MY CRIMINAL MUSEUM.

NZ Truth, Issue 12, 16 November 1907, Page 6

MY CRIMINAL MUSEUM.

dn the afternoon of December 23, ' 1902, Mr John Garland, an elderly man, called by appointment at a house m Chur.ch-road, Leyton, to see the tenant, a Mr Edgar Edwards. Mr Garland, who was a general dealer, was seeking to dispose of his business. He had advertised it, and the advertisement had brought him a communication ffom Mr Edwards, who intimated that he might be a j purchaser, but he should like to discuss the matter with Mr Garland) personally before entering into negotiations. After, the . interview Mr Garland had noticed that Edwards had m his hand something with newspaper wrapped round it, which he took to be a music-roll. As they went out of the sittingroom into the passage Mr Garland being a' little way m front,'. Edwards brought the "music-roll" down with a terrific crash upon his visitor's skull. The roll turned out to be a heavy window sash weight. Mr Garland, . WEAK FROMf THE BLOW, nevertheless defended himself valiantly, and though Edwards kept striking him, he finally succeeded m smashing the glass panel of the front door and shouted for help. A carman and a dustman who; were passing heard the shout, and ran to the rescue. They saw Edwards rush out of the back of the house into the garden, and they ran round to/the rear and prevented him making his escape. The police arrived. Edgar Edwards was taken into custody, arid on Christmas eve he came up at Stratford Police Court charged with unlawfully wounding John Garland by striking him on the head with a piece of iron and inflicting grievous bodily harm. Garland, who was m the j West Ham Hospital, was not m a condition to ; appear. Edwards, who describe 7 '-nriself as a grocer's manager, stated to the magistrate that G.nri •*?'■;■' -had, m the course of a rather-heated argument, struck him m the face, and he retaliated with 'the first thing he could lay his hands oh. He. was sorry for what had happened. The prisoner upon that was remanded for tjie attendance of the injured m«an, and spent his 'CHRISTMAS. DAY IN GAOL. The landlord of the house m which j the assault took place had about i three weeks previously accepted Mr' Edwards as a tenant on two written references, m both of which he was stated to be a respectrble and responsible person. One of the references given by Edwards was to Mr William Darby, of Wyndham-road, Camberwell.. '• The landlord wrote •to that address, and on December 6 received a most satisfactory reply: On December 7 Edwards was m possession of the house m Church-road, Leyton. But the landlord, when he heard of the assault, became suspicious of his new tenant, and went at once to the police with the details of his negotiations w^ith Edwards. He took with him the" written references he had received. Inquiries among the neighbors had, m the meantime, elicited . the fact . that Edwards soon after he canae into possession of the villa had been seen "digging a hole m the gar?i ■...-.■■ .- ■ . . . Other circumstances having come to the knowledge of the police, it was considered advisable to discover, if possible, the object of the new tenant's gardening operations. The police went to work at the spot indicated, and some distance below •the surface they DISCOVERED SIX SACKS. These sacks 'on being opened were found to contain the dismembered bodies of ' a young, ''man, a young woman, and a child. . .".''■' Certain articles found m the possession of the prisoner had caused the police to ask him when he was arrested over the Garland affair, "Are you William Darby?" and he had' replied, "No ; that is the man I am buying a business from." At Wvndham-road ., Camberwell, the address of Mr Darby, the police found . tbe place— a .small general dealer's shop— closed. vOn searching tne premises they discovered a ' sash-weight which, had blood upon it. .It was a weapon exactly similar to the sash-weight they had found m the Leyton villa after the assault on M-- ''ari and. There were signs m the upper rooms, of the little grocer's shop that pointed to a tragedy. A sister of Mrs Darby,' who had been greatly perturbed by the extraordinary disappearance of her brother-in-law, his wife, and child, was at once taken to Leyton. She identified the clothes, the bodies, and many things that were m the villa. When Edgar Edwards appeared' m the dock again, to the charge of assaulting John Garland was added the far more serious ©ne of killing three people— William Cohn Darby,' aged 26 ; Beatrice Darby, his wife, aged 28 ; and Elinor Beatrice Darby, aged three months. ON THE CAPITAL CHARGE he was m due course committed to take his trial at the Old Bailey. ■ * ' * '* Edgar Edwards— his real name was Edgar Owen— gave one of the most remarkable exhibitions of indolence m the dock of the Old Bailiey that that Hall of Tragedies has i probably ever witnessed. '■. I watched him narrowly through the whole of the trial, and there were only ,two occasions on which he showed the slightest discomposure. | One was when the woman to whom he was genuinely attached, and who was the mother or his child, reluctantly gave evidence .which was harmful to 'him, and the other was when Joh» ''-Tland, with his head band-, aged, gazed at him reproachfully from' tvir. witness box. ' ' ; When the j WFOT.FSAT.F MTTPP^"^R stepped into the dock to take his . trial ii's manner y/r.n rte/i-i.'it Asked by "the f'.erk of Arv_>r.>ns if he was "f>"l_v" or "Kot g.*<M;y." he exclaimed with brazen -effrontery, ■ "1 ,

