We can find plenty of cases of abusive men killing their wives, but very few of abusive women killing their husbands.
Early Life and Marriage
At the age of 48, Margaret Murray married 50-year-old John Walber in 1889. They kept a grocery shop at 6 Gildart Street in Liverpool. This was quite a large building, and the rooms on the upper floors were occupied by John Murray, Margaret’s son by her first husband, and their lodgers, James Pearson and his girlfriend, Mary Vouse.
Both the Walbers were heavy drinkers, but according to John Murray, John was not violent or abusive when drunk. At the time of his death on the 16th of November 1893, John was 55 and Margaret was 53. The marriage was not a happy one and would soon take a major turn for the worse.
The Return of an Old Flame
Seventeen years earlier, in the summer of 1876, John Walber had had a relationship with Annie Connolly, which had ended but which he had not forgotten. In the spring of 1893, Annie took lodgings at a house in Oakes Street, not far from the Walbers’ shop. John rediscovered her and visited her several times.
Unfortunately for him, a very jealous Margaret followed him on what was to be his last visit and demanded to know from Annie if he was in her rooms. She told Margaret that he was and that “You can take him. I don’t want him.” Margaret attacked John at Annie’s, hitting and kicking him, as well as subjecting him to a torrent of verbal abuse.
John got drunk and finally went home later in the day. The quarrel continued until John fell into a drunken stupor. Margaret enlisted the help of her son to carry John upstairs to the attic bedroom. There she stripped him to his underclothes, hid his outer clothes in the basement, and locked and chained the door shut.
Imprisonment and Decline
John would remain Margaret’s prisoner for the next four months. This situation went unreported to the authorities, although it was clear that the other occupants of the house knew about it—and so did at least one visitor.
Margaret told a friend of Mary Vouse that she had John locked up to prevent him from visiting “a bad house” (a brothel, presumably). She also told the woman she would give him a flypaper. At this time, flypapers contained arsenic and were not infrequently used as a source of poison.
In early November, John’s sister visited him, and Margaret reluctantly let her see him. Apparently, he was lying on the bed and looking “bewildered.” John told his sister that he couldn’t work, and she offered to fetch a doctor or a priest, but Margaret told her they were not required.
Murder of John Walber
On the 15th of November 1893, Margaret and Mary Vouse went to a local pub. There they were joined by Ellen Mottram, to whom Margaret offered money to smash Annie’s windows and to whom she also threatened to kill John.
Margaret and Mary returned to the house, but Mary soon went out again. Sometime afterward, Margaret attacked John with the heavy chain she used to secure the attic door and with a chamber pot. It was a very vicious assault, and there was blood everywhere.
When Mary Vouse returned, she found John Murray not at his post in the shop and called up to Margaret to let her know. Margaret came down and told her that John had gone and taken his money and musical instruments.
The next day, Margaret asked Mary to open the shop and told her that John had killed her husband. The police were called and found the grisly scene. They took Margaret, James Pearson, and Mary to the police station for questioning.
Here, Margaret admitted that she was the one who had attacked John and that her son had nothing to do with it. He had fled to Ireland after the murder.
Trial and Execution
Margaret came to trial on the 14th of March 1894 before Mr. Justice Day in the imposing courtroom of St. George’s Hall in Liverpool. Mary Vouse and James Pearson testified against Margaret, and there was also early forensic evidence of blood spatter on Margaret’s clothes.
After just one day, the jury returned a guilty verdict, and the judge sentenced her to hang. She was returned to Walton Prison and hanged by James Billington on Monday, the 2nd of April 1894. No reporters were permitted to witness the execution.
The governor told the coroner’s jury that she had walked to the gallows unaided and that she had been given a drop of 6 ft 7 in, causing instantaneous death. This was the first female hanging carried out by Billington, who was assisted by a man named Thompson.
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