The Ivy Inn Murder: A Single Wound and a Vanishing Killer | True Crime 1891

The Ivy Inn Murder: A Single Wound and a Vanishing Killer | True Crime 1891 
News of the Times | Episode 588 | 1891 

A shocking Victorian crime in which a trusted 16-year-old servant was killed in broad daylight… and her killer vanished into the hills of Huddersfield. What followed was a frantic manhunt, a wrongful arrest, mass public hysteria, and finally, a confession overheard in a prison infirmary.

This episode unravels the full story — from the moment Catherine Dennis was found on the landing, to the dramatic return of the chief suspect James Stockwell, who evaded police for 17 days before creeping into his mother’s house at dawn.  Did she give her son up to police? Yes, she did.

Based entirely on detailed period reporting and inquest testimony, this case reveals:
• The discovery of Catherine’s body at the Ivy Inn
• The suspected outrage committed upon her
• The tiny but deadly wound that puzzled doctors
• Two innocent strangers arrested amid public fury
• A missing local man whose behaviour grew increasingly suspicious
• The relentless police search through Linthwaite, Slaithwaite & Crosland Hill
• And the confession that finally sealed the case

This is one of Huddersfield’s most haunting Victorian tragedies — a story of fear, misjudgement, and a community shaken to its core.

And in today’s Further Particulars:
A second fugitive — entirely naked — hiding on a ship for more than a month after stabbing a crewman off the Cape of Good Hope. Victorian journalism truly never disappointed. 

Settle in with a cup of tea as we return to Yorkshire in 1891, where quiet afternoons could turn extraordinary in an instant.

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