THE MAUL AND THE PEAR TREE The Ratcliffe Highway Murders, 1811

Softcover. In this riveting reconstruction, the authors join forces to discover the truth about the Ratcliffe Highway murders. During the dark nights of December 1811 in London's East End, two households, including a young mother and her baby, were brutally clubbed to death. These vicious crimes provoked nationwide panic and the Government offered an unprecedented reward for the conviction of the murderer. Inexperienced magistrates grappled with the mystery, against a background of mounting hysteria. Eventually a seaman named John Williams was convicted of the murders and executed. But was he really the notorious East End killer, or just another victim? Drawing on public records, newspaper clippings and hitherto unpublished sources, the authors expertly sift the evidence to shed new light on this infamous mystery. Illus. + Map, Epilogue, Bibliog. + People in the Case. 372pp. trade size softcover. Vg+ with minimal creasing to covers.