The Glenbrook Horror.

Hastings Standard, Issue 200, 18 December 1896, Page 4

The Glenbrook Horror.

On th«; morning of i Vtviaber Gth J the fitt'■ of < V- ptain Lee Weller, who j disappeared in the vicinity of (Hen- | brook on :'l-t October, while in the company df i'lutlrf, who is alleged to have murb red the voting man Preston about a we-k previously at Linden, was detiniiely ascertained by the discovery of tlit- boily ot the missing man on Use brow of a ridge leading to a gully a mile to the westward of Olenbrook stiition. The circumstances surrounding the find show that it was due not so niurh to chance as to careful and .systematic search by a man who thoroughly knew the country, and who also had the advantage of having seen a man resembling JJutler coming from the direction of that particular gully on the morning of Saturday, the :>1 st October, with a gun or riiie on his left shoulder, and a tomahawk in his hand. Tic asked a neighbour why was that man about, thinking it was a resident ; but he received the realty that the intra was one of two men camped close to the lagoon who were prospecting for gold, Mr Wood answered that they must be new chums at the game, and thoughtno further about tie; matter. It will be remembered that about the beginning of the week there was picked up on the shores of the lagoon near the camp which Captain Lee Weller and liutler had made, a piece of paper with tracings and writing on it, evidently being meant for a plan. The lagoon was marked, and the road leading to it from the station, as well as the position of the main Western road, were indicated, while just above the lagoon was a cross. It had been con-idered that this was a plan made bv .liutlor or Captain Lie Weller for softie purpose which was not at all evident. IJutlt r made it for a tramp, appiffcmtly to do him a good turn, but in reality to throw suspicion of a foul murder on an innocent and unfortunate man. Ilutlcr on ;.!l-t October, the day of th" supposed murder, about 1 .:!<) p.m., saw a tramp on the Kiiin Plains recreation reserve. He asked bim it lie was hard up, and he replied "■ Yes." Poitler said. '• If you go to the lagoon at (lien brook I have left a camp there, when.; you can obtain some clothes and provision- ; yoit can al -o take the tent if you like. Here. I will make you a sketch of the place." The tramp took the sketch and pivceeded along the railway line. On arrival at the camp the man found .some clotln-s, which have since been identified as those of Captain Lee Weller, and a few provisions, but the tent was nowhere to be seen. On Tuesday |*rh) the tent was found in a pothole near the lagoon. Alter half an hour's searching by Mi i - Wood and Champion, and while Champion had turned his back looking for a knife which he had lost, Wood noticed >ome logs lying under a shallow cave. Their peculiar situation, apparently placed there by design, at once attracted bis notice, so he called Champion, and the two removed the timber. The situation of the grave is similar to that of the grave of Preston at Linden. It is placed under a ledge of rock with a sandy base easy to dig. Mr Wood described it as having been very fairly hidden, the soil having been carefully scraped over it : but the murderer had hidden the grave with too much care. The logs placed across I it had not a natural look, and they were apparently placed there for a i purpose. The burial place of Leo Weller is just off a beaten and welldefined track, as was that of Preston. A road off it for a buggy led to within 10yds of it. and a continuation of that ; a track which leads to a swimminghole which passes within 10yds of the grave. At Linden the murder was j committed in a lonely and unfrequented spot, where nobody ventured i once in twelve -months. Here the crime was committed within a mile of half a. dozen houses, and within a few yards of a path, which, for a country place, is frequented. For coolness and audacity it could not be excelled. How I the man could have the nerve to coolly bury the body in so exposed a place in open daylight is beyond explanation. On arrival at the scene of the discovery the detective had a small bole dug, and having come upon some clothing was satisfied that a body was underneath. He refilled the excavation pending orders from headquarters, lie was instructed not to allow the body to be exhumed till Drs Pa ton and Taylor, together with witnesses, arrived by special train, which would leave Sydney at a quarter to three. Tin -e instructions he carried out, but there was a little unpleasantness. Some of the crowd seemed determined to have the body out of the ground at all hazards. One man had actually got a pick m his hand, boasting that nothing would stop him from doing his dutv, which was to have the unfortunate man out of the grave at once, but a warning from Constable Tait as to the probable consequence proved sufficient, and he desisted from further trouble. The crowd kept increasing every minute. The news was telephoned up and down the line, and at the end of a couple of hours buggies, carts, horsemen and horsewomen were converging on Glenbrook from every direction. Some made a picnic of it, and under the surrounding trees were seen many a picnic basket open and displaying tempting viands. Meanwhile the search for the property of the missing man was not discontinued. Every inch of the valley was explored, with most conclusive results as to Captain Lee "Weller having been in the vicinity. "William Holmes, of St. Mary's, among some rocks 50 yards away from the grave, a little below its level, found a pick, which was evidently the instrument used in the digging of the grave, and noticed to have been carried by Butler on the day of the disappearance of Preston. A little later another discovery was made. Mr H. t . found in the ledge of am-* h •• voek a copy of the Review of Reviews. Ike

