Britain's first railway murder.

In this podcast from the UK National Archives, Kate Colquhoun discusses the first murder on Britain's railways in 1864, when an elderly banker was bludgeoned and his body thrown from the train. The case was a public sensation that involved a Scotland Yard detective who had previously worked with Inspector Whicher (see the Constance Kent, or Road Murder, case), a key piece of evidence left behind in the carriage, and a transatlantic chase of the suspect. It is the subject of Colquhoun's Mr. Briggs' Hat (US title: Murder in the First-Class Carriage).