BY GEORGE R. SIMS.

The Methods of Edgar Edwards.

don't think you have any business to ask me such a question !" He jeered witnesses ; he interrupted ,not only the counsel but the judge. He told his lordship to "cut it short" when he was. pronouncing the death sen; tence. When the chaplain solemnly said "Amen" after the judge's last ; dread words the condemned man shouted , ' "ALL I'YEGOt TO SAY IS HA ! HA !" But Edgar Edwards was by no means a brutal murderer of the ordinary type. He had drifted into murder m the course of a criminal career, and he had drifted into; a criminal career because he was— to use a colloquialism— "built that way." He came of good stock. Some of his relatives were quite well-to-do and some of his ancestors were distinguished fpr their virtues arid their benevolence. He had, it is true, the "family history" of mental instability that , is rarely absent where abnormal- criminals are concerned, but he was not insane \ that is to say, he' was not a criminal lunatic m the sense m which the experts who certify for Broadmoor interpret the term. And though the brute predominated, he had, as I shall presently show, a softer side to his nature. His record is an interesting one as illustrating "The • Criminal Progress." His father was at one tiriie a well-to-do man, and Edwards— to give him the name he was hanged m —received a good 'education. . Then came family trouble and a 'crash, and he was cast on his own re : sources. In- 1888, when he was five and twenty; he was sentenced to 18, months "for stealing . a watch. In 1890; under, the alias , of Edwin Smith, he was; sentenced to seven years for burglary. In ->■ 189R, under, another alias, he £ot 12 months for burglary. In the^. -same year he nearly succeeded m an extraordinary ATTEMPT . AT PRISON-BREAK- ' - : *.-. .'INGHe got out of his cell and on to the roof . of Peritonville Prison. . but he could not get down from it. and he was found in '; the gutter of the laundry roof. Iri 1893 he got five years for house-breaking . On November 26, 1902, he was liberated, and he must almost immediately have begun to plan the details of the next crime. That very day, of the next, he must have had the scheme m his mind. He must m some way . have heard that the grocer Darby, with a small ,shop m Wyndham-road, Oambfcrwell, was trying to dispose of it. He undoubtedly, igot into communication with him. Ori November 28. the second day after his . releas'i, the ex-convict calle-d on some people he had formerly known named Goodwin— a hunchback and his iwife— and asked them if they would manage a shop at Camberwell for him. .. They Agreed' tb do so for 30s a week. • but they were not to sleep on the premisesi Edwards then made' a peculiar request. : ...He, asked,. the .. _man. to get him .._.; '"' , ... '.. 0 "A WINDOW-SASH WEIGHT." He wanted it to sway the • door of the shop with. . The next day, Saturday, the 29th, Goodwin obtained the - sash weight, but Edwards did not ' call for it. He came, however, on Sunday, the 30th, stayed the nigiht, and, on Monday morning, December 1, he left,; taking the sash weight with him, and telling the Goodwins to come to Wynd-ham-road at .11.30 to take over the management of the shop. Before he left he got Mrs Goodwin , to pawn an umbrella for him for Is 6d. , ■ . . One and six was the. capital with which Edgar Edwards started m the grocery business, to ywhich . for the next month he was ' to devote his p,eciiliar talents'. • At _11».30 the Goodwins waited— as they had been, told— near Wyndhamroad. Edwards was not there to meet them as. had been arranged. It was nearly 12 o'clock before he came. Then he was m his shirt sleeves, and wore an apron, v and said he had ''only just settled the business." • The" Goodwins went back with ; him to the shop arid stayed till 10 o'clock • at night. • They were .told riot to go ! into the upstairs rooms,, which - were locked, the last tenant having" left some of his property there. . Edwards; having "just finished the business," had taken the new managers back with him •at mid- ; day. An hour previously, at .11 o'clock, the Datbys' next-door neighbor had been m the shop, and had seen Mrs Darby and TALKED WITH HER. In the afternoon when she. again , came to see Mrs Darby ;she found Mr and Mrs Goodwin there.- The Darbys must have been despatched with the sash weight between 11, when they were seen m: the shop, and noon, When Edwards met his new managers, and returned with them to take .possession of. the business he had so expeditiously^ acquired. When the manageress and her hus- ■ band left about 10 o'clock . Edwards ! closed the shop up, and 'for a night; or two remained on the premises by j himself. But after that he shut up j the place at night and went some- j where else to sleep. 1 This arrangement' continued _ until | Decemiber 10, when the shop was closed, the • landlord having restrained ' for rent, and on that day Edwards met the MOTHER OF HIS CHILD, and escorted her to his new villa ; residence at' Leyton. !• But between December 6 and 10 ' there had been a good deal of movin'*-' lJusiness going on at Wyndhamroad. . ] A .pony- and van had been hired, and certain articles of furniture and six sacks h^d: been loaded on it from the hack yard door, which is up a i side street, and the load had been delivered at the house m Church-road-. | Ley lon, which Edwards had obtained jon a /reference f whiph the landlotd i ; presumed . to have been written by Mr William Darby, of Wyndham-road-"Cftmberwell. % O '"■ ' Ea'iv i" December, white accupv- ' : n T .bi<:'ncw residence 'at- T.cvl on, Ed- , wards met a- man with whom he |

