Background
Harold Amos Apted was the 20-year-old son of Thomas Apted, a builder and coal merchant in Tonbridge, Kent. Thomas owned a dark-coloured horse-drawn van, which Harold drove for deliveries. Harold also taught Sunday School and Bible classes.
The Disappearance of Frances Eliza O’Rourke
At 2:20 on the afternoon of Tuesday, 31st December 1901, seven-and-a-half-year-old Frances Eliza O’Rourke was sent on an errand by her father, John, to pick up a package from his employers, Messrs. Jenkinson, at Tunbridge Wells. She collected the parcel and left for home at around 3:50 p.m.
She was seen by Ethel Muggeridge, Mrs. Hollamby, and a girl named Dupont between 4:30 and 4:45 p.m. getting into a dark-coloured horse-drawn van and sitting next to its driver near the Cross Keys Inn in Vauxhall Lane, close to the Tonbridge to Tunbridge Wells road. Conrad Smith recognised the van’s driver as Apted. Some workmen saw the van stationary in the lane, and two of them saw Frances beside it.
An hour later, the same van was seen by a Mr. Roe—without Frances—being driven at speed down Primrose Hill from Vauxhall Pond towards Tonbridge. Frances’s parents reported her missing, and a search was launched. It was dark by then, and her body was not discovered until the following day, when Mr. Doust, on his way to work, spotted it by the side of the pond.
The Murder
Frances was nearly naked and had been stabbed behind the ear. The knife was still embedded in her hair. It is thought that Frances was thrown from the van. Dr. Watts of Tonbridge testified that Frances’s death had been caused by the stab wound to the neck and that she had been raped.
The Arrest
Mrs. Hollamby (also given as Holloway in some accounts) came forward and said she knew who normally drove the van the police were looking for—it was Harold Apted. A Police Sergeant went to Apted’s home and found blood on his jacket and discovered that the knife had been lent to him by a man named Hawkins.
He was charged with murder and, at Tonbridge Police Court on 18th January, was committed for trial at the Kent Assizes.
The Trial and Conviction
The trial was held at Maidstone on the 25th and 26th of February 1902 before Mr. Justice Wright. The evidence above was presented by the prosecution. Apted’s defence was weak at best. The jury had no hesitation in convicting him but recommended mercy on account of his age.
Execution
Apted made no confession in the condemned cell, nor in a letter he wrote to his parents shortly before execution. He was hanged at Maidstone Prison at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, 18th March 1902, by William and John Billington. Apted weighed 145 lbs. and was given a drop of 6 ft 9 in.
The gallows was some 20 feet from the condemned cell. The procession to it was led by the Chief Warder, followed by the governor, Major Dundas, and Under-Sheriff Mr. F. R. Hewlett, with Apted and the chaplain next. Behind them were the Billington brothers and several warders. The medical officer, Dr. Charles Hoar, brought up the rear.
A crowd estimated at 500 people had congregated outside the prison to see the black flag unfurled. They heard the thud of the trap doors as they opened.
The Inquest
The inquest was held before Mr. T. Buss, Coroner for the Tonbridge Division of Kent. The jury were permitted to view the body and noted that Apted’s neck was swollen and that there was an abrasion beneath the angle of the left jaw, caused by the eyelet of the noose.
Aftermath
While Apted was on remand and awaiting execution, Frances’s parents began receiving threatening letters stating they would be killed if Apted was hanged and that the writer was the real murderer. Another letter demanded money. Police apprehended the author of these letters—17-year-old local boy Alexander Moore. It is not known what happened to him.
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