The Murder Of Mary Bax

So I am out early walking between the Restharrow Scrape and the Chequers Inn I left the road as a bird was perched in a bush and I thought I would get a little closer only to stumble upon this headstone completely by chance and thought I would document what I have discovered about this sad event.

The inscription reads:

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."