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Chapter 1: What happened to Julia Wallace on January 19, 1931?
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For suggested phone numbers for confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. At around 7pm on Monday January 19 1931, the telephone rang at Cottle's City Cafe on North John Street in the English port city of Liverpool. Waitress Gladys Harley picked up.
On the line was an unfamiliar, elderly-sounding man with a deep voice who asked quickly, Is that the Central Chess Club? Liverpool's Central Chess Club was meeting at the cafe that evening, as it did every Monday and Thursday throughout autumn, winter and early spring.
The club consisted of a small group of mostly amateur players whose informal and friendly matches were often played among the tables on the bustling main restaurant floor. The man on the telephone asked, Is William Wallace there? Gladys recognised many of the chess club's members by sight, but she didn't know most of their names.
Unsure whether William was among the crowd that evening, she approached the club's captain Samuel Beattie and asked, ''Is William Wallace here?'' Samuel had known William through the club for eight years. The 52-year-old initially came across as shy and reserved, but over time developed a reputation as a pleasant, likeable gentleman.
He wasn't a regular attendee at the club, appearing as little as once a fortnight, telling others it was because he disliked leaving his wife alone at night. In fact, William hadn't been seen at the club since before Christmas, but he was expected to appear that evening for a scheduled match in the second class championship.
The highly anticipated tournament had been planned two months in advance, with a first prize of 10 shillings and a second prize of 5 shillings. But when Samuel Beattie glanced around the cafe, he didn't see William there. This wasn't unusual as most club members didn't arrive until between 7.30 and 8. Samuel went to the telephone and took the call on William's behalf.
He didn't recognise the caller's strong, slightly gruff voice. When Samuel informed him that William hadn't arrived, the man asked, can you give me his address? I'm afraid I can't, Samuel replied. The man then asked, but will he be there? I can't say, Samuel answered. He may or may not. If he is coming, he will be here shortly. I suggest you ring up later.
The caller said he was too busy to ring back and stressed the matter's importance, explaining that it was his daughter's 21st birthday and that he wished to arrange something for her that fell within William's nature of business. I want to see him particularly, the man insisted, before asking Samuel to pass on a message.
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Chapter 2: Who was R.M. Qualtrough and what was his connection to the case?
The clients who William visited throughout the day described his mood differently. They record him being his usual gentlemanly self, polite, jovial and smiling. He gratefully accepted a cup of tea from one client and cheerfully remarked to another, let's hope it's going to stay this way, when blue skies suddenly appeared.
He admired the beautiful flowers in another's window and told a fourth that he looked forward to seeing her again in three weeks' time for their next appointment. One person remarked that they had never met a nicer man than William Wallace. All of William's clients agreed that he was perfectly normal and quite his usual self that day.
None of them got the impression that he had been crying or distressed. They attributed his tired appearance and habit of dabbing at his eyes to the cold weather and poor health. William was a sickly man. He had lost one of his kidneys to disease and doctors had told him that he only had a few years left to live as a result.
He was also known as someone who never seemed to get rid of his cold and was often seen using a handkerchief to wipe his watery eyes and blow his nose. The only thing William's clients noted was that he would repeatedly ask for the time and check his watch during meetings, but this was considered a normal habit of his. He was highly time-conscious as he relied on public transport.
He also had upwards of 560 house calls to make after falling behind after recently taking time off sick. For the past week, William had been largely housebound as he recovered from a severe bout of influenza, something he'd mentioned to chess club members the night before. He said he wouldn't have attended if not for the long-awaited tournament match, preferring to rest at home.
Some noticed a slight huskiness in his voice, suggesting he was still on the mend. William's wife, 52-year-old Julia Wallace, had also been unwell lately. She remained mostly at home, telling visitors that she had a touch of bronchitis. In truth, Julia had suffered a series of worsening illnesses and had recently begun coughing up blood.
Concerned, William had called a doctor, who advised him not to be alarmed and offered guidance on easing her symptoms. In the words of a friend, the winter months tried Mr and Mrs Wallace. Even when unwell, Julia Wallace remained her gentle, caring self, offering to make tea for a family member who dropped by to check in on her.
When they offered her theatre tickets for later in the week, she doubted she would be well enough to attend. William, by contrast, was faring much better. Not only had he managed to return to work, Julia mentioned that he had attended his chess club the night before.
She also said that he had plans again that evening, having received a telephone call from someone who wished to meet him in person about insurance business. The conversation then shifted to a recent spate of burglaries in the area. Just before 6pm, William finished with his last client of the day and headed straight home.
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Chapter 3: What were the circumstances surrounding William Wallace's actions on the night of the murder?
