16. The Sleepwalking Murder
Albert Jackson Tirrell, the scion of a wealthy Massachusetts family, scandalized society by abandoning his wife and two children to be with Maria Bickford, a married prostitute living in a Boston brothel. He fell in love with Mrs. Bickford, who seemed to return the affection, although it did not stop her from continuing her profession. That did not sit well with Tirrell, and it was a constant bone of contention between the pair throughout their relationship.
On the night of October 27th, 1845, loud noises were heard from Mrs. Bickford’s room. Soon thereafter, the brothel owner awoke to the smell of smoke to discover that somebody had set three fires in his establishment. After dousing the flames, he entered Mrs. Bickford’s room, to discover that she had been savagely beaten and brutally murdered, her throat slit from ear to ear with a razor. Her killer, Tirrell, would escape punishment with a sleepwalking defense.
