Harriet Stacey (Unsolved Murder)

The body of a woman known by neighbours as "Kate England" was discovered on the night of Valentine's Day 1904. "Kate" was found lying on an upstairs bed in her small cottage situated on Saltmead Road, Cardiff, with a noose tied around her neck. While there was no sign of a struggle it appeared someone had been sleeping in the bed next to her. Over the next couple of weeks the extraordinary story of "Kate's" life and mysterious death would unfold in the pages of local newspapers. Characters from her life would be thrust into the limelight as the authorities attempted to make sense of a complicated myriad of clues, and piece together the truth behind the tragedy.

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Transcript

Harriet Stacey

It was a Sunday, and the evening of Valentine’s Day 1904. Married couple Thomas and Margaret Williams were at home in their small cottage house, situated at number 39 Saltmead Road in the Grangetown area of Cardiff. The locality, also known as Saltmead, was a working class district in the west of town. Despite the compact size of the property, the couple had two or three boarders lodging with them in the house. 

Shortly after 8.30pm there came a loud and urgent knock on the front door. Thomas, Margaret and all the lodgers got up and went to see who could be bothering them at that late hour.  Thomas opened the door and was faced with a respectably dressed man of average height  with a dark heavy moustache. He was clad in a dark suit, overcoat and bowler hat. Thomas instantly recognised the man as a dock labourer named William Warren, who lived around a 45 minute walk away in Janet Street in the Moors area of Cardiff. William was a regular visitor to the house next door, number 41 Saltmead Road. This property stood at the end of the first block of houses, on the left hand side of the street from the adjacent Clare Road.

Thomas and Margaret had been led to understand that William was the brother of their neighbour, a woman of around 50 named Kate England. Thomas and Margaret had not seen Kate for around seven days. The blinds had been down all week and they had assumed she had gone away on a short holiday. This was something Kate did from time to time, with London being a favoured destination. Kate was a quiet person but she would usually let her neighbours know if she was leaving the house for a few days. She hadn't on this occasion, which had struck both Thomas and Margaret as odd. Indeed, the couple had talked about going to the police station on Monday if there was still no sign of their neighbour. 

William had already called at Thomas and Margraet’s door twice in the last week, once on Wednesday February 10th and then on Saturday February 13th, inquiring about Kate and as he had been unable to get a response from knocking her front door. (I should say that Thomas and Margaret said the visits occurred on Tuesday and Friday, but at inquest the former dates were given by William Warren.) On one of the visits William brought a brown loaf for Kate but as she wasn’t in he gave it to Thomas and Margaret, telling them they could eat it if Kate didn't turn up in the next couple of days.

On this occasion, late on Sunday evening, Thomas could tell that something was amiss. William stood there gasping for breath and his complexion was ashen. He told Thomas “Mrs England is dead, go and fetch a police officer”. Thomas grabbed his coat as William explained further his gruesome discovery. 

William had called at the house to see if Kate had returned. This time he brought with him a latch key which Kate had given him sometime ago. (I'll say at this point the issue surrounding the key is rather more complicated than this but I will explain more about it later.) William let himself in to find the house quiet and in complete darkness. He lit a match and made his way upstairs and into the front bedroom where Kate slept. There in the flickering light he caught a glimpse of Kate's lifeless face. The flame of the match was almost at his fingers and the light dimmed momentarily, causing him to reach out his hand. In doing so, he touched the ice cold skin of Kate's hand. There was no doubt she was dead.

After hearing William’s awful tale, Thomas went out in search of a police officer. One of the  lodgers went with Thomas and the  two men hurriedly made their way down Saltmead Road and turned left onto Clare Road. They then turned right onto Tudor Road. This walk would have taken around 8 minutes. Here they spotted Police Constable Francis Scowcroft and Thomas relaid the grizzly news.

Constable Scowcroft made his way with Thomas and the lodger to 41 Saltmead Road. They  found Willian Warren standing outside the property and all the men went inside. The first thing to note was that the house was scrupulously clean. Kate had a reputation for being fastidious in this regard. William stayed downstairs in the front room and Constable Scowcroft made his way upstairs and into the front bedroom. Here he found the body of a middle aged woman, small in stature, lying on a bed. It was the person the neighbours knew as Kate England.

