CAFE MURDER.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXII, Issue 2495, 1 November 1927, Page 3

CAFE MURDER.

GRIM TRAGEDY OF PASSION. A dramatic climax was reached in the investigations into the tragedy at the Chinese Lantern Cafe, Harbour Street, Broadstairs, England, where Mrs. Sonia Alexander Ramsay, the 36-year-old wife of a former squadron leader of the Royal Air Force, and sister of Mrs. Louise Heilgers, the novelist, was found battered to death.

Charles Robinson, the 50-year-old manager of the cafe, who was also the attendant of Mrs. Ramsay’s husband (now a confirmed invalid), and who was wanted by the police in connection with the murder, was found unconscious, suffering from the effects of poison, in some bushes at the edge of the cliffs at Stone Gap, barely a mile from the cafe. He was taken to Ramsgate General Hospital and detectives kept close watch by his bedside n the hope of obtaining a statement, but he died without regaining consciousness. Robinson’s body was found by George Edward Ellis, a Ramsgate labourer.

When found, Robinson had a bruise over his left temple, his rigjht eye was black, and his hands and facq were scratched. He had the appearance of having taken part in a struggle. There were bloodstains on his waistcoat and on his socks.

During a search of the cafe the police found a note written by Robinson, in which he wrote that he had killed Mrs. Ramsay, that he intended to commit suicide, and that his body would be found in the sea. Mrs. Ramsay and Robinson met in the summer of 1925, when Robinson opened a masseur’s business in Richmond Avenue, Margate, in which town his wife and grown-up family are now living. Mrs. Ramsay became a nurse in his employ. The business, however, was a failure, and a month ago Robinson sold up, and Mrs. Ramsay came to Broadstairs and opened the Chinese Lantern Cafe. Shortly afterwards Robinson, who had been attending Mr. Ramsay, became associated with Mrs. Ramsay at the cafe. When Robinson came to Broadstairs he was evidently under the fascination of Mrs. Ramsay, who remained indifferent to him. But he placed all the money he obtained from the sale of his business, about £l5O, at her disposal for the cafe. He woi’ked early and late, and was always making efforts to improve the business. Last summer its attractive furnishing and neat colour scheme attracted crowds of visitors, and with this success Mrs. Ramsay gave free play to her love of fine clothes. Both Mrs. Ramsay and Robinson were heavily in debt to tradesmen of Broadstairs, Margate and Ramsgate, -and had been pressed on all sides for payment. A Margate debt collector said that Robinson had not paid his wife, from whom he was separated, any allowance for some months. Unrequitted passion and business debts caused by Mrs. Ramsay’s love of finery are believed to have been the cause of the tragedy.

Debt upon debt had been crowding upon Sonia during the last few months, and all the time jealousy had been eating into the heart of Charles Robinson, at whom she only laughed. In an interview, her mother in a few heartbroken words, spoke of her daughter while she pointed to a scarlet Eastern lamp in her home. Upon that lamp is a brilliant painted butterfly.

“That is Sonia’s lamp, and that butterfly is Sonia,” she said brokenly.