The Peculiar Case of the Electric Constable

Summary (from the publisher): John Tawell was a sincere Quaker but a sinning one. Convicted of forgery, he was transported to Sydney, where he opened Australia's first retail pharmacy and made a fortune. When he returned home to England after fifteen years, he thought he would be welcomed; instead he was shunned.

Then on New Year's Day 1845 Tawell boarded the 7:42 pm train from Slough to London Paddington. Soon, men arrived chasing a suspected murderer - but the 7:42 had departed. The Great Western Railway was experimenting with a new-fangled device, the electric telegraph, so a message was sent: a 'KWAKER' man was on the run. The trail became a sensation, involving no apparent weapon, much innuendo, and a pious man desperate to save his reputation - and would usher in the modern communication age.

Told with narrative verve and rich in historical research, this is a delicious true tale of murder and scientific revolution in Victorian England.

Review: I received a copy of this book as a giveaway on Goodreads.

The Peculiar Case of the Electric Constable is the true description of a Victorian murder case. John Tawell, a seemingly devout Quaker, stands accused of having murdered a young mother by poisoning her. This was the first case in which the electric telegraph was used in apprehending the suspect, and one of the earliest in which new scientific procedures were used to determine the presence of poison in the deceased. Over the course of the book, it is revealed that Tawell is not the religious and devoted husband and father he first appears, but a former criminal who appeared to use the Quaker reputation to get ahead in business and secure faith in his business acumen.

I was mildly disappointed in this book because its description and title both allude to the use of the telegraph and early communication methods as pivotal to the story. While it is true that the telegraph was used to signal the next train stop to be on the lookout for a 'KWAKER,' (spelled such since the early telegraph did not contain all letters of the alphabet, such as 'Q') this is early in the book and the telegraph and early communication systems are never mentioned again. I did however discover through reading that the "peculiar" in the title is quite aptly used, since Quakers were referred to at the time as "the peculiar people" (72).

Early in life, Tawell was found guilty of attempting to forge bank notes and as punishment, was sentenced to live for 15 years in Sydney, Australia. Based on his suspicious past, I did not find it hard to believe that he would go on to have a mistress, who he is accused of poisoning. Furthermore, John Tawell was not born a Quaker, but adopted in later in life, seemingly to use the reputation the Quakers worked so hard to foster to build his businesses and inspire faith in his honesty and integrity.

Although the evidence regarding the poisoning was not 100% conclusive, Tawell was found guilty, not least of all because the judge strongly urged the jury to find him guilty. However, it clearly was the right call, since Tawell said soon after being apprehended "'Mind, I have disclosed nothing.' It was an odd remark from a pious Quaker. Indeed, it was the type of self-protective comment usually made by those with first-hand experience of the law" (50). Additionally, before his execution, he did confess to his crimes.

John Tawell was an interesting man, who seems to have the hallmark features of a psychopath. A loving and devoted husband, he murdered his mistress and the mother of his children without a second thought. "He was the devotee who sat through Quaker meetings plotting to rob his brethren. He was the aspirant who assured a Quaker committee that he truly believed in their moral and religious codes and the beau who vowed love for a Quaker woman, while illicitly fathering children with his housekeeper. [...] He was the gentleman who wore his virtuous Quaker garb while murdering the mother of his children" (339).

My greatest complaint with this book is that it was drawn out far too much. Although a sensational murder trial, his was a fairly cut and dried case. A woman was murdered, and the one suspect was convicted. Yet it was dragged out to almost 400 pages of description. However, Tawell was a significant case that marked progress for crime detection; "He was the first British murderer convicted of using prussic acid - cyanide - as a weapon of destruction." Furthermore, "he was one of the first murderers to use the railway as his getaway vehicle. Most importantly, he was the first murderer caught by the revolutionary electric telegraph" (342). While not as compelling as if it had been written more succinctly, this is a worthy and interesting read.

Stars: 3