Matthew Clark, a footpad from St. Albans, murdered Sarah Goldington, a maid at an alehouse near Willesden Green, stabbing her in the throat and cutting her neck to the bone before robbing the premises. He was 24 years old. Pursuers caught him shortly after when they noticed blood on his shirt sleeve, and he confessed before standing trial at the Old Bailey.
Clark was executed on 28 July 1721. His capture came swiftly, his guilt established by blood on his sleeve and his own words against him.
Thomas Cromwell, chief minister to King Henry VIII and chief architect of the English Reformation, was executed on Tower Hill on 28 July 1540. Born around 1485 in Putney, Surrey, he had risen from humble origins to become the most powerful man in England after the king, reshaping both church and government. His downfall came after he arranged the king's disastrous marriage to Anne of Cleves, a union annulled within six months. Arraigned under an act of attainder for treason and heresy, he was beheaded without trial.
On the same day Cromwell lost his head, Henry VIII married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard. Henry later expressed deep regret at the execution of his chief minister, widely regarded as one of the most consequential acts of his reign.
William Casey is barely twenty years old and already a veteran: enlisted at fifteen, shipped to Spain with Lord Cobham's expedition, and returned to do duty in the Guards. By the standards of old England, he has lived a full life before trouble finds him in a London park one night.
What happens next depends on who you believe. Casey insists a man named John Stone approached him with an indecent proposal, and the violence that followed was revulsion; Stone tells a very different story of being attacked, beaten and robbed. A grudge-bearing corporal works hard behind the scenes to seal Casey's fate, and the young soldier's quiet reputation counts for nothing against the weight of testimony.
Step into this dark corner of true crime from old England and hear William Casey's own words before they are silenced.
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FROM THE 1735 TEXT
his diligence proceeded not from any desire of doing justice, but from an old grudge he owed their family
The past speaks its own dialect; here is what to listen for in this episode.
Fray: not a loose thread but a violent scuffle, a sudden eruption of blows. In old England a fray in the park after dark could end a life or begin a trial.
Prosecutor: today a prosecutor is a lawyer employed by the state, but in old England the word meant the person who brought the complaint: the victim, or whoever claimed to be one. John Stone was Casey's prosecutor simply because he was the man pressing the charge.
Neck-cloth: a strip of linen or muslin wrapped around the throat, the ancestor of the necktie. Stealing one counted as taking property, and property mattered more than bruises in the courts of old England.
Swear sodomy upon him: to threaten someone with a sodomy accusation was a weapon in itself. In old England the charge carried the death penalty, so merely threatening to 'swear it upon' a man could silence him as effectively as a blade.
Under sentence: the grim limbo between conviction and execution. In Newgate, prisoners under sentence waited days or weeks, writing letters, receiving chaplains, and hoping for a reprieve that usually never came.
Ignominious: shameful beyond ordinary shame. Casey used it in his final written statement; in old England a death described as ignominious was one meant to strip the condemned of any remaining dignity.
Church of England as by Law established: a formal phrase declaring loyalty to the state religion. Dying men in old England often stated their faith aloud or on paper, because dying outside the established church carried its own social disgrace for the family left behind.
Place of execution: typically Tyburn, the public killing ground at the western edge of London. Casey's composure there was noted; in a spectacle designed to terrify, calmness was itself a kind of protest.
Lives of the Most Remarkable Criminals (1735) is one of the earliest works of true crime in the English language. Each week this podcast retells one of its stories for today's listener, keeping the old book's most striking lines.
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1929·She Asked for a Kiss, Then Bled to Death: Frederick Carr Hanged in Adelaide for Murdering His WifeTrue crime stories, dark history and tour news, straight to your inbox.
