Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane
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137: the same feeling that Superintendent Griffin had had nearly three weeks before: LS July 13, 1871, 6.
137: “a young woman breaking her parasol over my head”: OB, testimony of Walter Richard Perren.
137: “I won’t swear it, I might have been...”: OB, testimony of Walter Richard Perren.
138: “there are a great many persons who know me in the concert business...”: OB, testimony of Walter Richard Perren.
138: “Well, I believe that I did... Is that what you want?”: TE July 14, 1871, 5.
138: “It is a farce to ask you any more questions”: TE July 14, 1871, 5.
138: “Did you say to Mr. Field... at the police court...”: TE July 14, 1871, 5.
138: I have given you every opportunity of explaining yourself”: TE July 14, 1871, 5.
139: “I thought... clearing our character”: TE July 14, 1871, 6.
139: “All I can say is the detectives would be doing good service to society by finding out who sends these letters.” TE July 14, 1871, 6.
139: The screams they had heard were “of a person in fun, and not in pain or anguish”: OB, testimony of William Norton.
140: “I do not speak to his face”: OB, testimony of William Cronk.
140: “I thought she addressed the man by the Christian name of Charley”: OB, testimony of William Cronk.
141: she could only say it was “something like” the one Edmund had carried: T July 14, 1871, 11.
141: “the prosecution could not be accused of suppressing that piece of evidence”: TE July 14, 1871, 6.
141: “a pretty, good-looking young woman”: OB, testimony of Thomas Lazell.
142: “How often have you seen the prisoner before?”: DN July 15, 1871, 5.
142: “If the duster... the most outrageous thing in the world”: KM July 15, 1871, 4.
143: “Did you send it to Dr. Letheby?”: T July 15, 1871, 11.
143: a “ragged dirty piece of rubbish”: OB, testimony of James Griffin.
143: “I have not the least idea who the stackmaker is...”: OB, testimony of James Griffin.
143: “most essential witness”: TE July 15, 1871, 5.
144: “To what does this all tend?” DN July 15, 1871, 5.
144: “Two of the holes are hardly perceptible...”: TE July 15, 1871, 5.
144: “I suppose these points of similarity might occur in the hair of five thousand people?”: DN July 15, 1871, 6.
145: it was in their power “...not guilty”: DN July 15, 1871, 6.
145: “I felt sure... among things forgotten”: TE July 15, 1871, 6.
145: the Crown’s case “crumbled to nothing”: TE July 15, 1871, 6.
145: “Like dogs after game”: T July 15, 1871, 11.
146: “only known to the inquisitions of old”: DN July 15, 1871, 6.
146: “It is the life of this young man”: TE July 15, 1871, 6.
146: “quiet, well-conducted man”: T July 15, 1871, 11.
146: “If I had any one call in the evening...” The Queen v. Edmund Walter Pook, day 3, 231.
147: “I kept proper order in my house”: OB, testimony of Mary Pook.
147: “even if he was in his bedroom... made about him”: DN July 15, 1871, 6.
147: “if there had been any intimacy I should certainly have discovered it at once”: OB, testimony of Harriet Chaplin. According to the Telegraph, Chaplin actually said “if I had seen any intimacy I should have discouraged it at once”: TE July 15, 1871, 6.
147: “If there had been any familiarity... must have seen it”: OB, testimony of Alfred George Collins.
147: “We were not separated for five minutes”: OB, testimony of Thomas Birch [sic] Pook.
148: an assistant in the shop had scraped the flesh off the back of his knuckles: TE July 15, 1871, 6.
148: he had seen Jane walking out with a “swell”: T July 15, 1871, 11; OB, testimony of Thomas Birch [sic] Pook.
148: he had obtained lotion to treat his partially blind eye on that day: OB, testimony of Joseph Ambrose Eagle [sic].
149: had “always” known him: OB, testimony of Eliza Ann Merritt [sic].
149: “I thought he was waiting for somebody”: OB, testimony of Eliza Anne Merritt [sic].
149: “a piece of lining full of holes...”: TE July 15, 1871, 6.
149: “Gypsies throw away rags...”: TE July 15, 1871, 6.
149: “All I can say is this”: TE July 15, 1871, 6.
149: The police “ought to have investigated into the circumstance...”: TE July 15, 1871, 6.
150: “That... is where the injustice lies”: TE July 15, 1871, 6.
150: “It shows... the necessity that exists for a public prosecutor”: TE July 15, 1871, 6.
151: “an exceedingly well-conducted man at all times”: TE July 15, 1871, 6.
151: “The accused had borne a character... son to bear”: TE July 15, 1871, 6.
