The True Story of Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd was born on October 16, 1756. (Knowledge of London. 2004) The where a bout’s of where he was originally born were somewhere in the fetid East End of London but some say at 85 Brick Lane in London’s East End. Todd was the son of Elizabeth and Samuel Todd. Elizabeth Todd’s mother was a silk winder and Todd’s father Samuel was a silk weaver. His parents were in a business together but came with very little compensation.
When Todd was 12 years old both of his parents died in a tragic accident that no one is quite sure of. Todd was then sent to an orphanage. There he became an apprentice to a cutler named John Crook. (Knowledge of London. 2004) In two years’ time when Todd was only 14 years old he was arrested for stealing a pocket watch. He went to Newgate Prison for five years. There in prison he met an old barber named Elmer Plummer. Plummer taught Sweeney how to cut hair, shave, and pick pocket costumers. (Knowledge of London. 2004) While Sweeney was waiting to be set free he thought with these new obtained skills he could make a little money from his fellow inmates. Sweeney and Plummer teamed up with one another and began shaving and cutting some of the prisoner’s hair who could afford it. (Knowledge of London. 2004)
When Todd was released from prison he found work as a “flying barber”. (Richard Jones.Feb 21, 2004) He found this job unfulfilling and wanted to be his own boss so on an afternoon stroll he settled on this premises next to the St. Dunstan’s Church and a bakery. Sweeney Todd decided to buy the premises as his business and his home. He opened his Barber Shop at 186 Fleet Street in 1775. Todd met the baker, Mrs. Lovett, who was right next door to him and they became lover...
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...y Sir Richard Blunt said sea-fairing men were disappearing from Todd’s shop. In the end Todd was accused of one murder that of Francis Thornhill. A pawnbroker’s clerk recognized Mr. Thornhill’s pearls when Todd was trying to pawn them. Todd and Mrs. Lovett were arrested in 1801. (The Independent. Jan. 3, 2006) After their arrests there was an investigation done on the basement and there the police found the piled up bones in the Weston family vault. Todd killed an estimate of 160 people in a 17 year time period.
Todd was found guilty in ten minutes after the jury heard about the amount of bones found in the Weston family vault. Mrs. Lovett committed suicide while in prison. (The Independent. Jan. 3, 2006) Sweeney Todd was hanged at age 45 on January 25, 1802. His hanging was at the Newgate Prison in front of the largest recorded crowd of over a thousand people.
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