His measures for the disposal of the _corpus delicti_ remind us of those taken by Mrs. Hayes and her associates, or of Gardelle's frantic efforts to conceal his crime. The most ghastly part of the story is that which deals with his getting rid of the head. This, wrapped up in a silk handkerchief, he carried under his coat-flaps through the streets, and afterwards on his cap in a crowded city omnibus. It was not until he left the 'bus, and walked up by the Regent's Canal, that he conceived the idea of throwing the head into the water. Another day elapsed before he got rid of the rest of the body, all of which, according to his own confession, made no doubt with the idea of exonerating Mrs. Gale, he accomplished without her assistance. On the other hand, it was adduced in evidence that Mrs. Gale had been at his lodgings the very day after the murder, and was seen to be busily engaged in washing down the house with bucket and mop.
Greenacre, when tried at the Old Bailey, admitted that he had been guilty of manslaughter. While conversing with Mrs. Brown, he declared the unfortunate woman was rocking herself to and fro in a chair; as she leant back he put his foot against the chair, and so tilted it over. Mrs. Brown fell with it, and Greenacre, to his horror, found that she was dead. But the medical evidence was clear that the decapitation had been effected during life, and the jury, after a short deliberation, without hesitation brought in a verdict of wilful murder. The woman Gale was also found guilty, but sentence of death was only passed on Greenacre. The execution was, as usual, attended by an immense concourse, and Greenacre died amidst the loudest execrations. Gale was sentenced to penal servitude for life.
Increase in crimes of fraud--Edward Beaumont Smith--Casting away ships--The 'Dryad'--Wrecked by the Wallaces--Another clergyman-forger, Dr. Bailey--The Barber Fletcher frauds to obtain unclaimed stock in the funds--The Bank of England robbed by one of its clerks of £8000--Other daring robberies--Burglaries at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace--Ingenious plate robbery at Lord Fitzgerald's in Belgrave Square--Stealing plate from clubs by a member--A large parcel of rough diamonds stolen--More murders--The valet Courvoisier murders his master, Lord William Russell--His trial and sentence--His confession, attempted suicide, and demeanour at the scaffold--Daniel Good murders his wife--Strange discovery of the crime--Pursuit and arrest of the murderer--Hocker kills Mr. Delarue--Murderer cannot tear himself from the scene of his crime--Epidemic of murder in 1848-9--Rush--Gleeson Wilson--The Mannings and their victim, O'Connor--The cold-blooded scheme--How carried out, and how discovered--One of the first instances of the employment of the electric telegraph to arrest the murderers--Their trial--Violent conduct of Mrs. Manning--The execution at Horsemonger Lane Gaol--Charles Dickens on this execution--Other murderers--Robert Marley--Cannon, the chimney-sweep, who makes a murderous assault upon and nearly killed a policeman--Mobbs, the brutal husband--Barthelemy--Series of gigantic frauds, commencing in 1850--Walter Watts, the inventor of the new crime--The two lives he led--Immense defalcations--Sentenced for stealing a bit of paper value one penny--Commits suicide--The forgeries of R. F. Pries--Those of Joseph Windle Cole--Raises funds on fictitious dock warrants--The bankers Messrs. Strahan, Paul, and Bates tried for disposing of securities they held on deposit--Systematic embezzlement by Robson, a clerk in the Crystal Palace Company--Lionel Redpath carries on still more audacious frauds--His way of life--A patron of art, and foremost in all good works--His detection and flight--Is captured, tried, and sentenced to transportation--Big prizes still to be had by daring thieves--The bullion robbery on the South-Eastern--How planned and carried out--Detected by accident--The bold and systematic forgeries of Saward, or Jem the Penman--His method--How caught--Sentenced to transportation.