them 52 minutes to agree on it. When asked if she had anything to say, Mary said, ‘I say I am innocent of this charge’. Denman sentenced her to death.
There was still no Court of Criminal Appeal in England in 1890, so Mary Wheeler’s fate was sealed. Her solicitor even so made valiant efforts to save her, alleging that she was not in full control of herself, having had epileptic fits since birth. The Home Office was not minded to change the sentence.
Mary asked if Frank Hogg could visit her the day before her execution in Newgate Prison. Permission was granted, but Hogg did not turn up; it is not known why. Mary was distraught. She wept inconsolably. Apart from this, though, she remained very calm.
On her final evening, she was visited by her solicitor, Mr Freke Palmer. She asked him to deal with her bequests and also to place a personal ad in the Madrid neswpapers, to read, ‘MECP Last wish of MEW. Have not betrayed, MEW’. ‘MEW’ stood for Mary Eleanor Wheeler, but nobody knows what the rest of the message
Next the police went to interview Mary. They had been suspicious of her behaviour at the mortuary. They searched the house in Priory Street. They found many blood stains and spatters in the kitchen, and a bloodstained carving knife and poker. There was also evidence of a violent struggle in the kitchen. Two of the window panes were broken. During the search Mary Wheeler’s behaviour was very peculiar. She sat at the piano singing and whistling loudly. She explained the bloodstains away by saying that she had been killing mice, which obviously was not the true explanation. When Mary herself was examined, her clothes were found to be bloodstained and she had scratches on her hands. She was also wearing two wedding rings, one of which was Phoebe Hogg’s.
Detective Inspector Banister arrested Mary Wheeler, and charged her with the murder of the two Phoebe Hoggs, mother and child. While in the police court awaiting her committal hearing, Mary Wheeler made a partial confession to Sarah Sawhill, the woman who was looking after her. She said that Mrs Hogg had indeed gone to her house for tea that afternoon, that Mrs Hogg had made an offensive remark and that a quarrel had developed. At that point, she seems to have realised she was incriminating herself and decided not to say any more.
Mary Wheeler’s trial at the Old Bailey under Mr Justice Denman opened on 1 December 1890. Mary entered a plea of not guilty through her defence counsel, Mr Arthur Hulton. Then the prosecution, conducted by Mr Forrest Fulton, outlined its case. Letters were read out to show her passion for Frank Hogg. The suggested motive was jealousy, that Mary wanted to supplant Phoebe and be Frank‘s wife. The counsel for the prosecution was also mischievously turning the jury against the accused by emphasizing her immorality. Evidence was produced that linked Mary closely to the killing. John Pearcey was able to identify the cardigan wrapped round Phoebe’s head as one that he himself had given to Mary. Evidence was also given that the blinds in Mary’s house were drawn on the afternoon of the murder, which implied premeditation.
Arthur Hulton was hard pressed to present any kind of case for the defence. He tried to argue that the evidence against Mary was circumstantial and that a woman of Mary’s moderate build would be able to inflict the dreadful injuries suffered by Phoebe Hogg, who was similar in size and build to Mary Wheeler.
Mary remained completely impassive throughout her trial and gave no evidence at all. Presumably Arthur Hulton did not feel able to trust her to give a sensible or consistent account of herself; he had perhaps had the experience of hearing Mary singing or whistling when confronted by her crime, and did not want her doing that in court. Just halfway through the third day of the trial, the jury found Mary Wheeler guilty, though it did take them 52 minutes to agree on it. When asked if she had anything to say, Mary said, ‘I say I am innocent of this charge’. Denman sentenced her to death.
There was still no Court of Criminal Appeal in England in 1890, so Mary Wheeler’s fate was sealed. Her solicitor even so made valiant efforts to save her, alleging that she was not in full control of herself, having had epileptic fits since birth. The Home Office was not minded to change the sentence.
Mary asked if Frank Hogg could visit her the day before her execution in Newgate Prison. Permission was granted, but Hogg did not turn up; it is not known why. Mary was distraught. She wept inconsolably. Apart from this, though, she remained very calm.
On her final evening, she was visited by her solicitor, Mr Freke Palmer. She asked him to deal with her bequests and also to place a personal ad in the Madrid neswpapers, to read, ‘MECP Last wish of MEW. Have not betrayed, MEW’. ‘MEW’ stood for Mary Eleanor Wheeler, but nobody knows what the rest of the message
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