EP263: Who Killed Julia Wallace?

Though otherwise, you know, the weekend's coming. It's always a good time. When it's the weekend, don't have to worry about work or get up early and whatever. Spend the time with you now.

have time to do what you want to do. And that's curtail to about twenty minutes.

in eighteen seventy eight. William's family was quite well off and he had an enjoyable childhood. William was a very smart boy as well, and he actually jumped ahead in school when he was five years old. By the young age of fourteen, William began working to earn an apprenticeship as a draper or someone who sold clothing. This job allowed William to see the world. He even lived in India and China for a few years while he was

in his twenties. His world travels came to an end and brought him back to England after he was having health issues regarding his kidneys. In nineteen oh six, William resigned from his job, moved back to England and had his left kidney removed. This really put William's life on hold for a few years, and it wasn't until nineteen eleven that William started working again for the Liberal Party

as an election agent. This new job brought William to Yorkshire and he was really suffering with loss, heartbreak and just overall sadness from the troubles and obstacles he was encountering in his life. But in nineteen eleven. William was also lucky enough to meet a woman and fall in love. Julia Dennis was born in eighteen sixty one to loving

parents and in William George Dennis. Julia was the second oldest of six siblings, and in eighteen seventy one, while giving birth to the seventh Dnnist child, her mother passed away. Up until this point, the Dunnist's own and ran a very successful farm in the area where they lived, but William George had to give up the family farm after the death of his wife. During this time, William George really leaned into his drinking habit and was becoming a full blown alcoholic.

the kens Wwick House Ladies School in London. As a governess, she was someone who provided education and child care to families. The Kenswick House was also home to Robert and Charlotte Smith, who were husband and wife. Charlotte was the governess of the household, and together Julia and Charlotte took care of and taught the Smith's three children, maud Matilda and Rose like what great name for you? Yes, and three other

kids who were boarders in the home. So essentially they had a little boarding school situation going on, and Charlotte was the head governess and Julia got hired as her assistant to help with the children. And being a governess was a common job during that time period, and even Julia's two biological younger sisters worked as governesses and other homes. After spending nearly a decade at the Kenswick House Ladies' School, Julia left London and moved to Yorkshire and was a

governess at another home called Elmhouse. At Elmhouse, she worked for a family who also had the same last name of Smith, Robert John and Sophia Smith and their children Sarah, Sophia, Claude and Robert. Julia worked for the Smith family at Elmhouse for many years until seemingly leaving governessing altogether and moving back to London into her own flat for a

few years before again going back to Yorkshire. In Yorkshire, Julia's sister Annie would stay with her for a few years, and Julia would actually become the landlord of one of the buildings that she lived. Now here's where things get fishy, Okay, so give you us a little bit of background. In nineteen eleven a census was taken and on one of the documents taken the name Miss Dennis is listed and on the other Jane Dennis is listed. Both documents have

the same listed address, but the birthdates are different. The birthday listed for Miss Dennis is the actual birthday of Julia Dennis, which was April twenty eighth, eighteen sixty one. And for those of us who are not good at math, in nineteen eleven, Julia would have been fifty years old. The census with Jane Dennis listed and said that Julia was only thirty two years old. Either way, Julia had really come into herself by nineteen eleven, and she possessed

many talents and hobbies, especially in the arts. Julia could speak fluent French. She did watercolor paintings and also was a talented singer and pianist. It was said that her home was just filled with the most beautiful watercolor paintings that she had done herself. Some described Julia as shy and timid, while others saw her as extremely prideful and honestly kind of weird. So in nineteen eleven, Julia owned the flat that she lived in and life seemed pretty good.

