FAMOUS MYSTERIES.

NZ Truth, Issue 135, 18 January 1908, Page 7

FAMOUS MYSTERIES.

Who Rilled Harriet Buswel?

(By Ladbroke Black.)

Pew of the administrative departments of tbe State have been more freely- criticised than the police. Ou o c.sions criticism has hardened into a determined attack on the methods ,(or lacl; of method) with whicl the pcli e -have taci.led the investigation of a given crime, and the bitterest of denunciations have been hurled at $he whole system of ' investigation and %*■ the men can'ying it out. , • The outcry »\\ol»ed at tlje time, of tne great Coram-street murder mystery was perbaps one of /the most retti«?rkable of Hiese ebullitions of popular indignation. Though the force had no< then attained the high state ©[ e.ffif-iency. which it possesses at present, most of the cutting comments were undeserved. There was leiison, none the less, m the public uneasiness which this criticism expressed.' D.i i ing ' the n<ou(lis immediately preceding (hat Christmas day of 1872 jttten 'the BODY OF H ARIET BUSWEL , w__ found m a house m Great Cor-h.m-_lr,et seieral ghastly murders had been committed, and all attempts to trace the murderers had been unavailing. m July, 1871, a girl had been found horribly mutilated m a country Jane n;ar Fll ham. -In the following July two wonten had been murdered m a *_r>p In broad daylight at Hoxton. The authors of these crimes had never been discovered. I 'have before me as I write a cutting of the "Saturday Review," comjm nting upon the alarming increase of undetected n nrdprs. "Coi'rs<;s are i;ontimially being picked out of Ibe Recent-canal under circumstances tha l suggest .murder rather than « - icfide. Infanticide would seem 1o »>V going on briskly again, if we are to v;! c from, the frequency of In^ue'ts on ( be CORPS RS OF CHILDREN that ha Ye been cast into the street." These -remarks, coming from a res*ponsi le papir, not likely ■to be.influeaced by a popular scare, demonstrite the very jumpy state of the public nerves. Additional alarm was creatr-d by the recollection of a case tha' had occurred t\yo or three years pix-vio-u-s-ly — a ej.se^vhich, like the one I am dealing wilh, bears a striking re em&i'anee to Hie Camden-town mur♦ier. A woman named Emma Jackson had been murdered m a house m 80. msbury. At the time, that the cr mr* was committed the house was en medyil.b people. People were slee ing m the n.'xt room, the room, fcbo c, and the room below, and yet no ody m Uk establishment was able to ' : ast my light on the mystery as to how Etnma Jackson came by her death. '■-... The -house m Great Coram-street, Bmn-wick-sqrare, was m 1872 m the tenancy of a Mrs Wright, the wife of

a goldsmith. Mrs Wright took m lodgers, and about three weeks before eh istmas all her rooms were let with the exception of the second floor bac\ A- Spanish merchant named Alfred Miarlini occupied the first floor bad:, a Mrs Nelson having the front toom ; Mr Fernandez,- a professor of music, lived m two rooms on the second floor ; Christopher; George Hall, another professor of nrnsic, had the front room on the top floor, the back toom being occupied by John Hooper, a pressman. The remaining apartments were reserved for , the use of the Wright family. The unoccupied room on the second rioor was taken by a r YOUNG-' WOMAN OF 26, who gave the name of Clara Burton. Hie told Mrs Wright that she had a little girl of eight, whom she wished to put out to nurse, and the landlady was able to .find '\e child a home. j .For some days, opwever, the little girl stayed m the house with her | motler, antf .... (luting that ., tinie . she was qu estioned about "Mrs Burton." "M-immie," ,said the child, "dances m pink silk dresses at the Alhambfa." / "Mrs Burton" confirmed this statement by declaring that she was a mrnV^er of the corps de ballet. She only took' the room for a week', and Mrs Wright was not ■ long m discovering that rhe was not altogether a' desirable lodger. The first week's rent was paid,' but by Christmas Eve two other weeks were owing for. "Mrs Burton" was clearly m a very bad way. All her jewellery had poh-, an-d m her last desperate straits she had to sell some, linen m order to raise five shillings to pay for tho keen of her child, who otherwise would not have been able to spend flr 'st mas with her. -•All. .Christmas' E c she staged indoors he.lp.jngV.Mrs' Wright m the' preparations for ' tiie next day's festival. Knowing SHE WiAS PRACTICALLY STARVING, ihe landlady asked her to have something to eat. Whan she had finished tlrs meal : he went out. It was then 10 o'clock at night. Two hours and a half later the whole household had retired to rest, with the exception of Mr and Mrs Wright and l\7rs Nelson. There was a ring at the bell, and Mrs Wright went to the door. , .- The gas had been turned out m the fr' ll,"" and as. she opened the door a man rushed past her m the dark, t n ', stanvb'ing' a little oh the first step, made his way up, the staircase to "Mrs Burton's" room on the second floor. It was noticed as curious that the stranger should know his way about the house, m the dark, and be able to find the room he wanted without any assistance. "Mrs Burton" laughingly told Mrs Wright that she needn't trouble to