The post office was closed, so William checked with the news agency across the road. He spent several minutes searching through their directory before asking the shop manager about the address he was trying to find. Like the others, she told him that it simply didn't exist. After spending about 45 minutes trying to figure out where he was supposed to go, William finally gave up and returned home.
Shortly before 8.45 that night, married couple John and Florence Johnston were getting ready to go out when they heard knocking on the door of a nearby home from their living room. The sound was familiar, distinct and delivered in the same pattern their neighbour William Wallace always used.
William lived next door to the Johnstons in one of the many near-identical two-storey Victorian brick terrace houses that stood wall-to-wall along Wolverton Street in Liverpool's Anfield District. Over the next few minutes, the Johnstons heard William Wallace's distinctive knock at least three times.
At 8.45, as the couple stepped out the back door of their home and into the alley behind it, William passed by in a hurry, looking worried. He was striding toward the rear of his house, his manner brisk and purposeful. As the Johnstons greeted William in passing, he surprised them by asking anxiously if they had heard anything unusual that evening.
John and Florence hadn't, and they asked if something had happened. "'I've been out since quarter to seven,' William explained." On my return, I find the front door bolted against me. John asked if he had tried the back door. Yes, William replied, I couldn't open it. He was concerned as his wife Julia was supposed to be home and he was certain she wouldn't have gone out because she was sick.
John suggested he try the back door again and if it still wouldn't budge, they could help fetch a spare key. The Johnstons watched as William approached the door and twisted its handle. It swung open easily at his touch. It opens now, he shouted to the Johnstons. I will see if everything is alright, he remarked as he stepped into the unlit kitchen.
John said they would wait until everything was confirmed to be in order and William didn't discourage them. Except for a dim light from the second floor, the house was in complete darkness. The Johnstons saw lights flicker in other rooms as William moved from space to space, lighting matches to illuminate the gas lamps within.
Heavy blinds and curtains blocked the view from outside, but they heard William call out twice, presumably to Julia, though they couldn't make out what he was saying. About five minutes later, William emerged from the house looking distraught. In a hurried, raised voice, he told the Johnstons, ''Oh, come in and see. She has been killed.''
The Johnstons followed William into the house, fearing that Julia might have had a fatal accident, perhaps a fall down the stairs. After passing through the kitchen into the hallway, the trio entered the parlour, or sitting room, towards the front of their house. A gas lamp cast light on the compact, well-kept and richly decorated space.
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Chapter 4: How did the police investigate Julia Wallace's murder?
Everything's alright here, he confirmed. They moved on to a third room at the front used as a spare bedroom. The bed within was in disarray, with pillows on the floor and sheets and blankets pulled aside exposing the mattresses. On the bed lay two of Julia's handbags and three of her hats, though a wardrobe and a drawers nearby were closed.
When asked if the room had looked like this earlier, William replied, I cannot say, claiming he hadn't stepped foot in it for a fortnight. It was the only room in the house that was significantly disturbed, yet to police, the bedding appeared deliberately flung rather than rifled through.
Jewelry belonging to Julia was found in the drawers, further indicating that the room hadn't been truly ransacked. Did you see anyone hanging around the house or inside it when you returned? The police asked William. Shaking his head, he replied no. Neighbours John and Florence Johnston hadn't seen anything suspicious either.
There were no signs of forced entry on any doors or windows, but William asserted that Julia wouldn't have let anyone inside unless she knew them personally. Nevertheless, police searched lodging houses, all-night cafes, railway station waiting rooms and the homes of known criminals for anyone with bloodstains on their skin or clothing.
The intensive search for a suspect continued through the night to no result.
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Back at Wolverton Street, a police officer pointed out the rumpled Macintosh around Julia Wallace's body. William explained that it was an old one of his, before gesturing towards a hall stand where it usually hung. He had worn it that morning to shield himself from the rain, but left it at home during his lunch break as the weather cleared by the afternoon.
Curiously, the Macintosh bore scorch marks near the right hem, which William insisted hadn't been present when he last wore it. Three horizontal burn marks on the front of Julia's blood-stained skirt matched those on the coat, leading police to speculate that both had come into contact with the hot clays of the gas fire.
This suggested that after being struck, Julia and the Macintosh had fallen against the fire. Her killer then dragged her body by the neck of her jumper, tearing it in the process. Given that her otherwise neat hairstyle was in disarray, she had also likely been dragged by her hair. How the Macintosh ended up with Julia remained a mystery, since she had no plans to go out that evening.
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Chapter 5: What were the key pieces of evidence presented during the trial?
She was buying too many newspapers. This was the only recorded instance of a conflict between them. The rest of his entries depicted a content, if mundane, married life. He expressed a genuine concern for Julia on multiple occasions, such as when she arrived home late one evening after being delayed by a train derailment.
