The strange death of Thomas Farrant (6 photos)

Simple at first glance, but complicated when examined in detail, the murder confirms the fact how much you can make mistakes in people.





Giles Clift, a 53-year-old blind man, lived with his wife in Bristol. The marriage was not very successful, despite the birth of their daughter. The couple constantly quarreled with each other. All this bickering led to the local magistrate getting involved in the matter. Several meetings with his representatives led to the couple breaking up. Clift remained to live in his house, and his ex-wife went to live with Clift’s cousin, 25-year-old Thomas Farrant.

Clift believed that his ex-wife took several of his personal belongings with her. And he persuaded one of his friends to accompany him to Farrant’s house.

Strange vanity



Bristol in the 19th century

It was about six in the evening on December 26, 1867, when the men arrived on the scene. While Lyons waited downstairs, Clift went upstairs to see his ex-wife. A few minutes after Clift went upstairs, Lyons heard a loud noise coming from the room directly above him. Lyons went upstairs.

And he was horrified by what he saw. Clift somehow removed one of the legs of the bed in the room and used it to attack the unfortunate woman. Lyons rushed to save the poor girl. But the caring mother, naturally, was more worried about her baby and tried to break through to the top.

While this chaos was happening inside, the owner of the apartment fell out of the window. Several passers-by on the street saw Farrant fall head first onto the basement ledge and then onto the sidewalk. Blood flowed from the wounds, nose, mouth and ears of the guy, which after a minute or two froze around his lifeless body.

Cause of death





It was difficult to fall out of such a window even if you wanted to

The boy was sent to the local police station. Inspector Atwood, who was on duty at the time, sent a couple of constables to the scene. The body was taken to the station on a stretcher and a surgeon was called for examination. Dr. Bernard examined Farrant and determined that the cause of death was a broken neck.

Constable Fletcher looked around the room carefully. There were obvious signs of a struggle, and with a witness, the case seemed elementary. But Atwood insisted that Clift be brought in for questioning.

Did you just trip?



19th century constables

During the first interrogations, very little was found out. According to witnesses, Farrant did nothing to prevent domestic violence between the spouses and even tried to leave them alone. This attempt ended with Farrant, according to Clift, tripping over a wooden chair and somehow somersaulting through the window.

This was just one problem the investigation team faced. The other one was no less strange. How could it happen that a rather frail and, moreover, blind man, in a matter of seconds, defeated a strong young guy who was half his age and twice his size? And then throw it out a tiny window? And, most importantly, why?



Artistic depiction of the death of Thomas Farrant

Mrs Clift was also questioned about the events leading up to her neighbour's death. According to her version, Farrant tried to intervene in the quarrel. According to Lyons, Clift clearly had anger management issues. And perhaps, being furious, he lost control of himself.

The small window made an accident almost impossible. The fall was clearly someone's deliberate act. Perhaps Clift was right: Farrant could have crawled through the tiny window, hoping to climb down to a lower ledge, but in the process he slipped and fell. A heel mark was found outside the window. When Clift was examined by medical expert Dr. Steele, he did not find any traces confirming the fact of participation in the fight.

Unanswered Questions



What really happened to Thomas Farrant? Did he jump or was he pushed? Only two people knew the answer to this question. One was a victim, the other was blind...