Murder in Busy Street

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 852, 21 December 1929, Page 22

Murder in Busy Street

HROWDS thronging one or the busiest marketing centres in London before sunset the other day were horrified witnesses of a swiftly-enacted murder drama.

Emerging . from a little court into the stream of bustling humanity which surged round the street stalls, a man staggered, across the pavement and collapsed, an inert mass, in the gutter.

His head was almost severed by a wound right across his throat, from which a stream of blood issued. While women shrieked and fainted with terror at the awful spectacle, other spectators sped swiftly to the side of the stricken man and tried to staunch the fatal flow, but before an ambulance could convey him to hospital he had expired. Events moved so rapidly that few were able to throw any light on the prologue to the terrible deed. A man was seen engaged in an altercation with the victim, but during the confusion which ensued the other party to the quarrel pushed his way hurriedly through the crowd and disappeared. Detectives were quickly on the spot, and before many hours had elapsed a young railway employee was arrested and charged with wilful murder. Those who are familiar with Chapel Street, Islington, a busy marketing centre, near the Angel, will have no difficulty in envisaging the excitement which prevailed when Francis Edward Marden, 28, bricklayer, of Vittoria Street, Islington, suddenly collapsed and died amid this scene of bustle and turmoil. A bachelor, he was employed on some new flats in the vicinity, and left off work at noon on the day he met with his violent end. Two of his sisters and an aunt were in Chapel Street at the time of the murder, and did not know of their rela-

Swift Drama in Daylight

tiye’s fate until they reached home. Naturally, the drama was enacted so* swiftly that few obtained more'than a. fleeting glimpse of the actors. The assailant seems to have mingled with the crowd unnoticed. It would be easy for him to do so. When I reached Marden,” said one witness, “there was no weapon near him.” It is a pathetic fact that Marden died within a short distance of his home. Apparently he had been winning money in a gambling game in which he had been engaged with three or four others when the fatal alterca tion arose. One of the part’ adopted a fighting attitude toward Harden and accused him of cheating. Harden ran away, but was followed and attacked. There was a flash of steel, and within a few seconds the young bricklayer lay dying on the ground. The dead man’s relatives were thunderstruck by the tragic news. “He was one of the best,” declared a sister, “a quiet, inoffensive boy, who always had a shilling in his pocket He did not have any trouble as far as we knew, and did not say anything when he left home. He was a splendid worker, and it was his intention to go to classes in order to get on with his work. He had a lot of friends, and no enemies that we were aware of. He was the youngest of three brothers, and served in France during the war, being wounded in the shoulder.” The police arrested James Lucas, 32, railway van setter, of Warren Street, Islington, on a charge of wilful murder. When Lucas appeared at Clerkenwell crowds flocked to the court. A police officer related that when told he would be charged with cutting Marden’s throat, Lucas replied: “I remember nothing. ... I remember putting my horse away, but I don’t remember anything more. I went home, and then to my sister’s, when the two gentlemen came that brought me to.”