Friday 18th November 1898
The Warminster Outrage
As regaled in Famous Crimes, Past and Present, Vol.V, No.63., a Police budget edition, edited and published by Harold Furniss:
Brutal as we now consider the punishments meted out to offenders by our forefathers, there are certain cases when the student of crime cannot but have a lingering feeling that it is a pity that the law does not give us power to enhance the penalty awarded to the miscreant who has outraged it. The distinction in the criminal’s mind between actual murder and attempted murder is too subtle for the average man to understand. In al cases where the victim has been done to death to prevent the immediate capture of the scoundrel who has been detected in the commission of a minor felony, such as burglary or robbery or criminal assault, there can be little doubt that the murderer’s primary idea was to so injure the dangerous party that he, or she, would not be able to give immediate information which might lead to his arrest. Certainly no criminal but a criminal fool would wish to incur the greater penalty of death, when his purpose could be served by disabling instead of killing. This leads us to believe that there is a good deal of truth in the defences set up in these cases, namely, that the convict did not intend to kill his victim, but only top injure him sufficiently to enable the marauder to effect his escape. Acting on this supposition, our law is merciful, and does not insist on the capital penalty being inflicted when death has not resulted from the murderous attack. It would be more in accordance with the spirit of sound philosophy, however, if death were the punishment for attempted murder, when the design to take life is obvious, even though the attempt fall far short of actual slaying, for every code of ethics teaches us that the sin of the man who attempts to commit a crime, and fails through unforeseen circumstances, is quite as great as that of the successful criminal. In other words, it is the actual attempt, or the intention to commit a sin, that constitutes the sin. This being so, it would be good for us if we were to retain that portion of the criminal code of our ancestors which apportioned the same punishment to attempted murder as to actual slaying. Indeed, it is to be regretted that the law under which Martin Doyle, who was hanged at Chester, in 1861, for attempted murder, was the last person to suffer, was ever repealed.
The case which we are about to record is one of those where the intention to murder was plain, and which would have been far better requited with a noose and six feet of rope than by the costly and humane sentence of imprisonment.
In the year 1898 there was dwelling in the little town of Warminster, in the county of Wiltshire, a dressmaker named Norah Ann Haines. She was a spinster, and, as she had long passed the age of fifty, she might well be styled an old maid. She was one of those old maids who go about doing good, and for whose existence a large circle of friends and humble acquaintances daily thank their Creator. Though far from wealthy – dressmakers in country towns do not make fortunes – she always managed to have a trifle to spare for the needy, and many were the hidden acts of kindness which were recalled of her in the days when she lay hovering on the confines of the grave. Harmless, inoffensive, with a good word for everybody and a cheery smile for all, Miss Haines was the last person one would have thought anybody capable of injuring.
She lived in Portway, a district of Warminster, and had for a companion her niece, Helen Hilda, then aged about sixteen, a pretty and charming young girl. To supplement the little income derived from dressmaking, Miss Haines used to let one or two of her rooms to suitable tenants, but, having the care of her niece, she was very particular about the character of those whom she took in as lodgers.
“My name is Alexander Taylor,” answered the youth, for he looked but little more, though he was nearly twenty-three years of age. “I come from the North of England, where my father is a large draper. I have just obtained a situation as assistant to the largest firm of drapers in the town here. I was brought up in my father’s shop, and thoroughly understand the trade.”
Miss Haines thought that that sounded satisfactory, for a man would hardly give the name of one of the principal tradesmen in the small town as that of his employer if he was not telling the truth. Still she hesitated for a moment. Taylor noticed this, and added, “If you want to know anything more about my character, I may add that for the last three years I have been a local preacher attached to our chapel in Birmingham, and intend to try and take up religious work here.”
Surely such a holy youth could not tell a lie, thought Miss Haines, who was rather inclined to invest all mankind with the good qualities which she herself possessed, and forthwith she said that she would be glad to have him for a tenant.
“I fear that my baggage will not arrive this evening, unless it comes by the last train, but it will certainly be here tomorrow morning. I will then pay you for a month in advance, and we can arrange about food and so forth,” remarked Alexander Taylor, intimating at the same time that he had left his own Bible in his portmanteau, which had miscarried on the railway, and would be glad if the spinster could lend him one for the evening. Then he said that he would go down to the station and make further enquiries about his lost luggage, in case it had turned up.
