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E246: Rose Harsent/ The Peasenhall Murder
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In 1901, Rose Harsent, domestic servant and devout churchgoer, found herself at the center of local rumors of an affair with the married choirmaster, Williams Gardner. Though the two both denied those rumors, speculation only increased when Rose learned she was pregnant. So, when the pregnant Rose’s life was brutally taken, suspicions turned primarily to one suspect; but was he responsible?
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Transcript
Introduction to Peason Hall Murder
00:00:00
Speaker
Today we're diving into a chilling take, that of a young woman whose life was tragically cut short in the quiet Suffolk village of Peason Hall, England. In 1902, someone was brutally murdered in their own home, leaving behind a mystery that's captivated true crime enthusiasts for over a century. Join us today as we unravel the circumstances surrounding this mysterious death, explore the evidence that led to an arrest of a local man, and examine the controversial trials that ultimately resulted in his acquittal.
00:00:26
Speaker
We'll delve into the theories that have emerged over the years from a jealous lover to a family member. Was justice truly served in this case? Or does this murder remain one of the great unsolved mysteries of British true crime? This is the story of Rose Harsant and the piece in Hall murder.
Hosts and Podcast Mission
00:01:16
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron. We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families. With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week.
00:01:53
Speaker
Exciting that war back in England. Yeah, for two weeks in a row. How about that? We're across the pond. It was a coincidence, not on purpose, that we're in England two weeks in a row. But we are here. Here we are. Again. Cheerio.
Setting the Scene: Peason Hall
00:02:12
Speaker
But this one was when I was trying to figure out what case I wanted to cover today. I was like, oh, this is really interesting. I've never heard of it, so I'm super excited to hear about it. It's a pretty interesting one. So we are in this quaint little village type thing where their rural life is kind of, do you hear that? Do you hear what I said?
Key Figures: William Gardner and Rose Harsant
00:02:36
Speaker
Oh, you said it, Maggie! I said it without thinking about it. Maybe that's the key all along. Yeah. You just don't think about the word rural. You just have to say it. It just comes out. Yeah. Look at me. I'm so proud of you. Happy day. Anyway, so that's intertwined. We're not going to try again because it won't.
00:02:53
Speaker
Well, I haven't two times. With industrial pursuits, many men were employed at this local drill works company. um The community was heavily driven by the spiritual heart and it was a primitive Methodist church in a neighboring town. okay And so that Methodist church is sort of I don't want to really say at the center of the case today, but it comes up a couple different times, the church does. So keep that in mind. So one man, and it might be a little bit confusing because we have two Williams. So we have William Gardner. So we'll call him William G.
Rumors and Scandal
00:03:34
Speaker
Can we do that? Willie G. And then we have another William Harsent. So we've got two Williams.
00:03:43
Speaker
So one man, William G., who we will actually talk about quite a bit, was the choir master of that church. So he directed the choir, basically. okay He was respected among the congregation in the village and town.
00:03:57
Speaker
People thought highly of him. Among his fellow choir members was the young Rose Harcent, who obviously we're going to be focusing on today. And she was a domestic servant that worked for Mr. and Mrs. Crisp at Providence Hall.
00:04:14
Speaker
Providence House, excuse me, in Peason Hall. Okay. So that's where our case kind of revolves today. Does the cook the cleaning, she does all of that household, all the household chores. Right. And as part of her duties, she was responsible for cleaning the Methodist Chapel in Peason Hall. Okay. So that was part of her job duties. Maybe because her employer, William Gardner, was the Squire Master, so he was involved in the... Well, that's not her employer. Oh. He's the choir director. Her employer is Mr. and Mrs. Crisp. Oh, it's Mr. and Mrs. Crisp. See, glad we got some clarification. Yeah. Okay.