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The body was on the left side of the double bed and lying on its left side. It was partly covered in bedclothes and the arms were stretched out and clasped together. There was a noose of rope around the neck with the knot on the right hand side of the neck. There were no visible marks on the throat. The rope went from the body to the centre of the head of the bedstead which was only 5-7.5 cm or 2-3 inches away from the neck, from there it trailed to the foot of the bed where it was not not tied but loosely twisted twice around the iron frame. The rope was slack. It was noted that the bed clothes did not seem disturbed and there was no sign of a struggle.  However, it did appear that someone had been sleeping in the bed next to Kate. 

Looking around the room Contable Scowcroft noticed two drawers from the dressing table had been removed. One was on top of the table and the other on a chair. They were empty and strewn around the room were items of female clothing. In another bedroom male and female clothing was scattered all over the floor. In the kitchen downstairs two drawers which held rags and cloth were wide open. In one of the drawers Constable Scowcroft found two purses which were completely empty. 

Having taken a cursory look around the house, Constable Scowcroft quickly made his way to Canton police station to inform his colleagues from the detective branch. 

Inspectors Yelland and Butler went to the scene and were joined shortly after by Detective Inspector Rankin and Detective Sergeant Stevens from Cardiff central police station. Divisional police surgeon Dr Pittard of Cathedral Road arrived to inspect the body. 

Dr Pittard noted the hands as being at the sides of the legs, which themselves were slightly drawn up. This is a common sleeping position for many people. The tongue was protruding from the mouth and was black in color. There were signs of decomposition. Kate was found wearing a long nightgown which she had tucked under her feet. She was naked underneath. The body was placed under a blanket and removed from the house on a stretcher.

A two hour autopsy was carried out by Dr Pittard at Bute mortuary. There were no signs of poison in the body and the stomach contents showed Kate had eaten a meal approximately two hours before death. It was Dr Pittard's opinion that she had been strangled to death while she was asleep. The heart and lungs showed signs of strangulation.

Dr Pittard ruled out suicide. The rope had only been loosely tied around the bed; if Kate had pulled it herself the noose would have become looser not tighter which would not have cut off her oxygen supply. No bones had been broken in her neck but considerable force had been used. There was a slight bruise on the neck to the right hand side of the spinal cord. This had been caused before death.

It was likely the killer had stood behind the sleeping Kate, and pulled the rope tight with one hand, pressing the other against her cheek, with the thumb causing the bruise on the right of the neck. According to Dr Pittard Kate would have died quickly and as the rope did not press against cartilage she was unable to scream out. It was not thought that Kate had been drunk when she was killed, as neighbours said they had never seen her drink to excess.

Rigor mortis had set in and based on the decomposition of the body it was estimated Kate had been dead for a week. The Evening Express newspapers were found on the kitchen parlour table for Friday 5th and Saturday 6th February. Monday the 8th’s edition and the papers for the rest of the week lay under the letter box untouched. This backed up the theory Kate had died on Sunday February 7th or in the very early hours of Monday February 8th. 

There is some evidence to the contrary. Neighbours from the opposite side of the road said they thought they had seen Kate on the morning of Monday 8th cleaning her brass. Additionally Kate kept a diary and there was an entry for Monday February 8th. As far as I can see this was never satisfactorily explained. 

Statements given by the next door neighbours Thomas and Margaret Williams suggested Kate was last seen alive on Sunday February 7th. The married couple had a conversation with Kate over the garden wall while she was doing some chores. Thomas had asked if he could borrow Kate's fire blower. This was around lunchtime and Thomas and Margaret said that Kate was alone in the house and that all was quiet at 41 Saltmead Road for the rest of the day. 

Late on Sunday night both Thomas and Margaret saw a light flickering in a back bedroom window. Thomas said it looked like someone was walking about looking for something. Margaret said Kate had mentioned to her that she had trouble sleeping and would sometimes use a light to look around at things at night to alleviate the boredom. They also heard a noise coming from next door at around midnight. It sounded like someone was chopping sticks. I believe that unused cut sticks for the fire were found at 41 Saltmead Road when the body was discovered. 

