Murder was extremely common in Victorian London, and many victims were just ordinary everyday people whose lives took a tragic twist.

Many of their names of those murdered in London are now forgotten, and yet their stories are still their to be discovered in the pages of the 19th century newspapers.

The Newcastle Journal, in its edition of Wednesday the 29th of September, 1869, reported on the murder of a woman in London:-

THE MURDER OF SARAH JOHNSON

The inquiries of the police have revealed the facts relative to the murder of Sarah Johnson at No. 7, Little Suffolk Street, London, on Sunday morning, as reported in our columns yesterday.

The victim, it appears, was the daughter of respectable parents, but her mother dying some three years ago, and her father marrying again, she left home.

She was entitled to a considerable sum of money, it is said, but not being of age, she could not claim it, and, having little or no resources, she went to live in obscure lodgings in the borough.

SHE MET A YOUNG MAN

She made the acquaintance of young man, who gave her money from time to time, and in March, 1868, she gave birth to a boy of which he was the father.

A coolness then sprang up between them, and some few months back she met a Spaniard, named Carlos Martine, at a shoemakers’ beanfeast, and he persuaded her to break altogether with her first lover and live with him.

THE LADLADY WOULDN’T LET HER STAY

The Spaniard was fifty years of age; he had but recently buried his wife, and was the father of five children, the eldest of whom was sixteen years of age.

When he took her home, his landlady refused to allow her to stay, and he then hired a room for her close by, and eventually at 7, Little Suffolk Street.

STILL MET WITH HER FORMER LOVER

He soon after found that she was in the habit of talking with the father of her child at the corner of the street, and he became inflamed with jealousy.

On Saturday he learnt that she had been talking with her former lover on Friday, and was observed to be very excited.

He continued drinking in a public house until near midnight, and then went to her room in Little Suffolk Street.

CRIES OF MURDER

At half-past three in the morning cries of “murder!” and screams were heard there.

A young woman called out in alarm to the landlord, a man named Wall, who contented himself with standing at the bottom of the stairs and saying, “We can’t have this sort of thing in our house, for we are working people, and have to get up in the morning.”

He then went back to his bed, but the cries of “Murder” continuing, the young woman alluded to got up to call him again.

While she was doing so Martine left the house.

A GHASTLY SIGHT GREETED THEM

Wall then got up again, and he and a man and his wife, named Murphy, entered the room, where a horrible spectacle was disclosed to their view.

Upon the floor lay the body of the deceased woman, covered with blood. Her eyes were wide open and staring at the ceiling. Her right arm and right leg were bent backwards under her back, and her face bore an expression of indescribable agony.

There were several gashes across the throat, and the head, which was nearly severed from the body, was lying backwards, exhibiting to view the bones at the back of the neck.

Between the breasts there was a gash, as if made by a stab.

WOUNDS OF DEFENCE

The right thumb was nearly severed from the hand, and it was evident that that wound had been inflicted in the poor woman’s endeavours to prevent her throat being cut.

At the side of the body lay two knives, both covered with blood.

On a bed in the corner of the room sat the little child of the woman, crying, but uninjured.

The young woman’s family live at Battersea.

THE INQUEST AND VERDICT

The inquest was held yesterday. Dr. Sleeman said he believed the wounds were first inflicted upon the deceased while she was lying on the bed, and that the final cutting of the neck took place on the floor.