The house in Water Street, Accrington — scene of the town’s first murder in living memory. The author
The motiveless murder of Henrietta Leaver, aged six, by her father James was an infamous and unwanted landmark in the locality. It was said to be the first murder in the history of the town of Accrington – at least within the memory of any person living at the time. It occurred towards the end of January in the year 1881 and the sequence of events and the guilt of Henrietta’s father were never disputed.
The crucial issue was the sanity or otherwise of the accused. Did he know what he was doing when he murdered his only daughter on the evening of Tuesday, 25 January 1881, or was he insane and not accountable for his appalling actions? No one can be absolutely sure. Yet the members of the jury who were charged with deciding his fate had to reach a decision one way or the other. In doing so they had the following facts to consider.
James and Malinda Leaver with their two children, Henrietta and two-year-old Albert, lodged at the house of John Smith and his wife in Water Street, Accrington. On the day of the murder they set off for work together at the Park Shed, Accrington, where he was employed as a weaver and she worked alongside him. What began as just another drab working day following the pattern of any other significantly broke from routine after the morning’s work was completed. It had been Leaver’s habit to return home for the midday meal, prepared by Mrs Smith, but on that fateful day he remained at Park Shed. During the lunch break he was seen to be preoccupied with the task of sharpening his pocket-knife on a whetstone. At least two of his workmates witnessed him doing so and on separate occasions.
After work Leaver and his wife returned home together and were met near the house by their young daughter. The family went indoors about 6 pm and had tea with Mrs Smith. Leaver showed no outward sign of being upset or out of sorts and he played fondly with Henrietta after the evening meal. She was encouraged to sing for her supper and gave a rendition of When Shall We All Meet Again before being put to bed by her mother.
After clearing the table the two women decided to visit the Tuesday market and Mrs Smith asked Leaver if he would accompany them but he declined saying he was tired and would soon be in his bed. When they left the house he was sitting in front of the fire in the front room, his clogs discarded and seemingly at ease.
Shortly afterwards James Leaver roused himself from the comfortable chair by the fire, picked up a ladling can that was on the oven and fetched a bundle of old clothes from the cellar below. He locked the front door, slowly ascended the narrow stairs and made his way to the front bedroom where Henrietta and Albert were asleep in the same bed. Seizing his daughter roughly he brought out the recently sharpened pocket-knife and slashed a gaping wound in her throat.
The child’s arm hung limply over the side of the bed. Blood flowed down the limb and into the ladling can placed neatly in position on the floor. Leaver made a token attempt to staunch the bleeding with the jumble of clothing he had to hand whilst Albert, now wide awake, was whimpering and whining. He was ignored by Leaver who promptly left the room and hazily negotiated the stairs to the lower floor.
At 7.40 pm John Smith arrived at his front door in Water Street and found it fastened against him. He turned to go round the back when, suddenly, the door opened a little and quickly closed again. He found he could now enter. Once inside the house he saw Leaver sitting in front of the fire. Before Smith could say a word his lodger told him that he had killed Henrietta and held up the pocket-knife, its blade heavily smeared with blood. Smith dashed upstairs and, to his horror, realised Leaver was in deadly earnest. The child was still breathing but only just and Smith scrambled downstairs and ran out of the house to fetch the nearest doctor.
Doctor Mitchell was not long in arriving at the scene of the atrocity but he was, tragically, too late. The little girl was dead. As he examined her lifeless body young Albert wailed unceasingly. Fortunately, in such circumstances, he was too young to truly appreciate what had happened.
In the meantime the police were summoned. The situation was explained to them by Smith and they found Leaver still sitting by the fading fire. After slipping on his clogs he was swiftly taken into custody. He went quietly and seemed oblivious to all that was going on around him. On the way out of the house he passed his wife and Mrs Smith who were just back from their trip to the market. They were at once told of the tragedy and the distraught mother was overcome with grief. Leaver, unmoved, was led away to the police station through a crowd of curious folk who had gathered outside the house.
James Leaver was five feet three inches tall and slightly built with a short-cropped beard and moustache. He was a native of Great Harwood and married his wife there in 1873. A few weeks after the ceremony they emigrated to the United States but Malinda Leaver was not abroad for long. She quickly returned with a daughter, Henrietta, and settled again in the Great Harwood area. Her husband did not come back till 1879 or thereabouts and, even then, did not live with his wife and daughter. The boy, Albert, was born in his absence.
Leaver wandered around from place to place on his return to England, sometimes staying with his brothers and at other times in lodgings. As a result, man and wife were apart for more than seven years.