It was then rather late, and Miss Haines thought that it would not be worth her while to attempt to find the head of the firm where young Taylor was employed that night, for the shops were all shut, and she was rather diffident of calling at the wealthy draper’s private house.
Presently Taylor returned, saying that his portmanteau had not arrived, but would reach Warminster by the first train from Bath next morning, adding, with a laugh, that it was not the first time he had had to sleep without proper night-clothes.
After having his supper he said that he would retire, for he did not believe in late hours. With that he was shown to his bedroom. Half an hour later Miss Haines and her niece, who occupied the same room as she did, went to bed, the elder rejoicing that she had found such a steady young man to fill her vacant rooms for the winter, for it is very difficult to let lodgings in Warminster, save in the summer months. Soon the two ladies fell asleep, and the house was wrapped in quiet.
Early next morning the police were summoned by the neighbours, who had been aroused by the screams of Miss Hilda Haines. A constable and a sergeant entered the house, and were taken by the women-folk who had called them to the bedroom occupied by Miss Haines and her niece.
There it was evident that a terrible tragedy had taken place. The bed was in great disorder, and, laying on it, scarcely breathing, was the body of the dressmaker. Blood was flowing from a number of wounds, and the whole of her night attire was drenched. Miss Haines was perfectly unconscious. Miss Hilda was on a chair, being tended by the women-folk, and at times fainting. She, too, was covered in blood, and was too weak to give any coherent account of what had taken place.
The room bore unmistakable evidence of having been pillaged, the drawers were all pulled out, and their contents strewn about the floor, the hundred and one little articles to be found on a woman’s dressing-table lay scattered about the place; even the dresses hanging up in the cupboard had been ruthlessly dragged down and the pockets turned inside out. At the foot of the bed a bent poker was picked up, and it was evident from the blood-stains on it that it was the weapon with which the injuries on the two ladies had been inflicted.
A glance at the rooms downstairs made it evident that a thorough search had been made through the house, and many little articles were subsequently found to be missing. At the time, however, the first thing to be done was to see to the injured women. A doctor was speedily summoned and he ordered the removal of the elder Miss Haines to the Cottage Hospital, where she could receive the great attention which was necessary for her. So seriously was she injured that it was very doubtful whether she would live to reach the hospital.
After a little while Miss Hilda Haines recovered sufficiently to be able to give a brief account of what had taken place. She said that she was suddenly awakened from her slumbers by her aunt screaming. When she opened her eyes she saw the new lodger, Taylor, standing beside the bed and grasping her aunt by the throat. He was demanding her money and her valuables. Before the poor woman could speak Taylor lifted up the kitchen poker, which he had in the other hand, and hit Miss Haines, senior, a terrifying blow on the forehead. Then he rained a shower of violent blows on her till she fell unconscious. Miss Hilda commenced to scream, but Taylor caught her a slash on the throat with his weapon, which took away her breath. He then looked closely at Miss Haines, and seeing that she was not dead, delivered a crashing blow on her head with the poker, muttering, “That’ll settle the old woman!”
By this time Hilda had recovered her breath, and again commenced to cry out, so Taylor turned his attention to her and laid about her lustily with the poker, being careful, however, not to hit the young woman on the head. Still she cried out, and Taylor caught her by the throat and tried to strangle her with his hands. She then fainted, and when she recovered she could see Taylor rummaging about the room. Again she attempted to get to the window to arouse the neighbours, but Taylor saw her and thrashed her again with the poker till she could not speak. She fainted a second time from the pain of the blows, which were on the upper part of her body, and when she recovered the robber had gone.
She thought her aunt was dead. The whole bed was covered with the blood which flowed from both the wounded ladies. As soon as she was able Hilda crawled to the window, opened it and began to shout for help. After a long time some of the neighbours were awakened, and assistance arrived.
On examination it was found that the poor young girl had received four serious cuts on her breast and neck, and there were also thirteen large bruises, showing the extreme violence which the ruffian had used. Serious, however, as her injuries were, they were but trifles compared with those which had been inflicted on her aunt.
