1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio, and Grim 2 00:00:04,600 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankie. Listener discretion advised. The evening 3 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:19,520 Speaker 1: of April seventh, seventeen seventy nine was playing out just 4 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: like any other typical night in Covent Garden. The post 5 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: theater crowd was filled with London socialites, there to see 6 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:32,920 Speaker 1: and be seen, and maybe taken a little entertainment along 7 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: the way. There had been a benefit that evening at 8 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 1: the Royal Opera House that included a performance of Love 9 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:45,400 Speaker 1: in a Village, a comic opera about mistaken identities and 10 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:49,279 Speaker 1: the follies of young love. A lovely woman in her 11 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: mid thirties was there, dressed in a fine silk gown 12 00:00:53,320 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: and adorned with jewels. In the bustling crowd, the woman 13 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: and her friend chatted with acquaintance. This is while they 14 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:05,080 Speaker 1: searched for the woman's carriage to take them home. Suddenly, 15 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:10,319 Speaker 1: an agitated young man appeared. He approached the woman, grabbing 16 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:14,319 Speaker 1: at her. Before anyone could understand what was happening, the 17 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,400 Speaker 1: young man raised a gun to the woman's head and 18 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 1: delivered a fatal shot. He raised a second gun to 19 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 1: his head and tried to take his own life, but 20 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 1: the gun missed. A would be murder suicide turned into 21 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: regular old murder. The man was a lovesick soldier turned priest. 22 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:41,520 Speaker 1: And what about the woman whose night at the theater 23 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:46,760 Speaker 1: had just taken a deadly turn. She was Martha Ray, 24 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: a skilled performer in her own right, as well as 25 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: a kept woman who had been through plenty of romantic 26 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:59,600 Speaker 1: drama of her own. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is 27 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: noble blood for Martha Ray. Life began and ended in 28 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:14,919 Speaker 1: Covent Garden, the vibrant London neighborhood where art and commerce 29 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: intersected and where people from all classes rubbed elbows on 30 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:23,200 Speaker 1: a daily basis. In between her humble beginnings and her 31 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:29,400 Speaker 1: untimely end, Martha scaled the social ladder, gaining access to 32 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: upper class life and to creative outlets that would not 33 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: normally have been available to the daughter of working class parents. 34 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:43,280 Speaker 1: She was beloved and respected by the upper classes, if 35 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:48,079 Speaker 1: never quite accepted as one of their own. One admirer 36 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: in particular found her to be quote a lady of 37 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:57,359 Speaker 1: elegant person, great sweetness of manners, and a remarkable judgment 38 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 1: and execution in vocal and instruments mental music. That same 39 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: admirer would be the one to later end her life, 40 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 1: setting off a media frenzy that capitalized on the era's 41 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 1: obsession with criminality and sentimentality in equal measure. Not much 42 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: is known about Martha's young life. She was born around 43 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:25,639 Speaker 1: seventeen forty two, although some sources say it was as 44 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: late as seventeen forty five. Her father made stays for corsets, 45 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: her mother was a servant in a noble household. Around 46 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 1: the age of fourteen, Martha began to apprentice as a cloakmaker, 47 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 1: setting her up for a working class life in a 48 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 1: respectable if humble profession. That would have set her up 49 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 1: well for a respectable marriage and decent life. After all, 50 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: she was smart, charming, and a gifted singer. No doubt 51 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 1: one of her father's patrons would take her for a wife, 52 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: But once a certain noblemen took notice of her, no 53 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: one else stood a chance. John Montague was ten years 54 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:14,559 Speaker 1: old when he became the fourth Earl of Sandwich, inheriting 55 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 1: the title but little else from his grandfather. He was 