The banns for the marriage of Edward Richard Palmer and Esther Swinford had been posted, but the wedding never took place. The exact reasons why the marriage didn’t happen depended on whether you were to ask Edward or Esther. Edward maintained that somebody had told him something very revealing about his fiancée and, as a consequence, he just couldn’t bring himself to marry her. Meanwhile Esther gave a completely different account; according to her, Edward was untrustworthy. She had given him a considerable sum of money, with which to find and furnish their future marital home, and he had frittered it all away on other things, mainly drink.
Regardless of why their nuptials didn’t happen, Edward left Swindon, where the couple had planned to start their married life, and moved away. He obtained work as a gardener for a Mr Lacey near Reading, then a Captain Pirie at Marlow. It was at about this time that he began to carry a revolver. His brother was so concerned by this that he confiscated the weapon, but Edward pleaded with him to give it back, saying that he was frightened of being left alone at work. His brother finally relented and returned the gun in the summer of 1903.
Esther continued to work as a barmaid at the Ship Inn in Swindon. Even though she and Edward had broken off their engagement, there were still vestiges of warmth and attraction between them and they continued to write affectionately to each other.
In early September 1903, Edward applied to return to his former job as a labourer with the GWR Works at Swindon, although his application was ultimately unsuccessful. He made up his mind that, without work, there was no future for him in Swindon, so decided to try his luck at Newbury. On the point of leaving the area again, he wanted to see Esther to say goodbye, so on 18 September he visited the Ship Inn, deliberately choosing a time when he knew that the pub would be deserted.
Esther served Palmer with a bottle of Bass beer and the two remained alone in the bar for a few moments. Suddenly, the landlord and landlady, who were in their private quarters at the rear of the pub, heard the sound of a gunshot. They immediately rushed to the bar, where they found Esther lying on the floor, obviously dying, with Edward standing gazing wistfully at her, the gun still in his hand.
The GWR Works, Swindon, 1928. (Author’s collection)
The landlord announced that he was going to send for the police, at which Palmer turned to him and said sadly; ‘You needn’t do that, Walt, I done it. I loved the girl.’ As they waited for the police and a doctor, twenty-year-old Esther Swinford died from a single bullet wound to the heart.
When the police arrived, Edward Palmer went with them without protest and made no reply when he was formally charged with Esther’s wilful murder. When he was searched at the police station a photograph of Esther was found in his pocket, on which he had written the words ‘The curse of my life’.
At the inquest into the death of Esther Swinford, the jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against Edward Palmer, who was committed to stand trial at the next Wiltshire Assizes. His trial opened at Devizes on 28 October 1903, before Mr Justice Wills. Mr J.A. Foote KC and Mr Seton acted for the prosecution and Mr Thornton Lawes defended.
The prosecution began by outlining the circumstances under which Esther and Edward had broken off their engagement, dismissing the idea that Palmer had heard anything untoward about Esther and pointing to the letters between the couple as evidence that Palmer had spent the money that he should have used to secure accommodation for them after their marriage. The court was told that Edward’s brother had been so concerned about Palmer that he had forcibly taken his gun from him, only returning it reluctantly because he believed that his brother was truly afraid of being set upon and attacked.
Mr Foote maintained that Palmer had deliberately chosen to visit the Ship Inn at a time when he knew that he was almost certain to be alone with Esther and that he had taken his loaded gun with him with the express purpose of shooting her.
Edward Palmer took the stand in his own defence. He maintained that he had habitually carried a loaded revolver for about nine years and admitted that he had taken it with him when he went to see Esther on the evening of 18 September. According to Palmer, Esther had behaved very coolly towards him. He had asked her for a smoke to accompany his beer and she picked up a box of cigars and opened the lid, holding the box out for Edward to take one.
He had tried to take her hand as she did so, saying, ‘Hettie, won’t you wish me goodbye as I am going away tomorrow?’ Esther replied, ‘I do not wish to have any more to do with you,’ and, at this, Palmer told the court that he had pulled out his gun and pointed it at her, with the aim of frightening her into speaking to him. Esther dropped the box of cigars that she was proffering and grabbed Palmer’s wrist with both hands. Her tight grip had caused the gun to go off accidentally and Esther had immediately fallen to the ground, mortally wounded.
Palmer admitted to writing the words ‘The curse of my life’ on his photograph of Esther, but declined to divulge why he had done so and was unable or unwilling to provide any instances of how Esther might have wronged him.
Since Palmer had been found standing over the body of his victim with the literal ‘smoking gun’ in his hand, the defence team had an uphill struggle to try and save him from execution. They called several witnesses to testify to his previous good character, including all of his former employers who, without exception, described him as a steady, hard-working young man. A doctor had already appeared for the prosecution to say that, in his opinion, Palmer’s mental state was quite normal, both now and at the time of the murder. Hence the defence chose to concentrate on demonstrating that Palmer’s previous good character negated any question of malice aforethought and that, in grabbing Edward’s wrists, Esther had precipitated the firing of the gun and accidentally brought about her own demise. It was therefore the contention of the defence that the charge should be reduced from murder to manslaughter.
The jury did not agree with the defence team. After a short debate, they returned a verdict of ‘Guilty of wilful murder’ against twenty-four-year-old Edward Richard Palmer, who was promptly sentenced to death by Mr Justice Wills.
William Billington carried out the execution at Devizes on 17 November 1903, assisted by his brother, John. (The two Billington brothers were part of a family dynasty of British hangmen as their father, James, and their older brother, Thomas, had both previously held the post of official hangman.) Unwittingly, and through no fault of her own, Esther Swinford had indeed become the curse of Palmer’s life.