Monday was usually a wash day for Kate but the Williams did not see a fire lit under the copper in Kate's house, and the blinds remained drawn in the front and the back of the house. It was common for Margaret Williams' mother to help Kate with her washing but on that day she didn't get the customary message telling her to come to the house. 

Thomas and Margaret would normally see Kate, or at least hear her singing as she went about her daily tasks. During the rest of the week they did not hear a peep from next door. 

The house was searched thoroughly by police, who did find several things of note. some of which I have already mentioned in the report given by Constable Scowcroft. Police also found a chest which had been sold to Kate by her neighbour Margaret Williams. In the chest Kate had kept clothing and some money. Although Kate was not much of a talker she had mentioned to several people that she was planning on moving away from Cardiff in the spring, possibly permanently. It was known that Kate was saving for the move and using the chest to store her money. 

No money was found in the house except for a few pennies hidden under a toilet cover. A bank book with a credit of £41 0s 5 pence in the name of a “Harriet Stacey” was still inside the chest. Near the box was a padlock, 2 keys, a screwdriver and a chisel. It was first surmised that these latter two items were brought to the house by the killer to break open the chest. As it happened it was proven that the screwdriver and chisel had both already been at the house. They had once belonged to William Warren. He said he brought them to the house several years ago to carry out a repair and had left them at the house. 

It was uncertain if anything else was missing. Kate was not known to wear a lot of jewellery apart from some rings and a watch. The rings were still on the hand when the body was found but at first the watch could not be located. A day later it was discovered in a drawer. A detail concerning a gold watch and chain Kate was seen wearing the day before she is believed to have died arises at the inquest. I will go into that detail presently.

Another thing to note was that part of the door lock on the back bedroom door had been broken. Additionally, a man's shirt and bowler hat were inside the home. The shirt bore a laundry mark and it was hoped local laundries may shed light on the owner. The shirt had been labelled with the initial “E”. 

Taking all this into consideration the police were uncertain of a motive for the murder, though robbery was suggested as a possibility. I should say I have read no reports to suggest that Kate had been sexually assaulted and newspapers at the time made no mention of a sexual component to the crime.

The neighbours knew very little about the woman they called Kate England. As I've already mentioned she was a reserved woman who did not share many personal details about herself and specifically about her past. What locals had noticed was that Kate was financially fairly comfortably off, especially for that area of town. One local quipped to newspapers that she was not short of a quid. Though she did not use this terminology, a neighbor inferred that Kate engaged in sex work. I think it’s clear that this was the case.

Neighbours said that Kate rarely left the house except for occasional holiday trips. While she lived alone she had many visitors to the house at all times of day and night. As Kate was hard of hearing her visitors would often knock the front door very loudly which would disturb the neighbours. Most of the visitors were sailors or seamen. In 1904 Cardiff was an important port, with ships docking from all over the world. 

Two men in particular were regular visitors to the house. The first was the aforementioned William Warren, middle name Henry, a 39 year old widower and father of five. His wife had been in Bridgend Asylum for several years and passed away just five weeks prior to Kate. William told neighbours that he was Kate's brother and Kate said likewise. As you might have already guessed, this was not the case. The other regular visitor was a man called Mr England. He was a Dutch or possibly Scandinavian marine engineer who would stay at the house when he was back from his travels. He had last visited the house a few months earlier, during Christmas. He had then left for his ship the SS Slingsby which was docked in Barry and set sail for Mauritius on January 12th 1904. Neighbours understood Mr England to be Kate's husband, but again this was not true. 

The identity of Kate England was shrouded in mystery and indeed it took a few days for police to realise that some people knew her as Kate Stacey. It was soon evident that Kate was not her official first name either. She was in fact Harriet Stacey, as written on the bank book found in the chest. 

Harriet was from Crickhowell in Powys, mid-Wales and contemporary reports suggest she was born there in July 1853. According to records found on Ancestry Harriet was born across the English border in Market Drayton, Shropshire on Aug 1st 1953.  Harriet’s father, who was 80 at the time of his daughter’s death, worked at a gas works in Crickhowell. His surname was Jones.

As a young woman Harriet married John Stacey, a train engine driver for the Midland Railway Company where he worked for 25 years. The couple lived in Hereford, a town in England 44 miles, 70 km north-east of Cardiff. Newspaper reports describe Harriet’s husband as a popular man and one who played a considerable role in public life. News articles claim their marriage was a happy one for many years. Obviously this does not take into account the thoughts of Harriet on this matter, and we do not know what they were. 