He wrote, It was a relief to know she was safe and sound, for I was getting apprehensive, fearing that she might have been run over by a motor car or something. In one of the final entries before Julia's death, William described persuading her to take a night walk in a local park.
He wrote in detailed prose about the wintery atmosphere, including the heavy fog and the frost-covered trees, describing the scene as wonderfully beautiful. He noted that Julia was equally charmed. On Wednesday January 21 1931, the morning after Julia Wallace's murder, William attended the police station again to answer further questions.
By this point, investigators believed they had a promising lead. Overnight, they had received an anonymous but unsubstantiated call accusing William of infidelity with a housemaid. William denied the claim, stating he had never employed a full-time domestic helper. For the past nine months, however, a cleaner had been coming to help Julia with household chores on Wednesdays.
The arrangement had been William's idea as Julia's strength had been waning. He claimed he didn't even know the cleaner's name as she worked a half day while he was at work. The police tracked the woman down. Her name was Sarah Draper. Sarah denied any romantic relationship with William and explained that she had not visited the Wallace home for two weeks due to her husband's recent death.
During her previous visits, she said she cleaned the house thoroughly, with Julia assisting as best she could. Because Sarah knew the Wallace home intimately, she was asked to inspect it for anything missing. She identified two items, a metal poker from the kitchen and a large piece of iron from the parlour where Julia had been killed.
The iron was roughly a foot long and as thick as a candle, typically used to rake cigarette ends and spent matches from beneath the gas fire. Sarah recalled seeing it during her last visit, having used it to retrieve a screw that had rolled under the fireplace. Following this discovery, William Wallace was escorted back to his home to conduct his own search.
He made no mention of the missing poker or iron piece. When asked directly, he suggested the poker might have been misplaced or discarded during the police search and claimed to know nothing about the iron. Medical examiner Professor John McFall, who had by then carried out Julia's autopsy, was asked whether the iron piece could have been the murder weapon.
He had amended his previous findings, now stating that Julia had been struck upwards of 12 times instead of 4. After consideration, McFall concluded that given its size and shape, the piece of iron could have been capable of delivering the blows that killed Julia Wallace. However, Sarah Draper had described the object as heavily rusted.
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Chapter 6: What were the arguments for and against William Wallace's guilt?
Had he done so, the presence of the scones would have confirmed or contradicted William's story, providing the investigation with proof if he was lying or not. There were also gaps in William's movements before he reached the tram stop at the junction of Smithdown Road and Lodge Lane, where the first witnesses saw him that evening.
The stop was roughly two miles from the Wallace home, a 40-minute walk at a moderate pace, leading police to suspect William disposed of the murder weapon along this stretch. He denied walking altogether, stating that he had reached Smithdown Road by boarding a tram near his home. Investigators were either unable or unwilling to find anyone who could corroborate this trip.
However, they did locate someone who confirmed that William often walked long distances to save money on tram fares. Police tracked down witnesses who had encountered William Wallace from Smithdown Road onwards, including tram conductors, passers-by and even the police constable he spoke to in Menlove Gardens and the manager of the news agency he visited seeking directions.
After reviewing their accounts, the police grew increasingly convinced that William had deliberately made the journey to Menlove Gardens to establish an alibi. Their suspicion rested on three key observations. William repeatedly reminded the tram conductors of his intention to go to Menlove Gardens East, almost as if imprinting the detail on their memory.
He approached multiple people, including a police officer, even after being told the address didn't exist, seemingly to secure as many witnesses as possible. And when walking away from the officer, he deliberately mentioned the time as a quarter to wait and had the officer confirm it, as though trying to establish a precise record of his presence in the area.
William explained that he only inquired about the time because the officer had given him directions to a post office and he believed the business would be closed by 8pm. William also claimed that he had mostly followed the same route home, but no witnesses, including tram conductors or passengers, came forward to report having seen him.
One woman claimed she had seen William in the alley by the back entry of Wolverton Street talking to another figure in a dark overcoat and cap, whom she described as being about 5 foot 8 inches tall and of stocky build. Maybe William didn't kill Julia, but had conspired with someone else to carry out the crime.
William denied this encounter, asserting that he hadn't spoken to a single person on his journey home, aside from the tram conductors from whom he purchased tickets. If the stocky person did indeed exist, they never came forward to rule themselves out of the investigation. To the police, it seemed logical that William's neighbours, the Johnstons, had been unwittingly incorporated into his plan.
He likely timed his return to coincide with their departure, ensuring he would encounter them and use their presence to stage the discovery of his wife's body. However, the Johnstons made it clear that their decision to go out that evening was last minute. There was no way William could have known, as they hadn't discussed their plans with him beforehand.