00:04:54
Speaker
She's in the choir yeah with William Gardner, but she works for the Crisps. Right. okay So it is here that we start seeing rumors begin to swirl. So according to the grunge, William G, so the choir leader,
00:05:10
Speaker
and a Rose, the choir member, found themselves in the center of a scandalous rumor in May of 1902. So we have two community members, a Mr. Skinner and Mr. Wright, that claimed to have seen William G. and Rose entering the chapel together. So the Doctor's Chapel, which was a small church building, I guess like kind of adjacent to the big church. And even, I guess at the time, we're talking 1901, turn of the century, Even male and female being ah alone in this space probably led to write those rumors. Because I definitely, well, I don't know about working class people, but the upper society definitely would have had chaperones and in Nazi no one. Right. So according to these two men,
00:06:01
Speaker
they kind of eavesdrop and they overhear Rose referencing Genesis chapter 38, which is a biblical passage that alludes to sexual relations while she's speaking to William G. Oh, so at first we're like, okay, she's talking about the Bible. Yeah, we're fine. We're at a Bible study. And then we say, wait, what is Genesis chapter 38? Yeah.
00:06:23
Speaker
naughty naughty and so there are their photos so William G obviously on the top and Rose I don't know why I pictured Rose younger out of two. I mean, but I don't think she's like... yeah No, no, no, no, no. They both look middle-aged, I would say. These scandalous allegations quickly spread through the entire village, because obviously if you have a cup of tea like that, you're gonna have to yeah tell some people. So obviously it caused a great deal of distress for William G. because
00:07:00
Speaker
ah for a few reasons. so One, married he's married ok with a family. And two, he is a choir director. right So he did denied having any romantic or sexual relationship with Rose. And he's like, I want a public apology from these two men.
00:07:17
Speaker
But the two men are like, you don't get this. We are not going to retract our statements because we know the truth. And if we say that didn't happen, then we're lying because we know it did. Man. So that makes me kind of believe him. I mean, if you didn't see it, then I don't know. And I feel like if you saw it and it is the truth,
00:07:46
Speaker
then you're gonna be like they are. No, this is the truth and I'm not taking back what I saw. Right, yeah. You would say, no, I am adamant about what I saw and I get what they're saying because again at the time,
00:08:05
Speaker
you know, what we now consider to be, quote unquote, like small sins. You know, obviously we're amplified in 1901. But yeah, they would have to admit that they lied. And it's not just one person who's saying that they saw it. It's two.
00:08:22
Speaker
William, though, is a member of this respected member of the community, and so he is understandably really upset about these rumors. Of course. Because it results in the church elders so doing this informal investigation into these claims. Because remember, the Methodist church has quite a few roles that they follow. So they launched this informal investigation. Despite the serious nature of the allegations, the investigation failed to uncover any evidence of a romantic or sexual relationship between
00:08:56
Speaker
The two and William through the process maintained his innocence insisting that their relationship was just purely professional. Which I mean it could be that Rose came onto him and he's like, no. And these two men just didn't get that part of the conversation maybe. And he doesn't want it to get out because he doesn't want to ruin his family. right Or they could have misheard. Maybe she didn't say Genesis 38. Maybe she said 8 or 28. Right. It could have been anything in the book of Genesis. She could have been talking about, let there be light when he turned the light on. And then that's true.
00:09:29
Speaker
Verse 8. Yeah, so we we don't know is is the point. Right. So thus far what we do know, however, is that Rose was at dev about Methodist. She cleaned the church along with Providence Hall and Providence House. I'm gonna do that the whole time because it's Peace and Hall and Providence House. Y'all are just gonna have to know. And she was a member of the church choir. She has so far in life been accused of having an affair with a man who is married and had like six kids, I believe.
The Murder and Investigation
00:10:04
Speaker
Wait, this is other than William G.? No, this is him. Okay, so with William G.? Yes.
00:10:09
Speaker
However, after the affair rumors fizzled out in 1901, life for Rose didn't really get any better. Because, Allison, something that you don't know is that by the spring of 1902, Rose was also six months pregnant.
00:10:30
Speaker
which is a huge no-no because she's unmarried. And I'm sure in everyone's mind, they're like, wait, what happened? When was this conversation? Yeah. whom So this is almost like a scarlet letter type no-no. This is big. yeah According to an article called Unsolved, the Roseharson homicide, who killed the pregnant mother to be? Oh, well, I guess we know what's happening. Yeah.
