THE WINDSOR TRAGEDY.

Evening Star, Issue 8789, 1 April 1892, Page 4

THE WINDSOR TRAGEDY.

[By Electric Telegraph.— Copyright. 1 fP»R Press Association. | MELBOURNE, March 31. (Received April 1, 1892, at 1.10 a.m.) Detective Brindt, formerly of Johannesburg, knewjheming when in South Africa, and has every reason to believe he is the man wanted for the murder of a British officer named Graham and two natives in Johannesburg in 188 S. The bodies of the murdered people were horribly mutilated. Brindt is engaged investigating the matter. Shortly after the murder it is alleged that Deeming was conneoted with a number of others in swindling the National Bank of Johannesburg out of L 162.000. LONDON, March 31. Letters addressed by Dtoming to the British Consul in Monte Video, where he was arrested for fraudulently obtaining goeds in England, have been discovered. In these he complained of the treatment received in prison, and threatened the British Minister with death unless he took steps to redress his grievances. Madame Tussaud has purchased Denham Villa, in which Deeming committed the murders, and will re.erect at her exhibition the rooms connected with the crime.

FORGING THE CHAIN.

The information which our telegraphic correspondent in Perth haa been able to gather there respecting the contents of Swanston's travelling trunks and portmanteaus provea beyond all reasonable doubt that the man Baron Swanston, the mining engineer of the Southern Cross goldfields, is not only Drewin, the mysterious tenant of No. 57, Andrew street, Windsor, but also Duncan, and Williams, and Dawson, and Deeming. The principal discovery made by the police in searching Swanston's luggage was one which shows how satisfied Swanston was that he had successfully rid himeelf for ever of hia wife (formerly Emily Mather), and that there was not the slightest chance of her body ever being brought from its burial place beneath the hearthstone. Amongst the miscellaneous articles which hn trunks contained none was so important as the scrap of paper which bore the usual formula of the marriage certificate, and wss signed at Runhill, in September, 1801, by Albert Williams, bachelor, and Emily Mathers, spinster. The police finding this kept it secret, knowing full well its important bearing on the charge of murder, and fortified with its possession freely gave the Press a list of all the other articles found in Swanston's possession. With a view of confirming our correspondent's message as to the discovery of the certificate, a representative of the 'Argus' waited upon the Chief Commissioner of Police, Mr H. M. Chomley, and from him received the assurance that he had received a private message advising him of the discovery of the certificate. "That," said the Chief Commissioner, " places beyond all doubt the identity of the man Swanston with the murderer Albert Williams, and gives me much relief and not a little pleasure." Passing from the marriage certificate to other articles mentioned by our correspondent, almost equally valuable evidence of identity is obtained. For instance, a photograph of Swanston and a little girl about six years old takes us back to 1887, when he waa established as a plumber ia Sydney under his real name of Frederick Bailey Deeming. Then a silver smelling bottle, bearing the monogram "C.L.M.," suggests his extraordinarily vigorous courtship, under the name of Lawson, with Miss Matheson, in Beverley,nesrHulJ,inFebruary,lß9o,whil9a sic coat, "F, F, Curtis, Hull, maker," Bpeak? of the rapid flight after the shameless frauds upon tradesmen. A Master Mason's apron and some olothing branded Scott Bros., Cape Town, were very evidently used in his South African exploits, more particularly daring the time when he was preparing the bogus company-floating swindle. Having passed from Deeming in Australia and England to Williams and Deeming alternately in South Africa, and back again to Beverley and Hull in England as Lawson, he is next found with the na-ne of Williams, and the glamor of an Australian wool king, in Rainhill, near Liverpool, courting Miss Mather. His boxes are full of relics of this upfortunate young woman. ! There is a silver oase, containing a pair of lady's white silk gloves, engraved •' jjtrily" outside; a Book of Common Prayer, with the date December 25, 1889, and " Emily " on the flyleaf; a piece of blotting paper with the impression " Rainhill, 7-8-91. Yours truly, A, 0. Williams "; a member's card of the Rainhill Band of Hope, signed " John Barton," dated March 28, 1878, certifying that Emily Mather became a member at that date; a Christmas card from Lizzie Gaitskelto (54 Cambridge road, Seafortb) to Emily Mather ; an In Memoriam card of John Mather, died March 19, 1888, interred at St. Ann's Church, Rainhill, Maroh 22 ; an autograph album, "To dear Emily, with love"; and a book entitled ' Bible Forget me-notß,' " presented tp Emily from yours sincerely, Tom." A pooketbook, with a time table of trams to and from Rainhill and St. Helen's Junotion, and an advertising card—"The Commercial Hotel, Rainhill. E. H. Short, proprietor "—are also laden with memories of the brief sojourn made by Williams at Rainhill. It was at the Commercial Hotel that, he gave the wedding party whioh celebrated hia union with Miss Mather, when his first wife and her four children had aotfoely grown cold in their oemented grave. A silver chronograph, No. 48,421, by Baunte Longmese, changes the scene to Melbourne, where Williams waa ingratiating himself with several business people under the name of Dawson and the' style of a fentleman of large means and extended nowledge of the world. This watob be

bought at the establishment of Messrs KilEatriok and Co., in Collins street, after he ad disposed of the splendid gold watch by Bennett, of Cheapside, London, which be brought to Melbourne with him. Two gold diamond rings, though not well desoribea in our telegrams, are probably the one valued at L 35, which he obtained by fraudulent pretenoe from Messrs Eilpatriok and Co,, and another worth about L 25, which he purchased "on approbation " from a friend and forgot to pay for. A silver pooket-flask, with the monogram " F.8.D.," identifies him as F. Duncan, who stopped at the Cathedral Hotel, Swanßton street, between December 30 and January 12, and wrote to Holt's matrimonial agenoy for a wife on January 2, and it also carries him forward to the journey to Bathurst, where he passed as Swanston on January 16. The attendants at the hotel can prove the first, and Miss Rounsvelle the latter statement.

A parchment testimonial, dated September 21,1891, signed Benjamin Goodfellow Hyde, Hampshire, and addressed to Baron Swanston, heralds the last stage in the identification by the miscellaneous artioles of luggage. This testimonial he had engrossed in Melbourne for the purpose of use in West Australia, and it is now known that upon it, more than anything else, he obtained the situation in Southern Cross.

From the "F.BD." of Frederick Bayley Deeming on the Sydney photographs, through the various changes from Deeming to Williams, LawsoD, Williams, Dawson, Duncan, and Swanston, it is easy to trace the man, and the last piece of evidence, though not the least in point of value, because it assists to unite the whole, is an envelope addressed by rubber stamp, " Miss K. Rounsvelle, Cambria terrace, Havannah street, Bathurst, New South Wales."— 1 Argus.'