In 1898 or 99, after decades of being married, the couple took in a lodger, who was a sales agent for a sewing machine company. At some point over the next year or so an affair took place between the lodger and Harriet. Harriet’s husband John found out and complained to the lodger’s employers. The sewing machine company took action and transferred the lodger out of the area. Apparently Harriet admitted the affair to her husband.

Mirroring the values and beliefs of the period, Harriet's infidelity was at least in part blamed on the menopause. They don't use the term menopause but it is clear that is what they are referring to. According to an article in the Cardiff Times from February 20th 1904, medical practitioners in Hereford stated that Harriet had suffered so much from the symptoms of menopause that they believed she would either die or quote “suffer such mental derangement as would leave her periodically with little control over her actions”.

Harriet's father tried to repair his daughter's relationship with her husband but she would not allow him to interfere. In 1900 Harriet and her husband separated and she moved away from Hereford. She did not receive monetary support from her husband, although John Stacey mentions at the inquest into his wife's death that he made some sort of provision for her. After she left Hereford I believe she may have lived in Nottingham for a time before moving into the house in Saltmead Road in Cardiff in July 1901.

I have spent some time deliberating on what name to use to refer to the woman at the centre of this sad story. While she was officially Harriet she went by Kate during her time in Cardiff. While one can speculate we do not know her reasons for this or what name she would prefer to be called. I have decided to use Harriet for the remainder of the episode as that is what the very few modern day references to these events use.

During her marriage Harriet had several children. From records I accessed on Ancestry she had four daughters, Lillie, Gertrude, Nellie and Florence and two sons John and Frederick. At the time of her death one son worked in Hereford in local government and a married daughter Gertrude, lived in the Canton area of Cardiff.  Harriet was always welcome at her daughter's home, though the daughter had never been to Harriet's house. Harriet had told her that she was a housekeeper for Mr England and that he didn't much care for visitors to the house.

One of Harriet’s daughters Lillie lived in Gloucester and another daughter (possibly Nellie)was an actress and toured the country performing in plays. On the Thursday before the body was found, this latter daughter had planned on meeting with sister Gertrude and her mother Harriet in Cardiff as she was performing in nearby Newport. In the end the actress was unable to make it due to a last minute matinee show. Gertrude thought nothing of it when her mother also failed to show up and assumed Mr England had returned early. A day after the body was found a telegram arrived at 41 Saltmead Road from Harriet's daughter Lillie inquiring about her mother, as she hadn't heard from her in a week.

It was reported in the Western Mail (16/02/1904) that William Henry Warren was arrested in connection with Harriet’s death late on Sunday night, a few hours after the body was discovered. The Cardiff Times stated that the police officers acted on a general policy of always arresting the person who found the body rather than due to any particular evidence relating to William. He was held until Monday afternoon before being released without charge. Detectives were then said to be pursuing other leads outside of Cardiff in other parts of the country. 

Reporters from the Western Mail approached William Warren at his home shortly after he was released from custody. He told them that he disliked “personal journalism” but did acquiesce to answering some questions. He declared he was able to perfectly clear himself and that the police were completely satisfied with the information he had given.

William’s 76 year old mother provided an alibi, stating that her son had not left the house on Sunday February 7th, the day Harriet was last seen alive. She acknowledged her son knew Harriet (although she called her Kate England) and her husband Mr Engalnd and said he was on friendly terms with both. She added that her grandson (William Warren's son) told her that the whole family had visited the house on several occasions for Sunday tea.

William confirmed with press reporters that he had been ordered to attend the inquest and he would do so as he had a clear conscience. The journalists from the Western Mail seemed impressed by William, calling him a “superior type of working man”. 

An unnamed friend of William told reporters that he had asked William if he suspected anyone in connection with Harriet’s death. William replied that there was one particular person he would very much like to know the whereabouts of at the time of the murder. I do not know to whom William was referring.

