"The Barbarous Murder of a Child at Alton, Hampshire"

On Saturday of August 31, 1867, The Illustrated Police News published an article about the gruesome murder and dismemberment of eight year old, Fanny Adams by Frederick Baker. The story of the event started as a rumor, until people came forward to reveal that it was all too true. It began that Baker offered Adams a halfpenny to go up a road with him, which she accepted the payment but not the trip that followed. Baker did not accept the young girl’s response, so he forced her on the walk down the road instead. After Adams’ two friends returned back to the town and ran into a fellow neighbor, Mrs. Gardiner, who inquired the girls about Fanny’s absence. They all went in search for Adams, when hours later, Baker returned. After denying that he had any acknowledgement of the girl’s disappearance, he was left alone for the time being, but held under suspicion. Soon after, they found the head and other body parts of Fanny Adams in a hop garden. The article goes into full detail of how the remainder of the body was left behind, as disturbing as it already is.

Even after taking Baker into custody and hold him for questioning, because he was the last person to be seen with Adams, he was adamant about not killing the young girl, stating “it was a bad job for me, then” when being told that he was the suspect for Adams’ murder. There was a good amount of evidence on Baker, blood on his shirt sleeve and knives on his person, even though there was no trace of blood on it. However, there was an easy sign of him attempting to wash the blood off his clothing as his socks were still drenched. Many people of the jury wanted to kill Baker and many pitied him, as well as Adams. With Baker put into custody, after the hearings of the witnesses, he still claimed that he was innocent, even when authorities found an entry in his journal (which he admitted was his handwriting) under the date August 24, that he “killed a young girl; it was fine and hot.” A warrant for his arrest was released soon after.

However the case was not over, when on September 7, 1867, The Illustrated Police News published an updated article on the murder in Alton, Hampshire. The follow-up described the life of Frederick Baker before his “assumed” crime and detailed that he was a pious man who loved a woman, until the chance of being with her was taken from him, which eventually led him to become a drunk. It was not until he found a job in Alton, he stopped drinking, became pious again, and lived a happy life. The article boasted about how respectable and gentlemen-like he was, making it seem as if him performing a horrible act of crime was uncharacteristic and unlikely of him. There were more tests that were ran to see if there were any evidence on Baker, which confirmed that were was blood on his knives and clothing, before and after he attempted to wash them clean. The article ended with the publication stating that Baker will have time to reflect on his current position and that The Illustrated Police News would no longer focus or report on the “merits or demerits of the evidence against this unfortunate young man.”

The troubling part about The Illustrated Police News’ report on the case was that it appeared to be biased and take the side of the prisoner, Frederick Baker, and highlight him as a good, respectable man, instead of the suspected murderer of Fanny Adams. The publication stated in the updated report on the case, “We express the opinion of the world at large when we say that the murderer of Fanny Adams, whoever that may be, ought to expiate his crime upon the scaffold.” However, the popular opinion of the public was that Baker was guilty of the crime, especially since all of the evidence that the authorities found, indicated that he was. There were many indications in the article that attempted to pity and make excuses for Baker, such as when the prisoner was so adamant that he did not kill Adams, coroners specifically waited for Professor Taylor of Guy’s Hospital, to determine if the blood on Baker’s clothing was human or not. The case became distracted with Baker’s background story, when it was revealed that his drunkard, reckless behavior derived from a breakup between him and another woman. Both reports barely offered any insight on Fanny Adams’ case and whether Baker would be put on trial or not, because at the end of the last article, it appeared that the publication wanted no part in reporting it.

It is another report in which the victim is silenced and forgotten, because the story is no longer about her, but about the person that killed her instead. Most publications write stories and sensationalize them because they are aware that the story is more interesting and fascinating for the reader. In most cases, when reading or watching a film about a murder, such as the show Snapped, the killer is highlighted and their story is the feature. They are the most interesting part of the entire story, other than the victim. This goes the same with Victorian news reports, because even then, they were aware of the type of story that would sell.