151: Matthew Crawford, a pastry cook... next-door neighbor to the Sparshotts: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871, for William Crawford.
151: He had since moved from Deptford: MP July 17, 1871, 2.
151: “I could not alter my statement on any account...”: OB, testimony of William Sparshott.
152: “Mr. Sparshott’s evidence before the magistrate was not positive...”: DN July 17, 1871, 5.
152: He would “wait with anxiety”: DN July 17, 1871, 5.
152: “rather a personal matter”: T July 17, 1871, 12.
152: “Policemen... were not to be set up in the box like schoolboys’ cockshies...”: TE July 17, 1871, 5.
153: “there was an end of the case, and the prisoner ought to be acquitted”: MP July 17, 1871, 2.
153: “Outrages of this description... could not go unrevenged...”: TE July 17, 1871, 5.
153: “deliberately and wilfully false”: TE July 17, 1871, 6.
154: “then they were left in doubt...”: TE July 17, 1871, 6.
155: a small amount of gas could “produce an explosion and blow them all up.” MP July 17, 1871, 2.
155: giving a “tinge” to their words: TE July 17, 1871, 6.
155: “You and I... would have been made instruments in fixing guilt upon the prisoner...”: The Queen v. Edmund Walter Pook, day 4, 400.
155: “Sensation” enveloped the courtroom: TE July 17, 1871, 6.
155: “It is cruel indeed”: The Queen v. Edmund Walter Pook, day 4, 400–401.
156: he chatted with his guards, and was seen to smile: DN July 17, 1871, 6; L July 23, 1871, 8.
156: the “loose manner” in which they had presented their case: L July 23, 1871, 8.
CHAPTER SIX: ROUGH MUSIC
157: the crowd that had been gathering outside the Old Bailey: S July 17, 1871, 5.
157: betting with one another: LM July 17, 1871, 6.
157: Over the next few days... the “stupid” and “reprehensible” police: T July 18, 1871, 9; also DM July 19, 1871, 5; S July 17, 1871, 4; PMG July 17, 1871, 2–3, and July 24, 1871, 10–11; TE July 17, 1871, 4–5; R July 23, 1871, 4; and WDP July 18, 1871, 2.
158: “It would, indeed, be hardly possible... our present system”: T July 18, 1871, 9.
158: They burst into sustained and raucous celebration: TE July 17, 1871, 6; T July 17, 1871, 12.
158: Flora Davy could find some solace in having escaped the gallows: TE July 12, 1871, 3.
159: she had repeatedly stated, “I fear I did it”: TE July 14, 1871, 6; T July 14, 1871, 11.
159: Hardinge Giffard and the prosecution had anticipated this strategy: OB trial of Hannah Newington alias Flora Davey [sic].
159: “Life in this country would not be safe if that were not manslaughter”: TE July 14, 1871, 6.
160: Flora Davy then launched with wild-eyed distress into a semi-coherent declaration: TE July 17, 1871, 2.
160: Poland, then, forced a ruling on this issue as quickly as he could: TE July 17, 1871, 2.
161: After this considerable recess, he retu
rned with a decision—of sorts: TE July 17, 1871, 2.
161: He began to call his witnesses: the fullest testimony of these witnesses appears in the OB trial of Agnes Norman.
161: they simply did not have enough evidence to convict Agnes Norman: T July 17, 1871, 13.
162: “I was woke up in the morning by somebody strangling me...” OB trial of Agnes Norman, testimony of Charles Parfitt.
162: In response... a ten-year-old’s recollection: TE July 17, 1871, 2.
163: “mob of the lowest class”: MP July 17, 1871, 2.
163: “roughs of Greenwich”: HA July 22, 1871, 3.
163: Newsboys ran among them: KM July 22, 1871, 4; MP July 17, 1871, 2.
163: A number of men and boys in the crowd had prepared for just this moment: TE July 17, 1871, 6.
163: Their solicitor was not as fortunate: MP July 17, 1871, 2; TE July 17, 1871, 6.
164: “Greenwich is at present suffering from high fever”: LM July 20, 1871, 5.
164: “I have always considered... English nation”: TE July 20, 1871, 2, and widely republished.
165: At six o’clock that evening, a cart was wheeled up to the Pooks’ shop windows: DN July 18, 1871, 3.
165: “Pook the Butcher”: DN July 18, 1871, 3; G July 22, 1871, 6.
165: a group of Pook supporters... destroyed the effigies: DN July 18, 1871, 3. The Daily News reported that the police might have assisted the Pook supporters in their destruction, but this is unlikely.
