Transcription
[Music] on the 8th of January 1914, Robert Stillwell, a cabinetmaker's apprentice, patiently waited for a train due to arrive at Mailed me Park railway station, located on the North London Lane. Once the train came to a halt, he departed from the platform and entered the third-class carriage. With Robert planning on traveling to Broad Street, shortly into the journey, as the train slowed at Dalston station, Robert's attention focused on peculiar sights. As he tied his shoelace, his heart dropped as a grim realization washed over him. A small hand was protruding from underneath one of the train seats. Panicked, he attempted to catch the attention of a porter, however, he was unsuccessful.
Further up the lane, once the train came to a standstill at Haggar Stern station at 4:33 p.m., Stilwell darted from the train, seeking help from the stationmaster, who then demanded the train to be fully searched at the next stop, Shoreditch station. After the boy voiced his concerns, it was discovered that the body of a boy was tucked beneath the seat in the train compartment. The unidentified child, thought to have been five or six years old, had long flaxen hair styled in ringlets. The cause of death was strangulation, as authorities found peel marks on the boy's neck, suggesting a cord was used to asphyxiate the child. There were other signs of violence, with the boy's face bruised and bloody.
A post-mortem, which was carried out, revealed that the boy suffered from an undiagnosed heart condition, which, had he lived, would have cut his life expectancy it drastically. After a thorough inspection of the train carriage, it was determined that there were no signs of a disturbance within, suggesting that the boy was deceased before being hidden beneath the seats.
Later that evening, the child was identified as five-year-old William Starch-filled, the son of newspaper sailor John Starch-filled and Agnes Starch-filled. The couple were separated and had been living apart for approximately five months, with William having lived with Agnes at 191 Hampstead Road, northwest of Houston and in the direction of Hampstead Heath. His father lived in a common lodging house in Long Acre, near to the Shard in London.
John Starch-filled had previously been in the army but had become a rather famous local character due to an incident which occurred in the autumn of 1912. He was shot by an Armenian man named Steven Titus, who murdered 37-year-old Thomas Jones and Esther Towers, a 29-year-old barmaid, at the Horseshoe Hotel, a public house which was located at 264 Tottenham Court Road, London. Following the killings, Titus fled from the Horseshoe, where John was on the streets selling newspapers. Noticing the kiosks, he delayed Titus's escape but was shot. John was treated in hospital and, once he was released, the judge in Titus's case awarded him 50 pounds, approximately 6,000 pounds in today's money, with the Carnegie fund giving him one pound a week for the rest of his life, around 115 pounds in current British currency, as a reward for his bravery. Several others who aided in apprehending Titus were also rewarded varying sums of money. 27-year-old Stephen Titus was convicted of the double murder and two counts of attempted murder. He was also declared insane upon his incarceration.
On the 8th of January 1914, John Starch-filled had been on bed rest since the shooting. He had suffered greatly in the aftermath. According to John, on the day in question, he lay in bed until 3:30 p.m., bought a coffee at Annandale Street Cafe at 3:45 p.m., and by 4:00 p.m., he was back out on the cobbles of Oxford Street selling newspapers until 7:00 p.m., returning home soon afterwards. John told police that he had not seen William in three weeks.
Agnes Starch-filled left her son with the landlady of her lodging while she visited friends and sought a job. Between 12:00 noon and 1:00 p.m., in her absence, the landlady suggested that Willie, as William was affectionately known, could collect some cards for her. The cards were available at a shop 22 houses away and had to let inscribed on them. William ventured out, soon returned, however, the landlady was not pleased with the cards. She subsequently requested that William go back to the shop on Hampstead Road and buy alternatives. William departed at 1:00 p.m. Mr. Knapp, the stationery shop's manager, gave him the cards and witnessed William exiting the establishment. This would be the last time that William Starch-filled was seen alive.
Details about what happened after 1:00 p.m. are a mystery. Medical examinations were conducted, and it was concluded that William was murdered between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., with the body being abandoned on the train for multiple stops before being noticed by Robert Stillwell.
The inquest into William's death began on the 15th of January 1914. Two signalmen reported feigning in court on the train lane on the day of the murder, which could have been used to strangle the boy. Another signalman, who was on duty at the St. Pancras signal box, witnessed a train pass at 2:14 p.m. on the day of the murder. The locomotive had come from Chalk Farm in North London, and the witness described seeing a tall man bending over what he thought was a young girl. The signalman was invited to examine the face of the deceased child, and he confirmed that William was the child he saw. With William having had long hair and ringlets, the signalman assumed that he was a young girl.
A witness in Camden coal yard recalled seeing a man between 2:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., again bending over something in a train carriage, and he also believed that the unknown man was also wrapping up a parcel. Allegedly, a witness saw a woman and boy together, with the woman tugging at the boy's arm. The child, who allegedly resembled William, seemed reluctant to go with her. John Muir, a timber porter, stated he saw John and a young boy at 1:50 p.m. at Camden Town tube station. Soon after, he left an ironmonger shop, walking near Kentish Town Road in Camden. Clara Wood, one of the witnesses at the inquest, remembered seeing a man and a young boy holding hands and wandering the street. Crucially, she recalled that the boy was eating a slice of currant cake. Her recollection was of high interest to authorities, as William's post-mortem examination found that the boy's stomach contents included partially digested food which contained currants. Asked if she could recall the man's face, Clara replied that she could. She then pointed in the direction of John Starch-filled. He strongly denied being with his son that day, and fellow dwellers of his lodging house gave witness testimonies confirming that John was in bed at his residence at the time. John Waits, a commercial traveler, said that he saw a man and boy together at Camden Town station. He again identified the man as John Starch-filled, but John was adamant in claiming that Waits' testimony was a lie.
The jury at the Old Bailey came to a decision and declared a willful murder charge against John Starch-filled, who was then taken into custody in order to await trial. As the trial date loomed, one of the case's key witnesses attempted to take their own life, and Clara Wood was noted to have failed to explain several details during cross-examination. Her story had many flaws, and it was reported that she had already seen a photograph of John Starch-filled in a newspaper before she reported her alleged sighting. She was shown a photograph of William but was unable to confirm that he was the young boy she had allegedly seen. The trial concluded, and in a turn of events, the jury declared John Starch-filled as being not guilty of killing his son.
After being freed from jail, John continued to insist that he was innocent and his son's death was an act of revenge for the incarceration of Steven Titus in 1912. Just two years after the trial, in 1916, John Starch-filled passed away in St. Pancras infirmary. The truth about who murdered William Starch-filled, their motive for doing so, and how the boy ended up on the train are just a few missing pieces of a complex case, which, over a century on, remains unsolved.