MURDER MODES

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 99, 29 April 1939, Page 8 (Supplement)

MURDER MODES

<4 CRIMINALS are getting more V-x ninninc;, and what we have to watch for is a new murder technique. Luckily, murderers prom to be unimaginative. We haven't had a new idea in 15 years. Thus ihe Scotland Yard detec-tive-inspector a hunter of mur-di-rrr.s for 30 years with whom 1 was discussing the phenomena df limiiii irle, in view of the British Parliament s vote to abolish the law which obliged the judge, on a verdict of guilty in a murder ease, to assume the black cap and pass a death sentence which in I mm 30 to 70 per cent of cases he knows will be commuted to a prison term. |!i it,nil - murder hh a normal ft.ii-in I 1 No Hanjruimiry r.i'krl-*. profe»»iioiw I ilxxuH'iirif, 1» i ir flint 8 In ill v L'H'i i <I J , ft" Kiui^ r «-.iilnun rinc jrin killfi~. in tlii-> tijlit. little U'.ard. Miinli'iß ] i. i v i. 1 mm' 11 .1X •' lii " M) 11 yi'iir fur the 1.1 t, ll.llf II" II I 111 \ . Tlll'V SI'IMII til 111' dimii In mi irr«•<lll<-i 1111' miniminn. All C\ii.pl ,i |. i' i- re nt, nf 111 iinliMTfrt oonio n11111• i* m tiil in v nt |n>lin\ jiidjte*, jury, eri11.i111• I• ■ ir-1 pn t alienist*, t lio y.ulilif iiml oilier interested jutrt iff*. 'I'll,. .") per rent, -Uiio don't nrc tlio murderer* who nri> never found. In I lir l,i-t \ i •. i r of record I bore wore B."> Ttuinlor chhcs.* In :IH ca-<os t lie murderer or ii ~ | iri't. committed suicide normal r.ilin. In s i • \ i'ii i'h i * h tin- jiolieo were ]i.ll)"' i| linl-lll.il. llL'llill. In I lII' InlljllK'O ol' • >(> r;iM'." tin l | ml ice it r rented .">:t porhoih. Mini loci one t lii'oiiyli dinclinr^e, ]e.i vinlt ' ;ii i ni'_;iifil, and eight of tlio fi'J w i'i i- itlllit I cil. Ten Went To Their Deaths Of I lie reiiiii in in•; 4», if) worn found nml sent- to Broadmoor criminal In mi tic nullum, and 25 wore aentenced to dentil. Itni. out, of the 25, one wftj respited to Broadmoor, three had eon virtioiM tpmobod on appeal, and 11 had t-lieir tteiileiiccM commuted to penal servitude. Tluit. left, in. nml they were placed hooded and pinioned, on a collftpwibU pin I form in t lio prison yard. A nooaec Topn suspended from a crow-beam over head was adjusted under the left car Tlie executioner pulled a lever; greaaec holts slid liaek: tlio platform floor emve< * i .t .... 1 #-11 1()<4 4

arid women who liavp novpr lio'-n mUvcrl, nf \vlius t > fiite was (if;ver known, ami t u lini-c nninlrrr rs have long sinru gi>ue away, or <lir<l. Tlio qifu'lilinir -pkiisunipil cor|w>n of Mrn. ('ii|i|M-n would still lie lnnlcr tlx: I reiiM'tit. Hour of the ( ri|'[M'ii liou*i> cellar,