William and Julia, remember I told you about William earlier. They lived just two blocks from each other, so they were bound across paths eventually, and when they did, their relationship quickly flourished. William spoke about Julia as if she truly made him a better man. The pair had tons of things in common, including a love for music, the English countryside, in literature. During their time dating, William's mother passed away, and there's no doubt that William leaned on

Julia during that difficult time. The couple got married in nineteen fourteen, and together William and Julia loved to host friends over and the night with music in their parlor, as William was a novice violinist and Julia could sing and play piano. Seemingly, the only thing the couple didn't do together was go to church, because William was the more agnostic, where Julia was active in their local church

and she didn't mind going to services alone. Now we know that Julia was significantly older than William, and she was lying to him about it. William, who was born in eighteen seventy eight, was only thirty five years old in nineteen thirteen, and Julia would have been fifty two. Another strange thing Julia did was that on their marriage license she listed that her father was a veterinary surgeon, when we know for a fact that he was a farmer and a drunk who died. Like a weird thing to.

It's clear that this fact took a toll on him as he continued to try and join the armed forces. Finally accepting his fate, William settled on taking an insurance agent job in Liverpool. William and Julia moved to the place they would call home, which was located in an area of Liverpool called Clubmore. Clubmore was considered to be a relatively poor neighborhood. Being an insurance agent was not

what William wanted his career to be. He had a passion for the sciences and had a dream of one day making a scientific discovery that would change mankind forever, so much so that he turned one of the upstairs bedrooms in their home into a laboratory. Also on the side, William earned an education from the Liverpool Technical College and

started lecturing there about electricity and chemistry. In nineteen twenty two, William and his friend neighbor James started a chess club, and that was something William was passionate about as well. For fifteen years, William and Julia really just settled into what was seemingly a normal life for a couple in the nineteen hundreds. Julia went to church, William went to chess, and they of course continued to have their parties that

ended in music. Neighbors of the Wallaces stated that they really were a devoted couple, and after nearly two decades of living by them, they had never heard as much as a verbal disagreement between the two. Both Julia and William were very drawn to intellectual pursuits rather than social pursuits. Once they were married, their social lives dwindled, and the couple spent most of their time with William's brother, his wife,

and their son. Julia would sometimes stay after church for a cup of tea, but was often eager to get home to her husband. Some of the women in their congregation believed that William had Julia under lock and key, while others just believed that this was the life that they both chose to live and they were content with it. It was obvious that amongst all the hobbies and interests, chess was the one that William enjoyed the most. In nineteen thirty one, William was part of a chess club

dubbed the Liverpool Central Chess Club. Even though it seemed that William loved chess a lot, he was reportedly really bad at it, but still this was a community he was part of and he knew the other local chess players for nearly a decade. At this point, I don't know how to play chess, do you?

play chess. Monday, January nineteenth, nineteen thirty one was one of those Mondays that William planned to enjoy himself rather than work. William was actually hesitant to go to the chess club on that Monday night because he was just getting over the flu and Julia was sick with bronchitis and their pet cat, whose name was Puss, had accidentally gotten out and was yet to come home, but Julie

insisted that he go. Around seven forty five that evening, William showed up to the chess club and club director Samuel Betty had a message for him. Just about thirty minutes before his arrival, someone by the name of R. M. Waltrow called the cafe where the club was hosted and asked to speak to William. Since William had not yet arrived,

Samuel took the call and a message for him. The person on the other line asked for William's address since he wasn't yet at the chess club, but Samuel refused to give him this information and agreed to take the message. The mysterious caller asked Samuel to tell William to meet him the following evening at seven thirty pm at twenty five Men Love Gardens East to discuss business regarding his

daughter turning twenty one. When Samuel relayed this message to William, no one was able to figure figure out who this rm Qualtro was. Samuel and William actually asked around the club if anybody knew who this guy was or if they knew about the address he wanted to meet at, and no one did. Other players had heard of Men Love Gardens North, South and West and Men Love Avenue West, but not Men Love Gardens East. Several players offered suggestions

of how William might get there the next evening. Oddly enough, that same night, another man asked Samuel for William's address. So at the Liverpool Central Chess Club, if you arrived later than seven thirty pm, you basically threw the match and automatically lost. William was late. He arrived at seven forty five, so the match he was scheduled to play

he didn't end up playing this other guy. James cared realized that William didn't have anyone to play at the moment and offered to play William, but he refused this game because James was in a higher playing class and he probably knew what's gonna lose. Yes. After William refre refused James, James walked over to the check and table and asked Samuel for William's address. During James's conversation with Samuel, William found another guy to play a match against and

settled into that. Samuel refused to give James the address and just directed him to go talk to William himself. Was this a really weird coincidence or is James cared ur M Barni Paltrow? Is he just being shitty?

