A MURDERER'S GIFT

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4945, 21 January 1937, Page 3

A MURDERER'S GIFT

TO HIS HOME TOWN. I am able to reveal beyond doubt that the bequest of £50,000 to the town of Nelson, Lancashire, for charitable and public purposes is made under the will of the late James Hargreaves, Britain's richest murderer, who died recently at Broadmoor, states a special correspondent of the "News of the World." Since the announcement by the new Mayor, Alderman Quinn, of a mystery gift the town has been buzzing with rumours concerning the identity of the 'benefactor. The name of James Hargreaves has been freely mentioned, but there has always been a strong element of doubt. There are some people who say that the town could not accept the gift from the source from which it comes, but a further new fact disclosed should remove any misgivings in this direction.

The will made by Hargreaves, in which he decided that his home town should benefit under his considerable estate, was made before he committed the murder at Blackpool of which he was found guilty, but insane, in 1915.

Many years may elapse before Nelson can benefit under the bequest. First of all the will has yet to be proved, and after that the gift is made subject to certain life interests, which may continue to operate for some considerable time. Certain relatives of the testator have yet to be found, and the search for them is now proceeding.

Only the older generation in Nelson remember the James Hargreaves who was seen from time to time walking about the streets, a man of great build—he weighed over 18 stone before he died—whose figure made him a personality. "He was a surly looking individual," an old inhabitant of the town told me, "and everybody knew that he was a man given to violence. As far as I can remember he was friendless, and was never seen in company. It seems strange that he should have given his home town more than a passing thought, for he never took any part in its public life. But there is knowing what actuated him in his final decision." The Hargreaves family lived at Laund House, around which they owned considerable estates. Before the war James Hargreaves was a solicitor in Manchester but when he was left a substantial legacy he sjld the house in Nelson to the local cooperative society and went to live at Blackpool. During his life he had paid many sums in damages for assault, in moments of violence, on his housekeepers. The man he murdered was a solicitor's clerk who called on Hargreaves at his house in South Shore, Blackpool, to serve a summons for an alleged assault and breach of contract. Hargreaves shot him in the back. He was detained in Broadmoor until his recent death.