had been previously accKUaintefl. This man, to whom Edwards gave some old clothes, he engaged to clean his windows and do odd jobs. One of the odd jobs given him was to procure "a window sash weight." He procured it, and handed it to "The Guv'ner." In addition to getting him to procure a sash weight, : Edwards asked his odd job man to pawn some clothes for him. Here we have AN EXACT REPETITION of his arrangements with the GoodwiHS. He asked Goodwin to get him a window sash weight, and he got Mrs Goodwin to pawn an umbrella for him. That was just prior to his taking possession of Mr Darby's shop at Camiberwell. At Leyton he asked his man to. get him a window sash weight and to pawn some clothes for him. This was prior to the attempted taking of Mr Garland's business. The coat he gave to this man to wear was Mr Darby's coat, the clothes he gave him to pawn were Mr Darby's clothes. By this timd he had, as he believed, finished, with the Darby affair, and made everything safe. * * ' . * . * . Among the "docunients" m my possession connected with the Cambjerwell and Leyton murders were .several written 'Yry Edwards. while he was m the condemned cell awaiting execution. They aire remarkable' letters for a ' BRUTAL AND COLD-BLOODED MUPDERER of such a sordid type to have written. They arc not only written with a certain refinement of express -on, _b f ut they are all correctly pu^i dated. The comma and the se.*: oioh are properly, placed!- " The sear ulon m the letter of the professional burglar is quite unusual. .As a rule, the punctuation m a condemned murderer's* letters is confined to a full stop. I have~seen the comma, in a few such letters, but I cannot' recall .another 'instance of the semircolon. In one of his letters Edwards expresses great solicitude' for the welfare of his son. In another he is highly indignant at the aspersion * cast upon the character of "poor lear father," and he declares that fl -;-,- betrayal of the skeleton m the . •Uy cupboard was done by the d_--f:-!'-_ers absolutely without his ai'tho riv There are two passages m o\< -f.tr ter written to the mother of his .on, both of which are. EXCEEDINGLY INTER t;"T. vG. , but especially thefirst. „ I have just received a very r-e letter from Lr- — - (thp~ fRy ' r >m friends) imploring me te . ri - r the truth before !• die. T__. •..-■■■_' ' r r_ that I am an accessory _•• ye fact— the slaying, dismenr. : r .- ■ ' • ■;- yey ing, . and "bury hrn the : - - -tt Leyton I have had.no han V "...t---ever. You, '-like; l. — --. have -be prosecution, and perhaps ms;- : k , (as she does) that the evidepf-' • '.s to me, but you have hoard '' ■ .- -locution- only.'.-. . #hen 1 ';•••- ■•.me fj>,cts will be revealed sooner pr er which will put an .