Introduction
ISAAC MERRICK was born around 1843, possibly in England. He lived in Camden as early as 1869, at 230 Division Street, then in 1870s at 424 Mt. Vernon Street. By 1878 he had moved to French’s Court, which ran west from 1121 Broadway to the rear of the Kaighn School and was gone by 1906, in South Camden. In the 1880s Isaac Merrick moved with his wife Margaret “Maggie” Merrick to “Boggs Row,” a row of frame buildings (possibly 1711 to 1719) on Mulford Street, between Van Hook Street and Central Avenue in the late 1870s. He worked primarily as a laborer, and for several years at a Catholic cemetery in Camden or possibly in Gloucester City. He and his wife were childless, but around 1880 they adopted Sallie Harrigan in Philadelphia.
Isaac Merrick was described as a man who did not drink to excess, but was of “bad character,” and he appears to have had an obsession with underage girls. He was convicted of assault in 1887 and served five months in prison for assaulting a girl, then exhibited a pattern of questionable behavior towards his adopted daughter.
On January 7, 1888 Isaac Merrick shot and killed Sallie Harrigan, then took his own life. His wife moved to Pine Street after the killings, then as best can be determined disappeared from Camden.
A Double Tragedy.
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Murder Followed by the Suicide of the Perpetrator.
Isaac Merrick Shoots His Adopted Daughter and Then Turns the Pistol Against Himself — Jealousy the Cause.
Fifteen-year-old Sallie Harrigan was shot and killed by Isaac Merrick, whose adopted daughter she was, in South Camden on Saturday afternoon. Immediately thereafter Merrick shot himself through the head and sank down upon the floor near the body of his victim. His wife, who was in the yard, heard the two reports of the pistol and rushed into the kitchen to find both the man and girl dead and the floor streaming with blood.
The scene of the tragedy was one of a cheerless looking row of four frame buildings known as Boggs’ row, on Milford street below Central avenue. It is a dismal neighborhood, inhabited by negroes and the poorest classes of whites. Isaac Merrick, the murderer and suicide, was about 40 years old. His wife is several years his senior and the couple have no children. About seven years ago they adopted Sallie Harrigan, whom they found in the Home of the Sisters of Charity at Eighteenth and Race streets, Thomas Harrigan, the father, giving his consent.
A Bad Reputation.
At that time Merrick was a grave-digger in the Catholic Cemetery in Camden. Although a temperate man, he had the reputation of being a bad character, and about a year ago was arrested on a serious charge preferred by a young girl whom, it was alleged, he had inveigled into the cemetery. Testimony of a most damaging nature was presented, but the prosecuting attorney was unable to secure conviction for anything more than simple assault, and the late Judge Reed sentenced Merrick to five months’ imprisonment in the county jail, which he served. It has been common talk among the neighbors for some time that Merrick was paying undue attention to his pretty adopted daughter. They went to church hand in hand, and wherever she went Merrick either accompanied her or followed her a short distance behind. So jealously did he guard her that he has been known to order her in from the street, where she was playing with other girls.
How the Murder Occurred.
It is said that Mrs. Merrick often remonstrated with her husband for his conduct towards the girl, but he was of a surly disposition and resented her interference. His disposition lately has been more crabbed than ever, as he has been cut [sic] of work. Street-paving contractor Thomas A. Wilson, by whom he was employed, laid off a large number of men a few weeks ago, Merrick among the number, and the man has been despondent ever since. Sallie formerly worked at Croft & Priestley’s mill, but left two months ago to assist her foster mother in her household duties. About half-past two Saturday afternoon she was preparing to go cut [sic] and was in the kitchen with Merrick and his wife. The man was restlessly pacing up and down the room and seemed moody and disheartened, but watching the girl closely. Mrs. Merrick left the house for a few moments. She was about to return when the sharp crack of a pistol was heard, immediately followed by another report.
The woman rushed into the house to find Sallie lying in front of the fireplace, her rubber boots on and a shawl about her shoulders, while from a hole in her right temple slowly trickled a stream of blood. In the corner lay the dead body of her husband, in whose right hand was clasped a cheap 32-calibre revolver. Curiously enough, he was shot in about the same place as the girl, the right temple. The screams of the woman aroused the neighbors, who came in and found both man and girl dead, and the wife in a faint beside them.
Surmises as to the Cause.
The two bodies were removed to the Morgue, where a jury was impaneled. An inquest will be held to-day. It is supposed that Merrick made proposals to the girl, which were rejected, and that the shooting followed.
Thomas Harrigan, the father of the murdered girl, lives at No. 318 South Eighth street, in this city. He said last night that his daughter wrote to him in December last that she wanted to see him. Knowing Merrick’s previous record, he suspected the girl’s reason for sending the note, and when he saw her she confirmed his suspicions. He took her back to Philadelphia, but after two weeks, upon the urgent solicitation of Mrs. Merrick, he allowed her to return to their care.
Merrick and Harrigan Funerals
Trenton Evening Times —
—The funerals of Isaac Merrick, the Camden murderer and suicide, and Sallie Harrigan, his victim, will take place tomorrow.
—County Physician Gross, of Camden, contracted blood poisoning on Saturday night last while making a post-mortem examination upon the body of Sallie Harrigan, the young girl who was killed by Isaac Merrick. The doctor’s condition, however, is not dangerous.
Merrick’s Noosed Rope Discovered
Trenton Evening Times —
—A noosed rope was discovered yesterday attached to a beam in an out-house of the residence of Isaac Merrick, the Camden murderer and suicide, and it is supposed he intended hanging himself had his pistol failed to do its work.