The Times, Saturday, May 14, 1870
ATROCIOUS DOUBLE MURDER
The murder report in The Times of yesterday as having been committed at
Chelsea is a crime of no common character in the mode of its conception and
execution. It was planned and perpetrated with consummate cunning and shocking
barbarity, and the victims were a clergyman of more than fourscore years, and
his housekeeper, a woman in the prime of life. The report already given
connected a man named Walter Millar, a Scotchman by birth, by trade a plasterer,
with this fearful crime, and now that the double murder has been traced out,
showing that two lives have been sacrificed, the whole circumstances may be
narrated.
Up to Monday last an aged gentleman named Huelin, said to be a clergyman, lived
at 15, Paulton's-square, King's-road, Chelsea, and with him lived Anne Boss, a
woman a little over 40, who had for many years acted as his housekeeper. the
murdered man had friends in Lincolnshire, and of late had told many persons that
he should go down to a farm he possessed there for the benefit of his health. He
was the owner of a house, which has of late been unlet, in Wellington-square,
Chelsea, a place some little distance from Paulton's-square, and, it appears,
employed Millar, as a plasterer, without the intervention of a tradesman, to do
the work requisite in maintaining the house in a habitable condition. The old
man was not seen after Monday, and it was thought he had gone to Lincolnshire.
On Many night the house in Paulton's-square was discovered to be insecurely
fastened, and the police entered. They found nothing disturbed in the house; a
large box was in the kitchen, locked, and a neighbour having said that it was
"All right," the matter was duly reported at the station. The house
being found secure the next day, it was taken for granted that there was nothing
wrong. The housekeeper was seen no more, but this appears to have occasioned no
inquiry, and caused no surprise. The murder, in fact, was discovered by an
accident, and through the prompt action of one man - the Henry Piper whose
evidence was given yesterday.
The statement of this man was clear and concise. He was called by Millar on
Wednesday night to remove some goods from Mr. Huelin's residence, and on coming
into the house, into which he was led by Millar, he found a young woman, or one
who appeared to be such. He was taken into the kitchen to remove a box, and on
cording it he found beneath it a pool of blood. The woman escaped, but Piper was
not to be thrown off his guard by Millar, whom he follow upstairs, and, with the
aid of the police, captured. Millar took poison, and had to be removed to St.
George's Hospital, where he was eventually recovered. He was thought to be
making himself worse than he really was, when out of danger, and, being a tall,
muscular man, of determined character, the police do not allow any appearance of
weakness, real of assumed, to throw them off their guard. The whole time he was
in the hospital he was thoroughly well watched.
The box beneath which the blood was found was opened by the police, and when the
top was released from the lock it was raised by the pressed-in head of a woman
who had been strangled, the rope being still about her neck; and the blood which
had oozed out of the box had come from her nostrils and mouth. She had been
doubled into the box and pressed down. The body was found to be that of the
housekeeper, Ann Boss. The murderer, having inflicted no wounds, did not look
for the tale-telling blood.
This horrible discovery led to the very natural suspicion that the old man had
likewise come by his death, and a search was at once commenced. An inspector was
sent off to Lincolnshire to see if the looked-for visit had been so hurriedly
undertaken; but, at the same time, a search was commenced about the two
properties - that in Paulton's-square and that of 24, Wellington-square. A token
which confirmed the fear of foul play was soon found beneath the kitchen floor
of the Wellington-square house in a hat, battered, smeared with blood and mud,
and bearing a mark as if the owner's head had been cut through from behind with
a blow from the edge of a heavy shovel. The walking-stick, too, of the deceased
was in the same place. Men were at once employed in turning over the ground in
all directions, but without avail. All sorts of likely and unlikely spots were
turned over with the spade and pick, but no trace could be found of the body.
