The Peculiar Case of the Electric Constable

August 19, 2013
Fans of Erik Larson’s true-crime thrillers will be pleased by this gripping account that presents a tipping point in the public acceptance of the telegraph: its use in 1845 to alert the authorities in London that a murder suspect had boarded a train headed there. With a novelist’s flair for drama, using details that were painstakingly extracted from the historical record, Australian popular historian Baxter (An Irresistible Temptation) recreates the life of suspect John Tawell, a Quaker who had been transported for forgery, the events leading up to his apprehension on suspicion of having poisoned Sarah Hart, and his prosecution. Along the way, the story takes several unexpected twists, and Baxter does a stellar job of integrating details about the nascent forensic science of the time, questions about the role of expert witnesses in jury trials, and the insatiable public hunger for salacious details about the case. There are occasional rhetorical excesses (“Still, doubt was pushing his foot through the door he had just opened”), but most of the prose is understated and precise.

October 15, 2013

Baxter's (An Irresistible Temptation: The True Story of Jane New and a Colonial Scandal) latest historical title reads like a novel. It's not a strictly academic work but rather a fascinating glimpse into a point in time in England's history, when things were about to change. The "electric constable" referred to is the electric telegraph, which made it possible for the suspect in this bizarre and scandalous murder case to be apprehended--the first time in the nation's history that this method was successful in such a case. Frankly, the telegraph plays a minor role here but does allow a well-researched and well-written story to be told about a dodgy Quaker, his former servant/mistress, his wife, a few vaguely corrupt scientists, and a vial of prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide). Baxter's research, while not footnoted, appears thorough and dogged, and she doesn't seem inclined to invent facts or conjecture about the case if facts are unknown. If this book lacks anything, it would be explanations of the intricacies of the early 19th-century British legal system, which contains terms and players unfamiliar to modern American audiences. This title is easily readable, interesting, and enjoyable, especially when one compares the techniques of the 1840s chemists and doctors with today's television and real-life forensic scientists. VERDICT Recommended for true crime and historical crime buffs, those interested in early forensic science, and general readers.--Amelia Osterud, Carroll Univ. Lib., Waukesha, WI

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