00:10:57
Speaker
Spoiler by Mark Hoover. It was a rainy night on May 31st in 1902 when Rose was getting ready to go to bed. And she is in, remember, the attic room, obviously, of Providence House because she's a servant there. And it is just this cute little house in Peasant Hall, England. Little did she know, though, Alison, that her peaceful evening would be shattered by a violent intrusion into the attic.
00:11:28
Speaker
ish yeah So early the next morning, Rosa's father, William, age, arrived at the house to deliver clean linen. So I'm guessing that their whole family is like and domestic servants.
00:11:43
Speaker
Upon entering, he met an eerie silence because his daughter was usually so lively. She was nowhere to be found. She was usually bustling around the house cleaning or doing other household chores, but she was nowhere to be seen. So concerned that maybe she had fallen or that, you know, something happened to her, he starts climbing the stairs to the attic. And there,
00:12:05
Speaker
He finds at the bottom of the attic staircase drenched in blood his own daughter and her throat had been slashed from basically like ear to ear. And there were signs of an attempted arson. So they attempted to destroy the evidence.
00:12:24
Speaker
Yeah. So now where were the, the crisps st during all of this, the homeowners and the research that I did, I don't didn't read a lot about them other than that's who she worked for.
00:12:38
Speaker
Which I thought was kind of interesting. Maybe they were out of the home normally or during the day. Or, you know, their servants' entrances, so maybe they just ah weren't bothered with that part of the house. right you know That would make sense too. Crime and memorial says, quote, Rose was clad only in her night dress and socks. Her throat and chest had been viciously slashed several times.
Evidence Against William G
00:12:59
Speaker
Her clothing, arms, and lower extremities were partially burned, as though someone had tried to set the body on fire.
00:13:05
Speaker
Lying next to the corpse was a smashed oil lamp, a broken bottle containing prescription for paraffin, and a thin scrap of newspaper torn from the East Anglian daily times." End quote. So they had attempted to take some wax, oil from a lamp, and newspaper to start a fire, but in my head I was thinking they were going to set the house on fire. They tried to set her on fire. Yeah, because her extremities and her clothes are burnt. Also, why does one need a prescription for paraffin? Yeah, now you can buy it in a grocery store.
00:13:35
Speaker
I don't know, but what stopped the fire? I'm gonna guess it just didn't get hot enough with just oil from a oil lamp. Caught her nightgown or something. I do know that she was very bruised and showed signs of fighting back. So I don't know if she was dead at the time they tried to set her on fire or if that happened beforehand to try to make it look like an accident maybe or
00:14:10
Speaker
maybe I'll talk about this, I don't know because it's such an old case if we have this information. Maybe it happened up in her attic room and they left her there but she wasn't deceased yet and she tried to get down the steps and maybe in falling suffocated the fire or something like that. And you know, I didn't read anything about that but I think that would make the most sense. Because why would they, like you said, try to kill her somewhere where someone else could stumble upon her body. So that does make sense.
00:14:55
Speaker
but Beside her bloodied hand, investigators found so the prescription of paraffin, which is weird, but you know, naughty, naughty, which actually belonged to her neighbor.
00:15:07
Speaker
And the neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. William G. Oh, okay. All right. In my head, I'm thinking, we don't know. which Normally, typically,
00:15:26
Speaker
incorrectly sometimes. Think of perpetrators as male. Mm-hmm. We don't know that in this case. Oh, maybe it was her, this, the wife. Well, the only reason I'm saying that is, and I know you're gonna give me many more details, but in my head I'm thinking, okay, if William G were responsible, you'd think he would have noticed his own prescription, and why would you leave that at the scene? Unless somebody else were doing this and trying to set you up. Which I think is really involved, but... Right. So if someone were doing this and trying to make it look as though you did it, how would they get their hands on your prescription, unless they are the chemist... Or maybe... They called themselves back then. Or, or druggist. Or someone like his wife.
00:16:18
Speaker
Or maybe they had domestic servants, the gardeners. Maybe. And obviously everyone is thinking he's the father of this baby anyway. Right. So it makes sense if you're going to set someone up, make it look like it's him, then you're going to get away with murder. Yeah.