Then intelligence came that Mr. Huelin had not gone to Lincolnshire and the
Inspector returned, bringing with him friends of the old man, whose death was
now taken for granted. The labours of the men were, however, in vain until
yesterday afternoon when the terrible truth was discovered. A labouring man, who
had heard of the crime, came to the police and informed them that on Monday last
he was engaged by Millar to dig a hole in the premises in Wellington-square,
Millar saying that he wanted to lay some drain pipes down. The man was taken to
point out the spot, and as soon as this knowledge was gained the work was soon
completed. The body was found pressed down a hole near the drain, lying on the
back, and the coat torn off from all parts but the wrist. It seemed as if the
murdered man had been struck from behind with a heavy shovel, then strangled, if
any life remained after the blow, and then dragged by the coat to the hole and
thrust in, the garment thus being beneath his head. The man who was employed to
dig this unhallowed grave states that Millar, on giving him instructions, made
him burrow, as it were, beneath some paving-stones, saying that he did not want
the stones disturbed, and accordingly the grave was actually beneath some
paving-stones, which bore every trace on the surface of not having been moved.
Thus the police was led to dig everywhere but beneath these stones. The body was
removed to the Chelsea Workhouse last evening. The grave was prepared some hour
or two before the old man visited the house. It is suggested and believed that
the deceased man was induced to come to the house on some pretence, and that the
murderer, having a knowledge of the intended visit, had prepared accordingly.
It is believed that the old man's murder was compassed first, and, the purpose
being robbery, the housekeeper's death was then considered necessary, and
undertaken for security by the murderer or murderers; for it is believed the
prisoner in custody had a confederate if not confederates. Of this there is more
than a suspicion. Property belonging to the deceased man was found upon the
prisoner.
Last night, at a very late hour, a woman, who has given the name of Elizabeth
Green, was apprehended in St. Ann's-street, Westminster, on a charge of being
concerned with Millar in the murder. She admits being in the house at the time
Millar was taken into custody. She was immediately taken to Old Chelsea-station.
Up to midnight the authorities were in possession of no further particulars.
Yesterday Walter Millar, a man about 30 years of age, was charged before Mr.
Selfe, at the Westminster Police-court, with the wilful murder of Mrs. Anne
Goss, and Mr. E. Huelin.
The case created great excitement, and the approaches to the court were densely
crowded to enable the spectators to get a glimpse of the prisoner, who was kept
ironed in consequence of his having made a desparate attempt on his own life.
The prisoner had been brought by Sergeant Large, of the T division, from St.
George's Hospital, where he had remained since Thursday, under the effects of
laudanum taken as a poison.
Mr. Superintendent Fisher, of the T division, had the conduct of the case, and
called as first witness
Mrs. Harriet Middleton who said - I am the wife of a coachman, and live at 2,
Sidney-mews, Fulham-road. I am a charwoman. I saw Mr. Huelin at No.15, Paulton's-square
on Saturday last, and he said he would want me to do work, as he wished some one
handy in the neighbourhood, and I said I would come. He wrote down my address.
On Monday night last, at half-past 12, there was a loud knock at my door, and I
opened the window and inquired who was there. A voice answered "Come
down," and I did so, and saw a man (the prisoner) who gave me the key of
the house, and told me to mind it, as the old gentleman (the deceased) was going
out of town, and I should have to look after the house. I understood him to say
that he was Mr. Huelin's nephew. He said he was going at 4 o'clock in the next
morning, and would see me paid what was due to me. I told him myself or daughter
would be there in the morning. He then went away. At 8 o'clock in the morning a
man came (the prisoner), and asked for the key. I told him a French gentleman
had given it to me the night before, and told him I should be ready as soon as
he was there. I went in about a quarter to 9, and did some work, and about an
hour afterwards the prisoner came to the house, and I let him in. He said the
old man had gone to the country. My daughter went upstairs to work, and as I
found that the servant (the deceased) had left a pail and other things about,
and the room half done, I ordered my daughter to finish it. I went home, and
left her to do this by herself. I told her to stop until I came back, but she
did not, and I went back. The prisoner came and said the place ought not to be
left. We all went out, and I went part of the way home with the prisoner, and
then returned, as he had been drinking. He went into the back dining-room and
ordered me to fetch up a bottle of wine from the kitchen. He then set to writing
and while he was writing a lady knocked at the door and asked for Mr. Huelin; I
told her he was not there, but the nephew was, and then I went and told the
prisoner. He saw the lady and she asked him if he received the rents from the
tenants. Prisoner said he could receive the money, and give a receipt. She asked
if she should call in half an hour to pay the money, and he requested her to do.
