THE MURDER OF MISS CAMP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10413, 10 April 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE MURDER OF MISS CAMP.

MYSTERIOUS ASSASSIN STILL AT LARGE. Three weeks (says the News of tho World of February 28) have now elapsed since the brutal murder of Miss Camp on the London and South-Western Railway, bub the crime remains as mysterious as ever, aud the idea ia now rapidly gaining ground that tho tragedy will remain for all time another of London's unsolved tragedies. Tho police, however, have by no means despaired of capturing the criminal. By a process of exhaustion the detectives have narrowod down the apparent clues to one, and that one they are quite unable to follow up for want of material upon which to work. If they could find the man who left the train at Wandsworth, and rushed out of the station so quickly that even a description of his appearance could not bo obtained, the police are of opinion that they Would have secured one who had au intimate acquaintance with the criino. But once this individual got outaide the station he dieappeared without leaving i\ solitary trace. Endless inquiries havo been made without rosult, and the police practically admit that they have reached tho end of their resources. Unless some entirely fortuitous circumstances arise, <such as that which enabled the detectives to trace the Muswell Hill murderers, it eeems very probable that the crime will remain unsolved.

MISS DAMP HAD NO MOSEY. What is chiefly puzzling the authorities is the disposal of the articlos which Miss Camp purchased atHounslow. Mrs. Haynes, her married sister, states that when the illfated woman paid her the visit on- tho Thursday they went out shopping together, and when she saw the victim off by train, Miss Camp had her parcels with her, but these have disappeared ; and, although the line has been diligently .-oarched, and is, in fact, being constantly patrolled by the Southwestern official/!, none of the articles in question have come to light. It has been definitely ascertained that Miss Camp could not possibly have had more than a fow shillings in her possession when she commenced her last journey. The belief that finds most favour is that the murderer hail purchased a third-claw ticket, but entered tho "second-class compartment because lie saw a woman who was sitting alone carrying a tempting looking, long green purse. IMPORTANT DISOOVKBV. On Friday the police made what is regarded as an important) discovery in connection with the pestle. The implement was taken to Mr. Haisman, cycle fitting! munutacturer, 62, Cowcrose-etreet, SmithHeld, who says it tallies exactly in size with one lie has missed from his workshop since about last August. The pestle is, moreover, the same number,(9), and within threo ounces the same in weight. It is to bo remarked that the weapon employed by the murderer has marks of gold at the end, and Mr. Haisman states that the one he has missed might have been used for the purpose of working gold leaf, and he also says ho has seen pestles of this kind used in Southampton dockyards for brass and gold wurl;. Mr. Haisiuau, it is understood, has been requested to furnish the police with a list of all the men he has had working for him for some months past. He states that the pestle which was formerly in his possession wa? one he bought at the sale of a manufacturing chemist's entire stock,'at Han well, some time ago. LADIES IN FKAR. Since the murder ladies travelling on the various suburban lines, but especially on the South-Western, are exhibiting great dread of being alone in a compartment with a man. Some amusing incidents are witnessed almost every day, and many ladies travel third-class, preferring discomfort and mixed company to the seclusion of first or second, with the attendant risk of being left alone with some horrid man awaiting the chance to commit the mo3t dreadful crimes. SOROEOXa EXAMINE TUB CARRUOB. Mr. Thos. Bond and the other surgeons who made the post-mortem examination on the body of Mies Camp met at Waterloo Station the other day for the purpose of minutely inspecting the carriage in which the murder was committed. The carriage, ii first and second elan composite, is standing at the end of a siding on the north side Of the station, and within full view of persons standing In York Road, Lambeth. The exact position of the body when it was discovered was explained to the surgeons by Lee, the young carriage examiner, by whom the gruesome discovery was mado. The impression made by the unfortunate woman when sitting with her back to the engine on the cushion on the near tide of the carriage is still visible, and above it, on the woodwork of the compartment, even above the hat-rack, is to be teen the result of the first blow with the pestle-namely, splashes of blood which are to be found on the window. Then on the opposite seat are the remains of a pod of blood, showing, it is conjectured, that the woman attempted to struggle with her assailant. Under the teat at (be other end of the compartment, and on the tide opposite to where the deceased had been sitting, was a pool of congealed blood as large as a dinnerplate, while the thick fibre rug also bears marks of Mood.