Accident or Murder? The Death of Mary Cremen | Crosby, 1882

A quiet Sunday in the Liverpool suburbs took a shocking turn in 1882 when a young maid, Mary Cremen, was found shot in the scullery of a respectable Crosby home. Her employer, Arthur Golding, immediately presented himself at the police station, insisting the death was a tragic accident. But as investigators examined the revolver, questioned the household, and uncovered a tangle of jealousies and clandestine relationships, the tidy façade of middle-class respectability began to crumble.

Was this truly a mishap with a six-shooter? Or was someone in the Golding household hiding far more than they revealed?

In this episode, we explore the forensic puzzle that troubled Victorian investigators, the shifting testimonies, and the domestic tensions that set the stage for one of Crosby’s most perplexing inquests.

And in this week’s Further Particulars, we turn to an extraordinary 1880s insurance tale involving a widow, a policy form, and a husband who managed to exit the world before completing the paperwork.

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