Bound in Death.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 46, 14 June 1903, Page 5

Bound in Death.

;■' ..; ♦ — — ■— — \. ■■; ■'■■■ '■ :,' ■ ■.- ■ STRANGE DISCOVERy IN A WATER : ■ ■'■ ■ : ■ ■■-■'■ ■■•tank..';' ■■■:■■.■:■;■:.■.:■:■.•■'.■...•■■.

■A most -remarkable discovery was made in the provinces in England recently connected with the death of two men. The bodies were found in a tank at the waterworks at Stetchworth, a village near Newmarket. One was that of Lewis Wallis, aged 2 1,' and the other that of his friend, John B. Norton, an auxiliary postman, aged 19. ' The two friends, who lived together in • a cottage, met one evening after Wallis had been away for two days. They went into two public-houses, and' were seen at ten o'clock at night at the end of a dark lane leading to the; eri- ■ gine house of the waterworks. V> Here they asked a man jokingly if he would like to spend the night with them in the tank.. This was the last time they were seen alive. Next morning the postman, was missed at the letter delivery time, and a search was instituted. The enginehouse was found to be locked, but a key was obtained, and the whole place examined, When the narrow ladder to the top of the tank was mounted it was noticed that alamp hung on a piece jof wood. It was alight, and it illuminated the interior of the tank, which contained 20,000 gallons of water,. ten ; feet de^p. f The bodies were seen and pulled out, and it was then discovered that they were tied together by a length of scaffolding rope. The rope was wound two or three times round each man's chest, and knotted between them. •The waterworks are a queer-looking structure, resembling somewhat a brick church tower with a large wooden belfry. On the ground floor is the engine which pumps up the water into a tank in the wooden portion. It was Wallis's duty to attend to this engine. As to whether the tragedy denotes suicide, or a fantastic murder and suicide, or a crime of which the two men were the umvitting victims — these are moot points much discussed in the village, but as yet elusive theories. Both of the men were bright country fellows, to whom morbid ideas seemed impossible, and both earned good wages. \ The postman kept a diary quaintly headed " The Year of Our Lord, 1901," in which he wrote particulars of his duties when he first denned his uniform and received the bugle which he had to use in remote districts. One theory is that the tragedy is a double suicide, the outcome of the ennui of country life, which provides no amusement for the long evenings, and is calculated in these days of advanced education to develop strange fantasies of thought. Meantime, the village has had to go . without water, for the tank was emptied after its gruesome contents were removed.