New Year’s Day 1845: a message reaches Paddington from Slough concerning a murder suspect aboard the 7.42 train ‘in the garb of a kwaker’ – the experimental telegraph’s alphabet lacked Q. John Tawell, who had poisoned his mistress, was indeed a Quaker and a convicted forger previously transported to Sydney. Baxter describes his sensational capture and trial, which sparked public interest in the new-fangled electric telegraphy.