He gave her a glass of wine and she went away. I let her out. He went away soon
after and was gone about an hour an came back in a cab with a woman; the cabman
came in and he gave the cabman half a tumbler of wine, and then he went out
again to find an address. I told the cabman to inquire of the neighbours; he
went away just before 12 and did not return that night. I sat up until half-past
3. He left 2s. for a cabman, and the cabman came at 9 o'clock and wanted his
money. I gave him the 2s.; he wanted more, and I told him if he came again the
prisoner would pay him. On Wednesday night, at 10 o'clock, the prisoner came
with a woman to the door, and she came into the house to the back dining-room.
He told me to fetch a bottle of wine, and I did so, and in half an hour Mr.
Piper came. He is a van proprietor in Marlborough-road. Prisoner then said the
things were going into the country, as the old gentleman was out of town. All
the things were to go away, including the boxes in the kitchen. He took the
light, and showed my daughter where they were. Mr. Piper wanted the cord to
fasten the boxes, and as I removed a box against the wall, he called out,
"What blood is that?" The blood went on his coat. The woman that came
with the prisoner asked me the way upstairs, and when I showed her she went
directly. Mr. Piper and the prisoner went upstairs, and I waited till they came
back with a policeman. They went downstairs and called me down. I saw a dead
body in a box; it was that of the housekeeper whom I knew as Anne. She once
brought me towels, &c/. to clean the house in Wellington-square.
Henry Piper, sworn, said - I am a greengrocer , and live at 112,
Marlborough-road, Chelsea. I am also a van proprietor. Last Wednesday night, at
twenty minutes past 9, the prisoner came into my shop and asked if he could have
a machine or cart to remove some luggage that night. I told him he could, and he
told me to send it to 13, Paulton's-square. The goods were to be taken to the
west end of Fulham. I told him it was raining and late, and I must be well paid.
He said, "Make your charge. I'll pay you." He told me to be there in
half an hour. I went there, and the door was opened by Mr.s. Middleton, the
charwoman. He said some of the luggage was upstairs and some down. He told me to
come downstairs and follow him. He went down to the kitchen, and asked the
charwoman to show a light; he wanted some cord to bind boxes; he found some on
the dresser in the front room. He said he would cord the box, but I said I could
do it better, and took the cord. I passed it round the centre of the box, and I
noticed that prisoner now wore spectacles, which he had not on when he came to
the shop. He was very much confused, and I said "Give me the cord, I'll
fasten the boxes." I corded the centre and turned the box on the end
resting on one thigh to finish cording, and as I did so my hand felt wet. I
looked at it and found there was blood on it. I put the box down directly, and
when I knew it was blood I said to the prisoner, "What does this
mean?" There was a large pool of blood on the place I had lifted the box
from. I said again, "What does blood do here?" He never answered me. I
turned round and asked Mrs. Middleton if she could given any explanation of the
blood about the floor and under the boxes; she said she could not. The prisoner
then took off a light coat he was wearing, threw it on the blood, and shifted it
about with his foot till the blood was wiped up. (The coat was produced and
handed up to the magistrate, covered with blood and mud.) I then put the box
down in a standing position, and said, "I shan't have anything to do with
this job; I must know something more about it." There was a young woman on
the landing, and when I said this and threw the box down, she ran upstairs and
out of the house. The prisoner passed between the box and the wall, picked up
the coat off the blood, and followed the woman. I followed them too. In the
centre of the stairs he stopped, and while the woman went on said to me,
"Go back and cord that box." I said I would not, and then he stamped
his foot and said impatiently a second time, "You, carman, go and finish
cording that box." I said. "No, I shan't; I don't mean losing you; yet
I want to know more about this." With that he left the house, and I walked
by his side to the King's-road, when I met a constable whom I told about the
blood and the woman going away so hurriedly, and told the constable to take care
of the prisoner, and not lose him. We went back to the house, and I sent my man
to the station for more policeman, and meanwhile we three walked up and down in
front of the houses. All at once, as we turned towards the river, the prisoner
sprang off and ran very fast towards the river. He threw his hat off as he went,
and also threw away the coat with the blood on it. I kept ten yards behind him,
and shouted "Murder!" and "Stop thief!" and as he passed the
old church and turned into Lombard-street he slipped off the pavement and fell
down into the road. I was on him before he could rise. I collared him, and held
him until the police came. I helped the police to bring him back to the house,
and came back with Sergeant Large. I showed the sergeant the box, and he got a
poker and broke it open. There was the dead body of a woman. We sent for a
doctor. I had not seen the prisoner before, but heard that he had vans twice
from the shop.