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Chapter 7: What was the outcome of William Wallace's appeal?
No, the milk boy must be mistaken. Alan Close was brought in for another police interview. Who conducted it, what was said, and for how long remains unclear. Whatever happened, Alan emerged with a different story. He now claimed that he didn't see or speak to Julia Wallace on January 20, but only saw her arm collect the milk jugs he left on her doorstep.
As expected, this dramatic revelation led to more wild speculation. Most of it centred on the possibility that the person Alan witnessed wasn't Julia at all. Maybe it was William in disguise, wearing his wife's clothes. But that wasn't all. Alan Close also admitted that his original time of 6.45pm was mistaken. He asserted that he had actually delivered the milk to the Wallace home at 6.31pm.
While this would have required him to move astonishingly fast while carrying a heavy crate of milk cans and bottles, it significantly strengthened the case against William Wallace. This adjustment expanded the available window for William to commit the murder, clean up, stage the scene, and depart for Menlove Gardens from 4 to roughly 18 minutes.
In the eyes of the police, that was more than sufficient, and a warrant was promptly issued for his arrest.
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William Wallace sat in silence as the police informed him he was under arrest for the willful murder of his wife. After a moment, he responded, What can I say in answer to a charge of which I am absolutely innocent? No reply was given. He repeated a similar statement when he first appeared in court, telling the judge he had nothing to say except that he was absolutely innocent.
Lawyer Hector Munro, a fellow member of Liverpool's Central Chess Club, agreed to represent William in court. The prosecution's case relied on the abundance of circumstantial evidence. The crux of their case was the timing of the murder, specifically when Julia Wallace was last seen alive. It was therefore crucial for Hector to reaffirm Alan Close's original sighting at 6.45pm.
Alan had originally been encouraged to go to the police after admitting to several friends that he had seen Julia on the night of her murder. Hector spoke with those friends, four of whom independently confirmed that Alan had told them he saw Julia at 6.45.
Another boy who had also been delivering milk that evening recalled having crossed paths with Alan at 6.40pm, at which point he said he was heading to the Wallace home on Wolverton Street. Hector also located another two witnesses whose recollections supported Alan's original statement.
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Chapter 8: How did public perception of William Wallace change after the trial?
I am now to face the torture of this nerve-wracking ordeal. I protest once more that I am entirely innocent of this terrible crime. In his response, the judge insisted that he had followed the evidence very clearly before committing William Wallace to stand trial for murder. Hector Munro was prepared to defend William with a team convinced of his innocence, but a more immediate problem loomed.
William couldn't afford the cost. Relief came from an unexpected source, the union of his employer of 16 years, the Prudential Assurance Company. In an unprecedented move, they agreed to fully fund William's defence on one condition, that a secret mock trial be held.
Under this arrangement, Hector would present the case as he intended to at trial, after which union officials would cast anonymous votes. If an overwhelming majority supported the defence, the union would cover their cost. The votes were sorted into two piles, guilty and not guilty. In the end, only one pile existed. Every single vote declared William not guilty.
William's actual trial commenced in April 1931, two months after Julia's murder. The real jury deliberated for an hour before returning with their verdict. Guilty. The silence in the court following the verdict was eventually broken by someone at the back whistling in surprise.
Several gasps arose from elsewhere in the crowd and soon the entire courtroom erupted into a mix of cheers and shocked exclamations. The only two women on the jury began to cry. William Wallace was asked if he had anything to say. He paused for a moment before replying, ''I am not guilty. I cannot say anything else.''
the judge immediately pronounced, For the crime of murder by the law of this country, there is only one sentence. That sentence I now pass upon you. It is that you be taken from hence to a place of lawful execution, and you be there hanged by the neck until you be dead, and that your body be afterwards buried within the precincts of the prison in which you shall last have been confined.
May the Lord have mercy on your soul. William was led from the court, still projecting his calm and collected demeanour. To those who believed in his innocence, it was this extraordinary composure that seemingly worked against him. His stoicism was interpreted in numerous negative ways, from overconfidence to callousness.
It wasn't until he was taken into prison and made to strip naked to receive his grey uniform that he finally began to cry. He was led to the cell where he would remain until his untimely death, scheduled just two weeks later. William spent his final, isolated days mostly confined to his small cell.
He was allowed minor comforts including a few cigarettes, a violin he couldn't bring himself to play and a chessboard. For the first time, he found himself winning games consistently. He believed this was only because the guards, who agreed to be his opponents, took pity on him. For an hour each day, he was permitted to stand alone in a small enclosed garden filled with irises and lupins.
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