bring a light, as they could find their, way. She then followed the man upstairs. A few minutes later she retv rned with hall a sovereign, from Ivihi h the landlady took 9s on acxoui>t ofthe rent, returning her Is. She drank HALF A BOTTLE OF STOUT, and 'hen took the remainder upstairs, say a few words to* Mrs Nelson on the st floor. The gentleman upstairs, she said, was a G6rman, and had treated her to a quantity of oranges and nuts. Between 6 and 7 the following morning Mr and Mrs Wright, who were sleeping m the front kitchen, heard someone coming down the stairs. The person, whoever it was, waljced slowly, and carefully, with a heavy tread, d- wn the steps and along the passage. He fumbled with the latch of the front door, but finally opened it. Mrs Wright, who hurriedly got, out of bed to see who it was, heard the front door bang and the sound of the person's footsteps on the pavement outside/ As "Mrs Burlon" did not come down m the morning, Mrs .Wtight waited until between 1 and 2, and then sent up her breakfast. > The door was locked, and repeated knocks attracted no attention. Somewhat alarmed, Mrs Wright called Ittrs Nelspn. Through the keyhole they could see nothing EXCEPT THE WOMAN'S CLOTHES lying on the floor. They, therefore, burst the door open. The clothes were piled up on the bed. They pulled them away, and saw beneath the dead body of the unfortunate woman, with her.'throat deeply cut beneath the'ear and her jugular vein severed. It was cWv, of conr?e, that the man who had rushed past Mrs Wright m th> passage was the man who had committed th"? murder. .it was cb^r also that he was the man who b^d been beard to leave tlie house m the morninir. Thpre ser— "ed every likelihood that few difficulties would present thm selves m the sorting out of • iliis man from among his fellow men. Tbe police inquiries worked smoothly and rapidly during the initial stages of the investigation. The unfortunate woman, who bad passed as Clara Burton, was really Harriet Buswel a member of a -respectable and, well-to-do family residing outside I ondou. I-iei MEANS OF LIVELIHOOD were only too apparent from the numerous letters found m her bedroom. / '-. Having established her identity the noliee proceeded to trace her movements on the night of the tragedy. She hadAleft the house at 10 p.m., and was known to haunt the Alhambra. A girl came forward who had lent her a shilling to pay for her admission to this place of entertainment about a quarter past 10. A cloak-room attendant and two barmaids remembered having seen ani sno y en to her. Somebody had seen her conversing with a man ' m Leices tpi-square. \ When,- finally, the police establish ed the fact that she bad entered the Oavour Hotel with a m>n, everything pointed to the immediate detection of the criminal. William Stalker, the waiter, RECOLLECTED EVERY DETAIL , of their Stay here. They had entered about 11.15, and had lingered over' their supper till about 10 minutes to 12. Before leaving Harriet Buswel had borrowed a pi^e of lemon and had wished the proprietor a merry Christmas. Stalker described, the man with great 'accuracy. He looked like a ."mechanical sort of foreigner," with ho pretensions : to being a gentleman. He was about 25 years of -~e, and was wearing a ' dark overcoat with a velvet collar. The remainder of his.clothes consisted of a grey Oxford 1 ' mixture jacket with pockets outside, a black tie, and a dark-col-ored waistcoat. He had neither, beard, whiskers, nor mous' "he, but he looked as if he had not shaved for spveral days. His face was COVERED WITH RED SPOTS, one spot beneath his ri^bt • eye being as lar,ge as a threepenny-piece. More than 20 other persons m the supperroom vouched for the accuracy of jfchis description. ■At 12.15 m- Piccadily-oircus they were seen arm-in-arm waiting for S-.he Islington 'bus. Two barmaid? from the A lha rubra saw them m the 'bus. They got out at the turning m Euston-road leading to Coram-street. The appearance" of the man was further substantiated by the evidence of a Mr Fleck, who kept a fruiterer's shop m Compton-street. His address was discovered from the bag containing the oranges and nuts to which Harriet Buswel, as she told Mrs Nelson, had been treated by the mysterious German. Mr Fleck remembered them coming to his shop distinctly, Two boys who assisted him were also able to add their description. They were the last persons to be .served, on Christmas Eve. Their description seemed to answer m essentials to that given by . THE WAITER OF THE CAVOUR— a man of about sft. Bin., clean-shav-en, except for a three days' growth pf hair, a swarthy com; marred by blotches and pimples. He had bought some oranges and nuts, and the girl had pressed him to. tre^t ber to some grapes. He had refused this recp_...fc with a very gruff voice and manner. He had complained to Mr Fleck m broken Englishthai he bad not got much fruit for the money he had spent., and the fruiterer 1 hereupon gave him an apple to appease him. The apple was found with one bite taken out of it on tha floor of Harriet Buswel's room. A comparison of the. identation marks with the dead girl's mouth showed tha 1 it was not she who HAD BITTEN THE APPLE. Expert evidence proved r t-h-at the man who bad bitten the apple must have h?d prominent Front teeth. «o far everything had gone well. An unusually accurate description of tbe -murderer had been obtained.- But v.iMi the publication of this description and the offer of a reward ihe investigations of the police stopped ab'uptly. They found they had not a singe othej flue, to the identity of the man. Th»> large heavy knife with which. tbe murder must", have been rnmmittt*.! '■Q'.ild hot be found. Tbe i. 'v '< rer had left no trace of himself be-