The inquest into the death of Harriet Stacey, also known as Kate England, began just days after the body was found and, after an adjournment for police to go about their investigation, was concluded a couple of weeks later in early March 1904. It took place at the old Victorian town hall on St Mary’s Street and was presided over by coroner EB Reece. In attendance was Harriet's husband John, 23.18 as well as a son, a daughter and a son-in-law. William Warren and his solicitor, as well as medical experts, members of the police and numerous witnesses were also present. A coroner's jury listened to the evidence. 

Harriet's husband John Stacey confirmed details about his wife, many of which I have already mentioned. He also stated that he had not seen his wife for two years. He did know she was living in Cardiff but not the exact address. He did not know if the daughter who lived in Cardiff, Gertrude, had any contact with her mother.

William Henry Warren then took the stand to give evidence. He had known Harriet for 3 years and visited her one or two times a week. When asked about the nature of his relationship with Harriet he asked if he was compelled to answer the question. The coroner said he was not but that the jury may draw their own conclusions if he did not do so. William did not answer and stated he was happy for them to do that. At this point John Stacey spoke out and demanded an answer from William. The coroner quickly told him to be quiet and said he would be permitted to ask some questions later. I think it's a given that William and Harriet had a sexual relationship.

From William’s testimony it was clear the relationship also had a financial aspect. In May 1903 William had been unable to work for 12 weeks due to a broken arm. During that period Harriet had financially supported William and his children.

William stated he last saw Harriet on the evening of Saturday February 6th. He only saw her for a few minutes and left after 10 (I assume this is 10.00pm but it is unclear from the reports). According to William, Harriet had been in unusually good spirits. He then mentioned the other visits I've already detailed that he made to the house over the following week. Each time he received no reply from his knock at the door. 

After his second visit on Saturday February 13th William went to the Great Western Train station in Cardiff and enquired about when the train from London would be coming in. He assumed that Harriet had gone to London; when she did this she would normally return late on Saturday or early Sunday. He was told the train would come in early the next morning. He returned to meet the train but did not see Harriet alight.

Thinking there was a possibility he had missed her and that maybe she had caught a cab (of the horse-drawn variety) back to Saltmead Road, William made his way there. He got to the house at 6.30am. He had brought with him a latch key which Harriet had given him in the past to let himself in the house.

When Harriet went away she would usually lock the main lock and would also leave this second key with William. This was so he could keep an eye on the house and was why she would never cancel the newspapers when she went away. Neighbours had spoken of previously hearing someone moving around and seeing a lit fire in the house when Harriet was away. Was this William Warren? The neighbours did not know.

On this occasion Harriet had not given William the main key so he only had the latch key. He tried the latch key but the door would not open as the main lock was on. The back door was bolted shut from the inside. William decided to return to his own house and proceeded to file one of his own keys in order to open the lock. Before leaving he did not check to see if the key was in the lock from the inside. If it was it would mean he wouldn't be able to gain entry that way and it would be a wasted trip. 

William returned at 8.30pm and found the key that he had filed down worked. He let himself inside. Harriet’s own main key was in the hallway (possibly on a small table or hanging up). Following this detail about the filed down key John Stacey again interrupted the inquest to sarcastically ask if William was a postman or burglar! 

William said he had decided to let himself in as he believed Harriet may have been ill, and spoke of a time in the past where she had fallen over unconscious. There are accounts of Harriet having had fainting fits. When asked why he hadn't tried entering the property on his two earlier visits during the week, he replied he did not have the latch key with him on those occasions.

When William entered the house he found that the internal doors were all unlocked and wide open which was unusual, especially if Harriet was away. I should say here that within seconds of William entering the house there was a knock at the door. It was a man asking to be admitted. The inference is that this man was there to procure sexual services from Harriet. I wonder if he had knocked at the door moments before with no reply and then saw William enter. William told the man to go away. 

The issue concerning the latch key and lock is a confusing one. I’ll spend a minute trying to unpack it.  Local people said it was a known fact that Harriet’s front door was often not locked and could be opened by putting one's hand through the letter box and pulling a piece of string which unfastened the latch. This could mean that a visitor had let themselves into the property on the evening of Sunday 7th without the neighbours knowing. Of course the question then is how did the person leave it locked when they left, as William Warren claims it was. This is something William Warren was questioned about. He was specifically asked why he went home to file his own key without first checking to see if the key was in the lock on the other side. He didn't really have an answer for this. He was also asked if he had training in filing keys. He said he had not and it was a fluke that he had managed to file down his own key to open the door. He produced the key at the inquest. I presume it was tested to see if it opened the door but I have not read anything about that in my research. 