00:16:40
Speaker
As investigators delve deeper into the investigation, they uncovered three letters in Rosa's room. One of those read, quote, Dear R, I will try to see you tonight at 12 o'clock at your place. If you put a light in your window at 10 for about 10 minutes, then you can put it out again. The letter continued, do not have a light in your room at 12 as I will come around the back way. End quote. So I guess if she's home,
00:17:08
Speaker
at 10, put this light in the window so he'll know she's there. Oh, and maybe if there's light. It would show. Right, you don't want to be seen. Right. So she's basically saying, if it's okay that I come at midnight, have this light out at 10. Yeah, and then I'll know. But who is R? Her, right? Dear R, dear Rose. Oh, I was thinking she was writing it. No, no. Okay, it's all clicking now. Got it. I'm following.
00:17:39
Speaker
So what's interesting to me is early on in the investigation, they tried to claim that Rose had committed suicide, which obviously no, no. And it became evident, obviously, that Rose had arranged this meeting the night of her murder, but who is the mysterious individual that she had planned.
00:18:03
Speaker
meet handwriting analysis of course that doesn't come around for a long for a while yeah which I did read in one source I don't even remember now if it was like a blog or something but that they did kind of compare the writing to William G's and it did look like his but you know we didn't have analysis like we do now so they couldn't say for sure that it was. And everybody I feel like had fancy fancy cursive back then. They did. It all looks beautiful. Mine looks like chicken scratch. It's fine. The local medical examiner estimated that her time of death was between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. So if this person showed up at midnight, that gives plenty of time to commit the crime. Right. As the investigation progressed, suspicion fell obviously onto William G. Yes.
00:18:50
Speaker
and the possibility that William G. is the father of Rose's unborn child, which during the autopsy in this and medical examination is when they find out that she's pregnant.
00:19:02
Speaker
Oh, so no one knew at that? Well, obviously you're showing. Right. But clothes were different then. That's true. And then, but I know like her father, I don't think knew, but that doesn't mean william that the father know.
00:19:23
Speaker
While police didn't have smoking gun evidence, they believed obviously that William G is the prime suspect. After his alleged affair with Rose, coupled with the discovery of the paraffin prescription, the rotting in the letter looking like his, we have a lot of fingers pointing strongly in his direction. Yes, I get it.
00:19:44
Speaker
They theorize that William desperate to protect his reputation, right? Because he's heavily involved in the church. He's married with the family. They are not married. Had decided to eliminate both Rose and her unborn child. As the investigation unfolded, evidence continued to mount against William G. We have a witness that came forward claiming to have seen him standing outside his home.
00:20:06
Speaker
gazing up at Providence House around 10 p.m., so when the letter and the letter. When the light's supposed to be out there, so. And so, you know, that observation matched the instructions in the letter that they found. Another witness reported seeing him burning something in his backyard on the day that Rose's body was discovered, perhaps an attempt to dispose of some incriminating evidence. Like if he had clothing with blood on it. Yep.
00:20:34
Speaker
And then, even most, perhaps, I guess, most seemingly, the police discovered that William always carried a small hinged knife on his
William G's Defense and Trials
00:20:44
Speaker
person. Though, I wonder if that was common. Yeah, I feel like that would be, I mean, even today, like, Anthony has like a pocket knife most days. Yeah, Rodney does too.
00:20:52
Speaker
And upon closer examination, they found what appeared to be traces of blood trapped in the hinge. So that's the damning part. But again, at the time, we don't have the DNA testing. That could be from skinning a rabbit yeah or he's kind of right. It could be from so many things. Of course, he denies any involvement in Rose's murder, but the accumulating evidence left police with little choice but to charge him with her murder. Right. And again, I get back then why that would be the case. An article on historic mysteries gives the following account of the trial slash trials oh of William G. Multi. Yeah. So his first trial took place in November of 1902 and he pled obviously not guilty maintaining that he'd been asleep at home on the night of Rose's murder and his wife
00:21:46
Speaker
steadfastly supported him, which I think she would either way, because it's 92 and he is the the breadwinner in their home. And I just feel like women were kind of conditioned to support their spouse. yes She offers an explanation for the paraffin bottle and the blood on his knife. She claimed to have given the prescription bottle to Rose.