The prisoner, when asked if he had any questions to put, said emphatically,
"No."
Mr. Henry Thomas Ryder, a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, said - I live
at 51, Paulton-square. I was called to No.15 on Wednesday night. On going there
I found the dead body of a woman 48 or 50 years of age, lying doubled up in a
box as described by the last witness. On turning the head up to find how it was
lying I found a rope tied round her neck, and knotted so tight that I could not
get my finger between it and the flesh; it was of the same sort as that used to
cord the box. She had evidently been strangled by the rope; that was the cause
of death. The sergeant and I took off the rope. I should think she had been dead
24 hours. The blood had exuded from the mouth after death; there was about a
quart, I should think, which had exuded from the lips and trickled on to the
bottom of the box, and then to the floor; it was a deal box painted green. The
deceased died from strangulation.
Mr.SELFE said a post mortem examination might be dispensed with, as the cause of
death was clear.
Superintendent Fisher said the daughter of the witness Middleton was present but
she could not throw any more light on the matter than her mother had done. He
had no further evidence, but wished an adjournment till to-day. The dead body of
Mr. Huelin had been discovered buried at 24 Wellington-square, in the opening of
a drain, and an inquest would be held to-day, but they could manage to finish
the charge of murder so far as the death of the woman was concerned.
The prisoner was then remanded till to-day.
During the examination the prisoner exhibition great nervousness, at one time so
palpable, especially when the witness spoke as to the strangulation, that Mr.
Selfe ordered him to be seated in the dock. He is a muscular man of
unprepossessing appearance. He was kept handcuffed and removed to the House of
Detention in a cab.
Mr. Selfe asked Inspector Tarlton what motive had been assigned, if any.
Mr. Tarlton said none, but the love of money; the prisoner had only 8l. on him
when taken, and had frequently spoken avariciously of the money the deceased man
and woman possessed.
The Times, Tuesday, May 17, 1870
THE DOUBLE MURDER AT CHELSEA.
The circumstances attending the atrocious murders at Chelsea were further
elucidated before the coroner's juries, far two separate inquests were held, and
at one a verdict was delivered.
The first inquiry was held by Dr. Diplock, the West Middlesex coroner, at the
Chelsea Workhouse, on the body of Mr. Huelin, and of course some of the evidence
already
given in the police-court was reiterated, but much that was. fresh was elicited.
A neighbour, a Mr. John Carter, identified the body of the deceased rev.
gentleman, who was French Protestant clergyman, holding property in the
neighbourhood of Chelsea and in Lincolnshire.
William Watts, a detective attached to the B division of police,
then gave evidence as to finding the body of Mr. Huelin in the house No. 24,
Wellington-square. He stated that several constables had been searching for the body
unavailingly until they received information from a labourer named Pare, when, on searching
a particular spot near the basement water-closet, they found the body, which was
without a coat, and a rope was about the neck. There was no drain where the
body was, and the only implements found in the house were a pickaxe and shovel.