if tllllt iM'XLMM't lH'I'Ml little cliclll ir-t ( h:i u I i'il hack 'from New York: the lilxt lime I lie in <I in was used in police work) I had not, miiile several mistakes. There 1 i wan iinotiier womiin in the ease. <it her- t \vi<o, suspicion probably never would i lime heeii aroused, t I l rippen thought he hud successfully u-cd 11 lethal done of poison to husk ' otr ii miseriilile old life in London. and •' i start, a bright new one in America with :i (k eotuely voting woman. He failed < because he wan delicimt in resource. t 1 (I (iiirire ,lo«eph Smith had what I'rippon ' lacked; hut lie mado the blunder of ] ■ using hin ingenious murder invention I once too often. 1 , lie made a business of robbing women. * lie would pick one, woo her, marry her, get her -to ?nnkn a will in hi« favour, ! injure her life; and then she had a and accident. She fainted in her bath, and 1 drowned. , Kinallv. Smith lost one bride too , r many. Ifo was arrested, charged, tried. . I It looked as if the defence must win. | „ The last wife was young and strong. | t; Whoever heard of a strong young per- _ mm being forcibly drowned in a tub , half-full of water without a violent J stniggle. Yet the body bore no marks of violence—not a scratch, not a bruise. A puzzled State pathologist, experimenting, solved the mystery. He rediscovered Smith's discovery—that if you take hold of a person's feet in a bath and pull them up sharply, the Midden •' duck-under rushed water violently tip '' the none. The victim, knocked out, d drowns without a struggle. l ® The "perfect murder" once again 1- proved to have a flaw. Smith was hung. , Xo one has tried the bath tub trick since. Neither has anyone utilised Sydney Fox's fatal invention. He and il, hia mother worked together anil lived le on their wits. But mother was getting id old, Reduced at last to "gypping" r- hotel kee[K>ra, the .'lO vear-old Sidney r. looked sideways at his mother, worn out sd after All years, most devoted to im?d moralty, petty larceny, confidence tricks. » They were staying at a seaside hotel.

in: find tho murderer* fell 12ft into a ' dark well, nml swung with broken neck*. Tim judge had already, in his death nenteneo peroration, expressed the formal liopo that the (Jod would have mercy 11)11111 their soti!«. . . . A record of 0"> murders, 53 arrest#, 38 "guilty" verdict*, 25 death sentences, ami 10 executions, explains why John Bull'* national assembly voted to bring the law into lino with reality, and to lie vo tho Judge fTom the duty of imposing ii death Hcnt.ence in eMM where ho knows it will not—and in justice iliould not—be carried out. Vim can generalise about every crime except murder. But murder Tar Ipa too much—and so do murderei*. Ohnlnosay that wa ars *11 potential murderer*. Certainly, every murder » a psychological drama. There w»s a hard up bank clork who killed, on impulse, fur money, and buried the corps® in | lio back garden. His tale, done M a play and then ns a film under the "Payment Deferred" title, thrilled and fascinated millions. Yet his was the tiini i\ <> bark of 70 per cent of murders. Tliat method of disposing of the corpse was once so fashionable that it was a vaudeville joke. It in years since a murderer in England buried the body in the garden. Tim original fashion stemmed from one Thurtle. who drove a Mr. Weare down the road, shot him, nnd dropped the bodv into the pond at the bottom of his garden. His idea was that nobody would think of looking for the misting Mr. Weare In Mr. Thurtle'# garden. He was so confident abosit that that he ate a hearty supper of pork chops. Hi* confidence in his ingennity was misplaced. But the fact that he hanged did not for year* deter murderers from burying their victims in tbeir gardens. Tliero is no doubt that dozen* of skeletons moulder deep under th# normal fork nnd-spads digging level of garden soil —nil that ia left of murdered men *

Encouraged by Failure of Murderers to Devise New ; Techniques, or Develop New Motives, Britain is ' Relaxing Stern "You-hang-for-murder" Law, and Proposes Abolition of Death Sentence. i

By " . I C. Patrick Thompson j —World Copyright

Huffily, lie insured her life for 5000 dolhi is a lid J 0,1 MM) dollars, oii'j a one-dav traveller's policy posting <>- cents. His t mot her had to die lty midnight next day, w or the bet was off. ( .j Dip she did. with 15 minutes to span-. Her room caught tiro: slip was asphyxi- t | atc<l in bpd. r J"7ic doctor * o ecrtiiicd, and a coroner's jury returned an accidental death verdict. Her son wept by " the graveside. ' Hut thp insurance agent was sua- " picioiis and started an inquiry. Scotland ' Yard bent an car. The body was disin- *' terred. Sidney'* defective education and technique Were then revealed. Had he known that ill smoke asphyxiation the '' air tube* show a soot coating, and the b blood trace* of carbon monoxide, he a would have adopted a different killing n method, or anyway have seen to it that " bis mother actually did suffocate in >' smoke. As it was, the prosecution's b pathologist proved death could not have i' been caused by smoke, but could have w been: and in fact nan caused by manual strangulation. I'ox wan executed. c Alfred House invented a "Phoenix d murder,"' slipped on a million-to-oiic fi chance, but gave Kngland six years of u Phoenix-murder imitat ions. House, a com- t mercial traveller, a sex-vain man, s dreamed of costing off an old life and a current wife and marrying a girl whom j ho liad been wooing under an alias on t, thp other side of the island. He had insured his life. He had a small ear in which lie ran (] from town to town. One night he picked . up a hobo. On a lonely road, around two o'clock in the morning, he stopped. A flat tyre. He got out jack and mallet. Would "rho jiassenger take a look as lie flashed a torch? The doomed dere- ( lict bent liis to the mallet as an , ox to the poleaxc. x The murderer bundled him inlo the driver's seat, emptied a can of gasoline over the upholstery, dropped a match. As the flames roared House stepped j. through tho weird door of one identity j into another.