56 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: worldly and well educated, and he spun his title and 57 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:29,760 Speaker 1: background into a long, albeit rocky career in political life. 58 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:32,960 Speaker 1: He was generally well liked, with a taste for the 59 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:37,800 Speaker 1: finer things and a fondness for beautiful women. The time 60 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:43,600 Speaker 1: of his meeting Martha Ray is estimated at around seventeen sixty, 61 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: when Martha would have been eighteen, and the Earl of 62 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:52,600 Speaker 1: Sandwich around forty two. For clarity's sake, let's call him 63 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:56,120 Speaker 1: Sandwich going forward, because how often do we get to 64 00:04:56,120 --> 00:05:01,039 Speaker 1: do that. Sandwich was instantly taken with more and with 65 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: her father's blessing, he took the young woman as his mistress. 66 00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: By this point, Sandwich had been separated from his wife, 67 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 1: Dorothy for several years. Dorothy suffered from poor mental health 68 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:17,279 Speaker 1: and was later declared a word of the state in 69 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: seventeen sixty seven. Was it possible her condition was exacerbated 70 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:25,960 Speaker 1: by watching her husband build a new life with a teenager. 71 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:29,719 Speaker 1: We'll never know, but I can't imagine it helped things. 72 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 1: Noblemen taking young mistresses was far from a rare occurrence, 73 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:39,920 Speaker 1: but the relationship between Sandwich and Martha Ray was notable 74 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:44,120 Speaker 1: for both its tenure and depth of quality. They had 75 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:48,600 Speaker 1: nine children together, five of whom survived to adulthood, and 76 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: the two of them pretty much conducted themselves as husband 77 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:56,920 Speaker 1: and wife. Sandwich loved their children and cared for them 78 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: as if they had been quote legitimately and in public, 79 00:06:01,880 --> 00:06:06,000 Speaker 1: he treated Martha as his legal partner. He also made 80 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 1: sure she received a full education, including musical training by 81 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:16,600 Speaker 1: top tier instructors. Sandwich gave Martha her own residence in London, 82 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:21,200 Speaker 1: and she was also welcomed into hinchingbrook House, the Sandwich 83 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: family country estate, as its rightful mistress. There they threw 84 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:31,560 Speaker 1: epic concerts every Christmas, drawing on their shared obsession with music. 85 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:37,760 Speaker 1: Thanks to Sandwich's expert tutelage, Martha developed into an outstanding 86 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:42,200 Speaker 1: singer and entertained the elite guests that flocked each year 87 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:47,159 Speaker 1: to Sandwich's estate with her soaring soprano solos, often with 88 00:06:47,279 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 1: her lover playing drums off to the side. But even 89 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:56,039 Speaker 1: though the pair was well matched emotionally, Martha's humble roots 90 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:59,760 Speaker 1: and lack of security began to place a strain on 91 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:05,400 Speaker 1: the relationship. Sandwich was still married and Martha had no 92 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: legal ties to his title or money. Such a precarious 93 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: setup was bound to fall apart. Eventually fall apart, it did, 94 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: but probably not in the way either of them would 95 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:26,240 Speaker 1: have expected. For nearly eighteen years, Martha Ray and the 96 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 1: Earl of Sandwich lived an unconventional version of common law domesticity. 97 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:36,320 Speaker 1: She hosted grand parties at his country estate, accompanied him 98 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 1: to London social events, and traveled with him to naval 99 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: ceremonies that Sandwich had to attend thanks to his tenure 100 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:48,000 Speaker 1: as the head of the Admiralty, the government department in 101 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: charge of the British Royal Navy. To the untrained eye, 102 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 1: they behaved like any other aristocratic couple, But beneath the surface, 103 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 1: cracks were beginning to show. Martha's position as Sandwich's long 104 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: term mistress put her in a kind of social limbo. 