date was not apparent, but it bore the words "Captain Lee Weller." At the police camp all was excitement, ai d waiting for the special train was wearisome. At last, about 4.10 p.m., it steamed into the station. A start was at once made for the scene. Twenty minutes' walking at a fast pace brought the party to tin.' place, round which by this time there were fully 500 people. All the soft soil of the grave was dugout, a large hole being formed to a depth of about lHin. Then the sand in the middle was carefully scraped away till the portion of the body nearest the earth was exposed. When the earth was cleared away from round the body the horrible manner in which the murderer had d.ealt with his victim after death afforded a nauseating spectacle. The grave had been dug only about :-jft long, and into it the whole body had been crammed, the legs being drawn up right against the trunk to the forearms, and bent upwards to the shoulders, and the head pressed down oil the chest. A blanket was spread across the bottom of the grave, s'.nd as til! 1 corpse was forced from its bed and was rolled into it a more ghastly sight could not be imagined. Though the body had been placed in the hole with its back to the surface it was the back of the head which was lowest in the grave, and as the body became exposed to the general view a cry of horror went up from the people. Women fainted, and even the faces of strong men paled under the heartrending scene. Then the effluvia, from the corpse became unbearable, and, with the exception of those whose duly compelled them to stay, all hurried away from the range of its influence. The sand was hurriedly taken from the; body, and it was placed in the eofl'm, and conveyed to the station in a cart. It was placed aboard the train and taken to Penrith. To have got the body in such a short length as the grave presented, the murderer must have placed it in position and then jumped 011 it to force the corpse into the bottom of the ho!P. A short recapitulation of the story of the departure from Sydney of Captain Lee Weller and Butler, and of tlie disappearance of the latter, will at this stage be of interest. On the 21th October Captain Lee Weller answered an advertisement in a newspaper to go on a prospecting expedition. He found that the advertiser was a man representing himself to be, Frank IJarwood. the possessor of an assayers certificate from the School of Mines, Ballarnt. lie told Captain Lee Weller that no previous experience was necessary. and, accordingly, arrangements were made that they should set out together fin a, prospecting tour in the Blue .Mountains on the 2!) th October. This they did, catching the 10. l-> a.m Western train, and leaving it at (llenbrook. Captain Lee Weller carried about 1150 of money and a quantity of jewellery, which had belonged to his late wife. They were seen by Mr Beattie, the Olenbrook stationmaster, going in the direction of the lagoon. By its side their camp was seen on the following day. They had not removed on the morning of HI st October, as a hoy saw Captain Lee Weller there about 0 o'clock. The captain then disappeared, while later on in the morning Butler was seen coming out of the gully southward of the camp, but on the opposite side of the railway line, by Miss Wood and her father, carrying a gun and a tomahawk". About 2 o'clock the same afternoon 1 hitler overtook a tramp, who had come from the same direction as himself. He told him where to find the, camp, and gave him permission to take what he could find there, actually drawing a plan to indicate the spot. An hour later Butler was seen hoarding the train at Emu Plains for Sydney, where he arrived in due course. This is one. phase of the case which adds even more to the dastardly nature of the crime than any- other. Butler, in sending the tramp to the camp and giving him articles of Lee Weller's which ho could find there, acted with the intention of throwing suspicion on a man who, if the articles had been found on him, would from the nature of his existence be only too ready to be suspected. He had well thought out this matter as well as the murder, as out of many tramps he would

meet 011 the road be .selected one -who came from the same direction as himself. Butler's cunning and duplicitywas beyond hounds, but in one thing he was deficient, in so far as the covering of his crime was concerned. From his movements he apparently knew the country well. In each of the murders which have been discovered he- committed the crime within a few yards of the path. He was not bold enough to take his victim far into the wilds for fear be should get lost himself. All through his motive seems to have been nothing else but robbery, and that for sums for which the ordinary garotter would not think worth risking bis liberty. Hitherto the police have confined their attention to the two cases in the mountains; but now that that work has been accomplished, further enquiries will be prosecuted with regard to Lesagh, and if anything can be discovered as to the place at which he was last been, a search will probably be made for him. One of the most melancholy features surrounding the disinterring of the body was the large number of women who crowded as close to the grave as they could get. Many of them acted with perfect inhumanity. The. bringing of children to such a scene was terrible, but it would scarcely be credited that there were half a dozen babies in arms brought in full view of the body and in range of the tainted air arising from it. Yet it was so, and it was an instance of how far many will go to satisfy a morbid craving.