The Disturbing & Sinister Case of Reginald Birchall

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Transcript

00:08Today, we start our story in England and finish in Canada, so sit back as we go to the late

00:1819th century.

00:23Reginald Birchall was born on 25 May 1866 in the northern English town of Accrington, which is about 23 miles

00:34north of the city of Manchester.

00:36He was the youngest son of the Reverend Joseph Birchall, who was a rector of a local church.

00:42His father had been educated at Oxford University and was keen that all of his children should receive a good

00:49education.

00:51Reginald spent the first 12 years of his life being educated at home before his father sent him to board

00:58at the very well-respected Rossell School.

01:01He proved to be a good scholar and enjoyed being with other pupils and prided himself on doing well in

01:08his classes.

01:09His time at the school, however, was cut short as just over a year after he started at Rossell, his

01:16father died and Reginald was sent to study at a less expensive school, 225 miles away in the southern town

01:25of Reading.

01:26He spent the next five years at school, but the educational standards were not as high as his father would

01:33have wanted or his previous school had strived to achieve, and the young man started to neglect his studies.

01:40He seemed to prefer to spend time in public houses rather than in the classroom.

01:46Reginald hoped to follow in his father's footsteps and study at Oxford University, but in 1884 he failed the university

01:55entrance exam and had to wait until 1885 to retake it, the second time he passed and entered Lincoln College,

02:05Oxford.

02:05When his father's estate was settled, Reginald had inherited £4,000, which was to be held in trust until his

02:1425th birthday.

02:15This meant that while he was studying at Oxford, he would not yet have come into the money.

02:21Nevertheless, he was a resourceful young man and managed to live well beyond his means.

02:27This meant that he fell heavily into debt, and with pressure from his creditors to pay, young Reginald decided to

02:34sell his inheritance and pay all the money he owed.

02:37He managed to receive £3,000 for it, and although he was able to pay off his debts, he was

02:44left with very little money or collateral to borrow against, and soon afterwards he left university without completing his studies.

02:54After leaving Oxford, he worked in a few places, but nothing kept his interest for very long, and in 1888

03:03he secretly married Florence Stevenson, who was the daughter of an elderly railway executive.

03:11Florence had come from a very comfortable and stable background, and marrying Reginald meant that she was thrown into a

03:17world of debt and deceit.

03:19He was living beyond his means and was starting to amass more creditors.

03:25Reginald knew that he could not continue with his cycle of borrowing and spending, so in the autumn of 1888,

03:32the couple decided to leave their creditors and their way of life behind, and start a new life in Canada.

03:39He invested £500 into what he thought was a small estate near Woodstock in south-western Ontario, but when he

03:50arrived in Canada he discovered that he had actually purchased a small farm.

03:56A new life also meant a new name, and he introduced him and his wife as Lord and Lady Somerset.

04:04Life in Canada, however, was difficult for Reginald.

04:09The winter was extremely cold, and it was very different to the city life he had been used to.

04:14His wife would spend the days reading, and it did not take long for the couple to decide that this

04:21way of life was not for them.

04:22And in the spring of 1889, after six months in Canada, and with many unpaid bills,

04:29the couple returned to England and reverted back to the name Mr and Mrs Birchall.

04:36They went to live with Florence's father, and Reginald tried his best to hold down employment.

04:42He managed to secure a position as an advertising executive for a photography company in London's New Bond Street.

04:50But as more companies were emerging and competing in the same markets, his employer cut back on staff, and Reginald

04:59was again out of work.

05:02Reginald had always wanted to make easy money without really having to work for it.

05:07And then he received a tip on a horse named Sam Foyne that was running in the famous race, the

05:14Epsom Derby, which would take place in June 1890.

05:18The tip had come from a very trusted and credible person who was associated with the horse racing world,

05:25and Reginald thought that this could be the answer to all of his problems.

05:29All he would have to do was place a very large bet, and if the horse won, he would receive

05:36lots of money to pay off his creditors and start to enjoy a comfortable life with his wife.

05:41There was only one issue with his plan, and that was, he didn't have any money with which to place

05:48a large bet on a horse and was unable to get any credit.

05:54Not being a person who was going to be denied by not having any money, he devised a scheme to

06:00enable him to raise capital.

06:02He placed an advertisement in a London newspaper proclaiming to be the owner of a farm in Canada, who was

06:09looking for a partner to buy into the business for £500.

06:13He then planned to bet the money on the Epsom Derby, take his partner to Canada, wait until the race

06:20was run, and then pay back the £500 of interest out of his winnings.

