The Singular Story of Eugene Aram - Murderer!

By permission of Harrogate Public Library

On the first day of August, 1758 a man, digging at Thistle Hill near Knaresborough for stone to supply a lime kiln, unearthed a skeleton. The discovery excited speculation in the town as to the whereabouts of Daniel Clark, a shoe-maker who had disappeared some 13 years previously. His disappearance was related to a fraud which, it is said, he perpetrated on many inhabitants of the town, almost certainly with the aid of several accomplices.

On the 7th February, 1745, having recently married a wife with a decent fortune, and being of good credit in the town, he had found no difficulty in borrowing items for various supposed reasons - for setting up his new home, to sell on to a merchant in London, to copy fashionable patterns from. Included in the haul were said to be 3 silver tankards, four silver pots, one silver milk pot, one ring set with an emerald and two brilliant diamonds, another with three rose diamonds, a third with an amethyst in the shape of a heart, six plain rings, eight watches, 2 snuff boxes, Chambers Dictionary 2 vols. folio, Pope's Homer, 6 vols. bound, along with a quantity of silver plate.

His accomplices are variously said to be Henry Terry, an ale-keeper, Frank Iles - reputed to be a receiver of stolen goods - but most importantly Richard Houseman, a flax dresser, and Eugene Aram, most often described as a scholar and employed as a teacher. Having put Clark to defrauding his neighbours, the story relates that Clark was then murdered by Aram or Houseman or both in the early hours of the 8th of February, 1745. When Clark's disappearance became known, the people of the town became alarmed for their possessions. A witness had seen Clark with Houseman and Aram the previous night and suspicion fell on them. A search was made for the vanished goods - some were found at Houseman's and others buried in Aram's garden. Aram was arrested on an unrelated charge of a debt until a warrant could be obtained for his arrest for the fraud. Although generally thought to be very poor, Aram immediately paid off his debt. Shortly afterwards he paid off a mortgage on his house in Bondgate near Ripon and very soon thereafter he disappeared.

When the skeleton was discovered at Thistle Hill, Aram's wife, having voiced her suspicions that Clark had been murdered, testified that on the 8th of February 1745 at 2.00am her husband had returned home with Clark and Houseman. They left again an hour later and at about 5.00am Houseman and Aram returned without Clark and lit a fire in a downstairs room. She said that she overheard them planning to shoot her to keep her quiet. When they left she examined the ashes from the fire and discovered pieces of unburnt cloth and also discovered a handerchief worn by Houseman which had blood on it. If she is to be believed, she went to Houseman accusing him of doing away with Clark but he denied it.

Houseman in his turn was examined and, when asked to take up one of the bones of the skeleton, is reputed to have said "This is no more Dan Clark's bone than it is mine!". Eventually he signed a confession to the effect that he had seen "...Aram strike Clark several times over the breast and head, and saw him fall as if he was dead..." at the mouth of St Robert's Cave in the early morning of the 8th of February 1745. A skeleton was found at the spot and a search was made for Aram.

"St Robert's Cave Knaresborough. Scene of Murder of D. Clark 1745"

A Dramatic Illustration courtesy of Harrogate Public Library

Aram was discovered in Lynn in Norfolk, employed as a school teacher. In his first examination he denied everything, but in his second signed examination he implicated Terry and Houseman in the death of Clark, although he "...could not tell whether he was murdered or not...". Houseman and Aram were both arraigned for the murder of Clark on 3rd August 1759 but Houseman was acquitted when no evidence was offered against him. He then gave evidence against Aram, but cautiously so as not to incriminate himself! He testified that he had seen Aram and Clark quarrelling near St Robert's Cave and saw Aram strike Clark at which point he left the scene. The following morning Aram visited him, told him he had left the body in the cave and threatened him if he ever spoke of the matter.

Eugene Aram conducted his own defence reading from a prepared statement which, although deemed to be eloquent by the Judge, was of no avail. Aram was found guilty.

In prison Aram wrote a paper claiming the right to dispose of his own life and on the day of the execution was found to have so deeply wounded his arms with a razor that the executioner was scarcely required to perform his duties. Eugene Aram was hanged on the 6th of August, 1759 and the following day his body was taken to Knaresborough Forest and hung in chains - a suit of iron bands encompassing the corpse so that it would not drop to pieces in the process of decay.