105 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:13,560 Speaker 1: She could play hostess at hinchingbrook House, but it was 106 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 1: never truly her home. She could perform at private concerts 107 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:22,960 Speaker 1: and local churches, but the grand stages of London's opera 108 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:26,200 Speaker 1: houses remained out of her reach. At the end of 109 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:29,640 Speaker 1: the day, she could act as Sandwich's wife in every 110 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:33,880 Speaker 1: way that mattered, but with his wife still alive and 111 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:38,600 Speaker 1: banished to a mental hospital, Martha could never actually become 112 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: Sandwich's wife. Inevitably, as she grew older, the situation began 113 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:50,160 Speaker 1: to take its toll. Martha was trapped between two worlds, 114 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:55,079 Speaker 1: too elevated for her working class origins but never fully 115 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:59,640 Speaker 1: accepted by the aristocracy. She had given Sandwich the best 116 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: year of her life and five children, yet she had 117 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:08,080 Speaker 1: no legal claim to his fortune nor any protections for 118 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:11,920 Speaker 1: her future. For his part, the Earl had a long 119 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 1: habit of living beyond his means, racking up debts while 120 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:20,960 Speaker 1: refusing to give up his lavish lifestyle. Despite his clear 121 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:26,960 Speaker 1: affection for Martha, he consistently rejected her pleas for financial security, 122 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:31,840 Speaker 1: unwilling to tie up his assets in any formal settlement. 123 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:37,800 Speaker 1: Tensions between Martha and Sandwich continued to rise. They argued 124 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:43,000 Speaker 1: constantly about money, hashing out each other's spending habits, from 125 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:47,679 Speaker 1: household expenses to luxury goods to beer. Anything could become 126 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:51,880 Speaker 1: a new source of friction. Martha claimed that Sandwich did 127 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: not give her a big enough housekeeping allowance, which forced 128 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:59,880 Speaker 1: her to dip into her own personal funds. At one point, 129 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:03,720 Speaker 1: Sandwich discovered that Martha had made an attempt to secure 130 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:08,760 Speaker 1: some public singing engagements. He was furious and felt betrayed 131 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:13,079 Speaker 1: by her deception. Martha fired back in a letter asking 132 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:16,520 Speaker 1: the earl how exactly she was supposed to secure her future. 133 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 1: She had been told repeatedly that she had the talent 134 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:22,880 Speaker 1: for a career on the stage. Was she supposed to 135 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:27,319 Speaker 1: stay trapped in domestic o limbo forever? As she wrote 136 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:30,480 Speaker 1: to him, I am not a slave, nor will I 137 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: suffer myself to be treated as such, though of late 138 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:38,199 Speaker 1: not much better. In her letters to Sandwich, Martha alternated 139 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:42,920 Speaker 1: between declarations of love and outright resentment, but she never 140 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,840 Speaker 1: forgot that he held the ultimate position of power in 141 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:52,680 Speaker 1: the relationship. Their pattern of explosive fighting followed by reconciliation 142 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:57,679 Speaker 1: continued for years. They were the eighteenth century version of 143 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:00,440 Speaker 1: that couple in the friend group you wish would just 144 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:04,320 Speaker 1: go ahead and break up already. After a few years 145 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: of this back and forth, this toxic relationship got just 146 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:13,560 Speaker 1: the thing to liven things up, a hot new bombshell 147 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:19,720 Speaker 1: in the form of a young officer named James Hackman. Sandwich, 148 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:25,120 Speaker 1: who enjoyed entertaining military men at Hitchinbrook, invited Hackman as 149 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:30,600 Speaker 1: part of a recruiting party sometime around seventeen seventy five. 150 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:36,679 Speaker 1: The twenty somethingter lieutenant was everything Sandwich was not young 151 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:43,000 Speaker 1: passionate and singularly focused on Martha. There was an immediate 152 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:47,360 Speaker 1: attraction between Martha and Hackman, and before long they found 153 00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:51,120 Speaker 1: themselves in the throes of an affair. He was smitten 154 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 1: by her beauty and musical talent, while she no doubt 155 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:59,720 Speaker 1: enjoyed his intense devotion for the young soldier. It wasn't 156 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:04,959 Speaker 1: just a casual romance. It was an all consuming obsession. 