Edward Clough, a second detective of the same division, confirmed this evidence,
and deposed to discovering in the same house the hat of deceased, crushed and with blood inside. The
hat was struck in such a manner as to lead to the
belief that a sharp blow had been given to the wearer from behind.
Fresh evidence was given, by a labourer named Edward James Payne,
who gave the
information to the police as to the spot in which deceased was buried. He stated
that on Monday, the 0th, Miller, whom be had known for some two or three years,
came to him and asked him to "do a job." He went at about half-past 12
o'clock to 24, Wellington-square, and Miller, who bad the key, opened the door and admitted him, saying
that ha wanted a drain dug. Ito pointed out the spot to be dug as near the
basement water-closet, and witness remarked that was a "rum place" for a drain;
to which Miller rejoined that he was going to shift another. The work occupied
about an hour and a half, at the end of which time the prisoner, who had lain on
some straw smoking a pipe and looking on, said, "You had better go now, as
the old gentleman may come in." Miller then walked upstairs with witness,
and, going into the front parlour,
took a notice of the "house to let" out of the window, remarking, "This
house is let." Miller went out with witness and told him to come at 8 the
next morning to finish the work. Witness went, but there was no one in the house.
Mr.W.H.. Sausum, a house decorator, of King's-road, Chelsea, and one of the
jury, stated that on Monday, the 9th, at a little after 11 o'clock in the
morning, he saw deceased in Wellington-square, and. noticed him go into the house. 24,
Wellington-square.
Another witness deposed to speaking with the old gentleman near
the scene of
the murder at a little before 11 o'clock on the same morning.
Mr. Thomas Aubrey Turner, a member of the Royal College of Surgeon; and
residing at 182 King's-road, Chelsea, who had been called to see the body, said he found a
piece of cord tied tightly round the neck, but that would not account for death,
for he should say it had been put on afterwards. On making a post mortem examination he
found a bruise on the left side of the head, the temple, as if from a heavy blow.
At the back of the neck, or rather
the base of the skull, there were two holes scarcely as large as peas, and on
pressing the parts the brain protruded. There were no other external marks of
violence. The holes mentioned were sufficient to account for death, the cause of
which was fracture of the base of the skull. He did not
think such an instrument as the pickaxe would have produced the holes. They were
so excessively small that it must have been a very sharp instrument, much sharper than the pick. The holes
broke into the cells at the back
of the ear.
A juror suggested that perhaps the old gentleman was struck down by a shovel, as
the condition of the hat indicated. and that a nail had been struck into the
brain.
The witness further expressed himself as of opinion that the rope was tied round
the neck after death, and that by it the body bad been dragged along.
James Smith, the man whose evidence has been reported in the
police-court evidence, was now re-called. He appeared much excited, and wanted to have persons called
and questioned as to
facts relating to himself. The evidence he had given before the magistrate
respecting the prisoner coveting the money possessed by the two deceased persons
and some other matters was then read by the Coroner and attested as the evidence of the witness, who said
he bore the prisoner no ill-will, only
be did think the prisoner might have got him charged as well.
Police-constable Cole, 194 T, repeated his evidence given
at the police-court respecting Piper calling to him on Wednesday night to come
to the house 15, Paulton-square, as there was something wrong, and he narrated the
circumstances attending the
apprehension of the prisoner and detailed the articles found upon the prisoner,
Walter Miller.
Mr. Edward Huelin, a young man, the nephew of the deceased gentleman,
stated that be formerly lived at 15, Paulton's-square. with his uncle, and of
late had been at a farm in Linconlnshire, where he expected to see his uncle
last week. He identified some of the articles found on the prisoner as spectacles
and case, penknife, pencil, rent-book, an odd glove ( the fellow of this glove
was found on the body of the deceased), to be the property of the deceased, and
generally carried about with him. The prisoner
lived in a house belonging to the deceased, and witness had been sent in March
last for arrears of rent.
