The crime sent shockwaves through Lancashire
On Monday March 28, 1876, Emily Agnes Holland set off down Moss Lane in Blackburn to run an errand for her new friend.
Stuffed beneath the newsprint, was the dismembered torso of a child. The limbs and head were missing and the newspaper was covered in blood and pieces of hair. Emily's parents, James and Elizabeth, were called to Blackburn Town Hall to identify what Emily's body. The Manchester Evening News reported Elizabeth could only recognise her daughter by her skinny ribs and small bones.
An inquest opened on March 31 with a theory soon emerging that Emily had been killed by a 'tramp or vagrant'. No-one could identify the new friend she had been so kind to, but children said they had seen Emily with a 'scruffy looking man'.
Dr Maitland, the police surgeon, discovered hair on Emily's body which was from many different heads. The hair had been cut with scissors or a razor, rather than being pulled out, leading detectives to suggest the newspaper had been used to collect trimmings in a barber shop. However the search of the shop had proved fruitless and with no evidence to arrest Fish, he called for the police to put a stop to his harassment. The local newspaper ran a story, describing Fish as 'an innocent man' and said he was the victim of vicious rumours.
A lynch mob followed the police from the shop to the lock up, baying for Fish's blood - already convinced he was the killer. On April 17, Fish was brought before the magistrates and formally charged with murder. It was then that he made his confession.