157 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:10,400 Speaker 1: He proposed marriage many times, and each time Martha turned 158 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 1: him down. It's unclear whether Martha was ever genuinely in 159 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:18,880 Speaker 1: love with Hackman or she was simply enjoying the all 160 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:22,520 Speaker 1: consuming attention of a younger man. The only thing we 161 00:12:22,559 --> 00:12:26,320 Speaker 1: can say with certainty is that Martha found herself in 162 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:32,400 Speaker 1: an impossible situation. As volatile as things were with Sandwich, 163 00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:36,960 Speaker 1: he was the most stable presence in Martha's life. Leaving 164 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:41,960 Speaker 1: Sandwich would mean not just abandoning what financial security she had, 165 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:45,920 Speaker 1: but it might also threaten her relationship with their children. 166 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:50,559 Speaker 1: The affair with Hackman was at best a fun ego 167 00:12:50,559 --> 00:12:54,960 Speaker 1: boost and at worst an ill fated love connection. But 168 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:59,400 Speaker 1: either way, there simply wasn't a scenario where Martha could 169 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:04,920 Speaker 1: leave Sandwich feelings aside. Hackman had neither the wealth nor 170 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,840 Speaker 1: the social standing to support Martha in the manner to 171 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:14,040 Speaker 1: which she had become accustomed. When Hackman's regiment received orders 172 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:18,040 Speaker 1: to deploy to Ireland in early seventeen seventy six, he 173 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 1: made one final desperate marriage proposal. Martha's answer didn't change. 174 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:28,240 Speaker 1: Did his refusal to take no for an answer finally 175 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:32,080 Speaker 1: give Martha the ick? Was she trying to make a 176 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: clean break to protect her own heart? Did she worry 177 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:39,800 Speaker 1: that Sandwich would catch them and kick her out? Will 178 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:44,800 Speaker 1: never know why exactly, but whatever her reasons, Martha ended 179 00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 1: the affair and distance herself from Hackman. The rejection sent 180 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:55,280 Speaker 1: Hackman into a spiral. Not content with a recent promotion 181 00:13:55,440 --> 00:14:00,200 Speaker 1: to lieutenant, he opted instead for a total career change, 182 00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:05,360 Speaker 1: leaving the military and entering the clergy. By February of 183 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:09,120 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy nine, he had been ordained as a priest 184 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:12,040 Speaker 1: in the Church of England and had been given a 185 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:16,240 Speaker 1: parish in Norfolk. But rather than settle into life as 186 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:19,840 Speaker 1: a country priest and try to start a new chapter, 187 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: Hackman returned to London with renewed determination to win Martha back. 188 00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:31,080 Speaker 1: It's possible that Hackman thought that his new career had 189 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 1: transformed him into a more suitable husband, or it's possible 190 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:41,000 Speaker 1: he was just a deranged stalker incapable of letting her go. 191 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:45,720 Speaker 1: Either way, Martha wanted nothing to do with him, and 192 00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:50,680 Speaker 1: Hackman could not handle it. He grew paranoid and became 193 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:55,120 Speaker 1: convinced Martha had taken a new lover. Martha had started 194 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:58,640 Speaker 1: rejecting his letters and sent him one of her own, 195 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:03,440 Speaker 1: asking him to to end his mad pursuit. Soon after, 196 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:07,160 Speaker 1: Hackman did put an end to the affair, but certainly 197 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:11,720 Speaker 1: not in the way Martha had hoped. On the evening 198 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: of April seventh, seventeen seventy nine, Martha attended the theater 199 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,560 Speaker 1: with a woman named Katerina Golly, a close friend and 200 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:24,600 Speaker 1: fellow singer. Earlier that evening, Hackman had approached Martha at 201 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:28,080 Speaker 1: her home. When she refused to tell him where she 202 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:32,120 Speaker 1: was going, he decided to follow her. At the theater, 203 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:37,520 Speaker 1: Hackman spotted Martha in conversation with Lord Coloring, a wealthy 204 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:41,440 Speaker 1: Irish nobleman. Whether or not there was ever anything that 205 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: ever happened between the two is unknown, but for Hackman, 206 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:47,960 Speaker 1: seeing the two of them together was all of the 207 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:52,040 Speaker 1: proof he needed. He stormed out of the Covent Garden theater, 208 00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:55,640 Speaker 1: picked up two pistols, and made his way to a 209 00:15:55,720 