his day of insurance collection rounds. After making rounds for about two hours, he stopped at home for lunch and then headed back out again to continue working. When he returned home, she had dinner ready, and the couple eight together and discussed the strange message and meeting invitation that William had received the night before. Again, William was hesitant to go to the meeting, but he claimed that Julia convinced him to go. After all, commission is commission, and

both Julia and William were considered hard dedicated workers. William left again that day, this time around six forty five pm, and he decided to take the tram instead of walking to meet R. M. Qualtrow. Because he wasn't completely sure of what the meeting place was, William decided to head to the area where Menlove Avenue West was and try to find his way from there. To get to mend Avenue, he had to take three different trams. William was relying on the conductor of the trams to help get him

to his final destination. On the second tram, the conductor told him where to get off to change trams, and on the third tram, the conductor explained to William the layout of the men Love Garden's neighborhood and where he would most likely find his destination. But seriously, these directions didn't help him at all. He walked in circles around the neighborhood and stopped a few different people on the

street to ask them for directions. He even went and knocked on the door of the house at twenty five men Love Gardens West to see if the address was written down incorrectly, like maybe he was supposed to go there. Yeah, but he hit a dead end, and he hit dead end after dead end. When William was finally close to giving up, he ran into a police officer on the street and asked him where he could find the address. The officer informed him that there was no such place

as at men Love Gardens East. This officer gave him yet another suggestion of a place to try, and that if William went to the post office or a police station, he may be able to find a map to help him out. William followed the officer's advice and went to a nearby post office, but they did not have a street directory, and suggested that he try the newspaper shop as they might have one. I mean, this poor guy's going he really wants his permission?

all day while William was working? On January twentieth, nineteen thirty one, she had a pretty laid back day. It's unsure what she spent her morning doing, but around three point thirty pm that day, her sister in law, Amy came by for a visit. Amy reported that Julia told her about William's business meeting that was scheduled for later that night. The duo also discussed how there had been a surge of break ins in the area. While Amy was visiting, the baker's son stopped by to deliver Julia

her brad. The son actually asked Julia how she was doing, because he said that she looked really sick and not like herself. Around four thirty PM, Amy left, and as she was leaving, the window cleaner was arriving to clean Julia and William's home windows. The window cleaner was arriving to clean Julia and William's home windows that night, around six thirty Julia had another visitor. This time it was

the milkman's son to deliver the weekly milk. The son knocked at the door and then left the milk on the step and moved on to the next home. By the time he was at the next door, Julia came out, gave the son too empty curtains, and instructed him to hurry home because it was cold outside. In between these visits and various chores, we know that Julia made William lunch and dinner and ate those meals with him. When

William arrived home at around ten forty. That evening, he tried his front door key, but the door wouldn't open. The house Julia and William lived in also hit a door in the back that they typically used, but at night it was most common for them to use the front door to be able to keep their home more secure. William lightly knocked in the front door before making his way to the back. The back door was also locked, which he expected, and he knocked lightly again, which was

heard by the neighbors. Julia wasn't opening the door, so William went around to the front again. He was knocking and knocking again, now with some level of worry building inside him, He decided again that he was going to check the back door, and this time on his way around the house, he ran into two other neighbors, John and Florence Johnson. William immediately asked the couple if they

had heard anything unusual happening that night. William told John and Florence that he was unable to get into his home and was getting worried about his wife since she was home sick. William tried again with his neighbors at his side, and the door thankfully opened. Suggested that he and Florence stay on the porch while William took a

look inside to make sure everything was okay. The first place William checked was the upstairs middle bedroom, where he and Julia slept, thinking maybe she went to betterly since she was sick. When she wasn't in there, he went back downstairs to check the parlor. Upon lighting the match and opening the door slightly, William saw his wife Julia laying face down on the floor in a pool of

her own blood. Come and see she's been killed, William shouted to John and Florence as he ran back to the doorway where they were standing in complete disbelief and shock. John followed William back into the home and into the parlor. At first glance, no furniture had been moved, but the closer John looked, the more horrors he saw. Blood had been sprayed over seven feet high onto the walls and ceilings.