165: These were later resurrected and, Guy-like, employed to solicit donations: KM July 22, 1871, 3.
165: At least three thousand strong, they... unleashed a “perfect Babel”: BDP July 19, 1871, 4; PMG July 18, 1871, 6. The Daily News estimated a crowd of five thousand to six thousand (July 18, 1871, 3), and Reynolds’s one of eight thousand to ten thousand (July 23, 1871, 8).
165: according to one report, a mock funeral for Edmund Pook was planned: L July 23, 1871, 2.
166: “As I have been unable to get redress from the police here”: TE July 20, 1871, 2.
166: he would give “the necessary directions to the police on the street”: TE July 20, 1871, 2; IPN July 22, 1871, 3.
166: “Last night... a few policemen might be seen hovering near the spot...”: DN July 19, 1871, 2.
166: one man began to incite children to attack the Pooks’ house: KM July 22, 1871, 3.
167: E. P. Thompson notes that... the tradition of rough music was strongest in the southeast: Thompson 520. He cites an example, complete with effigy and band, which occurred in Woolwich in 1870.
167: “none of its members... reproach and remark”: LM July 20, 1871, 5.
167: “My name has been brought into most unenviable notoriety...”: TE July 17, 1871, 2; with slight differences also in T July 17, 1871, 14, and MP July 17, 1871, 2.
168: Leopold de Breanski... the mob on London Street: TE July 24, 1871, 3; KM July 29, 1871, 5.
169: “Sir I would be very much thankful if you let the publice a large...”: YP July 18, 1871, 7.
169: “as for Perrin [sic], Conway, and Lazell...”: TE July 17, 1871, 2; T July 17, 1871, 14; MP July 17, 1871, 2.
169: They would seek those summonses at London’s Guildhall: T July 21, 1871, 11.
170: Eight officers of R Division testified to Henry Pook’s fist-shaking and obscenity-laden conduct: KM July 22, 1871, 5; TE July 19, 1871, 2
170: Douglas Straight... coaching his officers on their testimony: KM July 22, 1871, 5.
170: Partridge ruled, “with great regret,” that Henry Pook was guilty: TE July 19, 1871, 2.
170: “I feel deeply the insult to which Mr. Pook has been subjected”: S July 20, 1871, 7.
171: What steps then... would he take to protect the public: T July 21, 1871, 7.
171: While their cases were pending... prejudice them: S July 21, 1871, 3.
171: Henry and Ebenezer Pook had marched into Guildhall: KM July 22, 1871, 5; T July 21, 1871, 11.
172: Edmund had “made no reply”: MP July 25, 1871, 7.
172: “people said that he had written a letter to her.”: T July 13, 1871, 11.
173: so “just and conscientious a judge”: T July 27, 1871, 11.
173: seeking twenty thousand pounds’ damages on two charges: T Feb. 2, 1871, 11. Edmund revealed in later testimony that he had sued Griffin for £10,000 damages; most likely his father had sued Griffin for the same amount.
173: Henry Bruce gushed unqualified praise for both officers: T August 1, 1871, 7.
173: The Pook Defence Committee... did their best to force the matter: S Aug. 7, 1871, 7; Sep. 2, 1871, 6.
174: Henry Bruce, however, refused to see them: S Aug. 12, 1871, 7.
174: “As there is a general opinion abroad...”: KM July 22, 1871, 4.
175: I shall prepare myself for my diabolical task: KM July 29, 1871, 4.
176: “You will pardon me for doubting the wisdom of the course you adopt”: MP Sept. 13, 1871, 7.
176: Henry Pook, for one, suspected that she was the author of the letters: T Sept. 16, 1871, 9. Newton Crosland wrote to the Times to deny his wife had written the pamphlet: T Sept. 18, 1871, 10.
177: Frederick Farrah, a radical publisher on the Strand: DN Aug. 23, 1871, 2.
177: “It was not the man who invented the gunpowder...”: MP Aug. 23, 1871, 3.
177: “If you sell any after Monday, madam... I shall summons you...”: KM Sept. 2, 1871, 5.
178: “I shall call Edmund Walter Pook, who is ready to be examined”: S Aug. 3, 1871, 2.
178: Edmund Pook, however, approached the witness chair with discernible uneasiness: TE Aug. 23, 1871, 2; FJ Aug. 25, 1871, 4.
178: “I shall ask Mr. Pook no questions”: MP Aug. 23, 1871, 3.
178: Had you any communication with that poor girl?: MP Aug. 23, 1871, 3.
179: The magistrate, Frederick Flowers, declared that in that case he had no choice: T Aug. 23, 1871, 9.
