Martial Faugeron (executed)

Martial Faugeron was convicted of the murder of Hermann Francis Jung 64 and sentenced to death.

He stabbed him in the neck on 3 September 1901.

Martial Faugeron was a Frenchman and had been in England for two months and had just been thrown out of his lodgings after quarrelling with the wife of his landlord. He was described as a barber and to have been in a desperate plight regarding his finances.

Hermann Jung was married and had two children, and for many years had carried on his business, doing work for some of the best watchmakers in London. He was said to have enjoyed the character of being a quiet and peaceable man.

On 3 Septemb er 1901 Martial Faugeron  went to the jewellery shop of Hermann Jung at 4 Lower Charles Street, Clerkenwell, London at about 1pm.

Hermann Jung, who was Swiss, was known for helping foreigners get work and they talked for some hours. Hermann Jung's wife saw Martial Faugeron come in and heard them talking together in French for some time before she went downstairs to get on with her own things. She said that they had been talking for about an hour after which they went into the workshop, in which there was a drawer containing watches. She saiid that when she passed the workshop some time later that she saw Hermann Jung sitting on a stool by the drawer containing the watches and Martial Faugeron standing close by. She said that about fifteen minutes later she went into the shop.

It was noted that in the room there was a piece of iron that was anchor shaped lying beneath the counter.

Later on, Hermann Jung's wife said that that she heard a scuffle and when she went upstairs she saw Hermann Jung lying on the floor and Martial Faugeron running out of the door.

She raised the alarm and chased after him and in the street caught the attention of a police constable who continued the chase. Further along in Rydon Crescent another police constable joined in the chase and shortly after another man caught Martial Faugeron and handed him to the two police constables who took him back to the shop.

When they got back they found Hermann Jung was dead.

He was found lying in the shop, suffering from a wound on the right side of his neck, and it was said that considerable violence had been used as all the important arteries had been severed and the wound extended down to the windpipe.

Hermann Jung's wife then picked up a blood-stained knife that was beneath the bench. When Martial Faugeron was later shown the knife at the police station, he said, 'That is my knife'.

It was noted that up until that point the facts had been quite clear and Martial Faugeron was charged with murder and attempted robbery, however, he said that Hermann Jung had been a anarchist and had tried to get him to assassinate Mister Chamberlain, the Colonial Secretary and that when he had refused Hermann Jung had attacked him and thrown a piece of metal at him and that he had stabbed Hermann Jung in self-defence.

He said that at the time that he had been one of four men who had been offered money to carry out certain instructions of Hermann Jung and that from time to time they had met in different places and that arrangements had been made under which two of the parties were to go to Brussels with the object of assassinating the Czar on his visit to France.

He added then, that on the morning of the murder, that Hermann Jung offered him the sum of £10 for him to undertake the mission of seriously wounding Mr Chamberlain, who it was noted had been responsible for the war in south Africa.

When he appeared before the magistrates he elaborated and described how he had first met Hermann Jung about six weeks previously. He said that  whilst he was standing outside the Cafe Suisse near Piccadilly, talking to a woman who he had met in France that a third man came up to them and joined in their conversation. He said that he told the man that he was out of work and that the stranger said, 'You can live in London without work. I will take you to a house where three of us are in the habit of going, which we call God's house. There you will find everything you can possibly want, provided you only do what the householder directs'.

He said that when he and the man went to see Hermann Jung for the first time that the man said to Hermann Jung, 'I bring you a new recruit'. He said that Hermann Jung then asked the man how they got there and said that the man told him that they had walked and that Hermann Jung had then said, 'Why do you walk when there are plenty of people with purses full of gold who ride in carriages.

He said that the conversation then turned on the Chinese war and the Transvaal war and that Hermann Jung cursed the armies employed in China and Africa, saying, 'Look what those armies are doing there'.

He said that Hermann Jung then gave the other man a sum of money with 5s extra 'for the new recruit' that he had brought him.

He then went on to say that an arrangement was then come to that not only should Mr Chamberlain be wounded, but that he should be assassinated.

He said that he saw Hermann Jung at his shop on 3 September 1901 and that the conversation turned on the Transvaal War. He said that Hermann Jung said to him, 'Don’t you think all the misery of the war is due to Chamberlain, and that he deserves to be stabbed, just to let him feel a little bit of the misery he has caused others?'. He added that at the same time that Hermann Jung showed him an invoice for £10, saying, 'This will be placed at your disposal, so that you mat dress yourself decently in order to accomplish the object in view'.

However, Martial Faugeron said that he replied, 'I will not do it', and that Hermann Jung then said, 'I must have given you about £5 since you have been coming here. Give me my £5 back'. Martial Faugeron said that he replied, 'I have got no money. You know I have not got the money'. He said that Hermann Jung then said, 'You must give me the money, or you won't leave this place'.

He said that Hermann Jung then went to the doorway and armed himself with a piece of iron and then threw it at him and that he slipped and fell under the counter.

He said that whilst he was on the floor that Hermann Jung came towards him in a threatening attitude and that it was then that he drew his knife, opened the blade with his teeth, and gave the fatal blow.

He said that as he approached him that Hermann Jung said, 'A good many others, like you, have done me before, you rascal;.

When he finished his statement he expressed sorrow for Hermann Jung's wife and family, but said that he had acted in self-defence.

As such, it was stated that it was for the jury to consider whether they could accept his statement.

However, it was stated that it was extremely improbable that his statement was true.

It was further noted that the piece of metal that Martial Faugeron referred to, when examined, was found to be covered in a thick layer of dust indicating that it had not been moved in a long while.

The prosecution then submitted that the real motive for the crime was robbery.

Hermann Jung's wife said that Hermann Jung spoke French, German, Spanish, English and Italian and said that at no time had be been connected with any political society or any Anarchist movement in any degree.

Marcel Fougeron was convicted at the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday 30 October 1901 and executed at Newgate on 19 November 1901. He was said to have made no statement before he was executed.

Lower Charles Street has since been redeveloped and is no longer a thoroughfare. 4 Lower Charles Street was approximately where the Centenary building is today, however, the southern part of the street, the Polytechnic Institute, now the College Building, is still there today.