The house in Water Street, Accrington — scene of the town’s first murder in living memory. The author
View of the front door and window of 92 Water Street, Accrington. The author
Some insight into Leaver’s frame of mind around this time is available from a study of the evidence given later by Christopher Edmundson who shared lodgings with him in America. Leaver was billeted in a room with Edmundson and several other men. In the middle of the night he would often be up and about behaving in the most eccentric manner. His odd habits were tolerated by the others until one night he attempted to strangle one of them. Not surprisingly, the man he attacked refused to sleep again in the same room as his assailant. Shortly afterwards Leaver was placed in the American equivalent of an asylum and he was in and out of such places until his return to England and the East Lancashire area.
Malinda Leaver and the children took up residence in Water Street at the beginning of October 1880. Leaver eventually made things up with his wife and joined them there shortly before Christmas of that year. She knew nothing of Leaver’s irrational behaviour prior to their reconciliation and during their time together at the Smiths’ house the couple were always on good terms.
Leaver seemed very fond of Henrietta though he appeared indifferent towards young Albert. The only indication of a latent unstable personality was his sudden inexplicable decision to give up smoking. He had always been a man for tobacco and there was no reason for him to deny himself this one consistent pleasure. In such circumstances his action was, to say the least, somewhat puzzling.
The inquest into the death of young Henrietta Leaver began on Thursday, 27 January 1881, at the Stanley Arms. Presiding was the deputy coroner, Mr Anderton. The jury went to view the body of the child which lay on a clean sheet in the bedroom of the house in Water Street. It was a pale and ghastly sight. Much affected, they quickly left the premises and proceeded to the Town Hall where the inquest was resumed in the court room. On Leaver being brought into court his wife screamed hysterically and buried her head in her shawl. Her husband ignored her and appeared listless and indifferent throughout.
After the other witnesses had given their evidence the proceedings were delayed due to the non-appearance of Doctor Mitchell who was conducting the post-mortem examination of the deceased. Later, in evidence, he stated that the wound in the child’s throat was some three and a half inches long, almost an inch deep at one point and had almost severed the windpipe completely. Considerable violence must have been used to inflict it.
A unanimous verdict of murder was brought in by the inquest jury and Leaver appeared the following day before the magistrates at the Borough Police Court where he was committed for trial at the forthcoming Liverpool Assizes. His aspect amazed those who had seen him at the inquest just the day before. He was alert, attentive, intensely interested in the proceedings.
There were a large number of spectators at the hearing. Many local folk were unable to get into the court after waiting several hours outside in the bitter cold. Crowds also flocked to the house in Water Street and threatened to kick down the door when John Smith refused to allow them to view the body of the unfortunate child.
On committal, Leaver was removed by the authorities with great stealth. He was taken to Church railway station in a cab. Unnoticed, he was quickly ushered into the carriage of a waiting train accompanied by a detective. In this way trouble with the crowds was largely avoided.
The trial of James Leaver took place at the Liverpool Assizes before Mr Justice Stephens on Tuesday, 8 February 1881. The case was to last nearly three hours and most of the time was taken up determining the sanity or otherwise of the accused. The prosecution maintained that Leaver did in fact know what he was doing at the time of the murder and that evidence of previous abnormal behaviour did not establish that he was insane when killing the child. They pointed to the fact that at noon on the day of the murder Leaver had remained at work contrary to his usual practice and had been preoccupied with sharpening his pocket-knife – in anticipation, perhaps, of putting it to use that same evening? They reminded the jury that Leaver had locked the front door after the departure of the two women and that he went about his grisly business in a most methodical manner utilising the ladling can and clothing which he had carried to the front bedroom before killing his daughter. They questioned whether these actions could be those of a man out of his mind and quite unaware of what he was doing.
The defence were equally determined to establish Leaver’s insanity and maintained that he was suffering from an impulsive mania to kill. It was noted at the trial that Leaver’s uncle had committed suicide and the defence emphasised the complete and utter lack of motive in the case.
There was also the evidence of Christopher Edmundson which showed that Leaver had attempted to kill in the recent past and had behaved consistently in an abnormal manner – so much so that he had been placed in a number of mental institutions whilst abroad.
The question of sanity was resolved by the verdict of the jury. They found that James Leaver had murdered his only daughter whilst in such a state of mind that he could not properly judge what he was doing. They therefore returned a verdict of ‘not guilty’ due to insanity and went on to criticise the relatives of the accused for failing to notify the authorities when they knew Leaver was at large in the community and of an unsound mind. Presumably, this criticism did not apply to Malinda Leaver who was seemingly quite unaware of her husband’s fragile and unstable psyche. Another, if somewhat bizarre case of the wife being the last one to know!
Accrington’s first murder within living memory undoubtedly remains amongst the most melancholic in the history of the town.