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: nearby coffeehouse. He sat there for hours, writing he believed 210 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:04,560 Speaker 1: would be his final letter, a suicide note addressed to 211 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:08,080 Speaker 1: his brother in law, Frederick Booth. In the letter, he 212 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: poured out his anguish. I have strove against it as 213 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 1: long as possible, but it now overpowers me. My having, 214 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 1: by some means or other, lost her affections, has driven 215 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:27,000 Speaker 1: me to madness. As the performance ended, theatergoers congregated outside 216 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:30,920 Speaker 1: in the night air, Martha and Katerina among them. In 217 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:34,680 Speaker 1: that bustling post theater scene, no one could have predicted 218 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 1: the horror about to unfold. Suddenly, Hackman emerged from the crowd. 219 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:45,920 Speaker 1: He grabbed Martha's cloak and spun her around to face him. 220 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:50,160 Speaker 1: Before anyone could react, he raised one of his pistols 221 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 1: to her forehead and fired. Martha Ray collapsed dead by 222 00:16:55,240 --> 00:17:00,800 Speaker 1: her former lover's hand. The crowd erupted in chaos and screams, 223 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: but Hackman wasn't finished. He raised his second pistol to 224 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:08,200 Speaker 1: his own head and pulled the trigger, but the shot 225 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:14,080 Speaker 1: went wide. Only grazing his skull. Frantic and bleeding, Hackman 226 00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:20,200 Speaker 1: began beating himself with both pistols until horrified bystanders managed 227 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:25,760 Speaker 1: to restrain him. Within minutes, both Martha's body and Hackman 228 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:31,479 Speaker 1: were carried to the nearby Shakespeare Tavern. Hackman asked to 229 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:36,880 Speaker 1: see Martha, apparently not realizing that she was dead. When 230 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: officers searched his pockets, they found two letters, the suicide 231 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:47,120 Speaker 1: note to Frederick Booth and a desperate final plea to 232 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:52,920 Speaker 1: Martha that she had rejected just days before. The letter 233 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:57,159 Speaker 1: to Martha revealed the depth of his delusion. He was 234 00:17:57,280 --> 00:18:00,800 Speaker 1: convinced they had agreed to Mary, that she was simply 235 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:04,720 Speaker 1: being stubborn, that he could win her back still if 236 00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:08,760 Speaker 1: he could just make her understand his devotion. But it's 237 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:12,600 Speaker 1: a line from the letter to Frederick Booth that hints 238 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:17,160 Speaker 1: at the sinister events that were about to unfold. May 239 00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:22,600 Speaker 1: Heaven protect my beloved woman, and forgive this act, which 240 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 1: alone could relieve me from a world of misery I 241 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:31,520 Speaker 1: have long endured. Hackman had come prepared not just to kill, 242 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:35,680 Speaker 1: but to die. This was meant to be the ultimate 243 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 1: romantic gesture. If he couldn't have Martha in life they 244 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:45,200 Speaker 1: would be united in death. But when his own suicide failed, 245 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:51,119 Speaker 1: his dreams of becoming Romeo and Juliet devolved into plain, 246 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:56,119 Speaker 1: old fashioned, gruesome murder, and for that he would have 247 00:18:56,240 --> 00:19:02,040 Speaker 1: to answer to the hangman. Just nine days after murdering Martha, 248 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:07,359 Speaker 1: Ray James Hackman found himself standing trial. His initial plan 249 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:11,760 Speaker 1: was to plead guilty, after all, dozens of witnesses had 250 00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:15,680 Speaker 1: seen him shoot Martha in the head outside Covent Garden Theater. 251 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:20,119 Speaker 1: But when the moment came, something made him change his mind. 252 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:24,520 Speaker 1: Perhaps it was a final flicker of self preservation, or 253 00:19:24,640 --> 00:19:27,600 Speaker 1: maybe his legal counsel convinced him that he had nothing 254 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 1: to lose. Whatever the reason, Hackman entered a plea of 255 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:38,200 Speaker 1: not guilty. His defense strategy was ambitious but desperate, an 256 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:44,440 Speaker 1: insanity plea. His lawyers argued that the killing was completely unpremeditated, 257 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:50,160 Speaker 1: the product of a mind unhinged by obsessive love. They 258 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:54,040 Speaker 1: pointed to the letters found on his person, filled with 259 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:58,879 Speaker 1: desperate declarations and threats of suicide. Surely this was the 260 00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:03,760 