Many of Julia's paintings were covered in her blood. Julia had a very large wound on the back of her head, which seemed to be oozing brain and skull matter. Along with the pool of blood Julia was laying in, there were two other large pools of blood near the fireplace. Florence was the only one to approach the body to ensure that Julia was dead. Of course, she's the brave one, right right. William noticed that one of the cabinets in the kitchen had been ripped off, and all of William's

insurance collections from that day had been stolen. All that was left was a single dollar bill and some stamps, and with that John ran out of the house to find the nearest doctor while Florence and William waded in the kitchen. I'll tell you a little bit about John, Florence and their family. They lived next door to the wallaces, and the way the houses were set up, they would have basically shared a wall with each other, so I'm thinking it's like a row of homes. Right at the

home with John and Florence was their daughter Nora. Nora was engaged to a man named Francis, and he was frequently over their house to visit Nora. On the night of January twentieth, Francis was at the Johnson household. Also when the house was another son, Russell and his wife Sarah. When Russell heard what was going on and that his parents were at the way else's house. He went over

there right away. He found his mother and William in the kitchen, and William was actually cutting up meat for Julia's cat, who had returned home at some point that day. Russell found that site pretty unsettling, considering his wife was in the other room dead. It was just kind of yeah, right, like.

the floor in the parlor, along with Julia's jacket. Not knowing how they got there, Florence and William went back to the kitchen. Since they were still waiting, Florence suggested they start a fire, and that's exactly what she did. During the time they waited, William cried multiple times and sat with his hut in his hands. The first officers to the house did a horrible job at preserving the

crime scene. They did such a bad job that an officer literally showed up to the crime scene drunk and went to the bathroom and flushed the toilet in the house.

were inside. Immediately, Constable Williams told William to put those back and not touch anything further. This was another example of how the crime scene was not properly protect did before investigation. William took the Constable into the other two bedrooms, the one which was the makeshift laboratory and the other one which was used as a spare room. And the spare room, the sheets were kind of pulled down and off the bed and some of the pillows were on

the floor. William told the constable that he hadn't been in that room in like two weeks, and so he didn't know if it had been like that or not. After the tour, many other officers, medics, and investigators arrived on the scene and the investigation was in full swing. The first suspect, as is usually suspected when a wife is murdered, is the husband. People suspected William on the first night of the investigation, but there just wasn't enough

evidence to back that theory up. According to the autopsy, Julia's time of death was seven fifty PM and was caused by three to four blows with a blunt object. At that time, William would have been across town searching for the address that R. M. Qualtrow requested he meet a matt There were also no bloodstains anywhere except in the parlor. The chances that after murdering his wife, William was able to go upstairs change his clothes and wash

off without leaving a single trace. Officers needed a Hail Mary. If they were going to be able to charge William with the murder of his wife. They had to be missing something, But what was it? They finally had the aha moment. William's outdoor coat was found in the parlor under Julia's dead body. Maybe William was able to travel to Menlove Gardens without a trace of the crime on him because he was wearing his coat during the murder and then took it off because it had blood splatter

on it. Police finally put together their theory of what happened that faithful night. They believed that on January nineteenth, William went to a payphone and made a call to the cafe where his chess club would be meeting. He masked his voice and left the mysterious message that Samuel

would later give to William himself. After making the mysterious call, William headed to the chess club meeting, which he arrived too late, and when he got to the chess club, he faked his cluelessness and regarded the mysterious message, all to create an alibi for himself. Then the next night, police believed that he waited until the milk boy came to see Julia alive, quickly killed her, took off the jacket, and went on his way to the pretend meeting that

he had set up. William strongly refuted this theory and maintained his innocence. It was proven by witnesses across town that saw and spoke to William that he did actually go looking for R. M. Qualtrow, and while he continued to maintain his innocence, he was very vocal about who he thought was his wife's true killer, Richard Gordon Perry. There were many people in the community who believed that William was innocent and that he was just caught up

in a tragic and horrible experience. Richard Perry used to work under William at the insurance company, and he was either fired or left on his own because William caught him stealing money from the company and cooking the books. William stated that Richard did work alone and there were other men he supervised that we're also stealing. One was Joseph K. Martsen. William caught the men stealing and they left the company, but continued to be friends. After departing.

