In 1947, a huge collection of true crime stories from many of the extremely popular "murder pamphlets" floating around Victorian England were published in an Anthology called “The Fatal Caress…& Other Accounts of English Murders from 1551 to 1888”. We’ve decided today to bring you a few of these stories just as they appear in the Fatal Caress…and perhaps make you feel like you’ve picked up a murder pamphlet hot off the press in Victorian England while Jack the Ripper lurked behind every corner.

Be warned though…while we find it super interesting to hear about a crime exactly as it was written in the past, many of these stories are likely to make your blood boil because they provide painfully clear depictions of the horrible attitudes towards women, race, and class that were prevalent for hundreds of years–and still linger in ...