The engagement is off! Mary Hadley, 25, stormed at her fianc? Stephen Fox. Here, take your ring back! She had just heard that Fox had made another girl pregnant and understandably, perhaps, she no longer wanted to marry him.
Fox, 23, nursed his wounded pride for a couple of days, then told a neighbour in St. Mary Northgate, Canterbury, that he was going to shoot Mary. The neighbour warned the Hadley family and Mary left her house to sleep that night with a woman friend. But next morning Fox, armed with two pistols, waylaid her outside the citys cavalry barracks. He fired both weapons, and one bullet hit Mary in the thigh. She died a few minutes later from loss of blood.
Fox was hanged on Thursday, August 20th, 1857, with George Edwards (see above).