Both of the men had been to Williams's house on multiple occasions and knew where he kept the cash box that he put his insurance collections in. Richard also admitted to police that he knew and was a regular at the Liverpool Center Chess Club, and he knew what cafe they met at regularly, so he would have known where

to call and leave a message. Another interesting finding regarding the potential involvement of Richard and Joseph is that when the police were looking into all the people with the name Qualtro, they found a man named R. J. Qualtrow, and he just so happened to be a client of Joseph's new insurance company. Joseph claimed that the night of the murder he was sick in bed with the flu

that was terrorizing Liverpool that winter. Richard claimed that the day of the murder, he spent the entire afternoon with some friends, who verified this. However, this alibi for the phone call was quite suspicious. Richard told officers that the night the phone call was made, he was with his girlfriend Lily. Lily, however, said that he was not with her during the time the phone call was made. When he did show up to her house. She was annoyed

because he was late. It was very unclear what actually happened over the course of January nineteenth to twentieth, nineteen thirty one. The first place that officers zoomed in on was the phone call. They wanted to analyze all the details around this and see what they could find. The first thing considered was the distance between William and Julia's

house and the phone booth. The phone booth that made the call was very close to William's home, and he could have left home at the time he said he did quickly stopped and still made it to the chest

cloud by seven forty five ish. William was eventually charged with Julia's murder, and on April twenty second, nineteen thirty one, he stood trial, and, despite the fact that all the evidence around him was strictly circumstantial, after only one hour of deliberation, the jury found him guilty and sentenced him to death that same day.

with it. William lost clients and friends. William received hate mail and even physical threats made against his life. William lived in fear that the person who killed his wife may come after him now that he was free and the case wasn't solved. William continued to struggle with kidney issues after having one removed in emergency surgery that I told you about, and he ended up using surgery that would have prolonged his life. He died in the hospital at age fifty four and was then buried next to

his wife in nineteen thirty three. Now that William is a free man, Now what other possible situations happened that night? First, there could have been someone who was watching William and waiting for him to leave that evening so they could commit the crime. It would have honestly been easy for a person to set this up if they spent even just a few weeks watching William and Julia, because they were very routine oriented people. Sound yeah right, I mean

they did things always at the same time clockwork. Not only that, but the chess schedule was posted on a board in a public place for anyone to see. And if this possible Stoker made the phone call, they were already setting William up for failure by giving him a fake address, knowing that would keep him out of the home for an extended period of time, giving them enough

time to commit the crime without anyone seeing them. There was also a lot of different clubs that met at that specific cafe, so that board got a lot of traction and attention by round. The other theory is that Richard Gordon Pear is the killer with the potential help of Joseph Caleb Mardsen to get William back for catching and calling them out for stealing insurance money. Not only did he know where the Wallaces lived and where William kept his cash box, and when William went to play chess,

he knew that too. He also had a criminal record and included things like vandalism, stealing, and sexual abuse, which he was acquitted from. But all of these crimes appeared to be spur of the moment and involved no planning at all, and he typically got caught right away, which might indicate that maybe he wasn't responsible for the murder. But he did give a fake account to where he was at night that the phone call was made, saying

he was with his girlfriend when he actually wasn't. To this day, the murderer of Julia Wallace has never been found and her case remains unsolved, and people still question whether or not Richard Gordon Perry was involved, or if William did it, or if it was something random. So it's crazy. Story, that is crazy.

your time? I love it. And that's why, you know, who's gonna marry, especially at that time. What man in his thirties is gonna marry someone who would be considered a spinster?

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