The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-07-12
kEWGAIe.s CUPBOARD.
Fnlfs OF Casts and BustS of Heads of MnI
darers and Criminals

! Fnlfs OF Casts and Busts of Heads of Muir
derers and Criminals.
| 1t was the practice of the authorities
| up to the time of the murder of Mr..
Briggs to take cast of the heads and
faces of criminals after execution. Our
guide commenced his tour of the prison
| with an exhibition of cupboard full
of these memorials. 1t was a CHASTITY
| show of fearful countenances, low fore
heads. large brutal mouths, full necks,
| strong jaws, and weak, broad chins
| and marrow, and beneath them all the
| mark of the rope which had strangled
| them. Seen in this fashion the criminal
cOuntenances were no doubt cOnsidera-
bly, discounted, but not so seriously as
q caracaturist of some of our public
men would have us believe. How GER
tain of the shining lights of the day
| might look, shorn of their hair, and in
prison dress. offer temptation to any
artist who is opposed in politics to the
man he is drawing. but he would have
to give rein to his bitterest Imagination
TO match the cOuntenanceS in the
Warder's cupboard at Newgate. |
could not help thinking that Franz
Muller was something like-but let us
not be personal.
This is the head of Martha Brown
ing, who murdered her mistress, yOu
will remember. in Park lane; killed her
for the sake of some bank notes, which,
when she got them. turned out to be on
the Bank OF Elegance. This (tappina
the grim bust with curious familiar
itv) is Franz Muller. who murdered
Mr.. Briggs, and, after denying his
guilt almost to the last, confessed it in
conversation with his Lutheran
priest. This is Greenacre. who cut the
the body of his victim up in pieces and
hid them in various parts of the town"
Greenacre's was tell-tale mask
low forehead of the worst form and
a thin. wide mouth, that had the
downward drag" stiff and cruel A
good thing for some of us that we do
not shave. Do you remember the
mustache movement! 1t was probably
started by some interested person who
did not care to go about with his
wicked mouth exposed to the general
gaze. Leech did some of his most char
actcristic sketches in Punch during that
curious period. l was visiting at
little provincial town in those days,
where the leading draper of the place
had been hOOted and called ''Frenchy,"
and pelted for coming back after a
holiday with beard and mustaehe.
And l remember as "a boy that the
records of the Burke murders were
still used as BOgey by nurse maids
whose charges would not keep close to
their apron strings. The fear of being
"Burked'' was a lively one for many
long year after Burke was hanged at
Endinburg and Bishop and Williams at
Newgate.
These are the heads of Bishop and
Williams" said our guide. pointing to
a particularly ugly couple; they muir
dered little Italian boy and offered |
the corpse at Kings College for twelve
guineas; they were body-snatchers.
And this is Mrs. Brownrigg. who used |
to take little girls as apprentices and
then murder them; that W as in 1888"
DO you notice that some of the |
masks have open eyes?" asked the bar
rister.
Yes, and thay remind me of the |
line in Poe-'His eyes have all the
seeming of demons that is dream
ing. "-London Sunday Times