On this spot August 25th 1782
Mary Bax Spinster Aged 23 years
Was Murdered by Martin Lash, Foreigner
Who was Executed for the same.
I did a quick bit of investigation and the story goes like this (all though there are a couple of versions I believe this to be the true version),
The Ancient Highway was once the main route from Deal to
Sandwich, there were a number of buildings along the road, The
Chequers Inn being one of them.
Mary Bax was a young woman of 23, on the morning of 25th
August 1782 Mary was walking along what we know as the ancient highway from Deal to Sandwich carrying a bundle.
She had just passed the Chequers Inn when she passed a man sitting by
the side of the road.
He stopped Mary and asked the way to Sheerness,
which is a long way from Sandwich, then he asked her for money.
Mary
refused, the man who was a foreigner then attacked Mary, ultimately
killing her and dumped her body in a
ditch.
He then made off in the direction of Sandwich carrying the bundle
Mary had been carrying.
The man did not know that he had been seen by
the 13 year old son of a Looker, ( a Looker was a Sheperd) the boy was scared that he would
share the same fate as Mary so he hid until the man was
out of sight, then he set off in the direction of Deal and raised the
alarm.
It was found that the man Martin Lash (Laas) was a deserter from a
ship anchored in the Downs, he was Norwegian and aged 27.
He was
finally found asleep with Marys bundle next to him, in a churchyard in
Folkestone which is nearly 20 miles away from Sandwich.
He was taken to Maidstone Gaol, tried and executed for the crime.
The stone still stands in remembrance of
Mary Bax.
I am glad that I chanced upon the stone.
I don’t think Mary was buried at this spot, as I found this entry:
"Mary Bax was buried at St Peter's Church Sandwich, her gravestone
was cleared away in the last century to tidy the graveyard but is still
recorded in the parish records."
