Franz Muller a German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 tailor, murdered Thomas Briggs in the first murder committed on a British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 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

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 by Scotland Yard

Scotland Yard

Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...

 detectives.

Crime

On July 9, 1864 a City

City of London

The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

 banker, Thomas Briggs, travelled on the 9.50 p.m. North London Railway

North London Railway

The North London Railway was a railway company that opened lines connecting the north of London to the East and West India Docks. The main east to west route is now part the North London Line. Other lines operated by the company fell into disuse, but were later revived as part of the Docklands...

 train between Fenchurch Street

Fenchurch Street railway station

Fenchurch Street railway station, also known as London Fenchurch Street, is a central London railway terminus in the south eastern corner of the City of London, England. The station is one of the smallest terminals in London in terms of platforms and one of the most intensively operated...

 and Hackney Wick

Hackney Wick

Hackney Wick is an area straddling the boundary between the London Borough of Hackney and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in east London. It is an inner-city development situated 5 miles northeast of Charing Cross...

. 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

Bow, London

Bow is an area of London, England, United Kingdom in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a built-up, mostly residential district located east of Charing Cross, and is a part of the East End.-Bridges at Bowe:...

 and Hackney Wick

Hackney Wick

Hackney Wick is an area straddling the boundary between the London Borough of Hackney and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in east London. It is an inner-city development situated 5 miles northeast of Charing Cross...

 stations. He was taken to a nearby pub, but died of his wounds shortly after.

Solving 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

Conductor (transportation)

A conductor is a member of a railway train's crew that is responsible for operational and safety duties that do not involve the actual operation of the train. The title of conductor is most associated with railway operations in North America, but the role of conductor is common to railways...

. A black beaver hat was presumed to belong to the deceased. 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

Cheapside

Cheapside is a street in the City of London that links Newgate Street with the junction of Queen Victoria Street and Mansion House Street. To the east is Mansion House, the Bank of England, and the major road junction above Bank tube station. To the west is St. Paul's Cathedral, St...

, provided a description of a German man who exchanged a gold chain on 11 July. This was identified as belonging to Briggs.

On 18 July, 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

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, 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

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 - he may have committed the robbery in order to pay for his ticket. On 20 July, 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

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

 were severely strained at the time due to British involvement in the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 regarding the building of raiders like the CSS Alabama

CSS Alabama

CSS Alabama was a screw sloop-of-war built for the Confederate States Navy at Birkenhead, United Kingdom, in 1862 by John Laird Sons and Company. Alabama served as a commerce raider, attacking Union merchant and naval ships over the course of her two-year career, during which she never anchored in...

, 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

Circumstantial evidence

Circumstantial evidence is evidence in which an inference is required to connect it to a conclusion of fact, like a fingerprint at the scene of a crime...

. The prosecution was led by Mr Serjeant Ballantine

William Ballantine

Serjeant William Ballantine SL was an English Serjeant-at-law, a legal position defunct since the legal reforms of the 1870s.-Early career:...

. Some people believe Matthews only came forward to receive the reward, and could have been involved in the crime himself. King Wilhelm I of Prussia (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 getan" ("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

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

 Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

.

Non-fiction

• Kate Colquhoun, Mr Briggs' Hat: A Sensational Account of Britain's First Railway Murder, pub. 2011, Liitle, Brown: London