While giving evidence William Warren identified the rope found tied around Harriet’s neck as a clothesline from the house. It was normally kept in the boiler house. The neighbour Margaret Williams disagreed and said she did not recognise the rope as belonging to Harriet. 

Dr Pittard, the police surgeon who attended the crime scene and carried out the post mortem, was quizzed about his findings. He was asked whether Harriet's death could have been suicide. In the lead up to the inquest there was a lot of speculation about this matter in the press and the coroner, EB Reece said himself said that while at first he had assumed murder he now thought there was a possibility of the death being a suicide.  

It was known that in life Harriet suffered with a high level of physical pain. The autopsy showed this was partly due to a very large kidney stone. On top of this Harriet experienced sharp pain from damaged nerves, known as neuralgia. Living with this level of pain was seen as a reason for suicide. 

Coupled with her poor physical health, Harriet was portrayed in the local press as being mentally ill. So called “depraved diary entries from Harrierts journal” were cited as evidence of this. The details of the diary entries were  deemed too obscene to release publicly. It is likely the said entries referenced some of Harriet’s sexual encounters. In this period of British history the idea of a woman enjoying sex would be enough to have an individual committed to an asylum! 

These factors, coupled with the rather strange manner of death and the fact there was no evidence of a struggle were enough for contemporary minds to think Harriet may have killed herself.

Dr Pittard stuck to his original assessment that it was not a case of suicide. He refuted the premise based on the placement of Harriet's hands and the slackness of the rope. In his medical opinion it was not suicide.

One of the most intriguing and mysterious parts of the inquest was the testimony of a woman named Mary Anson. She was an acquaintance of Harriet and regaled an incident that took place at 8pm on Saturday February 6th, the day before Harriet was last seen alive. Mary Anson saw Harriet Stacey in the company of a tall man with a heavy dark moustache, bowler hat and black overcoat, standing on the corner of Caroline Street and St Mary Street. Mary paused and asked Harriet the time. Harriet was wearing a gold chain twisted twice around her neck and had a small gold watch. She was also wearing three dress rings on her right hand. Mary had never seen Harriet with these items of jewelry before. Mary saw the man leave Harriet and wander down Wood Street.

Mary was asked if the man she had seen was William Warren (remember he is described as having a dark moustache and he wore a bowler hat.) She replied that it was not him. This mysterious tall man was never identified. 

Numerous friends and neighbours of Harriet, including Wiiliam Warren, were asked at inquest about the gold chain and gold watched the witness had seen Harriet wearing. No one recognised these items, though William Warren said Harriet owned three watches, one of which was gold and one of the other two was silver.

When all the evidence had been heard the coroner asked the jury to decide whether Harriet Stacey was murdered or died by suicide. If it was murder he said it was an exceedingly cold-blooded crime and if suicide it was clearly a very determined case. If it was suicide it had, in his opinion, been spontaneous, as the chopped sticks found in the house would suggest Harriet had planned on carrying on as normal the next day. The coroner added that if it was murder it was at this stage impossible to say who the culprit was, though he felt it probable that the killer had entered the house on Sunday February 7th. He expressed his opinion that William Warren had cleared himself through his testimony. 

The jury spent just five minutes deliberating and concluded that Harriet Stacey had been the victim of wilful murder by a person or persons unknown. 

A week after the inquest local papers were full of a new and yet unexplored angle to the case. During their own inquiries, journalists from the Cardiff Times had found a coffee shop owner, Mrs Hutchinson, with an extraordinary story. The shop stood on the corner of Clare Road and Court Road, a ten minute walk from Harriet's home. At 5.20 am one morning during the week Harriet was believed to have been killed, a man ran into the shop and asked to borrow a cap. Back in 1904 hats were a daily accessory and it was rare to go out without one. The man was breathless and acting excitedly. 

