Franz Muller

Franz Muller (c.1841 – November 14, 1864), a German tailor, murdered Thomas Briggs in the first murder committed on a British train. The case caught the imagination of the public due to increasing safety fears about rail travel at the time, and the pursuit of Muller across the Atlantic Ocean by Scotland Yard detectives.

Crime

On July 9, 1864 a City banker, Thomas Briggs, travelled on the 9.50 p.m. North London Railway train between Fenchurch Street and Hackney Wick. He was beaten and robbed of his gold watch and gold spectacles, and his body was thrown from the carriage. The driver of a train travelling in the opposite direction spotted Briggs' body lying between the tracks between Bow and Hackney Wick stations. He was taken to a nearby pub, but died of his wounds shortly after.

olving the case

The first clues were found in the compartment that Briggs had travelled in. A pool of blood was discovered by two bankers who boarded the train at Hackney Wick, and they alerted the guard. An black beaver hat was presumed to belong to the assailant. Subsequently the hat would turn out to have not been the victim's but belonged to the perpetrator.

John Death, a jeweller with a shop in Cheapside, provided a description of a German man who exchanged a gold chain on July 11. This was identified as belonging to Briggs.

On July 18, a cabdriver called Matthews came forward with suspicions about a box with Death's name on it, and crucially provided a photograph of 25 year-old Muller, who was formerly engaged to his daughter. Despite the huge publicity surrounding the case, and Matthews' profession, which would bring him into contact with the news and gossip of London, he claimed that he had only heard about the murder nine days after it was committed. By this time a large (£300) reward had been offered for information leading to the capture of the murderer.

The photograph was identified by Death as the man who had exchanged the gold chain, and a warrant for Muller's arrest was issued.

Pursuit

By the time the arrest warrant was issued Muller had boarded a passenger ship to New York - he may have committed the robbery in order to pay for his ticket. On July 20, two Scotland Yard detectives and possibly Matthews and Death's brother, sailed for New York on a much faster ship, arriving three weeks before Muller.

As soon as Muller arrived he was arrested, and Briggs' gold watch and a hat presumed to belong to Briggs were found on him. The hat was found to be Briggs' hat, but had been altered by Muller (who was a tailor) cutting the crown by half its height and sewing it to the brim carefully. Diplomatic relations between the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland were severely strained at the time due to British involvement in the American Civil War regarding the building of raiders like the CSS Alabama, which led to an attempt to have extradition overthrown, but it was eventually upheld by an American judge.

Controversy

Most of the prosecution's evidence against Muller was circumstantial. Some people believe Matthews only came forward to receive the reward, and could have been involved in the crime himself. The King of Prussia Frederick William V (subsequently Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany) tried to put pressure on the British Government to reduce the death sentence but failed. Despite maintaining his innocence throughout his trial, Muller confessed to the crime immediately before being hanged. His last words were reported to be "Ich habe es gethan" ("I did it") in response to a question by the prison chaplain as to whether he was responsible for the death of Briggs. Subsequently there was a large scale public dispute about whether the chaplain had overstepped his authority or not. The public hanging of Muller took place amid scenes of drunkenness and disorderly conduct by spectators. It was one of the last public executions in England, although the last one was not until 1868.

Trivia

The murder of Briggs resulted in the establishment of compulsory communication between train passengers and members of the crew. If Briggs had been able to contact the train driver or guard, the murder could have been prevented.

The oddest feature of this first railway murder case in England was its effect on fashion. Muller's redesign of the hat he took from Briggs became a popular style into the 20th Century, called "the Muller Cut-Down" hat. It was especially popularized by future Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

References

* [http://www.btp.police.uk/History%20Society/Publications/History%20Society/Crime%20on%20line/The%20First%20Railway%20Murder.htm The First Railway Murder, William Owen Gay]
* [http://freespace.virgin.net/sean.farrell/The%20Arrrest%20of%20Franz%20Muller.htm The Search, Arrest and conviction of Franz Muller]