00:22:08
Speaker
who had been feeling unwell, and suggested that she refill the bottle and start using that medicine. But I don't even know what paraffin is used for. I don't either, and I also find it odd, unless she, either she 100% believed her husband that nothing happened, and therefore believed Rose as well,
00:22:36
Speaker
But given the rumors, I still find it a bit odd that you're trying to help out the woman who your husband is accused of having an affair with unless she did give it because it was meant to be some sort of evidence against her husband, but then she's also ruining her own livelihood if he is the breadwinner and that of her children. So I don't know if that would really be the case either. Well, I just find the detail odd. And I don't know, again, this probably sounds bad, but like how much credibility she would have in court as far as being a woman in 1902, if she would be someone that the jury
00:23:28
Speaker
would really take seriously what she said, because I'm sure the jury is all men, right? But she also dismissed the bonfire and the blood on his knife as just mere coincidence. She testified that her husband had caught and killed a rabbit with a knife and the bonfire had been to light and boil water. okay Which again, explains that. Though you would have normally a fire in your home in which you would light the fire to boil the water. Unless she was like, I don't want that in here.
00:23:58
Speaker
Keep that outside, because that's how I would have been. you Did you buy that at Kroger? No, then keep it outside. Their neighbor also came forward to defend William G. And she swore under oath that she had been unable to sleep on the night of the murder and would have noticed if anyone left their residence. So I guess she's like occupying her time by spying on the neighbors. And she says, nobody leaves. She's a voyeur. The defense team sought to discredit Rose's character by revealing numerous love letters and raunchy poems that had been sent to her. So I think she was a very popular lady.
00:24:34
Speaker
Oh, raunchy poems. Right. They argued by the time of her death, a significant number of men in their town could have been the potential fathers of this baby and therefore potential suspects.
00:24:48
Speaker
Oh. Right, because like I said I think she was pretty popular. Okay. The jury in the first trial was divided with 11 members voting for a conviction and one holding out for acquittal due to requirements at the UK though it had to be unanimous and so there was a mistrial.
00:25:07
Speaker
And then they ordered a second trial. The second trial was in January of 1903. I feel like this is speedy. In the United States, it'd be like the second trial was in January 1945. Yeah, when it happened in the prime heaven in 1903. And it largely retained the same evidence, despite any new evidence really being brought.
00:25:26
Speaker
the jury's verdict this time was reversed. So 11 jurors voted for an acquittal and only one argued for conviction. And it's like not even a full year. Wow. Now, I know you said a lot of the evidence was the same, but obviously with the passage of time, more rumors spread, I'm sure, and maybe.
Theories and Speculations
00:25:49
Speaker
as the townspeople because it's not like today where you're you're going to move the trial so you ensure that it's fair. um But I wonder if with those rumors that she was quote unquote popular with the men that now the jury is thinking well it could have been anyone. Yeah I think so. The trials were huge media sensations with newspapers from like across the country following the proceedings very closely Through the defense arguing, you know that William G all this evidence is circumstantial There's no conclusive proof of his guilt and in the end the jury agreed ah wait agreed that he should be acquitted. Sorry. Yeah, so All right. So first it looks like he's nearly guilty 11 people and then now There's just not enough evidence and to support so they say okay, you're a free man. Well, yep
00:26:49
Speaker
So that leaves us to theories. So, of course, the primary theory and suspect is William G., who, you know, was initially charged and tried with the murder twice. um And evidence included his affair with Rose, the discovery of his prescription bottle, the letter that looked like it had been in his handwriting, the suspicious things found at home, like the bonfire, the blood and the hinge of the knife.
00:27:12
Speaker
But he was ultimately acquitted, raising question about the strength of the evidence and the fairness of the trials, which you kind of mentioned about, you know, we didn't move the trial to ensure that people hadn't heard all these rumors and a bunch of different things. Right. But I mean, you would think of the...