Neither Mrs Hutchinson nor any of the customers in the shop had a cap to lend so the man left quickly. Some reports say within seconds others that he was there a couple of minutes. Before leaving the man mentioned that he was on his way to Cathays, a ten minute walk to the south-east. He said it was a long way to go without a hat. The man exited the shop and headed along Clare Road towards Tudor Road. 

Mrs Hutchinson described the man as clean shaven on his chin but with a moustache. He was of medium height and fairly well dressed but with no overcoat. When asked by the coroner if she would recognise the man again she responded in the negative. Another witness in the shop that day did think they would be able to recognise the man. Earnest Ford was drinking a cup of tea when the hatless man burst into the shop. Earnest reckoned the man was around 32 years of age. Both Mrs Hutchinson and Earnest Ford agreed that the man was a stranger to the neighborhood. He was said to look like a workman but was not wearing workman’s clothes. Earnest Ford speculated that the man may have just been kicked out of a local brothel, of which there were many in that part of town. The hatless man himself did not give an explanation for being hatless.

The reason this was of interest to the journalist was that, as you may remember, a bowler hat was found inside Harriet's home. Was the killer attempting to replace the hat he had left behind? 

Police had believed the bowler hat and the shirt with the initial E found in the house belonged to Mr England rather than the person responsible for Kate's death. This was a reasonable assumption as the bowler hat was found packed away in a box. It did not look like it had been causally discarded or forgotten. 

The exact day the incident with the hatless man occurred could not be agreed on. Mrs Hutchinson thought it was the Wednesday before Harriet’s body was found, whereas Earnest Ford thought it the Monday. If the latter was correct this would tally with when Harriet was believed to have died.

There was speculation as to whether this hatless man could be the same man who was with Harriet the night before she was last seen. They both were described as having a dark moustache. However, the descriptions of their height differed and the man at the coffee shop was not in an overcoat. Local journalists drew attention to this fact but also stated the unreliability of witness statements concerning estimating height. 

Mrs Hutchinson said she had told this story to police shortly after hearing about Harriet’s body being found. The police denied they had any knowledge of the story. Detective Inspector Rankin said inquiries would be made around the “hatless man" but police later said that they did not think this lead was particularly significant. As far as I'm aware the hatless man was never identified.

Shortly after this story broke renowned playwright George R Sims was referenced in an Evening Express article (4th April 1904), saying he had been in Cardiff and lost his hat. He speculated that the hatless man may have found it and used it to make his getaway. Sims was worried that if and when the police apprehended this man they would find his hat with the killer. (Sims' name was inside the hat.). Quite a bizarre tale but I thought I would include it.

Some months later Mr England returned to Cardiff from Mauritius. He talked with the Cardiff Times in September 1904 saying he thought that Harriet's death was a suicide.  He said the amount of pain she suffered from what he called an internal ailment and neuralgia meant she may have killed herself. He positively identified the rope tied around her neck as a washing line belonging to Harriet. It was normally stored in the pantry and according to the newspaper this accounted for the dryness of the rope. This is the first reference I have read to the rope being especially dry. The writer of the article in the Cardiff Times seemed content with this version of events and favoured the suicide theory. The writer goes on to say it makes sense considering there was no motive and nothing was taken from the house, saying there was no evidence of ransacking. This is odd, as that is not what I picked up from the inquest report. Had Harriet's savings that were thought to be missing been accounted for? I can't find reference to that happening. Very strange.

From what I can tell Harriet’s Husband John Stacey passed away in 1918 and William Warren continued living in Cardiff until his death in the 1940s.  Today very few people in Cardiff have heard of Harriet Stacey or the Saltmead tragedy as her death was commonly referred to at the time. As of 2025 Harriet’s house still stands but Saltmead Road was renamed, I think during the 1950s to mark the jubilee.

Before recording this episode I wanted to see if I could find the grave of Harriet Stacey. Harriet was buried at Cathays cemetery, which is only a ten minute drive from where I live. I found the plot number for her grave on the Friends of Cathays Cemetery website and so I went with my daughter to see if we could find it. It's actually a beautiful place to go for a walk as the site is very large and much of it has been set aside for conservation. You can learn alot about a place and its history by visiting graveyards. It took us a little while but we did find the location. No gravestone stands but in between patches of brambles a blanket of wood anemone and primrose covers the ground. 

Harriet Stacey, Rest in Peace.