A fairground comedian shot his mother-in-law in cold blood, on learning that his wife would inherit a fortune after her death. Charles Samuel Bartlett lived near Stapleton until 1836, and was hanged for his cold-blooded crime in Bristol.
Bartlett was 21 years old and “a mild good-looking young man”, according to a report of his two-day trial in the Kendal Mercury newspaper. He was described as “one of the comedians who frequent fairs”, through which he met a young woman who was not named in the report.
After a year of courting, Bartlett asked his beau’s father for permission to marry her. Sceptical of his ability to provide for his daughter as an itinerant comedian, the older man agreed reluctantly.
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He gave Bartlett £47 for his daughter’s upkeep – worth around £3,700 today – noting that they would be coming into more money on the death of his wife, Mary Lewis. The newlyweds then moved out of the Lewis home at Monmouth and into lodgings at Bristol.
Around one month later, Mary Lewis visited Bristol “to place a son at a school in that city” and stopped with Mr and Mrs Bartlett for several days, the newspaper noted. It was early September, the fun fair season, and Bartlett was engaged with work.
On the evening of 10 September, Bartlett and Mary went out for a walk – but the man’s mother-in-law would never return from the excursion. She was “found murdered in a lone shady lane” at around 2.30pm, killed by a pistol shot to her head.
Mary’s body was taken to a nearby inn called the Masons Arms. Her gown had been stripped from her, and was later found weighted down by stones in a nearby pond. The following day, Bartwell attended the pub to identify her.
“Oh, God! It’s my wife’s mother,” he reportedly exclaimed, before throwing himself into a chair and “exhibiting great emotion”. Later his young wife attended, whereupon she immediately fainted.
When she came around, Mrs Bartlett said: “Oh, Bartlett, how could you do it?” Her husband replied: “What, do you accuse me also?” Her answer: “I do, Bartlett. You are the man that shot my mother. This is done for money.”
A search of the Bartlett home discovered a double-barrelled pistol “which had been recently discharged”, the court reporter recorded. Several witnesses swore that they had seen Bartlett with Mary the day before, him being well known due to his very public work.
The pub landlord testified that Bartlett and Mary had stopped there for a drink at around 1pm, leaving around one hour later. Another witness said they saw Bartlett alone at around 2.40pm, “in a profuse sweat, and walking at the rate of five miles an hour”.
Despite some contradictory evidence as to the timings of the sightings, the jury returned a guilty verdict. The judge, Mr Baron Bolland, “then passed the extreme sentence of the law upon the prisoner, who, perfectly unmoved, shook hands with his attorney and a female who stood near the dock as he retired”.
That sentence was death by hanging, and it was carried out on 15 April 1837. It was carried out at Gloucester, but it was on the outskirts of Bristol that Bartlett committed his despicable crime.
Mary Lewis was buried at St Mary’s Church, Fishponds. The high-walled lane where she died, which skirts the Stapleton Park housing estate, is known as Cut Throat Lane to this day.