00:27:30
Speaker
There is evidence, there's just not, it's all circumstantial. But part of that is because we don't have DNA testing like we do now. And would the blood in that knife not be circumstantial if it could be tested for DNA? Correct, and then it's on his person, so we say,
00:27:47
Speaker
yeah okay or the handwriting analysis, right no make things more concrete. Another theory suggests that Rose may have been a victim of a jealous lover. So perhaps she was, I guess you could say perhaps she was in this relationship with William, and another individual may have been driven to violence upon discovering Rose's pregnancy either by William or by another by another man, because she was very popular. so okay With this, I feel like there's plenty of potential suspects. Though again, I go back to the whole, how did they get their hands on William G's prescription? You gave a potential answer to that, and that is if they bribed a household servant, if a household servant were involved, or if it were Mrs. William G.
00:28:45
Speaker
And you know, I hadn't really thought about her as a potential suspect until you brought it up, but I really think she could be looked at as
Unsolved Mystery
00:28:54
Speaker
somebody. Like if her spouse impregnated another woman, it's almost like kind of slaughter, lamb to the slaughter like.
00:29:04
Speaker
yeah the ah The only thing that stops me in my tracks with that theory is the thought that the prescription is left there with her husband's name on it, and then thinking, okay, but if her husband did do time for this crime, then that would mean it would destroy their livelihood. Yeah, I think if she had done it, I don't think that she would have left the prescription. But I don't think she would have framed her husband. I think she would have tried to frame someone else or make it look like the third thing, which is a random act of violence by a stranger, which I don't believe no is plausible. No, I don't think that.
00:29:48
Speaker
Some have also speculated that the killer could have been a family member or maybe someone close to Rose. So jealousy, resentment, there was some type of financial gain could have driven the family member to commit this crime. And while I was thinking about this possibility, while I hate to say it, could it have been her dad? Yeah. Because, I mean, being pregnant out of wedlock would have caused a lot of ridicule yeah to their family. It would bring a lot of shame. Potentially.
00:30:20
Speaker
damaging because he delivered linen at the beginning of the story. So I wonder if that's like his job, not just for that particular house, but for maybe a group of people. So could that have been, Oh, you have a, ah you know, pregnant and married daughter. We don't want to do business with you. So, you know, could he have lost revenue through that? Well, but I go back to the fact that you said he didn't know she was pregnant until the Well, that's what he said. True. Right. So you're saying he could have just made up that little detail, fibbed saying, Oh, I, I didn't even know because then it would remove him as a suspect. So I hate to go there, but could it seems awfully violent though. Yeah. I would feel like if it was someone you were that close to, it would be a quick yeah death, not a slit from right. Right. Yeah. I agree.
00:31:18
Speaker
None of the theories can be conclusively proven though and the murder of Rose still remains unsolved.
Episode Conclusion and Call to Action
00:31:24
Speaker
So obviously she's continuing to intrigue crew true crime enthusiasts such as us and even historians because we're still talking about her.
00:31:35
Speaker
The murder of Rose remains a haunting reminder that darkness can lurk even in the most seemingly peaceful and religious communities. Despite extensive investigations and trials, the identity of her killer remains a mystery, leaving a void that continues to fascinate and disturb. As we've explored in this episode, the case of Rose is a complex one.
00:31:54
Speaker
from the initial accusations against William G. to the emerging theories and other potential suspects. The truth behind her murder remains elusive. While justice may never fully be served in this case, the memory of Rose will live on, serving as a reminder of the importance of seeking answers, even when they seem impossible to find. Thank you for joining us on this journey into the past. We'll be back next week with another Chilling Tale from the Annals of True Crime.
00:32:19
Speaker
Again, please like and join our Facebook page, Coffee and Case's podcast to continue the conversation and see images related to this episode. As always, follow us on Twitter at casescoffee, on Instagram at coffee cases podcast, or you can always email us suggestions to coffeeandcasespodcastatgmail.com. Please tell your friends about our podcast so more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families. Don't forget to rate our show and leave us a comment as well. We hope to hear from you soon.
00:32:48
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.