Ghoulish Story Revealed In Add Bath Murders: Eight Possible Victims

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22887, 5 March 1949, Page 7

Ghoulish Story Revealed In Add Bath Murders: Eight Possible Victims

(N.Z.P.A. —Reuter—Copyright.)

(11 a.m.) ‘ LONDON, March 4. Scotland Yard, continuing investigations of the amazing acid bath murders whose ghoulish details continue to shock and thrill the public, has announced that it is carrying out widespread investigations into the case of three missing persons believed to have been “at some time associated in some way with a man now in custody.”

. .It named them as Mr. and Mrs. McSwan and their son, William Donald.

There are now suggestions that the vampire killer had eight victims. The latest missing person to be named is a wealthy stockbroker or a bank manager named Francis France.

Scotland Yard examined a statement made by two attractive girls. The investigations suggest that the securities belonging to Mr. France have been sold and that he was seen a few miles from the workshop where the police recovered the remains of what they believed to be three bodies. A Sussex garage owner has told the police that he supplied sulphuric acid to a man and constructed a sft steel trough with a drain plug for him. The trough, was supposed to have been a canopy for use in a dry-cleaning process.

Scores of detectives, meanwhile, continue to investigate the disappearance of the McSwan family who are believed to have lived at one time in a Kensington house.

Pathologists Testing Sludge

Scotland Yard pathologists are carrying out tests of sludge and earth taken from the drain in the basement of the Kensington house. , - lv The police believe that the family were murdered in the basement and their bodies dissolved in acid. Some of the articles found in the basement include the sleeve of a womans dress which appears to have been burnt by acid and a section of a dental plate which the police hope will provide an important clue to identification. The Evening News says the police have interviewed a great number of people who related their meetings oi social contacts with the Henderson and McSwan families before they disapP< The d police have recovered jewels which belonged to Mrs. Henderson, ineluding a bracelet worth £SOO. ine police hope to identify the man who S °A killer now behind the bars is reported to have told the police a ghastly story of sadistic mass murder and mutilation, according to the London D He y rtSeTthat he cut the throats of the people he killed and so far hehas named five people he murdered D . and Mrs. Henderson and Mr. and Mrs. McSwan and their son. _____ It will take squads of police many weeks to test the story learned from his lipS ' Police Know Murderer

Scotland Yard detectives, after consultation with police scientists, have derided that they know the murderer of Dr. and Mrs. Henderson and the McSwan family of father, mother and son says the Daily Mail. All tne victims are believed to have been shot 1 or bludgeoned and their bodies afterwards treated with some chemical 3 The man will be brought to London bv the week-end and charged in a West London police court with the murder of the McSwan family, adds the Daily M Meanwhile a search is going on for the missing partner of the man who will be charged. The partner disappeared 10 months ago after claiming the invei ttion of a silent electric drill worth £300,000. He may be another victim. . . Inquiries are being reopened about the disappearance of 76-year-old Mr. Guy Petter, the designer of the oil engine that bears his name. He was last heard of in October at Camberley, Surrey. £38,000 Made Out of Victims The Daily Express also states that Scotland Yard believes it has collected sufficient evidence to charge a man with acid bath murders within a few days. The Dailv Express adds it is believed that £38,000 was made out of the vicAn official Scotland Yard statement says: “Widespread investigations are being made into the movements and whereabouts of Mr. McSwan, his wife and son who, the police believe, were at one time associated in some way with the man in custody. “The police on Wednesday and yesterday have been making a search of a basement in Kensington which is believed to have been rented at one time by the man in police custody. “Nothing has been established as a result of the examination of the earth material dug from the area round the basement and tests are continuing today with a view to finding out whether there is human content therein.” Senior detectives are confident that when the facts about the disappearance of the Hendersons and the McSwans are known, a series of murders unequalled for brutality in the history of Scotland Yard will be proved. Brutal and Sadistic It is believed that science will bring one of the most brutally sadistic murderers of modern times to trial. The main activity in the intensive hunt for clues yesterday was concerned with the three McSwans. Detectives believe that the McSwans were murdered in the Kensington basement. The method used to lure them there is being specially examined. The police hope to obtain evidence of Mr. McSwan's deals on the Stock Exchange. Efforts are being made to make contact with the brokers who have done business with McSwan with the object of obtaining information relating to his friends and confidants. Mr. McSwan would have been 71 next June.

Detectives have established that Mr. McSwan junior was 35 to 40.

The Daily Telegraph says the police investigating the disappearance of the Hendersons from a Brighton hotel in February, 1948, have confirmed that a few weeks previously the Hendersons had been in Sussex in company with a business man. Dr. Henderson owned a dolls’ hospital and toy shop in a London suburb, the new owner of which. Mr. Albert, Clark, said lie believed he was ne>H on the killer’s list. He had several invitations to into the country to a place where the police believe some victims had been disposed of.