Crime Immemorial

Kingswood, a small village near Reigate in Surrey, England, was a far cry from the bustling streets of London. In 1835, landowner Thomas Alcock had become Lord of the Manor, commissioning the construction of St. Andrew’s Church and the adjacent rectory in 1852 to serve the growing community. The rectory, a modest yet elegant building, was home to Reverend Samuel Barnard Taylor, the vicar, and was situated just a quarter-mile from Alcock’s stately Kingswood Warren. Nearby cottages housed the village schoolmaster and parish clerk, fostering a tight-knit rural life.

Martha Halliday, born around 1805 in Kings Walden, Hertfordshire, had lived a life of quiet service. By 1861, at the age of fifty-five, she was the trusted housekeeper at the rectory and married to William Halliday, the parish clerk, who resided in a cottage about 300 yards away in the churchyard. Described as reliable and unassuming, Martha often stayed overnight at the rectory when the vicar was away, ensuring the household ran smoothly. On June 10th, 1861, with Reverend Taylor visiting Dorking, she was left alone—a decision that would prove fatal.

The events of that Monday night unfolded with chilling efficiency. Burglars, believed to have targeted the rectory for its valuables, entered through Martha’s ground-floor bedroom window. They used a twelve-foot tree stump to climb past iron bars, suggesting premeditation.

Once inside, they ransacked her room but stole little—only a servant’s brooch was reported missing. Confronted by Martha, the intruders overpowered her, binding her hands and feet with stout cord purchased earlier in Reigate. They gagged her cruelly: a sock stuffed into her mouth, a shirt belonging to the vicar fastened around her neck, and a silk handkerchief tied over her face. Though a beechwood bludgeon was found at the scene, it bore no signs of use; Martha’s death was ruled as suffocation and strangulation from the gag obstructing her breathing. There were no significant cuts or bruises, indicating she may have died accidentally during the restraint, perhaps as the burglars fled in panic.

William Halliday had last seen his wife alive around six p.m. when he returned to their cottage. The next morning, June 11th, he discovered her body on the floor, still in her nightdress. The rectory showed signs of disturbance—papers scattered, windows forced—but the intruders had not breached other rooms. Speculation arose that they were startled by the schoolmaster returning home around midnight or simply abandoned their plan after the fatal encounter.

Superintendent Charles Henry Coward of the Surrey Constabulary took charge, assisted by Scotland Yard detectives Inspector Jonathan Whicher and Sergeant Robinson. The coroner’s inquest on June 21st returned a verdict of “wilful murder against some person or persons unknown.” Thomas Alcock offered a £100 reward (later matched by the government to £200), spurring a widespread hunt.

A breakthrough came from a bundle of German papers found in Martha’s bedroom, including letters and a service book resembling a passport. It belonged to Johann Carl Franz, a twenty-four-year-old from Königstein, Saxony, described as five feet six inches tall with light brown hair and brown eyes. One letter was from Adolphe Krohn, a destitute individual seeking aid to return to Germany. Witnesses reported seeing two German men near the rectory on June 9th and 10th, matching descriptions: they had stayed at the Cricketers Inn, bought cord in Reigate, and inquired about the vicar. A local identified a broken beech branch matching the bludgeon.

Ports and London haunts were watched, leading to arrests. On June 28th, two Germans were detained in London but released. Then, on June 29th, a young man arrested for burglary in Old Broad Street was identified as Franz, using the alias Auguste Salzmann. He initially denied owning the papers but later claimed they were stolen by Wilhelm Gerstenberg and Adolphe Krohn near Leeds, implicating them as the true culprits.

Franz was charged on July 1st before Reigate magistrates and tried at Croydon Assizes on August 6th, 1861. Defended by the Hon. George Denman, the case hinged on circumstantial evidence: the papers, witness identifications, and a shirt Franz gave to his landlady tied with similar cord. Prosecutors painted him as a desperate immigrant, but Franz appeared frail and docile—short, slightly built, with fair hair—raising doubts about his ability to commit the act.

Denman’s four-hour defense emphasized inconsistencies, and after an hour’s deliberation, the jury acquitted Franz amid courtroom applause. He was deported to Germany, later writing a grateful letter to his counsel. Gerstenberg and Krohn vanished, never apprehended.

Martha was buried on June 15th, 1861, in Kingswood, her grave unmarked by plot details. The case faded, but in 1862, another man was arrested in Hull as a possible accomplice, though no conviction followed.

The murder of Martha Halliday remains unsolved, more than 160 years later.