The Quaker Poisoner: Britain’s First Telegraph Manhunt | True Crime 1845

In 1845, Britain witnessed a murder investigation unlike anything seen before.
When Sarah Hart died suddenly in the quiet village of Salt Hill, suspicion fell upon a seemingly respectable Quaker gentleman, John Tawell. What followed became the first manhunt in history conducted through the electric telegraph, racing ahead of a fleeing suspect along the Great Western Railway line.

In this episode, we explore the extraordinary case that blended poison, secrecy, telegraph wires, and Victorian morality, uncovering how a single message sent from Slough changed the future of policing.

You’ll hear about:
• The hidden life behind Tawell’s quiet exterior• Prussic acid and the Victorian obsession with poisons• How the telegraph outpaced a murderer for the first time• The dramatic arrest in a London coffee house• A sensational trial that gripped the nation• Tawell’s final confession — and the truth it revealed

And in Further Particulars, we close with a chaotic vignette from the 1880s involving a German labourer, a lover’s quarrel, and an improvised breakfast melee.

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