A Broken Engagement
Nineteen-year-old John Parr had been engaged to nineteen-year-old Sarah Willott, but after discovering his lies, she broke off the relationship in the summer of 1900. He had claimed to be a French polisher by trade but, in fact, was unemployed. She also learned that he had served a prison term for theft. This was not the sort of man she wanted to marry.
The Night of the Murder
On the evening of Monday, August 27, 1900, Sarah and her friends Emily Samson and Kate Burgess went to the Forrester’s Music Hall in London. Parr followed them there and caused a scene, so the girls left and were walking down Bethnal Green Road when Parr again accosted them.
He asked Sarah to take him back, but she refused. She threatened to walk over to Bethnal Green police station. Parr told her to do so. Inside the police station, Sgt. George Crow heard shots and came out at 10:10 p.m., finding Parr still holding the gun and exclaiming, “I have done it, I have done it.”
Arrest and Investigation
Sarah was taken into the police station but died three or four minutes later. Parr was arrested and charged with her murder by Insp. William Page. He was remanded to Holloway Prison, which was still a male prison at this time.
There, he was examined by the medical officer, Dr. James Scott, who found him to be of low intellect but fit to plead.
The Trial
Parr was tried at the Old Bailey before the Recorder, Mr. Justice Bucknill, on September 13, 1900. Emily Samson testified that Parr had approached Sarah, and she said, “What do you intend to do?”
Parr replied, “I intend to have you, and no one else.”
She responded, “I don’t want you. All I want is an honest, hard-working fellow, not one who robs others.”
She then turned to go up the police-station steps, and that was when she was shot in the right temple with a small five-shot revolver.
Given the eyewitness testimony of the girls and the arresting officer, the only available defence was insanity. The jury did not accept that but recommended him to mercy on account of his age. Parr told the court that he intended to shoot himself, but the revolver jammed. A suicide note was found in his pocket when searched.
Execution
As the murder was committed with a gun, mercy was not forthcoming, and Parr was hanged at Newgate Prison at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 2, 1900, by James Billington, assisted by William Billington.
He slept “lightly” the night before and had a “moderate” breakfast. The drop was 8 ft. 6 in., and death was reported to have been “instantaneous.” The crowd outside Newgate was mainly composed of women.
Parr’s case received very little publicity.
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