Hayes, Catherine (1690–1726)

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Hayes, Catherine (1690–1726)

English murderer who was burned alive at the stake. Born Catherine Hall near Birmingham, England, in 1690; burned at the stake at Tyburn in 1726; married John Hayes (a carpenter and merchant), in 1713.

Born near Birmingham, England, in 1690, Catherine Hall ran away from home at age 15; an army officer quartered at Great Ombersley in Worcestershire spotted her as she walked the road and enticed her into camp with gold pieces. Willingly, it is said, she offered her services to other officers for money, but they soon grew tired of her and drove her from the camp. According to one biographer, for the next few years she "ran about the country like a distracted creature," reputedly working as a domestic servant and possibly as a prostitute.

She was then employed by a farmer named Hayes in Warwickshire, against the instincts of his wife. Now 23, Catherine was soon involved in an affair with the son of the household, 21-year-old John Hayes, a carpenter, and in 1713 they were secretly married. Though initially opposed, John's father offered the couple a cottage on the farm and a generous allowance. For the next six years, Catherine chafed under the pastoral life, taking lovers to dispel her boredom. She finally convinced her husband to move to London in 1719. There, John Hayes prospered as a coal merchant and money lender with offices on Tyburn Road. Catherine complained that he was miserly and continued to ask him for money. John responded by beating her and withholding funds. By early 1725, the two despised each other.

Then Thomas Billings, a young tailor, appeared at the Hayes' door, seeking lodging. Catherine, who claimed he was a relative, convinced her husband to rent him a room. (It was later rumored that Billings was Catherine's illegitimate son and that the arrival was prearranged.) Billings and Catherine were quickly caught up in an affair. When John left town, the two allegedly threw parties and spent freely.

When John returned, he beat Catherine to such a degree that she was bedridden for the better part of a week.

Thomas Wood, a friend of John and Catherine's from Warwickshire, was also granted lodging. He too became involved with Catherine. Eventually, she convinced Wood and Billings to help kill her violent husband, offering them part of John's fortune.

On March 1, 1725, Wood and Billings challenged John Hayes to a drinking match. While they drank beer, Hayes drank six pints of wine and collapsed on his bed in a stupor. Ere long, Billings sunk a coal hatchet into the back of John's head, but the blow only fractured his skull. A Mrs. Springate , who lived upstairs, heard John Hayes shriek and appeared at the door to inquire about the noise. Catherine assured her nothing was amiss, saying only that "her husband was going away on a trip and was preparing to leave." Meanwhile, Billings and Wood continued attacking John Hayes with the hatchet. Blood was everywhere.

Her co-conspirators would later maintain that it was Catherine Hayes who convinced them that the only way to dispose of the body beyond recognition was to cut off the head and throw it in the river. But when Billings and Wood reached Horseferry Wharf with bucket in hand, a watchman came toward them, and they panicked, hurling the contents of the bucket into the Thames. Unfortunately for the murderers, it was low tide, and the head was quickly discovered where it had landed in the mud. Hours later, parish officers cleaned up the head and had it impaled on a pike at St. Margaret's churchyard in Westminster in hopes that the hapless victim might be identified. Unaware, Billings and Wood returned home, hacked up the remains, placed them in a trunk, and tossed the trunk into a pond in Marylebone Fields. Woods, totally distraught, left for the country. Billings remained with Catherine.

Consequently, a man named Robinson thought he recognized the head atop the pike at St. Margaret's churchyard as that of John Hayes and went to inform Catherine. She dismissed his suggestion with: "My husband is in good health." Then a man named Longmore arrived to suggest a resemblance to John. Catherine turned him away also, saying her husband was out of town on business. Then a man named Ashby, a business associate of John's, quizzed Catherine as to his whereabouts, grew suspicious, and went to the authorities. Ashby identified the head as belonging to John Hayes.

A justice of the peace, who arrived at the home of Catherine Hayes to make inquiries, found her in bed with Billings. Catherine, Billings, and Mrs. Springate, who was then thought to be involved, were arrested and charged with murder. When Wood was arrested in the country and brought to London, he broke down and confessed, detailing the events, placing all the blame on Catherine Hayes.

The case created a sensation, and Catherine Hayes became the subject of many pamphlets and broadsheets. All were tried, except for Springate, and condemned to death. Wood died in prison of fever, and Billings was hanged in irons. On May 9, 1726, Catherine Hayes was taken by cart to a square in Tyburn. Though she was supposed to be strangled before being burned, someone lit the fire too soon, and the executioner, burning his hands, released her neck before death. Logs of wood were hurled into the fire at the screaming Hayes in an unsuccessful attempt to knock her out before she was burned alive.