Thomas Morris - The Dublin Railway Murder: The sensational true story of a Victorian murder mystery

The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth

The Matter of the Heart

Dublins Broadstone Terminus as it appeared in 1860, showing the pontoon bridge over the Royal Canal. A contemporary engraving of George Littles office, the scene of his murder. A counter and railings that divided the room in two were dismantled shortly after his death. Bernard Gunning, the assistant storekeeper, in later life. For much of the murder inquiry he was the detectives prime suspect. The railway company cottage occupied by the painter James Spollin and his family in the grounds of the station. James Spollin, in his first public appearance since his arrest, hears the charges against him at the police court. Memorial (petition) written by James Spollin from his prison cell to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, requesting the sale of his furniture to pay for legal representation. Frederick Bridges, the Liverpool phrenologist who helped James Spollin and his son to emigrate. Portrait of James Spollin taken a few weeks before his departure from Liverpool. Plaster cast of James Spollins head, made by Frederick Bridges for phrenological study.

---

VINTAGE

UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia
New Zealand | India | South Africa

Vintage is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

First published by Harvill Secker in 2021

Copyright Thomas Morris 2021

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Cover design Dan Mogford

Map illustration on Mike Hall

The photographs which appear in this book were reproduced by the archives of The British Library via Bridgeman Images, The Irish National Archives, The Royal Collection Trust and by kind permission of Pat Parsons and Anne Taylor.

ISBN: 978-1-473-57837-1

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

In November 1856 the residents of Dublin were shocked by news of a brutal murder at the citys Broadstone railway terminus a crime without parallel in the Irish capitals recent history. The ensuing police investigation was the most complex and mystifying that Dublins detectives had ever undertaken, and its many twists and turns seized the public imagination. It was seven months before the prime suspect was arrested, culminating in a sensational trial that was eagerly followed by newspaper readers on both sides of the Irish Sea.

The Broadstone murder, as it became known, was a particularly notorious crime in an age that relished them. Both the victim and his suspected killer became household names, while the outcome of the trial was a national cause clbre. This level of public interest meant that newspapers competed to uncover any minor development in the investigation, and sent reporters to transcribe every court hearing. These accounts make it possible to reconstruct much of what happened, but more importantly a huge cache of confidential government papers relating to the case has also survived. A 160-year-old file held by the National Archives of Ireland contains more than three hundred pages of police interviews, minutes and memos; correspondence between detectives, government ministers and lawyers; and even letters written by the prime suspect from his prison cell. What emerges is an unusually complete picture of a Victorian murder inquiry, including many details that were deliberately withheld from the public at the time.

This book draws on all these sources, and also includes material from a pamphlet published privately in 1858 by the phrenologist Frederick Bridges, who interviewed the main suspect at length over the course of several weeks. Every incident in the pages that follow is based closely on witness statements and other first-hand accounts. All characters identified by name are real people, and biographical details, however minor, are genuine. Even the dialogue is authentic, with two important exceptions. In transcripts of police interviews and court proceedings the questions asked by detectives or barristers were usually omitted, and I have reconstructed these based on the answers given. In one or two places I have taken the liberty of constructing conversations from statements that were originally committed to paper but in every case using the actual words of the people concerned.

George Little, cashier

Frances Little, his mother

Kate Morton, his sister

William Chamberlain, clerk to George Little

William McCauley, cash porter

Thomas Moore, messenger boy

Anne Gunning, housekeeper

Bernard Gunning, assistant storekeeper

Catherine Campbell, their servant

Patrick Hanbury, stationmaster

Mrs Hanbury

Mary Mitchell, their servant

John Ennis, chairman

Henry Beausire, company secretary

Thomas Bennett, accountants clerk

Joseph Cabry, chief engineer

Patrick Moan, chief clerk to engineering department

Walter Kirwan, company solicitor

Joseph Goldsmith, solicitors clerk

Henry Thornton, solicitors clerk