THE EASTBOURNE TRAGEDY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15169, 7 December 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE EASTBOURNE TRAGEDY.

RECOVERY OF BURIED REVOLVER

A HOODED PRISONER.

WOMAN'S HYSTERICS.

Elaborate precautions were again taken at Eastbourne to prevent the man known as John Williams, who is accused of the murder of Inspector Walls on October 9, being photographed. Williams was brought from Lewes Gaol by an early morning train, and on the way from the etation the police again shrouded his head in a veil.

In court, however, tho veil was removed, and it was then seen that he is a cleanshaven, smart-looking man of about thirty-five. Though described on the charge-sheet as "John Williams," he was referred to by witnesses as "George." He was not represented by counsel.

Mr. Whitely, representing the Public Prosecutor, detailed the circumstances of

the crime. Inspector Walls, he recalled, •was summoned to tho house of the Countess Szarray to arrest a supposed burglar who had been discovered lying on the low porch over the door. Ho shouted to tho man, saying " Come on, old chap, come down," -whereupon the man fired at him, killing him almost instantly.

Dealing with Williams's history, counsel said that in February last ho made tho acquaintance of Florence Seymour. At that time they were lodging together in a house at Liverpool-street, King's Cross, London, and towards the end of March the girl went to live with Williams as his wife at an address in Bournemouth. Subsequently they returned to London and lived at two addresses in Finsbury Park.

On October 8 they returned to Eastbourne, and giving the names of Seymour took' rooms in Bolton Road with a Mrs. Daniels. Mrs. Daniels noticed that Williams had some gold teeth in front, was clean-shaven, had deep lines on the side of his nose, and had dark hair. During the following week he wore a black bowler hat, but on October 9, his week being up at Mrs. Daniels's ho appeared dressed in a frock coat and top hat, at 4, Tideswell Road, the house of a Mrs. Mann, and took rooms for three days, giving tho name of Sinclair. An hour later ho returned with Florence Seymour. At 6.15 that night Williams was wearing a dark jacket suit, and thus attired he left the house with Seymour, who was carrying a paper parcel in which was a rope with a hook at the end of it. After walking' about for some time the couple sat on a seat at the top of South Cliff Avenue. Fateful Hall Hour. Williams there left the girl for half an hoar. When he left he was wearing a Trilby hat; when he returned he was without a hat. They walked off along the lower parade, and he told the girl to throw the parcel containing the rope over the parade wall on to the beach. At 8.30 they returned to Tideswell Road, and later they went out, and. Williams wrote a letter card which he posted to his brother in London.

Next morning the woman ate no breakfast and Williams very litto. The latter had sent for newspapers, and to the landlady he said, "What a terrible affair this is last night." After breakfast Williams ••leaned his revolver in the bedroom, and later, after breaking it in two, buried the parts in the beach. The revolver had been recovered.

By first post on the morning of October

10 Williams's brother received a lettercard, on which was written — "If you would save my life com© here at once. Come to 4, Tideswell Road, and ask for the name of Seymour. Bring some money with yon. Urgent! Urgent!" The first witness was Florence Seymour, ■who is about thirty. When she was brought into court she went immediately into a violent fit of hysterics, and collapsed in a heap on the floor, moaning and

sobbing in a most distressing fashion. Williams looked on with manifest con-

cern, and when the woman recovered, said, " Cheer up, girl; tell all you know." She listened listlessly to counsel's exam-

ination, seldom volunteering any remark

beyond "Yes" or "No."

Asked about Williams coming back to her without a hat, she added, " George often folded his hat and put it in his pocket, so I thought nothing about it." Shown the Trilby hat left behind by the murderer, Seymour pushed it away, saying she could not say if that was Williams's.

"It is like it," she added, "but he had. also a green one." She was also in doubt about the revolver. The broken one pro-

duced, she said, seemed to her larger than .Williams's, which had not a black handle like the one produced. Th© rope found on. the beach she could not identify. Re-examined about the revolver, Seymour said, "I can lay my life my husband's revolver had not a black handle." Called as " John William Williams," a tall well-dressed man stated that he was

a brother of. the accused man. His real name and address were not disclosed. He spoke first to receiving the letter-card mentioned by counsel. This, he said, he showed to his wife, and to his friend, Mr. Power. Ho and Mr. Power went at once to Eastbourne, and on the way to the station he read of tho ' Eastbourne murder in the newspaper. Boasts About Marksmanship.

" What reason did I give you for having written you so urgently? asked Williams, and his brother answered, "You told mo that you were liable to arrest, having been on tho spot, and being known to the police." Edgar Power, a clean-shaven young man, who, gava an address in St. Ann's Road, Harringay, said ho had been a medical student, and had known Williams for two months. Speaking of his visit to Eastbourne, Power said he remarked that Williams was looking flushed, and the hitter attributed his colour to sunburn, having gone about without a hat. "What is the reason of your letter?" Power next asked. " Have you had anything to do with this Eastbourne tragedy?" Williams replied, "No, I have not; it is necessary I should get away to London immediately. As you know, the police know me, and the fact of my being hero would be sufficient to warrant their arresting me." "I told him," said Power, "he was •foolish, and should not run away if he was innocent. Ho replied that he knew las business best." Describing tho incidents in the buffet at Bridge street, Westminster, on tho night of October 10, Power said Williams boasted that he was somothing of a revolver shot. Counsel asked how that arose, and Power replied, "Wo were discussing the tragedy, and I said to him, ' Havo you got your revolver?' 'No,' he replied. 'I havo nothing whatever in the nature of a firearm.' I said, chaffinely, 'You coudn't hit a, haystack in a lobby,' and he replied. •Well, that was a good shot anyhow.' I said, 'What do you mean; which shot?' . '-• And he said, 'That shot.' " >~ Power then described how ho and Hies fleymour went down to Eastbourne on October 16 to look for a revolver on tho v > lieftch. - Shown the revolver recovered lrom • the. beach, Power identified it as '< ■William*'*, and, ■*"' he had seen the "■ litter with it at least a dozen times. C r David Potter, the coachman who first ia\V" the supposed burglar, and Countess Szfcaray were called, but neither could identify Williams. •' :- \ ■ Th© case was adjourned. An application by Williams that he bo allowed to communicated ■ with Seymour was referred . |p the prison authorities*;. ■, ■'-.' 'i ■ r'f ■ /■-'■. i ... ■