Ratcliff Highway Murders - The Suicide

The Suicide

Williams never went to trial. December 28, three days after Christmas, he used his scarf to hang himself from an iron bar in his cell. No one discovered this until just before he was scheduled for another hearing before the Shadwell Magistrate, who were keen to question him about his torn and bloodied shirt and the extra money in his possession after the murder of the Williamsons. Instead, an officer announced to the court that the accused was dead and his body was cold. Williams' suicide surprised everyone who had spoken to him; several prisoners and a warden said that he had appeared in good spirits only the day before, believing that he would soon be exonerated and released. this led to later speculation that Williams had been murdered to prevent authorities from looking elsewhere.

The hearing continued despite the dead man's inability to defend himself, and this time many new, and seemingly damning, details surfaced. The Times reported that a secret prison correspondence had been discovered between Williams and one of the other suspects, "which clearly connects them with the shocking transactions." Another man who shared the room at the "Pear Tree" with Williams said that he had found his own stockings muddied and hidden behind a chest, and concluded that Williams had worn his stockings out that night and had gotten them dirty. When he confronted Williams, he immediately took them into the yard and washed them. Their landlady affirmed this and added that while the stockings were quite muddy, she had also seen blood on them. She explained that she had not told anyone about this prior to Williams' death because she feared he would murder her. A female witness who knew Williams well connected him with a chisel that was proved to have been taken from the same seaman's chest as the maul. The court finally declared Williams to be guilty of the crimes, and that his suicide was a clear statement of his guilt. The case against the other suspects collapsed, and although Williams had not been connected with the Marr murders, he was deemed the sole perpetrator of both.

The Home Secretary was more than happy to agree with the opinion of the bench, and decided that the best way to end the matter was to parade Williams' body through Wapping and Shadwell so that the residents could see that while he had "cheated the hangman", he was indeed dead, and no longer a menace. The concern was that such a procession might provoke rioting and a breach of the peace, so he ordered the Thames Police, the Bow Street Mounted Patrol, and local constables and watchmen to oversee the event. On New Year's Eve, Williams' body was removed from the prison at 11, with "an immense concourse of persons", approximately 180,000 in all, taking the body in a procession up the Ratcliff Highway. When the cart drew opposite the Marr house, the procession halted for nearly a quarter of an hour. A drawing was made of the body, which is not that of the slender man described in newspaper accounts, but a stocky laborer. In his pockets is shown a piece of metal that he apparently ripped from the prison wall to stab himself with, in the event he was unsuccessful at hanging.

When the cart came opposite the late Mr. Marr's house a halt was made for nearly a quarter of an hour...The procession then advanced to St. George's Turnpike, where the new road is intersected by Cannon Street. Those who accompanied the procession arrived at a grave already dug six feet down. The remains of John Williams were tumbled out of the cart and lowered into this hole, and then someone hammered a stake through his heart.-De Quincey

Burying a suicide at a crossroads was traditional for suicides at that time. Suicides were considered damned and could not be buried in consecrated ground; the stake was meant to keep the restless soul from wandering, while the crossroads were meant to confuse whatever evil ghost that could arise from the grave as to which direction to take. The procession also stopped for ten minutes in front of the dark Kings Arms tavern as well, where it was reported that the coachman whipped the dead man three times across the face. In addition, the grave was deliberately made too small for the body, so that the murderer would feel uncomfortable, even in death. Quicklime was added, and the pit was covered over.

In August 1886, a gas company began to excavate a trench in the area where Williams had been buried. They accidentally unearthed a skeleton, reportedly buried upside down and with the remains of the wooden stake through its torso. "It was six feet below the surface of the road where Cannon and Cable Streets cross at St. George in the East." The landlord of the "Crown and Dolphin" public house, at the corner of Cannon Street Road, retained the skull as a souvenir. The pub has since become derelict, the whereabouts of the skull are currently unknown.