The Three Bridges Station Murder

As your train passes the sidings just to the south of Three Bridges station, you are probably unaware that this area was the scene of a fictional murder.  In 1899, the author, Richard Marsh, wrote the novel "The Crime and the Criminal".  The story involves a murder in the countryside just to the south of Three Bridges station and the fall of a woman from a moving train at the same location at the same time. Nowadays, this work is almost forgotten but it is certainly worth a read.

Mr Thomas Tennant is travelling up by train from Brighton to London when he finds that he is alone in a carriage with a former girlfriend.  The two soon begin to argue.  As there is no connecting corridor to the rest of the train and the train does not stop between Brighton and Victoria, Tennant is forced to endure the company of his unwanted companion or take desperate measures to try and escape.  In his panic, he opens the carriage door with the intention of reaching the next compartment by clambering outside the train.  The lady tries to restrain him but falls from the train whilst trying to prevent his foolish attempt to escape.  Tennant, fearing that he will be accused of murder, informs no-one and hopes that he can evade the Police.  His worst fears are realised when he finds news of the discovery of a murdered woman at Three Bridges is on the front page of all the newspapers.  Little does he realise that at the same time in a totally unrelated incident, a murder was committed on a footpath beside the railway. In fact, the lady who fell from the train is almost uninjured from her fall but Tennant is not to know this.

Reginald Townsend is a member of a "murder club". Members of the club draw lots at their meetings and the winning member must commit a murder before the next meeting.  Townsend draws the short straw and decides to murder his sweetheart whilst on a country walk in the Three Bridges area.  He commits the act and throws his victim over the fence bordering the railway just a few moments after Tennant's lady friend falls from the train at the same spot.

Following these extraordinary events an innocent man is tried for murder whilst the guilty Townsend befriends the lady who fell from the train. The lady wishes to see her former lover suffer and seemingly will make no attempt to save him from the gallows whilst Townsend is more than happy that the pressure to find the real Three Bridges murderer is off. 

"The Crime and the Criminal" can be found on Project Gutenberg at
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40348

Footnote:


The duration of the journey between Brighton and London is recorded as being one hour and twenty minutes.  It would seem that, in 1899, trains ran between Brighton and London without stopping at intermediate stations.  It is doubtful if the author would recognise the urban Three Bridges area of today as the rural backwater of 1899.