Posted on 08/11/2023 7:01:58 AM PDT by CheshireTheCat
This date in 1828, throngs of thousands at Bury St. Edmunds saw the climax of the Red Barn Murder case in the form of the public hanging of William Corder.
This broadside blockbuster got its start in a Suffolk village, where a local ladies’ man and his paramour plotted a rendezvous at the titular shed for the purpose of elopement — she having become pregnant by the young man’s offices.
When the meeting was over, Corder had vanished from town … and Maria Marten had just plain vanished.
Almost a year later, Maria Marten’s stepmother began reporting dreams that the poor girl had been murdered and stashed in the barn. And sure enough, when they searched it, there lay Maria — with William Corder’s handkerchief around her neck. Corder was found in London living with his new wife.
(About the stepmom: she was just a year older than her “daughter”, and considering her essential role in divining the body’s location, has to be considered suspect herself. It’s not too hard to picture her as Maria’s rival for the tomcatting Corder. She never faced any charges, though.)....
(Excerpt) Read more at executedtoday.com ...
I like reading these stories - always interesting and a welcome diversion from the usual redundant reposts of old news and silly vanities. Keep them coming!
I like these stories too. They make me yearn for a death penalty — a proper death penalty, not the pitiful, impotent “death penalty” currently on the books.
Cheshire does a wonderful service posting from the site.
Just about the time I think that humanity has changed so much from the past, he posts something that help remind me ...
Yeah, people are just being human.
It is more about their inner self than anything new under the sun.
How many were there in the young man's offices...?
Roger that.... over.
I also enjoy these tales. I usually learn some new bit of history, which is always good to do.
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