06:25The advert received a few interested parties, but Reginald eventually reached agreements with two young men.

06:32The first was named Fred Benwell, who was from Cheltenham, and the son of Colonel Benwell.

06:39The second was Douglas Pelley, who was the son of Reverend Pelley from Saffron Walden in Essex.

06:47Douglas Pelley paid Reginald £170 as a first instalment towards the £500.

06:53But Fred Benwell took a more cautious approach, and said that he would not invest until he had seen the

07:00farm.

07:01This was not the best outcome for Reginald, but he was not to be deterred.

07:06And on February 5th 1890, along with his wife and his two investors, Fred Benwell and Douglas Pelley, Reginald boarded

07:15a ship and set sail from Liverpool bound for New York.

07:19The quartet arrived nine days later, on February 14th.

07:25After resting in New York, they all took the train to Buffalo, arriving on February 16th.

07:31The two investors were very keen to see the farm, which was about two hours by train once they had

07:38crossed the border into Canada.

07:39There was a complication, as Florence announced that she would not go to the farm until improvements had been made

07:46to make it more comfortable for her.

07:48So concerned about her being left alone, it was decided that Reginald would go to the farm with Fred, and

07:55Douglas would stay in Buffalo to accompany Florence.

07:59Early the next day, on February 17th 1890, Reginald and Fred left the hotel, and boarded the great trunk train

08:10bound for Eastwood, a station just east of Woodstock.

08:14When the train arrived at Eastwood, the two men got off and headed for the farm.

08:21It is unclear if Reginald knew exactly where he was going, but they eventually headed up in a heavy wooded

08:28area called Blenheim Swamp.

08:29Suddenly, Reginald produced a revolver, and at very close range, fired two shots at young Fred Benwell.

08:39He then removed the labels from all the dead man's clothing, and took his wallet.

08:45Convinced that he had removed all the evidence of identification from his victim, Reginald left Fred's body in the swamp,

08:52and made his way back to Buffalo.

08:55That evening, Reginald arrived back at the hotel, where he was met by the other investor, Douglas Pelly, who was

09:01anxious to ask Fred about the farm.

09:03But when he did not arrive, he asked Reginald what had happened to the young man.

09:09Reginald told him that Fred wanted to stay on the farm.

09:12The next day, Reginald, Florence and Douglas all left Buffalo, and moved into a hotel in Canada.

09:19They could not go far, as they had to wait for their bags to clear customs.

09:24Reginald then started to behave somewhat oddly.

09:27He took Douglas to a few places.

09:30First, they went to Niagara Falls, and he encouraged him to move very close to the side of the viewing

09:35area, and look down at the water.

09:38Douglas, thinking he was in danger of falling, quickly retreated.

09:41Reginald then took the young man to Niagara Falls suspension bridge.

09:45He explained that this was the world's first working railway suspension bridge, and was an amazing piece of engineering.

09:52But again, when the two gentlemen arrived, Reginald was encouraging the young man to get very close to the edge,

09:58as if he wanted harm to come to him.

10:00Later that day, Reginald announced to Douglas and Florence that he had received a message from Fred, saying that he

10:08was returning to London, and requesting that his luggage be sent to the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York.

10:16On the same day, Thursday the 20th of February 1890, he wrote to Fred's father, Colonel Benwell, informing him that

10:26his son was very happy with the farm, and had signed a deed of partnership.

10:31He requested that Colonel Benwell send the agreed £500 to conclude the deal.

10:38The next day, Friday the 21st of February, Douglas Pelley was browsing the newspaper, when he was startled to read

10:46that a body had been found by two local farmers in Blenheim Swamp.

10:50The article was accompanied by a picture of the unfortunate man, and he immediately thought that it looked remarkably like

10:57Fred Benwell.

10:58He ran to Reginald and showed him the article.

11:01At first, Reginald assured the young man that the picture was of someone else, and that Fred was on his

11:07way to New York.

11:08But they decided that in order to eliminate any doubt, Douglas would travel to New York, to see if Fred

11:15was in the Fifth Avenue Hotel,

11:17and Reginald and Florence would go to Paris, Ontario, to see if the body was, in fact, Fred Benwell.

11:25When the couple arrived at the mortuary, they were met by Detective John Wilson Murray, who was heading up the

11:32investigation.

11:34The detective had been unable to identify the victim, despite a thorough examination of the body,

11:40but he had noted that all the labels on the deceased's clothing had been removed.