Speaker 1: work of a man man, not a calculated killer. But 261 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:09,080 Speaker 1: Justice Blackstone, presiding over the trial, wasn't buying it. He 262 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:12,879 Speaker 1: pointed to Hackman's letter to his brother in law Frederick Booth, 263 00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:18,200 Speaker 1: written hours before the killing. The letter's tone, Blackstone observed, 264 00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:23,399 Speaker 1: showed quote a coolness and deliberation which no ways accorded 265 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:29,320 Speaker 1: with the ideas of insanity. The jury agreed after deliberating, 266 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:34,400 Speaker 1: they returned a verdict of guilty, and Hackman was sentenced 267 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:40,800 Speaker 1: to hang. On April nineteenth, seventeen seventy nine, just twelve 268 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:44,920 Speaker 1: days after the incident, James Hackman was hanged for the 269 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:49,800 Speaker 1: murder of Martha Ray. Witnesses reported that Hackman faced his 270 00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:55,919 Speaker 1: execution with remarkable fortitude, showing no signs of fear, completely 271 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:59,840 Speaker 1: resigned to his fate. But the real story of this 272 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:06,000 Speaker 1: case wasn't confined to the courtroom. As historian John Brewer 273 00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:10,960 Speaker 1: explores in his fascinating book A Sentimental Murder, Love and 274 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:15,280 Speaker 1: Madness in the eighteenth Century, the murder ignited a media 275 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:20,840 Speaker 1: sensation that revealed as much about eighteenth century culture as 276 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:25,280 Speaker 1: it did about the crime itself. Despite pressing news about 277 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:30,159 Speaker 1: the failing war with American colonists and political battles at home, 278 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:35,040 Speaker 1: London newspapers devoted enormous amounts of space to the killing. 279 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:39,040 Speaker 1: And its aftermath. Between the night of Martha's murder and 280 00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:45,800 Speaker 1: Hackman's execution, daily coverage appeared in many newspapers, quickly escalating 281 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:50,439 Speaker 1: the situation into a cultural phenomenon that tapped into the 282 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:57,160 Speaker 1: era's obsession with sentiment and sensibility. Sentimental literature was everywhere 283 00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:01,760 Speaker 1: filled with stories of virtue and distrust, lovelorn youth, and 284 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:07,440 Speaker 1: tragic passion. As Brewer notes, it wasn't difficult to present 285 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:12,560 Speaker 1: the tragedy of Hackman and Ray as a sentimental story 286 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:18,879 Speaker 1: designed to provoke sympathy from readers. This cultural context helps 287 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 1: explain why James Hackman attracted far more public sympathy than 288 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:29,200 Speaker 1: Martha Ray. He could easily be cast as a romantic 289 00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:35,280 Speaker 1: hero destroyed by unrequited love. Martha was mostly cast in 290 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:38,560 Speaker 1: a sympathetic light, but she was often seen as the 291 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:42,600 Speaker 1: architect of her own downfall, a woman whose refusal to 292 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:48,560 Speaker 1: return Hackman's devotion had driven him to madness. Behind the scenes, 293 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:53,040 Speaker 1: there was a deliberate effort to shape public opinion. Both 294 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:58,680 Speaker 1: Sandwich's allies and Hackman's supporters worked to present versions of 295 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 1: events that cast the respective figures in the most favorable light. 296 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:08,359 Speaker 1: The Earl's circle wanted to downplay the financial tensions and 297 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:13,280 Speaker 1: quarrels that had marked his relationship with Martha, while Hackman's 298 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:17,560 Speaker 1: defenders promoted the image of a gentle clergyman driven to 299 00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:23,480 Speaker 1: temporary insanity by overwhelming passion in death as in life. 300 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:28,000 Speaker 1: Despite being at the center of this triad, Martha had 301 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:32,080 Speaker 1: the least agency of it all. The Earl of Sandwich 302 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:36,720 Speaker 1: was shattered by Martha's murder. Though he continued in public 303 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:39,720 Speaker 1: life for a few more years, he was never the same. 304 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:45,680 Speaker 1: His political career, already marked by accusations of incompetence and corruption, 305 00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:52,400 Speaker 1: fizzled out unceremoniously. Contemporaries often said of him, seldom has 306 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:56,520 Speaker 1: any man held so many offices and accomplished so little. 