On the night of Friday 29 May 1885, a series of pistol shots shattered the quiet of Poplar Row, Aberystwyth. Within minutes, neighbours were running from Northgate Street and Pound Place towards No. 4. Inside the small house lay a young Aberystwyth woman, Mary Ann Price, fatally wounded by her husband.
The murder shocked the town. The Cambrian News of 5 June 1885 suggested that more than a century had passed since Aberystwyth had witnessed a murder.
Mary Ann had grown up locally. Her widowed mother lived beyond the old turnpike gate on Penglais Road, and Mary Ann had recently married John Price, a sergeant who had served for several years with the Royal Cardiganshire Militia. The couple had a young baby and were lodging in an upstairs room at 4 Poplar Row, the home of Mary Davies.
Their marriage was already troubled. Witnesses later spoke of arguments and alleged violence. On the day of the murder Mary Ann had apparently decided to leave her husband. Her belongings were packed, and her friend Martha Salisbury helped carry her box downstairs.
Remarkably, the police had already been called.
At about 9.15pm, P.C. J. Lewis visited the house after Mary Ann's mother sought assistance. He returned later that evening and found Mary Ann preparing to leave. Price appeared calm and even asked the constable to witness that he was not throwing his wife out.
The policeman departed.
Only minutes later, Mary Ann was sitting downstairs with her landlady and other women when Price came down from the upstairs room. He was reportedly in his stockings and carrying a revolver.
Shots followed.
Neighbour James Jenkins remembered hearing four: three inside the house and another outside. A post-mortem later established that Mary Ann had been struck by two bullets.
One entered beneath her right eye and caused devastating injuries to the brain.
Price then went outside and turned the weapon upon himself. He survived with a wound to his neck.
The commotion brought neighbours running. Harriet Tisdale of Northgate Street hurried up Pound Place. Thomas Land, coachman to Aberystwyth's Chief Constable, lived close enough for the rear of his house to face Poplar Row. Hearing cries of “Murder”, he ran to the scene and helped secure Price.
Another witness was John Jenkin Jones, a jeweller staying at the Cooper's Arms. He entered the kitchen, lifted Mary Ann's head and spoke to her in Welsh. He believed she attempted to utter the word “shot”.
Price was taken towards the police station, reaching North Parade, where he was handed into the custody of P.C. Evan Jones. The revolver contained four spent cartridges and two still unfired.
Within hours, Aberystwyth's Town Hall became the setting for the inquest. The coroner was Evan Rowland, and the twelve-man jury included familiar Victorian Aberystwyth tradesmen: Thomas Hugh Jones of Great Darkgate Street, D. Thomas the watchmaker, Richard Morgan the grocer, Edward Edwards the bookseller and John Ellis the gunsmith.
Their verdict was wilful murder.
Mary Ann was buried in Aberystwyth Cemetery, the service conducted by Rev. T. E. Williams. Around 200 people were said to have followed her coffin.
John Price was sent for trial at the Cardiganshire Assizes. On 17 July 1885 he was found guilty and sentenced to death. His execution was fixed for Wednesday 5 August at Carmarthen Gaol. Yet petitions for mercy followed, supported by prominent local figures and members of his regiment.
Two days before he was due to hang, Price was reprieved by the Home Secretary. His death sentence was subsequently commuted to penal servitude for life.
Mary Ann came within minutes of leaving No. 4 Poplar Row and escaping the abuse she had endured. Instead, the man who killed her was spared the gallows, while she was carried through the streets of her own town to Aberystwyth Cemetery.
Behind the murder and the headlines was simply Mary Ann — a young woman who tried to escape the cruelty she had endured, but was denied the life waiting for her beyond Poplar Row.
Cofia Mary Ann. Cofia’r bywyd na chafodd hi fyw. Remember Mary Ann. Remember the life she never got to live.
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