John Esmond Murphy

John Esmond Murphy was convicted of the murder of Frederick George Wilhelm Maria Julius Schlitte 47 and sentenced to death.

He stabbed and shot him in the office of Cartnell and Schlitte, 84 Shaftesbury Avenue, London on 7 November 1908.

John Murphy had been an electrical engineer up until March 1908 after which it appeared that he lived mainly on the prostitution of his sister who had a child and had been deserted by her husband. He had been hard pressed for money and it was noted that his sister was ill at the time and had recently undergone an operation for a tumour on her skull on 7 November 1908. She had a flat in Maida Vale and John Murphy had a room nearby on Shirland Road in Paddington for which he paid 6s a week.

Frederick Schlitte was a partner in the firm of Cartmell and Schlitte, money changers at 84 Shaftesbury Avenue. It was a small one room shop twelve feet square and divided by a grille on the edge of a counter and a door at the far end. They had between £1500 and £2000 in cash and notes in the shop. From the street nothing could be seen behind the counter and to see anyone in the public part of the shop a person would have to peer through the glass door. It was also noted that a large sum of gold was also displayed in the shop window in 12 or 14 bowls.