In the hospital it was found that Miss Sarah Haines had nine deep cuts on her face, one of them completely destroying her left eye, four large bruises on her head, and a couple of dark marks on her throat, where the scoundrel had grasped her by the neck. Besides this, her skull was badly fractured. At first her life was despaired of, and Taylor was freely spoken of as a murderer, but, after lying unconscious for nine days, Miss Haines came to her senses, and slowly, but surely, recovered. All remembrance of what had taken place on that dreadful night, however, had vanished from her brain, and even when shown her scarred face, with its one sightless eye, she could not account for the injuries she had received. She was left by Alexander Taylor maimed and disfigured for life.
As soon as anything like a description of him could be obtained from Miss Hilda, a hue and cry was set up. Every tramp was regarded with suspicion, but on being questioned by the police all were able to account for themselves on the night of the 18th of November. Days went by, weeks passed, and weeks lengthened into months, and yet the cowardly brute who had attempted to murder Miss Haines and to rob her of all her little belongings was undiscovered. He seemed to have vanished into thin air.
It was about the end of November that a man named Williams offered himself for enlistment in the Lincoln Regiment. He was a likely enough looking stripling, and the recruiting sergeant quickly took him before the adjutant, and soon the aspirant to military glory was clothed in the scarlet and white of the line regiments. Williams soon found that the life of a “rookie” was not nearly as fascinating as he had imagined it to be. The work to be done was hard, the sergeants not blessed with angelic tempers, while his fellow tyros were inclined to laugh at the youngster who pretended that he was of a better-class than they were and did not scruple to display his contempt for the yokels from the Fen country who formed the bulk of the privates in the regiment.
This being his attitude towards his fellows we may feel certain that Williams was a marked man, and no slip of his was allowed to pass without being promptly brought to the notice of the sergeants or without being followed by a compulsory appearance in the orderly room on the following day. By all who had anything to do with him he was disliked, his character in the battalion was that of a sneak, and he was regarded as a suspicious character by his comrades.
In spite of his boast that he was not so clumsy as the Fenmen, he was very slow in acquiring the rudiments of drill, and was in constant trouble with the sergeants. The officers, too, did not scruple to express their opinion that Her Majesty made a very bad bargain when she accepted Williams as a soldier. At last one spring morning he was missing. The sergeant inquired of the corporal in charge of the room what had become of Williams, but the poor corporal said that he had not seen him since the previous evening, when he was in bed at the proper time. The desertion of Williams was reported to the colonel in due course, and that officer was rather inclined to think that it was a good thing that the regiment was quit of such a lazy rascal, and that the search for the missing man should not be too strict, when it was also reported that a suit of clothes and a bicycle were missing from the quarters of one of the officers, and that there could be little doubt that the deserter had taken them with him. That put quite a different complexion on the case; Williams could now be dismissed from the army with ignominy as well as be punished for the theft. Information was speedily circulated, and before twenty-four hours had elapsed the deserter was caught wearing the missing suit, and with the bicycle in his possession. He was tried by court-martial, and, of course, found guilty. In due time the sentence was promulgated. Williams was dismissed from the army with ignominy, and ordered to undergo three months’ hard labour. Being deprived of his uniform, Williams was clad in civilian clothes and photographed, his portrait being inserted in all the police organs as a “man discharged from the army for misconduct.” He was then taken to Lincoln Gaol to commence his punishment.
Superintendent Lane, of Warminster, was fond of studying the “Police Gazette,” and in the March number of that interesting publication he noticed the pictures of Williams. There was something about the face and general description which seemed familiar, and Lane went to see Hilda Haines and refresh his memory concerning the particulars of the missing Alexander Taylor. Miss Hilda readily enough repeated her account of the lodger who had rewarded her aunt’s confidence so cruelly, and then it was that Superintendent Lane felt sure that he had last hit upon the whereabouts of the miscreant Taylor. So he set off for Lincoln and asked to be allowed to see the prisoners at exercise. One glance convinced him that the soldier Williams and the draper and local preacher Taylor were one and the same. He told his news to the governor of the prison, and went away, returning later with a witness to formally identify the convict. That done, the Home Secretary was communicated with, and then a writ of habeas corpus procured from a judge, without which document the governor of a prison will not relinquish any prisoner until his term of punishment is up or until he is released on licence or by pardon. Armed with the necessary writ, Superintendent Lane went again to Lincoln Prison and took charge of “Williams,” whom he brought to Warminster, and then formally charged him with having attempted to murder Miss Sarah Haines, and with wounding Miss Hilda Haines on the night of November 18, or the morning of the 19th, 1898.