179: a mass of “half-drunken, ragged loafers”: FJ Aug. 25, 1871, 4—excerpted from the Evening Telegraph.
179: while they were at court... sold out: FJ Aug. 25, 1871, 4.
180: Instead he rebuked the Pooks: T Aug. 31, 1871, 9.
180: “The Pook family are becoming a nuisance”: NG Sept. 2, 1871, 5; WA Sept. 2, 1871, 4.
181: “including Mr. Pook, who has been for some time residing in Herne Bay.”: WT Apr. 27, 1872, 4. Church records confirm that this Mr. Pook was indeed Edmund Walter Pook: England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538–1975 for Edmund Walter Pook.
181: in mid-August they inundated Greenwich and Deptford with placards: MP Sept. 6, 1871, 4.
181: Their opponents derided the offer: IPN Sept. 23, 1871, 3.
181: Frederick Farrah’s fine gold watch was ripped from its fob and stolen: IPN Sept. 23, 1871, 3; KM 23 Sept. 1871, 5.
182: just a year before had advised the prince: Davenport-Hines; Juxon 93.
182: “Personalities were freely indulged in”: T Sept. 16, 1871, 9.
182: he “should meet them as they came...”: TE Sept. 16, 1871, 2.
183: He had never imputed to Pook “that he had obtained popularity...”: TE Sept. 16, 1871, 2.
183: Edmund Pook, with a remarkable and discernible composure: S Sept. 16, 1871, 7.
183: “Do you know how that blood came upon your garments?”: S Sept. 16, 1871, 7.
183: “How do you account for the blood on your hat?”: S Sept. 16, 1871, 7.
185: the grand jury convened at the Old Bailey: MP Sept. 20, 1871, 7.
185: John Page... accepted his summons with ironic honor: KM Oct. 7, 1871, 5. Page was actually one of two shopkeepers summoned by the Pooks at this time, but Page was the only shopkeeper examined.
185: “Happy Jane Maria Clousen. Taken away from the evil to come”: One copy of this tobacco paper actually survives, in the John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera at Oxford University: Tobacco Papers 4 (16).
186: Newton Crosland... every libel action mounted agains
t his pamphlet: BN Oct. 10, 1871, 3.
186: “He was an utter stranger to me, and committed perjury in making that assertion”: DN Oct. 5, 1871, 6.
187: his brother, Thomas, he stated, had seen Jane and a young man walking in public: TE Oct. 7, 1871, 3.
188: Henry Pook stunned him with a writ: DN Oct. 10, 1871, 3.
188: Henry Pook served similar writs: KM Oct. 14, 1871, 5. In the end, only the suit against Hartnoll reached the point of settlement.
188: the grand jury met at the Old Bailey: MEN Oct. 24, 1871, 4.
188: a meeting at the Greenwich Lecture Hall: L Nov. 5, 1871, 4; LT Nov. 4, 1871, 7; T Oct. 31, 1871, 5.
188: he was “almost sick of the case”: T Oct. 7, 1871, 11.
188: “The acquitted Mr. Pook got the benefit of the doubt...”: WD Oct. 29, 1871, 8.
189: He applied at the Court of Exchequer for... special juries: T Nov. 24, 1871, 11.
189: Special juries, to put it simply, consisted of men of substantial property: Bentley 89. A year before, with the 1870 juries act, a higher property qualification was added to the traditional restriction to bankers, merchants, and esquires.
189: the Crown routinely employed special juries in state and political trials: Hostettler 141.
190: “subjected to the greatest annoyance”: KM Dec. 16, 1871, 6.
190: One week after this came the news of a far greater fall: MP Dec. 16, 1871, 5, and a number of other newspapers. James Griffin later found employment as an agent of the Charity Organisation Society [Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881 for James Griffin].
190: The Kentish Mercury attempted to dispel these by publishing glowing testimonials: KM Dec. 23, 1871, 5.
190: His astrologer friend... had again examined his chart: Crosland, Rambles 281.
191: “with the exception of Inspector Griffin... charged with perjury”: MP Feb. 2, 1872, 7.
191: He repeated his callous dismissal of Jane as a “very dirty girl”: MP Feb. 2, 1872, 7.
191: “There were many circumstances pointing to this young man...”: T Feb. 3, 1872, 11.
192: Kelly... “summed up dead against me and said not a word in my favour...”: Crosland, Rambles, 278.
193: “I forget who were counsel for the plaintiff...”: T April 28 ,1924, 8.
CHAPTER SEVEN: VIPER OF KIDBROOKE LANE
194: “the most severe within living memory”: MP Aug. 8, 1872, 5.