hind m the rooms. Nothing but Harriet Buswel's copious correspondence tendpcl to show that she had ever seen or spoken to the. mifan before I that night ! No motive could be found ' for the crime Certnnly the man had taken the shilling change Harriet Buswel had received from Mrs Wright, and ber hinrl- : et earrings were riiissing. But tke idea was generally scouted fhat robbery was the incentive to the crime. . - I For a fortnight the police searched m vain, while the -public outcry •against their apparent lack of skill grew louder and louder. Then as if Anxious to justify themselves m the eyes of the world, they made a curious arrest. They were looking for a German., about 25 years of age, sft Sin m height, witn j_N UNSHAVEN FACE AND A GRUFF VOICE. Fate ordained that a Dr. Htessel, a German Lutheran minister, on his. way to South America with his wife and a , party of emigrants, should put m at Ramsgate about this time, as the result of the ship" On v/Vob be bad embarked running on the Goodwin Sands. Dr. Hessel and some of the other passengers took the Opportunity to go, to London. They were there on Christmas Eve. In their wild search for Germans the police lighted upon this party. Their suspicions fell oh a man called Wohlebe, the ship's apothecary. He was arrested at Ramsgate, and witnesses were sent down to identify him. Dr. Hessel proposed that a number of the other emigrants should put on rough coats and long boots, such as Wohlebe wore, and should be m the room with him when the witnesses came' m. The chaplain set the example. Mrs Hessel jested with her husband on the chance of his being picked out. The Ca^tein. too, bnd bis ioke, and -jjiere was a roar of laughter when Mr Fleck, the fruiterer, overlooking Wohlebe, singled out the chaplain. The amusement was even greater when William Stalker, the waiter at the Cavour, proceeded to do the , same thing. "I was sick m bed In London," said the chaplain, "on Christmas Eve m Kroll's Hotel. Send there and you will find all about me." Rut the police refused to adopt this obvious qourse. They took him up to London and there CHARGED HIM WITH THE MURDER of Harriet Buswel. One of the Flecks boys identified him, and a barmaid at the Alhambra thought he was like the man who was with Harriet Buswel. Three porters of, the Great Eastern Railway, who declared that they had spoken to an excited foreigner pn Christmas morning at Shoreditch . station, were also sumi i-i-.f>:i (<i ,v-u<-! i- the work of identification. One of them picked Dr. Hessel out, with the remark, "That's i him, as nigh as I can see." The others passed him over altogether. •■ , After a week's imprisonment tho unfortunate chaplain was brought before the magistrate. He was defended by Mr Douglas Straight— now Sir Douglas of the "Pall '.Mali Gazette" | j who i out the ludicrousness of the case against his client. Dr. Hes!sel was discharged at once, and the ;.sinn of. £1,250 was collected for him •by the public, ' to sweeten, if possible, his bitter experience of the administration of the English, criminal law. | The murderer oi Harriet .Buswel has never been- found. The usual flrunken lunatic charged himself with the crime lit his cups and smilingly divulged his innocence when sober. A oung FRENOT-TW.AN WHO COMMITTED SUTCTDE, •uriously enough m the house where Mrs Wright had gone to live, it was thought might possibly bave been the murderer. But this theory was soon ab-mdoned. i The mysterious man who was seen by so many persons, who walked m to a house every room of which was occupied, committed a ghastly crime, and tiien c-nknlv, five bourse later, walked out again, bad completely disanpearcd. it is conceivable that he is slil! ali\e— a man between (i 0 and 05. 1 wonder bow he has lived bis life, otr' vhetin.r Ik now --culls tlmt avvf 1 i-i-.-lit, '■') vc;iis 'ago, and the deed bo commit led.