LOVE AND HATE

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 196, 16 May 1936, Page 24

LOVE AND HATE

A Schoolmaster’s Crime

Love, following a meeting between a susceptible girl of 18, the daughter of a tradesman, and a young schoolmaster, led to a drama which, as was pointed out at Maidstone Assizes recently, almost ended in tragedy. The persistent wooer declared that while he had, as the culmination of a number of extraordinary incidents in regard to his broken engagement, intended'to sacrifice his life, he had no desire to slay his former sweetheart, “a mere child,” as counsel described her. But a jury decided that he had deliberately shot at the girl, Miss Margaret (“Peggy”) Clinton Beer, whose father, a tobacconist and confectioner, is owner of two shops in Ash near Sandwich, one of which she managed, with intent to murder her. The man, who fired the shot from a humanekiller, was Hugh Williams, aged 24 a school teacher, of Ash Council School, and a native of Anglesey. Brown-haired. clean-shaven, and wearing spectacles, Williams, with his overcoat collar turned up, sat in the dock and listened composedly to the allegations made against him. Bor the Crown, Mr. B. H. Waddy outlined the circumstances, and explained that the girl made the acquaintance of Williams at a dance in February, 1934. Their friendship resulted in Williams being a welcome visitor at the home of her parents, and in July of the year, when the girl was just turned IS. he proposed marriage. Miss Beer accepted, and her parents consented to the engagement. But in June, 1935, she came to the conclusion that she was no longer in love with Williams, and she cancelled the engagement. “No doubt that upset him very considerably,” commented Mr. Waddy, “and from June, 1935, until this offence he persistently pestered this girl to love him, and threatened to use force. Dressed in a tweed costume with a silken ruffle falling from her neck, and a brown felt hat to harmonise with her gauntlet gloves, Miss Beer was almost inaudible at times as she told the story of her broken romance.

“Why did you break off the engagement?” inquired counsel. “Because I did not love him,” she answered. Miss Beer stated that later Williams asked her to think it over, but she declined to do so.

“Were you writing to anyone abroad?” asked Mr. Waddy. “Yes,” replied the girl. “A man, or woman?’ was the next question. “A man,” responded the girl. “Age?” continued counsel. “About 20,” answered Miss Beer. “He (Williams) questioned me about all my friends, and he said that if this one came to see me be would kill us both. “I said that if he did he would be hanged, and he replied that would be the finish—he did not care.” After -Mis® Beer had described other incidents, the crime was reconstructed in court.

Two police officers held up the lower sash of the shattered window, through which the bullet was fired, complete with the torn curtaining, and the girl ‘ stood with an enamel bowl on the edge of the, witness-box to represent a-sink, while counsel, handling the nickelplated humane-killer, put it in a position so that the jury could realise the angle in "which it must have been fired. Giving evidence on his own* behalf, Williams, resting his closed hands on the witness-box, declared: “The breaking off of the engagement gave me a great shock, and after a week I had to go to hospital. I was advised to go home, because the doctor thought I had a nervous complaint. “I was very depressed. I felt I was not giving my boys the best. Everything seemed to go wrong. I studied until 3 o’clock in the morning, and later, and then went to the school with

my mind a blank.” Williams admitted that Miss Beer had told him, “I hate you,” but asserted that afterward they had kissed. “Subsequently." be added. “I had seen her with some other mpn. I was jealous. 1 asked her not to go with men because I had read of cases in which jealous men ruined themselves by doing daft things. “I told her that if I saw her with these men I would kill her. I was not serious. 1 wanted to frighten her. , “Are you still in love with her/ persisted counsel. “Yes.” agreed >' nllams. . , Speaking of the shooting episode Williams explained: “I thought I would take my life. I was by the other side of the road. I pulled this weapon out, and before I had a chance it went off. I must have had my linger on the trigger. 1 saw the shot had gone through the window. “After that I ran away to the churchyard, because I was frightened. I knew that the shooting would cause investigation, would distress my parents, would ruin my career, and my pension, and I decided to take my life. “Did you,” asked Mr. Younger, in fact, load the gun again?” “Yes,” said Williams, “and there, in the church-yard, something said to me, ‘Don’t be a coward. You had no intention of doing any harm to her, and if anything comes of it, take it like a man.’ ”

Williams explained that he threw the humane-killer into the river, and that following his arrest the police recovered it from a dyke by dredging. After Williams had insisted that Miss Beer had not ceased to love him, counsel remarked, “This letter was written by you to her” ■ —

“Dear Peg,—Would you please return my ring, as now you don’t love me it is no good.to you?” Williams not only agreed, but admitted that he had informed her parents, on his word of honour that he would not try to see their daughter again. Williams declared that when he threatened to commit suicide by taking tablets, he thought it would reawaken her love, but it was not to force her into a marriage without affection.

“This girl was not to speak to another man, under the threat of death?” counsel inquired. “I wanted to frighten her,” was the calm response. Questioning Williams about the cartridges, Mr. Waddy put to him that of two, one was intended for Peggy, and the other for liimself. “They were both for me,” stated Williams. “If one had failed, there was the other. I took no chances.” “You pulled this humane-killer out, according to your story, to blow your brains out?” “Yes,” replied Williams, “but it went off accidentally.”

“If you had wanted to kill Peggy, two cartridges would have been enough?” “If I had wanted to I should have done it, because I am an expert shot.”

Addressing the jury, Mr. Waddy urged that Williams had done everything he could to rekindle the girl’s love, and it was no idle threat on his part when, in effect, he said, ‘,‘lf you don’t have me, no other man shall have you.”

After retiring for 40 minutes, the jury found Williams guilty of having fired with intent to murder. Beyond what Mr. Justice Finlay described as “this terribly grave matter,” Williams was reported to be of excellent character.

“I say nothing that could harrow your feelings, which must be sufficiently painful about this act. It is the tragic result of your outburst of jealousy,” the judge told Williams. “I am bound to pass a severe sentence, and it is the most lenient one in view of my responsibility. You will go to penal servitude for five years.”