AtoZChallenge – A: Attempted Murder at Haverfordwest

The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is for bloggers who wish to participate, by publishing a blog post every day in April except for Sundays. Each blog post will focus on a letter of the alphabet. For example April 1 will be A, April 2 will be B, April 3 will be C, and on it goes. By the end of April, a blog post for every letter of the alphabet will have been published.   Blog posts are usually on a theme, or you can choose to post each day with no theme at all. My theme for 2024 is “Haverfordwest in the News”. Haverfordwest is a town in the county of Pembrokeshire, Wales.

From: South Wales Daily Post, Wednesday, 05 September 1894

Attempted Murder at Haverfordwest
HAVERFORDWEST SENSATION. ALLEGED ATTEMPTED MURDER. 

On Saturday last, Fred Hannam, who has been working as a baker in Haverfordwest for the last sixteen months, who was supposed to be a single man, received a surprise visit from a woman, who described herself as his wife. She went to his place of employment first, with three children, and had an interview with Hannam, afterwards repairing to his lodging, where she saw the landlady, and expressed a threat to put the children in Hannam’s care. She went upstairs and while there, Hannam arrived.

He followed her upstairs, and after a conversation, returned to the bottom, where his landlady spoke to him on the matter. He declared that the woman was not his wife, but she, overhearing the remark, said she was, and came downstairs, going into the bedroom with her baby, where she began to undress it. He followed, and it is alleged, drawing a revolver from his pocket, pointed it at her.

The woman screamed, but despite this, Hannam fired the weapon. The bullet whizzed past the woman’s ear, and broke a picture behind, thence falling onto a bookshelf. The terrified landlady had by this time gone into the room, and Hannam, it is stated, again pointed his weapon, as if with the intention of firing again. His supposed wife closed the door on the landlady for protection, and it appears that they made their way to the road, allowing the man to leave unmolested.

This he did as quickly as possible, and, after remaining in the town all night, left by the train on Sunday morning. The police were informed on Monday morning, but as yet, had not been able to effect an arrest.

from: Swindon Advertiser and North Wilts Chronicle, Saturday 15 September, 1894

ATTEMPTED MURDER
At Haverfordwest, Frederick John Hannam , a day or two ago, was charged with shooting at his wife, Emily Elizabeth with intent to murder her. The accused got employment at Haverfordwest, 18 months ago as a single man, leaving a wife and three children at Twyford. His wife paid him a surprise visit, and placed two of the children in bed, at his lodgings.
The prisoner entered the room while she was engaged with the children, and left after kissing the eldest child. A few minutes afterwards while his wife was undressing the youngest child, the accused is alleged to have fired at her with a loaded revolver. The shot passed over her head. He left the town, but was arrested at Cardiff. His defence was that he fired the revolver, merely to frighten his wife. He was committed for trial at the Assizes.

* Please note: Punctuation and paragraphs have been added to the above transcription for ease and speed of reading.

1894 ATTEMPTED MURDER AT HAVERFORDWEST, The South Wales Daily Post, 05 September 1894. Retrieved on 10 Mar 2023, from britishnewspaper.co.uk
1894 ATTEMPTED MURDER, Swindon Advertiser, Saturday 15 September 1894, page 2. Retrieved on 15 September 2023 from  britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk 

 

© 2024 Copyright. all rights reserved: haverfordwesthistory.com