5 Victorian Killers Undone by a Single Mistake

A jar he would not leave alone. A telegram asking for his wages. A hat picked up in a hurry. A neighbour at her gate. A young man left alone with two parcels. Five Victorian killers planned their crimes, covered their tracks, and in some cases came within a whisker of getting away with it. Each of them was brought down by one small mistake. Told from the records of their trials, from the Rugeley poisoner William Palmer to the first murder on a British railway. CHAPTERS 0:00 Five killers, five small mistakes 0:48 Number Five: The jar (William Palmer, 1855) 3:11 Number Four: The telegram (Percy Lefroy Mapleton, 1881) 5:29 Number Three: The hat (Franz Müller, 1864) 7:58 Number Two: The furniture (Kate Webster, 1879) 10:30 Number One: The parcels (Henry Wainwright, 1875) 13:12 The smallest things SOURCES • George H. Knott (ed.), Trial of William Palmer, Notable British Trials (1912). • George H. Knott (ed.), Trial of Franz Muller, Notable British Trials (1911). • H. B. Irving (ed.), Trial of the Wainwrights, Notable British Trials (1920). • Old Bailey Proceedings: trials of William Palmer (1856), Henry and Thomas Wainwright (1875) and Catherine Webster (1879). • The Daily Telegraph, 1 July 1881; BBC News, 5 July 2011. IMAGES Period engravings and photographs from the Illustrated London News, the Illustrated Police News and other publications, paintings by John Atkinson Grimshaw and James McNeill Whistler, and the photographs of John Thomson are in the public domain (via Wikimedia Commons). Illustrations of the Palmer and Wainwright trials: Wellcome Collection, CC BY 4.0. Palmer's house and William Stevens: Illustrated London News, 1856, scans by AH9700, CC BY 4.0. London Bridge and Charing Cross: Rijksmuseum, CC0. Scenes marked "Illustration" are AI-generated reconstructions, not historical images. Narration and music: Fog and Gallows. #VictorianLondon #TrueCrime #BritishHistory