307 00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:01,040 Speaker 1: He lived until seventeen ninety two, out lived by his 308 00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:05,040 Speaker 1: erstwhile wife, Dorothy, who was still living as a ward 309 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:10,679 Speaker 1: of the state. Ironically, Sandwich's most enduring legacy has nothing 310 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:15,400 Speaker 1: to do with his naval administration or political maneuvering, or 311 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:21,680 Speaker 1: even the scandalous murder of his longtime mistress. The modern Sandwich, 312 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:28,400 Speaker 1: that humble workhourse of meals, bears his name a lasting legacy. Indeed, 313 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:32,720 Speaker 1: although it's unclear whether he invented it because he was 314 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:36,639 Speaker 1: too busy working or gambling to step away for a 315 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:43,560 Speaker 1: proper meal. Allegedly, over the centuries, each generation has rewritten 316 00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:49,239 Speaker 1: Martha's story to reflect their own values and anxieties. In 317 00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:53,200 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty, just a year after the murder, a young 318 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:57,399 Speaker 1: writer named Herbert Croft rushed out in a pistolary novel 319 00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:02,320 Speaker 1: called Love and Madness, at first first claiming erroneously that 320 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:06,280 Speaker 1: it was based on actual letters between Martha and James Hackman, 321 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:11,119 Speaker 1: then later admitting he invented it whole cloth. The book 322 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:16,080 Speaker 1: was a sensation, proving that as a species, we've always 323 00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:20,959 Speaker 1: had a taste for some juicy true crime. The victorians 324 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:26,520 Speaker 1: turned Martha Ray into a cautionary tale about aristocratic decadence 325 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 1: and the dangers of living outside conventional morality. By the 326 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:36,200 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties, she had been reimagined as a chaste victim 327 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:41,639 Speaker 1: of male dominance and privilege. Modern historians, like Brewer have 328 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:47,120 Speaker 1: tried to rescue Martha from these competing mythologies, recognizing her 329 00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:52,400 Speaker 1: as a woman trapped by circumstances largely beyond her control, 330 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:58,480 Speaker 1: but still a human woman. Nonetheless a full, three dimensional person. 331 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,920 Speaker 1: Mar was buried in a vault beneath Saint Nicholas Church 332 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:06,840 Speaker 1: in the village of Elstree. In eighteen twenty four, during 333 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:12,000 Speaker 1: church renovations, her remains were moved to an unmarked grave 334 00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:17,400 Speaker 1: in the churchyard. It wasn't until nineteen twenty that George Montague, 335 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:22,080 Speaker 1: the ninth Earl of Sandwich, had a proper tombstone erected 336 00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:26,600 Speaker 1: over her grave. It was a final, belated gesture of 337 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:31,000 Speaker 1: respect for a woman who lived a life dictated by 338 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:35,040 Speaker 1: the men who surrounded her, sometimes for better, but in 339 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 1: the end for far worse. That's the story of Martha 340 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:46,280 Speaker 1: Ray and her murder. But keep listening after a brief 341 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:49,600 Speaker 1: sponsor break to hear a little bit more about her 342 00:26:49,760 --> 00:27:03,480 Speaker 1: theatrical legacy. Martha Ray was a poor, working class woman 343 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:08,000 Speaker 1: from Covent Garden whose life was completely transformed when she 344 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:10,840 Speaker 1: caught the eye of an older gentleman from a higher 345 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:15,600 Speaker 1: social class. He educated her, refined her, and molded her 346 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:18,879 Speaker 1: into a cultured lady who could hold her own in 347 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:23,680 Speaker 1: aristocratic society. Another man fell desperately in love with her 348 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:27,920 Speaker 1: and wanted to take her away, but she refused, choosing 349 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:31,720 Speaker 1: to stay with the complicated nobleman who had changed her 350 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:37,240 Speaker 1: life sound a little familiar. Over a century before George 351 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:42,879 Speaker 1: Bernard Shaw would write Pigmalion, a much darker version was 352 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:47,359 Speaker 1: playing out in the very same London neighborhood where Martha 353 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:51,760 Speaker 1: met her end, and when Lerner and Lowe eventually adapted 354 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:56,480 Speaker 1: it into the hit musical My Fair Lady, Eliza Doolittle 355 00:27:56,720 --> 00:28:01,600 Speaker 1: was given a lilting soprano singing voice. Ironically, it's a 356 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:07,119 Speaker 1: part that Martha Ray would have sung beautifully.