Series: The Black Museum

Title: "The Hammer Head"

Summary: There is one particular feature of interest about this case.  When the body of a young woman is found in a train station at Charing Cross, suspicion naturally falls first upon her common-law husband, a petty criminal whose many offenses against the law have thus far involved no violence.

His name is Jamie Marsden, hers Daisy Baker. The two have been acting in small parts in plays in Brighton, and police pay him a visit at their home at 25 Park Road.  He gives them a plausible alibi and says he plans to move immediately to smaller quarters at 26 Maitland Street.  Investigators then call on Daisy's sister Ruth Crandall, who asks indignantly why they have not yet arrested Marsden, who she is convinced murdered Daisy.

When police visit Marsden again at his new home on Maitland Street they find Daisy's body in a trunk in one of the closets.  Jamie again assures them to their satisfaction that he did not kill Daisy, but found her dead body at the old residence, panicked, and took it with him to the new one not knowing what else to do with it.

Finally, they interview Ruth Crandall again, and she inadvertently reveals that she knows Daisy was beaten to death with a hammer.  Investigators then find that Crandall bought a hammer from a hardware store "right around the corner" from Baker's residence just before the crime.  Crandall then confesses, indicating that she considered her sister to have been a common whore who "wasn't fit to live" and that because of Daisy people "looked down on me."

Jamie Marsden, a cheerful and even charming little man, went on with his life of petty crime.  He is the most memorable character in the case.

Note: Of all the motives for murder that one encounters, this seems to be one of the most bizarre.

--
Larry Maupin