William Palmer 1850’s Prince Of Poisoners UK Serial Killer True Crime History

Description: A fascinating archive on an infamous English serial killer in 1850’s England. The book printed in 1856 is in poor shape with clear tape holding the spine together. All pages though, are intact. There are copious notes hand written onto the blank front and end pages. From what I can gather, this book was owned by a C.W. Kennedy, Esq who had a fascination with the Palmer case and amassed a small collection of memorabilia associated with it. Included in this lot are : 3 letters of correspondence detailing the negotiation of possible purchase of a letter written by Palmer. The negotiations were between W.H.Jones to Kennedy. The letter for sale was a request by Palmer for Dr. Jones, to came see Mr. Cook who had taken ill at Shrewsbury. At trial Palmer was accused and convicted of poisoning Mr. Cook by strychnine poisoning. These three letters did not result in a sale as the offer of 57 (pounds?) was deemed to low. In addition is another letter from a George Herring who as a younger man, appears to have known Palmer and is familiar with the case. It gives his opinion on Palmers character and is very interesting. Copious notes in the hand of Kennedy are also added to the blank areas of this letter where he works out some of his own impressions and theories. Then we have the photographs. 3 of Palmers death mask. Notations on the reverse state that these were given by Mr. Tussaud of the famous wax museum family. They look to be early original prints on non glossy paper. There are also 4 photos that came from the Tussaud exhibit, one of the wax likeness of Palmer, 2 of notes Palmer wrote in court to his counselors and one of Palmer’s case of drugs all of which were a part of the Tussaud exhibit. There are also other pieces of ephemera, postcards and photo of the Poisoner’s home and newspaper clippings. Truly, a rare and fascinating accumulation of ephemera! What we have here is the 1904 collection of a guy interested in the actions of a serial killer active in the 1840’s- 55. A super cool item for anyone interested in murder, serial killers and crime history. Please see my detailed photos as an integral part of the condition and description. Please let me know if you have any questions. Some information on Palmer: William Palmer (6 August 1824 – 14 June 1856), also known as the Rugeley Poisoner or the Prince of Poisoners, was an English doctor found guilty of murder in one of the most notorious cases of the 19th century. Charles Dickens called Palmer "the greatest villain that ever stood in the Old Bailey Palmer was convicted for the 1855 murder of his friend John Cook, and was executed in public by hanging the following year. He had poisoned Cook with strychnine and was suspected of poisoning several other people including his brother and his mother-in-law, as well as four of his children who died of "convulsions" before their first birthdays. Palmer made large sums of money from the deaths of his wife and brother after collecting on life insurance, and by defrauding his wealthy mother out of thousands of pounds, all of which he lost through gambling on horses. Palmer was arrested on the charge of murder and forgery (a creditor had told the police his suspicions that Palmer had been forging his mother's signature) The prosecution had the last word, and an image was painted of Palmer as a man desperately in need of money in order to avoid debtors' prison, who murdered his friend for his money and who had covered his tracks by sabotaging the post-mortem.[1] The jury deliberated for just over an hour before returning a verdict of guilty.[1] Lord Campbell handed down a death sentence, to no reaction from Palmer Approximately 30,000 people were at Stafford prison on 14 June 1856 to see Palmer's public execution by hanging at the hands of George Smith.[16] As he stepped onto the gallows, Palmer is said to have looked at the trapdoor and exclaimed, "Are you sure it's safe?" A wax effigy of Palmer was displayed in the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussaud's waxwork museum from 1857 until 1979.

Price: 457.24 USD

Location: New York, New York

End Time: 2025-01-01T00:38:27.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD