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THOMAS MARTEN was muttering

By David Cocksedge

THOMAS MARTEN was muttering to himself as he crossed a narrow crest of land separating the Corder Estate from the village of Polstead in rural Suffolk , England . The date was 19 April 1828 and as it was nearing dawn Marten carried a lantern. Marten walked towards the red barn, a prominent structure in a cluster of buildings that overlooked Polstead from the Corder property. He was making the journey to placate the constant nagging of his wife Anne. For several nights, Anne had suffered the same nightmare: their only daughter, Maria, was murdered in the red barn and her body swallowed whole inside the right-hand bay of the building.

Almost a year earlier, on 18 May 1827, Maria had eloped with William Corder after a rendezvous at the barn. Both parents had not heard from her since. Thomas Marten knocked on the door of Corder's bailiff, Mr. Pryke, and told him that he was searching for some of Maria's clothes that may have been left in the barn when she eloped. Once the barn was open, Marten went to the right-hand bay. As he probed the ground with his walking stick, he felt an obstruction. He and Pryke scratched through soft earth to find a sack that had been buried in a hollow pit. The sack had deteriorated so much that they could easily tear it away to reveal a decomposing female corpse curled in the fetal position. It was later determined that she had been shot in the chest at close range, and the pistol ball had lodged in the upper part of her spine.

Fighting back his revulsion, Marten examined the rotting flesh until he recognized earrings and a green scarf that belonged to his daughter. Pryke raced from the barn towards the village where he summoned Polstead's constable and told him of their gruesome find. This was clearly a case of murder and the immediate suspect was William Corder, known to be the lover of Maria Marten.

The Corder family had lived in a two-storey, Tudor-style house from which they administered 300 acres of prime farmland. In 1826 after three of his sons died from disease or drowning, John Corder (senior) died from grief leaving only one son - William. Maria Marten was no paragon of virtue and had a progressive involvement with the Corder family. By the age of 24, she had produced three illegitimate children, one by William Corder's eldest brother, Thomas.

Now William Corder had three older brothers – John Corder Junior; James and Thomas. But because he did not help out on the farm, preferring reading and literary pursuits, William was not favored by his father, who informed him that he would exclude him from his will. On inheriting the farm, his brothers could employ him – if they so wished. William was unhappy with this arrangement and retaliated by stealing and selling some of his father's livestock.

Then within a year of Maria giving birth to their child, Thomas Corder drowned in a pond near Polstead village and James and John died from typhus and tuberculosis respectively. A grief-stricken John Corder senior died soon afterwards. Whilst William Corder improved his fortunes through these tragedies, there were still legal difficulties preventing him from claiming inheritance of the farm as sole heir. Soon he and Maria Marten became romantically involved, and discussed marriage after she gave birth to his son in the spring of 1827. The poor child died within a month, however, and his parents buried him in an unmarked grave. Gossips in Polstead village were soon discussing this scandal, but the death of their child was not officially investigated due to Corder's prominence in the local community. But Maria began to press him for a marriage date, and they had many arguments as William constantly postponed any such plans.

Then on Friday, 18 May 1827 William told Maria that they would meet at the barn and elope to nearby Ipswich , where they would be married. They would return to the Corder estate when he became legal heir to his father's estate. Still concerned about the threat of arrest over their baby's death, Corder asked Maria to wear clothing that had belonged to his late brother James so villagers might not recognize her as she approached the red barn. Accordingly, Maria wore a jacket and trousers as she went to meet William Corder that evening.

The Martens saw William Corder soon after this, and when asked about Maria, he replied that she was in Ipswich , waiting for the local authorities to process the marriage license. She was also selecting a new wardrobe and furniture for their future together. People accepted this explanation, but Anne Marten became suspicious when she saw Corder at a funeral carrying Maria's green umbrella.

Days later, Corder left the village, claiming that he was going to join Maria in Ipswich . But he went to London instead – and obviously planned never to return. Then Anne Marten began to experience her recurring nightmare; and Maria's body was discovered. When Police Constable Jonas Lea tracked him down months later in the capital city, William Corder said that he had never even heard of Maria Marten!

Lea was a thorough and methodical detective. Knowing Corder's literary bent, and his previous jaunts to London , Lea frequented various urban writers' haunts where he learned that William Corder had married a schoolmistress named Kathleen Moore. He had met her in the coastal resort of Brighton years before getting involved with Maria Marten. Corder and the former Miss Moore set up a school together in Ealing, west London , and were enjoying life until Constable Lea completed his investigations and accused Corder of murdering Maria Marten in the red barn at Polstead, Suffolk .

The trial began on 7 August 1827 at Bury St Edmunds Assizes. Corder's defense lawyer asked the presiding judge to halt the trial and change the venue due to all the local hostility directed at his client. Mr. Justice Alexander was concerned at the public displays of anger but allowed the trial to proceed with Corder protected by a cordon of constables at all times. As he entered and left the court each day, William Corder was jostled and spat upon by members of an angry mob.

Corder could not deny any knowledge of Maria Marten when her mother testified and retold her prophetic dream. Two witnesses stated that Corder borrowed a pickaxe and shovel from them on 18 May 1827. The prosecution team also produced a flintlock duelling pistol and ammunition, matching the caliber of the murder weapon. This had been found in a velvet bag in Corder's home in Ealing. Anne Marten testified that the velvet bag had originally belonged to her daughter.

Corder now changed his story. Speaking under oath, he said that he and Maria had met at the red barn, but he had walked away after yet another quarrel over a marriage date. He was heading back to his home when he heard a gunshot. He ran back to the barn to find Maria sprawled on the floor with a discharged pistol in her right hand. Horrified that he might be accused of murdering her, he had swiftly buried her body in the barn and left. On reflection, he reasoned that she must have stolen the pistol from his own bedroom.

No one attending the trial believed this version of events, and nor did the jury. They found him guilty of murder after only thirty minutes of deliberation. Just hours before he faced the hangman, William Corder again amended his story. He now stated that his argument with Maria had escalated into violence. As she screamed and slapped him in the face, he had removed his pistol from his coat pocket and the weapon accidentally went off as they struggled. She had died in his arms.

But he could not explain why he had borrowed a pickaxe and shovel from neighbors on the afternoon of 18 May 1827, the last day of Maria's life. And why did he have a loaded pistol in his pocket as he waited for Maria to meet him at the red barn that evening? All the evidence still pointed towards premeditated murder.

Even if could have proved his latest assertion, Corder could not escape his sentence. On the appointed day of execution, an audience of thousands watched the public spectacle as he slowly ascended the steps to the gallows. Corder's last words were that he deserved his fate. Then the hangman slipped a hood over his head and tightened the noose around his neck before releasing the trapdoor beneath the feet of the condemned man.

William Corder twisted and twitched for an agonizing ten minutes before he finally died. Today Corder's scalp, death mask, and the pistol he admittedly used to kill Maria Marten are on display at a museum in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk . These exhibits are powerful evidence of Anne Marten's prophetic nightmare involving her daughter's death.

(Research: ‘The Mystery of the Red Barn' by G Mark Jackson, Fate Magazine, September 2001.).

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