Mr. James Ray, an inspector of the Scotland-yard detective police, stated that
on Thursday he was at Chelsea police-station, when a woman named Margaret Ann Miller
came and identified as her husband Walter Miller, who
then stood changed with the murder of Ann Boss. The prisoner was then
insensible, or appeared to be so; and the woman gave as her address 24, Semyour-place.
At that house witness, who was accompanied by Superintendent Fisher, found in a
box papers addressed to Mr. Huelin, such as abstracts of titles, and other papers
relating to
property (papers of some bulk), and a bunch of keys, and trousers with blood
stains on the thigh. He then described the steps which were taken by the police in tracing out the
dead body at Wellington-square. The bat and stick of
deceased were found under boards which had been screwed down, and at the place
where the body was found a drain stone had been let in to give the appearance
that there was a drain there. Some surprise was created by the
witness saying that to all appearance the old man was killed in the morning, and his body was
concealed in a cupboard in the back kitchen until after the hole was dug.
Some persons alleged that a woman who was at tea with
the Millers on Monday could attest that he came in with a shirt all bloody, and
that his wife washed it out while he waited.
The CORONER declined to go into that matter, and adjourned the inquest until Wednesday
next.
The CORONER then proceeded to the house near Paulton's-square,
and resumed the inquest on the body of Ann Boss, the housekeeper.
Mrs. Middleton, the woman who, with her daughter, bad been put in
possession of the
house by the prisoner under the guise of a foreigner, was then re-called, and
she said
that, though she had no doubt now that the prisoner and the "French
foreigner" were one and the same, yet so well was the disguise assumed that she was deceived.
He brought her the key at
about 12 or half-past on Monday the 9th, told her he was Mr. Huelin's
nephew, with a request to take care of the house, she having been employed there before, and the next morning, when Miller came in his working dress,
she
told him a Frenchman had given her the key.
The witness was cross-examined at great length by another
witness, and he
questioned her with some harshness as to her not finding out that the prisoner
and the " Frenchman" were one ; and when, in the course of his own
testimony, he made the mistake of confounding the woman with her
daughter be raised a laugh against himself which even. the serious mature of the
inquiry could not suppress. The woman's daughter was then called, and she gave
her evidence in a clear and straightforward manner, supporting the testimony her
mother had given. From this evidence it appeared that Miller treated the house
as his own, and
actually went after rent which some tenants were ready to
pay. He alternately appeared in his disguise, With spectacles and a beard, and in his working dress.
Evidence was then given with respect to the house being found
unsecured on
Monday night, and it appeared from this that a neighbour saw the back door open
of Paulton's-square house and told the police, with whom he effected an entry.
They found in one room a pail and the room half scrubbed, but nothing more, and
it was thought that the old gentleman had
gone into the country, and some accident had overtaken the housekeeper.
Harriet Sibley, a widow, living in Brompton, stated that she was at tea with the
Millers on Sunday, the 9th, at 26, Seymour-place, Fulham-road. Miller was at
home when she went, at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and she left him there
when she went away, at about 9 o'clock at night. The witness recounted the
conversation between the old Mrs. Middleton who was also there and the Millers,
in where there was no point. On Monday witness went again at about 4 o'clock (afterwards she
said half an hour later), and Miller was having tea and dinner together. He had
on a pair of light trousers: he put on a clean shirt and a paper collar while she
was there; in fact, he changed his things. When witness went in Mrs. Miller was
ironing a shirt for Miller, and he seemed in good spirits. Mrs. Miller did not wash
the shirt out.
The witness Piper was recalled - he stated that Miller, when
he called for a van on Wednesday night, was attired and spoke with a foreign accent saving "Vill you"
and such like; but when witness detected the blood, and refused to leave his
hold of his prisoner, Miller stamped, and then spoke in broad
Scotch-English.
The CORONER briefly summed up and
The jury returned a verdict that the deceased, Ann Boss, was
feloniously slain by Walter Miller, who had thereby committed murder, and they appended to their verdict an
expression of opinion that the witness Piper deserved a reward at the hands
of the county magistrates.
The proceedings then closed.
Times, May, 1870