Williams admitted that he was Taylor, but denied having hurt either of the ladies.
In due course he was brought before the Warminster magistrates, and after a short hearing sent to take his trial at the forthcoming summer assizes to be held at Salisbury, Wiltshire, being one of those counties which have two assize towns, the winter sittings being held at Devizes.
It was on May the 30th, 1899, that Alexander Taylor was placed at the bar in the Salisbury Assize Hall, before Mr. Justice Phillimore, to plead to the indictments preferred against him. He was charged with having assaulted Sarah and Hilda Haines with intent to do them grievous bodily harm, and to this indictment he pleaded guilty. He was further arraigned for having attempted to murder Sarah Haines, and of this charge he said he was innocent.
For the prosecution, Mr. F.R.J. Radcliffe was retained. He pointed out to the jury the main facts of the case, how the prisoner had taken the rooms under false pretences, for he was not a draper by trade, nor was he a local preacher. On the contrary, he was a discharged prisoner who had left Devizes Gaol only three days before he had committed the crime for which he was then being tried. How he had rifled the lower part of the house, and finding little of value, had then gone up to the bedrooms and awakened Miss Haines. His intention to murder the elder of the two women was apparent because he had taken great care not to hit the younger on the head or in any vital spot, but had struck her about the body, while in the case of Miss Sarah Haines he had delivered all his blows on the head, and when he had seen that she was unconscious he had again struck her so furiously that he had fractured her skull. He had not gained much by the robbery, having only got a little over a couple of pounds from under Miss Haines’s pillow, in cash, and taken several small trinkets. It was evident that he had premeditated the crime, for he had gone to the kitchen and taken the poker from there. Witnesses were then called to support this speech.
Miss Hilda Haines told of the part of the terrible scene which she had witnessed, and in which she had taken part. She was positive that the prisoner had struck her aunt after the old lady had become unconscious. She had attempted to raise the alarm, but the prisoner had beaten her so severely with the poker that she could not do so.
A warder from Devizes Gaol proved that he had given liberty to the prisoner on the morning of the 15th of November, Taylor having been convicted of larceny from a lodging-house near Basingstoke, and sent to gaol for a term of hard labour. At his own request a ticket was taken for him to Millbrook, near Southampton.
Mrs. Smith, a widow, then proved that on the 16th of November Taylor had come to Andover and had taken lodgings in her house, saying that he was a new porter on the railway, and had just been transferred to Andover. He had supper, and on the following day he vanished without saying a word to anybody. There was nothing to show what Taylor did with himself on the night of the 17th of November.
Against this evidence no defence was made, and after a short deliberation a verdict of guilty was returned.
Before passing sentence the judge asked for the prisoner’s record, and it was shown that he had been in prison many times, although he was so young, his principal weakness being thefts from lodging-houses. He was a confirmed rascal.
Then Mr. Justice Phillimore addressed the prisoner. He told him that there was not the slightest doubt that he had intended to kill Miss Haines, and had left her believing that she was dead. He had brutally attacked the other young lady, and injured her severely, though he had avoided risking killing her. As a result of his brutal attack Miss Sarah Haines had lost the sight of one eye, was disfigured for life, and suffered from lapses of memory which showed that the brain had been affected. “Your crime falls very little short of actual murder, of the murder you intended to commit,” continued the judge. “I am afraid I am erring on the side of mercy in the sentence I am about to pass on you, for forty years ago you would assuredly have been hanged. The sentence is that you be kept in penal servitude for fourteen years.”
Taylor was staggered by the punishment which was awarded to him, for at the most he had expected five years’ penal servitude, He was taken to the cells by the warders, and off to a convict prison, there to be reformed, if reformed is possible for such a ruffian.
Mr. Justice Phillimore was right when he said that he feared he erred on the side of leniency. He was one of the most merciful judges on the bench, having a great dislike for criminal cases, and, in his sentences his desire for the reformation of the criminal, and his hope that he would see the error of his ways, was always apparent. Before any other judge there is little doubt that Taylor would have been sent to prison for a much longer term, if, indeed, he was not sentenced to remain in penal servitude for the rest of his days, a fate he richly deserved.
Footnote by Danny Howell: The house where the Warminster Outrage took place, where Sarah Ann Haines and her niece Hilda lived, had the address 97 Portway in 1898. It has since been renumbered No.4 Portway. It is near the corner with High Street.