Mrs. Armstrong foil ill, had a spell in a mental clinic, was returned home and suddenly died. The family doctor grave his certificate. The wife was buried. The major received the condolences of the neighbours. He inherited his wile's money. Four months later lie proposed marriage to another lady. \mv, another lawyer named Martin was prc--ing Arm>tio;ig to ac. ouut toi a cei lain Mini ot money. Armstrong war, mai.ini; difficulties. "('nine to tea i ; - -ei tie "in business," A:11 - strong invited Martin. -Martin came, drank tea, was stalled oil, returned ii<uue anu was taken \ioleiitiy ill. His doctor, perplexed, had certain matter analysed. Arsenic! The wire went up from the local police to Scotland Yard. Mrs. Armstrong was secretly exhumed. A fatal dose of arsenic was found in her. Iho Yard men pounced on Armstrong. He was taken by surprise. But he was a lawyer. He fought hard and cunningly at the trial. But forensic medicine, "the pathologists, beat him all ways. It \vat> proved that he had been feeding his wife arsenical weedkiller over a whole year before he got some pure arsenic and gave her the finishing dose. Martin had taken a dose in his tea. He had survived. But he was invited to dinner. Armstrong had a packet of arsenic in his desk. Mr. Martin would not have survived that dinner party. If Armstrong had not tried the poison way twice, his first exploit as a murderer would never have been found out. But criminologists have a saying "Once a poisoner, always a poisoner'; and again, "The poisoner always tries twice." Getting Rid Of The Victims' Bodies letting rid or the body is the murderer's greatest problem. Innumerable murderers thought they had an infallible solution. They have used fire, explosive, deep water, the eaith; bul in very few cases have they succeeded in eliminating all traces. A sixinch bit of skin was enough to identity Belle C'rippen and hang her husband; a gold-filled tooth hung Furnace. Mahon was a lady-killer in both senses of the term. A married man, he got involved with a stenographer. She insisted that he leave h» wife. They would make a new life overseas. She had 3000 dollars and gave him 2000. But he was a realist, not a romanticist. He had no intention of giviug up a comfortable home, his friends, his affairs with women. He had a secret love-nest on the seacoast. When the troublesome gill arrived for a love-tryst, she met a killer with an iron bar. Malum had bought a butcher's knife and saw. He started to dismember the corpse. Most of it he piled in a trunk and suitcase. His plan was trraduallv to get rid of the body piecemeal. But, unluckily, his wite suspected him of affairs with other ci.tt -Hiroiich his Dockets

