The Victorian Railway Murders

Out of Print

A vivid and factual account of a series of single-ticket excursions to death evoking a terrifying aspect of the great days of steam, when passengers were helpless if attacked in the box-like compartments of the corridorless carriages and had no means of sum¬moning aid or stopping the train.

The first murders to be committed on Britain's railways caused a public outcry. The vulnerability of passengers - particularly lady passengers - became a matter for debate in parliament and the Press, forcing the railway companies quickly to introduce safety measures.

The Victorian Railway Murders describes the work of the police in tracking down the murderers (in an era when finger-printing was unknown and forensic science a new aid to detection), the trials, the public hanging of the first railway murderer, and the attitudes in that era to crime and punishment generally.

A picture of Victorian mores emerges as sharp as the tang from the bottle of smelling salts which the prudent Victorian lady always carried when travelling on the railways.