11:44When searching the area, however, the police had found a cigar holder with the inscription FWB, which they believed to

11:53belong to the deceased.

11:54Reginald confirmed that the body was indeed Fred Benwell, but informed the detective that he knew very little about him,

12:02and that he only met him on the ship while travelling to New York.

12:06Detective Murray continued to question Reginald, who confirmed that he had last seen Fred near Niagara Falls,

12:13and made the point of telling him that the young man had arrived with a fair amount of luggage, some

12:18of which he had left at the hotel.

12:21When Detective Murray had finished speaking to Reginald, he thought that his story was not completely true,

12:27and considered him someone to be further investigated.

12:30So he contacted the police in Niagara Falls, and asked them to keep an eye on him.

12:36The following day, Douglas Pelly returned from New York,

12:39and that evening, Detective Murray arrived in Niagara Falls.

12:44He interviewed Douglas, and after the interview, he arrested Reginald Birchall.

12:51Detective Murray had arrested Reginald, as he did not want him to leave Canada,

12:56before he had had the opportunity to further investigate the case.

12:59But he also knew that he needed to find more evidence, for he had committed the crime.

13:04The police then searched Fred and Reginald's luggage,

13:07where they found evidence that concurred with Douglas Pelly's statement that the two men had known each other long before

13:14they left England.

13:16Douglas Pelly had also told the detective that Reginald and Fred had travelled together to the farm on the 17th

13:23of February,

13:24on the Grand Trunk train.

13:26The police then interviewed the conductor of the train, who remembered the two men.

13:31They also managed to find passengers who travelled in the same carriage,

13:35and who stated that both men had left the train at Eastwood Station.

13:39Another witness stated that he had seen the two men near the swamp,

13:43and a local farmer came forward, and said that he heard two revolver shots at around one o'clock on

13:49February the 17th.

13:50Other witnesses told the police that they had seen Reginald at the station on his return journey,

13:56and one man who saw him said he had previously known him as Lord Somerset.

14:01It seemed that Reginald's movements on February the 17th, 1890, had been established.

14:08And although the evidence may have been circumstantial,

14:11the Canadian authorities thought it was compelling enough to charge Reginald Birchall with the murder of Fred Benwell.

14:22The trial started on the 22nd of September 1890, and amassed press attention not only in Canada,

14:29but across the United States and Europe.

14:32The British press were especially fascinated with the case,

14:35as the accused and the victim were both from prominent families.

14:39The defence claimed that the evidence was all circumstantial,

14:43and that the timeline was not correct,

14:45as the defendant could not have left the train at Eastwood,

14:48walked to the swamp, committed the crime,

14:51and walked back again in the timeframe suggested by the prosecution.

14:56The prosecution, however, showed the court that the timeframe was correct,

15:00and that the defendant would have had more than enough time

15:03to have walked for four miles to the swamp,

15:06commit the terrible crime, and walk four miles back.

15:10They also produced many witnesses who saw Reginald on the train.

15:14The prosecution also produced a letter,

15:17that had been sent by the accused to the victim's father, Colonel Benwell.

15:22The letter claimed that Fred had signed a deed of partnership,

15:25and requested that the Colonel send the agreed £500 to conclude the deal.

15:30The letter was not dated,

15:32but the envelope had a postmark of the 20th of February,

15:36which was three days after the young man had been murdered.

15:39When the jury was sent out to consider the case,

15:43they returned after only one and a half hours,

15:45to find the defendant, Reginald Birchall, guilty,

15:50and the judge sentenced him to hang.

15:54His loyal wife, Florence, proclaimed her husband's innocence.

15:58But while in prison, awaiting his fate,

16:02Reginald was approached by a Canadian newspaper,

16:04who wanted to print his story.

16:07He knew that there was little chance of a reprieve,

16:10so thinking that any money made by him writing his account of his life,

16:14would help his wife in the future, he wrote his story.

16:18Some important facts were undoubtedly left out,

16:21but his writings were a fascinating tale of his life,

16:25and it was apparent that he considered himself to be an English gentleman.

16:28On November the 14th, 1890,

16:32in the Woodstock prison yard, Reginald Birchall was hanged.

16:38Between Reginald's arrest and betrayal,

16:42the horse race of the Epsom Derby took place on the 2nd of June, 1890.

16:48It was won by the horse named San Foyne.

16:54Hello everyone, and thank you so much for listening.

16:58As per usual, please leave any comments or feedback you may have,

17:03and I will see you in the next brief case.

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