But. luck was ajrainst bitn. Two young nen from a village were walking home cross the fields from a late party in ho adjacent town. They saw a man talking away from a flaming car. The oli<-e thought that very queer, and tho orpse came under expert scrutiny intead of being accepted by a country my as House's. Enough of it was left o check against the physical descripi"ii of l!oii.-e, and it <1 ill not fit. Out Mashed a description of the missng commercial traveller, and inside 48 ours House was picked up. He was anged. liut whom had he killed? Xniodv ever found out. Just somebody Hindering at night from some place to ome other place, sans money, family, fiends. Hope springs eternal in tlio inferior nd inflamed mind of the murderer, "urnace, aptly-named, a seaman turned arpenter, used the Rouse invention, vitli a variation. He got Walter Spatliett, a rent collector, into his carpener's shed, killed him with a shot in lie back, returned to home and wife, When Spatchett failed to turn tip villi his collections, his employer took t for granted that he had aliseonded villi the money. The obvious motive or the disappearance of Spatchett was ■stablished. Xext day Furnace went into his shed, >et it ou tire and walked off. l.'nfortulately for him. a little girl was passng; she saw the smoke and gave the ilarm. The tire was extinguished fifteen :ninute« too soon for it to do its job >f reducing dead Spatchett to an lindentitiable cinder which would have teen taken for Furnace, who had died u an accidental lire in his own shedworkshop. As it was. the teeth identified Spat•het t, and then a closer examination iliscloseil the bullet wound. The hunt for Furnace was on. The police caught up with him a fortnight later. He saved the hangman a job by swallowing corrosive acid. Success Of The " Bottle Imp " Tn every one of ttiese cases the murderer was known to a number of people. Only one case is on record where a murderer succeeded in building another appearance and personality—either before or after his crime—and eluding his hunters that. way. The wizard was a Frenchman. An oil W'alder. He murdered lie i-I • ■ 11 • i -1 I .a mange and his servant. 'i. twelve hours the police knew the murderer and circulated his description. But, with little money and no friends (perhaps because he had no friends) Walter eluded his pursuers. From time to time he sent clues to

women. Slie went ttirougn ins pw-Kv.n wlien he returned home, found a cloakroom ticket, turned it over to an exrailwuv policeman friend, with the request that he get the bag and find out what it was. Just an accident, and a wifely suspicion. She would not lia\e been surprised to find a woman s underclothes in the hag, but neither she nor her detective friend expected in their wildest imaginings a bloodstained mass of murder evidence. On June 0 somebody took to the railway station at Brighton, England, a trunk which contained the torso of a young woman. On June 7 he took to a London main-line station a suitcase containing the lege. These relics were not discovered for ten days. With that start, the murderer covered his tracks. He had killed the woman about a week before he deposited the pieces of the body at the station cloakroom. He is still at large. In 1935 somebody murdered a young man, and several days after the crime cut the body up, deposited the legs under the carriage seat of a train, and dumped a sack containing the torso into a canal. The legs were found almost at once; the torso forty days later. The head —like the killer —was never found. In neither case was the identity of the victim established. Lacking that most vital of all clues, the police have to cast around for a starting-point for the hunt. If they find none they are done. Why do sane people murder? They murder for revenge, for money, to save themselves from gaol or the social consequences of a lapse from the straight and narrow path. They murder because some person stands between them and some desired object or condition of life. Murder will never be run right off the crime map. The -nost that any country can do is to work it down to an irreducible minimum. *

puliiv headquarters, ironically suggest- x ing tlmt tliey might aid his hunters. A But he was never caught. His feat gave * -tbo name "Bottle Imp'' to a murderer i whose identity is known to the police ' hut whom they cannot find. 1 Advances in chemistry, better edti- 1 cation of medical practitioners, progress ' in forensic medicine, combine to make ( murder by poison riskier every year. 1 The poisoner is rare in Britain, although 1 oddly, half of the . r >ooo people who com- ' init suicide annually in the island use poison to open the gate to death. 1 But the Moisoner makes small pro- 1 gress. Hi » oice of poison is limited, ; partly bci-atii-i! most poisons are hard J to procure, and partly because any drug 1 causing symptoms which puzzle the < doctor is a trail-blazer to the post- s mortem and the homicide hunters. What ] the poisoner always seeks to do is to I kill without arousing suspicion. He 1 never moves if he foresees an inquiry; i it is too risky. A dentist has poisoned by imbedding , a deadly drug in a temporary stopping ( in the unsuspecting victim's hollow , tooth. But the post-mortem disclosed ( a fragment of the stopping; the motive ; was established; the poisoner was ( caught. A man was suspected of mur- ] dering by using a rare metal obtained from the chemical works where he was employed; but the spectroscope proved no trace of the poisonous substance in the body; equally, it would have de- 1 tected the poison and convicted the suspect. Poisoners usually forget that a motive will lead the trail to them. Doctors 1 and lawyers have tripped up through 1 under-discounting the motive factor 1 and the resultant police probe. 1 Major Armstrong, the lawyer, over- ! played his hand. He weighed 98 pounds 1 and waxed his moustaches. He was hen-pecked. He had a plain, poswssive wife, who wouldn't allow him drink or tobacco and humiliated him in public.