CLOAKROOM SECRETS

Evening Star, Issue 21819, 7 September 1934, Page 4

CLOAKROOM SECRETS

LEFT LUGGAGE OFFICES USED TO HIDE SINISTER RELICS CLUES THAT SOLVE MYSTERIES The railway cloakroom has frequently been taken advantage of by persons who wish to dispose of sinister relics or murder, and has often revealed a ghastly secret leading up to, the piecing together of some great murder mystery. It is' also greatly used as a temporary depository of articles connected with robbery (writes a criminologist, in the Liverpool ‘ Weekly Post ’). The idea of having an office for the deposit of luggage and parcels originated with a French railway company. The bureau at the Gare St. Lazare terminus, Paris, had only been in operation. a few weeks when one evening a furtive individual named Jacques Futereau arrived with a large, box. The porter who wheeled it on a truck stated afterwards that.Futereau had alighted from a fiacre and had instructed him to bring the box to the cloakroom. It was of monstrous weight, bound round with brass bands. Mentioning that it would be sent for later, the man had glided out of the terminus and was lost amid the throngs if the city. “ KILLED FOR LOVE.” gome time passed and the box was unclaimed. At length it was ordered to be opened. This was done, and the •ecret of Futereau was revealed, for the entirely naked corpse of a lovely woman was found within. , , Her identity was established as that of a model who haunted Bohemian artistic circles, and whose disappearance had occasioned no comment. The murderer, eating oysters in a cafe in Lyons, was soon apprehended. He confessed that he had “ killed for ] o ye ” —and died repentant on the guillotine. OUR FIRST RAILWAY MURDER. Two years later, the railway cloakroom played its first part in a murder in this country. Muller, the stolid German, murdered Mr Briggs in a first-class carxiage oa the Nortli .London Riunvay, He threw the still breathing- banker on to the line and escaped at Dalston station. Later in the evening he arrived at Stepney station, then the terminus of the Great Eastern Railway. Here he deposited a small parcel in the cloakroom. It was not claimed, and aftei a time the railway authorities opened it. Inside were « blood-soaked handkerchief, a pistol, and empty wallet. Muller fled to America and was there arrested, brought back and convicted. His hat, which he had left m the railway carriage, and the parcel he deposited in the cloakroom, completed the chain of circumstantial ■gainst him . . The attention of the criminal classes was quickly attracted to the advantages offered by the railway cloakroom. In those early days regulations governing deposits and withdrawals were very lax. Consequently there was an epidemic of instances where the lelt-lug-gage office was associated with various primes,.

BURGLARS’ USEFUL DEPOSITORY. Many cases could be cited where the cloakroom has been made the' depository of grisly relics of humanity. But it is also frequently used by thieves for the handy disposal for the timfr" being of the proceeds of robbery. While the scent is hot the crook may find it difficult to get rid of the “ awag ” from a burglary, or perhaps the “ fence ” is nervous of accommodating; for the receiver of stolen property has a very sharp watch kept on all his, transactions by the police, even though he may veneer himself with a pretence of being a “ merchant ”, or some sort of trader. .■ - _ . Therefore, it is not uncommon for a thief to have in his. possession a number of well-worn kitbags. These can easily be filled with loot and deposited by a member of the gang (for thieves rarely work alone), and left for a few days until suspicion has blown over. Not long ago a crook was caught at a London terminus removing some in-nocent-looking bags from the cloakroom. A detective recognised the man as a very expert burglar, and became interested in the bags he removed. They were filled with stolen articles collected during several burglaries. Sometimes the thief is too frightened to take his stuff away after it has been deposited. The rule at most cloakrooms is that if a deposit has not been claimed after three months it is opened. An examination sometimes reveals unmistakable proof's of a “ job.” The police have lists of stolen articles, and an examination of valuables found frequently identifies them with the missing property “ left until : the clouds roll by,” as the crooks’ jargon has it. CLOAKROOM CLUE IN GOLD ROBBERY. For six weeks the robbery of the £IOO,OOO worth of gold ingots from the South Eastern mail train remained a profound mystery. The gold disappeared between Folkestone and Pans, it being in process of transfer from London to a French bank. A chance discovery in a cloakroom gave the clue. A small box deposited by a woman at Folkestone station remained unclaimed and was opened. It was found to contain a set of keys, a piece of putty, and a leaf from a South Eastern working time-table, and this leaf was one showing the working of the special bearing of gold. The box was traced to a woman who was friendly with the guard of the train. The facts were pieced together, and eventually justice was meted out to the guard and two other men, and the woman concerned in the robbery. She afterwards confessed that sne thought if she put the incriminating articles in the cloakroom they could never be connected with her.