- : ENTIRELY DIFFERENT COMPLEXION on. the whole unhappy affair.. As for me, lam at peace with God. I. have lairi mv heart and soul Wear (sic) before Him, and it is the the hand of Gpd that has sustained me m the hciur v; qf my bitterest -trial ; If "^aye nothing on my coriscience, and ,1 -m m- a sense happy even iri a condemn-; ed cell. ■:''_ In' this letter the brutal murderer who calmly . dismemibered and buried an entire family writes m reference to a proposed visit :— "I cannot commend the pi are used for receiving shch visits as •*< Ht nlace to ybring any respectab'e p? 1 son^ therefore I entreat you not • + n .onie unless you have some ''special reason." , Allowing for the fact that a practical criminal like Edgar Edwards, with mlany years' familiarity 'ith prison life, would know that tho -Toyernor of the -ejaol. reads all letters and might drop- in little "bits" specially for the official eye, there is not the slightest doubt that, the environment of the condemned cell had tamed the wild beast m the man, and hrourrht him nearer to tlie domesticated animal. :'■>'.'■ ; '_He made what m the old day? nuld have, teen called an edifying ••.**''. TTe became very devout towards ''■'■' . 'nish, and went to the sea-fto] ■ . ».'.:- panied by two ministers of t'rv- ''-'-■. r,I initiation .to which hes?.id h-- ■-■■-■ ''■.- Ltached. Both ministers- -o-'O- r ' as A "DEAR. BROT7 -..■■:."■: ■* and wrote enthusiastically ■■ " ;;> •licious f.rvor he displaye-v ■■__ i last hours. In dealing with Deeiuiiifc as* ''cement" habit, I dwelt, upo.. fhe. fact that professional murderer; usually sign their deeds, and I said that the "handwriting," as the method of carrying out a crime is technically called, is almost uumistakeable. Edgar Edwards signed his name to his crimes with a sash weight. He had not, for some reason, delayer attacking Mr Garland unti I _ hey w ere m a passage which led to a uo-il door with smashable glass >o '- Is it, he would probably hay. i.;-^ three more murders to his \" He would then have 'wor '•-■• c' ri exactly the same svsUrn :<s h : *,<. had found so successful m Uv •'■ •>.- berwell crimes. He would have left the bc-.v f is victim locked up m the ho">f* would have sone-to Mv 0 .-••! - d's ..shop.- .where he had -ascertained f ere were only . HIS INTENDED VICTIM'S W'JFK and a' boy m charge. He would have taken , his: sash weight with him, and tlie pro a iiities are that there woi Id h._ c eon mo. • pony and cart work, ami h>i. another big hole would ha\e >o ri dug, and three new bidies <-. Id have been interred m' the . i „te cemetery m the baCK warden m eW tori. The murderer would bave ; l __ manager into carry on hZ ew business he had "iuirc..as.-.;. :,d then he - would have beg.-n v,-. ■. 0 k about for another Khor, or ;\v w. i h could .be acquired witli he -«fn weight. . His failure to kill Mr H-.:! >*«> slopped, the development nf his'-'-^r-:---nrisc* m the «r(_- :v ir ,,] f . „,, -,,J 0 . ho -!.*- sayed the lives of half-:. •'■ar.wx. people.. .