Franz Müller (murderer)

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Franz Muller

Franz Müller (also: Muller ; * October 31, 1840 in Langendernbach ; † November 14, 1864 ) was the name of a London- based tailor of German origin who was responsible for the so-called "railway murder" (it was the first murder in the compartment in November 1864 of a train on English soil) was hanged .

The railroad murder

On July 9, 1864, shortly after 10 p.m., the seventy-year-old bank clerk Thomas Briggs was murdered and thrown off the train on a train on the North London Railway between Bow and Hackney stations . The murderer seized Briggs' gold watch and chain, his gold-rimmed glasses and his hat, with the murderer leaving his own hat at the scene.

From the start, this act met with public sympathy, as the British press reported extensively. High rewards were offered to catch the killer - the aim was to prevent the traveler from being safe from violent crimes even in the closed world of a train.

Inspector Tanner's investigation

Inspector Richard Tanner ("Dick Tanner"), one of the first full-time "detectives" at Scotland Yard , managed within eleven days to track down a jeweler named John Death in Cheapside , who had exchanged the watch and the chain for another watch. The customer had taken the new watch with them in a box bearing John Death's stamp. This very box reappeared in the household of a landlady whose tenant - Franz Müller, a tailor from Germany - had recently left in a hurry and secretly. Müller's landlady identified the hat found in the compartment as the one that her tenant wanted “lost” at the time in question. Franz Müller had written to his landlady that he had boarded the sailing ship “Victoria” destined for New York.

The "City of Manchester"

Together with some witnesses to the murder who were supposed to identify the fugitive, Tanner went on board the Inman Line steamer RMS City of Manchester on July 20, 1864 , to be in New York earlier than the murder suspect. Franz Muller was arrested while still on the pier (legend has it that, as soon as she arrived, the “Victoria” was approached by small boats from which curious people shouted “Hello, murderer Muller, how are you?” And the like). On September 16, 1864, Tanner and his prisoner returned to London.

Trial and Execution

The following process aroused heated controversy in English society. While most contemporaries welcomed Müller's judgment, other observers expressed doubts about some of the testimonies and their interpretation. In Prussia in particular , the whole process was followed critically. King Wilhelm I of Prussia tried to convert the death sentence into a prison sentence, but his request was refused. At the last moment, as eyewitnesses have heard, he is said to have confessed his act (in German). Franz Müller's execution was one of the last public executions (the last took place in 1868).

literature

  • Kate Colquhoun: Mr Briggs' Hat - A Sensational Account of Britain's First Railway Murder . 2011
  • Jürgen Thorwald: The merciless hunt . Zurich 1973

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Müller, Franz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Muller, Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German murderer
DATE OF BIRTH 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH Langendernbach
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 1864