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Authors: Steven Fielding
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help John Billington execute Thomas Tattersall. Both Harry Pierrepoint and John Ellis, the only active assistants on the list, were engaged elsewhere and so a letter was sent to Warbrick asking him to come out of retirement to assist.
On the afternoon before the execution, as the rope was being prepared on the scaffold, John Billington stepped back and tumbled down the open trapdoor that led to the pit below. He suffered cracked ribs and mild concussion in the fall, but was able to carry out his duties satisfactorily. After his return home, however, he was taken ill. He died a short time later at his home in Coppull, from pleurisy – attributable, the doctors believed, to his fall.
Unaware of the drama taking place at Leeds, Harry and Ellis were preparing the gallows for one of the most sensational murderers of the early part of the century. Arthur Deveraux was a 45-year-old chemist who had been convicted of the murder of his wife and twin sons in what the papers dubbed the Kensal Rise Trunk Mystery. In January 1905, Deveraux had been made redundant from the chemist shop he managed in Kilburn. With a wife and three young sons to support, he was desperate to open his own pharmacy but the only person he knew with the meansto help was his mother-in-law, who refused his request for a loan.
Early in spring, Deveraux found work in Coventry and moved to the new job with his eldest son. He vacated the house and put the property into storage at a warehouse in Kensal Rise. After a time, his mother-in-law became concerned as to the whereabouts of her daughter and the young twin boys, but Deveraux was vague in revealing their whereabouts – thereby arousing suspicion. Enquiries among the neighbours gave his mother-in-law the name of the removal firm and she was able to convince the police to act. A tin trunk they found in storage aroused their interest, as it was extremely well secured – padlocked, strapped and sealed with wax. Forcing open the lock, and lifting the lid, the police discovered a layer of wooden planks, tightly butted together and screwed into place. They had also been sealed with glue and Boric acid, making the trunk totally airtight. Finally, the contents of the trunk were exposed: the bodies of Mrs Deveraux and two boys.
Deveraux was traced and arrested. He confessed that he had concealed the bodies, but denied killing the victims, claiming he had come home one day in January after spending the day trying to find work when he found the bodies of his wife and young sons. They had died of an overdose of morphine, apparently in desperation at their struggle to find work. He said he had put Stanley, the older son, to bed telling him his mother was asleep, and then put the bodies into the trunk.
At his trial, it was shown that when he had applied for the Coventry job he had written in his application form that he was a widower with one young son. Penned on 13 January, it was dated two weeks before his wife and son had disappeared. This was a damning piece of evidence and washeld to show that the killings were premeditated. The jury ook just ten minutes to decide his fate.
When Harry received the request to hang George William Butler at Pentonville on 7 November, he was the undisputed number one hangman. (For a time, just he and assistant John Ellis were on the list of the country’s executioners.) Fifty-year-old Butler was convicted of the murder of Mary Allen, whom he lived with at Marylebone. Trouble had come to a head when a son from Mary’s first marriage came to stay with them. The two men did not get on and following one fight Butler needed hospital treatment for a broken jaw. On 24 September, Butler was visited by his own son. They drank a great quantity of beer, but as Butler’s jaw was still causing discomfort he was forced to drink through a straw. He told his son what had happened and threatened to kill both Mary and her son, saying he was going to buy a revolver and blow out their brains. Five days
On the afternoon before the execution, as the rope was being prepared on the scaffold, John Billington stepped back and tumbled down the open trapdoor that led to the pit below. He suffered cracked ribs and mild concussion in the fall, but was able to carry out his duties satisfactorily. After his return home, however, he was taken ill. He died a short time later at his home in Coppull, from pleurisy – attributable, the doctors believed, to his fall.
Unaware of the drama taking place at Leeds, Harry and Ellis were preparing the gallows for one of the most sensational murderers of the early part of the century. Arthur Deveraux was a 45-year-old chemist who had been convicted of the murder of his wife and twin sons in what the papers dubbed the Kensal Rise Trunk Mystery. In January 1905, Deveraux had been made redundant from the chemist shop he managed in Kilburn. With a wife and three young sons to support, he was desperate to open his own pharmacy but the only person he knew with the meansto help was his mother-in-law, who refused his request for a loan.
Early in spring, Deveraux found work in Coventry and moved to the new job with his eldest son. He vacated the house and put the property into storage at a warehouse in Kensal Rise. After a time, his mother-in-law became concerned as to the whereabouts of her daughter and the young twin boys, but Deveraux was vague in revealing their whereabouts – thereby arousing suspicion. Enquiries among the neighbours gave his mother-in-law the name of the removal firm and she was able to convince the police to act. A tin trunk they found in storage aroused their interest, as it was extremely well secured – padlocked, strapped and sealed with wax. Forcing open the lock, and lifting the lid, the police discovered a layer of wooden planks, tightly butted together and screwed into place. They had also been sealed with glue and Boric acid, making the trunk totally airtight. Finally, the contents of the trunk were exposed: the bodies of Mrs Deveraux and two boys.
Deveraux was traced and arrested. He confessed that he had concealed the bodies, but denied killing the victims, claiming he had come home one day in January after spending the day trying to find work when he found the bodies of his wife and young sons. They had died of an overdose of morphine, apparently in desperation at their struggle to find work. He said he had put Stanley, the older son, to bed telling him his mother was asleep, and then put the bodies into the trunk.
At his trial, it was shown that when he had applied for the Coventry job he had written in his application form that he was a widower with one young son. Penned on 13 January, it was dated two weeks before his wife and son had disappeared. This was a damning piece of evidence and washeld to show that the killings were premeditated. The jury ook just ten minutes to decide his fate.
When Harry received the request to hang George William Butler at Pentonville on 7 November, he was the undisputed number one hangman. (For a time, just he and assistant John Ellis were on the list of the country’s executioners.) Fifty-year-old Butler was convicted of the murder of Mary Allen, whom he lived with at Marylebone. Trouble had come to a head when a son from Mary’s first marriage came to stay with them. The two men did not get on and following one fight Butler needed hospital treatment for a broken jaw. On 24 September, Butler was visited by his own son. They drank a great quantity of beer, but as Butler’s jaw was still causing discomfort he was forced to drink through a straw. He told his son what had happened and threatened to kill both Mary and her son, saying he was going to buy a revolver and blow out their brains. Five days
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