THE RINGWOOD MYSTERY. MURDER OR MISADVENTURE. SMART WORK BY DETECTIVES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8595, 10 September 1889, Page 4

THE RINGWOOD MYSTERY. MURDER OR MISADVENTURE. SMART WORK BY DETECTIVES.

On the 21st of last month (says the Melbourne Argus), a young man named Joseph Wiugrove who was out shooting in a paddock on Dandenong Creek, about four miles from Ringwood, Victoria, discovered the decomposing remains 03 a man almost completely covered by gum bought and ti-tree sprays, theleft foot alone protruding Wingrove reported the matter to the constable in charge at Ringwood. Nothing to lead to the mans identification waa found on the body save two letters addressed to Peter J. Sherlock! The features had decomposed beyond recognition. The tracks had been washed or worn away, and the case seemed a hopeless mystery A penny halfpenny in money and an opal scarf pm were also found upon the body, and this combined with the fact that the clothes which the man wore were of excellent quality and Btyhsh cut, though bearing evidence of ample wear, led to the belief that suicide had been committed by some individual who had grown tired of fighting against adverse fortunes The post mortem, examiuation made by the local doctor, unsatisfactory as it was in many respects, showed clearly that death had been due to violence, which could not be inflicted by the deceased himself. On the day of the publication of the details three, gentlemen, one of them being Landells, called at the detective office and expressed their belief that they could identify the body of the man as a certain Peter James Sherlock, about 40 years of age, who at one time had been a civil engineer in the employment of the Victorian railways, but who recently had been out of work, and had gone to Kingwood to survey the surrounding country, with a view to tendering for the supply of water to the Ferntree Gully railway station. At the inquest, Robert Laudells, a civil encineer, residing at 243 Victoria parade, East Melbourne, deposed :—I identify the body as that' of Peter James Sherlock by the hair and by its general appearance. The deceased was a civil engineer, and came to Australia about two years ago. I first made his acquaintance about; five months ago in Melbourne. At that time he was unemployed, and he was, according to appearances, in poor circumstances. The deceased resided with me for about four months, and I last saw him alive on the 22nd ult. in the Fitzroy Gardens, when he said he was going away to look for professional work, but did not mention the place. The deceased had been tendering for railway contracts, but had been unsuccessful, and had been in depressed spirits. The deceased was a peculiarly reserved man, but did not say anything that would lead me to suspect that he intended committing suicide. The deceased said something to me about tendering for bringing a supply of water to the Ferntree Gully station. I could not recognise the deceased by his features, as the face was too much decomposed, but the height and configuration of the body, and the colour of the hair, as well as the clothing, and especially the hat, all lead me to the conclusion that the body is that of Peter James Sherlock. The deceased wore a gold watch and chain, but I could not say if he had them at the time I last spoke to him, as on that occasion he was wearing an overcoat. Some time before he disappeared he had at various times removed articles belonging to him • from the house, in order to sell them, as if to obtain funds for his maintenance. When I saw the deceased on the 22nd ult. he bade me goodbye, and said he was going up-country, and told me to dispose of the articles he had left to pay the money which he owed to me. I saw no more of him, and heard nothing of him until I read in the newspapers on Saturday an account ot the body of a man answering his description having been found. Dr Showman, who made the post mortem examination, stated that the boay and limbs were well preserved. The head was in a most advanced stage of decomposition. On the left cheek there was a hole about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, which might have been caused by a gunshot wound. The right side of the face was lacerated, and was more decomposed than the other side. There were fractures of the skull extending through both tables. The cause of death was fracture of the skullj which must have been produced by the deceased being struck on the top of the head with a heavy blunt instrument, such as the butt end of a gun or a piece of wood. The fracture of the skull could not have been caused by one blow, but the fractures of tha jaws were caused by a shot from a gun fired at very close quarters. The barrel of the gun would, in his opinion, have been at a right angle to the left cheek, and the injuries sustained from the gunshot wound would not have been immediately fatal. He was unable to find any trace of shot in the brain, but after the inquest had been commenced pellets of lead were found by the detectives in .the brain, and also on the ground ' an which the body had lain. | This was the condition of the case when the 1 Jetectives commenced their inquiries. Nothing, < lowever, waa found, and after three days of ' iruitless inquiries in the neighbourhood of Ringrood they resolved to begin at the other end, md, after ascertaining exactly what Sherlock's' josition really was, determine for their own atisfaction if there could be any other motive or the murder than mere plunder or brutality, a the pursuit of their inquiries they had to rely li . good deal at first upon Landells, the man with li fhorn Sherlock had boarded. At different a. imes he made various statements. He said h hat Sherlock was poor and owed him money. A iut the detectives discovered that the boot was d v the other foot. Sherlock had some £216 on fi xed deposit at the Laud Credit Bank, and some fi 10 or £12 to bis credit in his current account at he same bank. There was also a considerable a; alance duo from a former partner with whom p c had taken certain Government contracts tl lougb, according to Landells' statement, he li as always unsuccessful in this way. n The detectives therefore grew suspicious of w andells, and instead of making iuquiries n irough him they made them about him. They g' iscovered that on the 24th of July last he si ished a crossed cheque drawn in favour of the es 3ceased. This cheque represented the return tl r a deposit on a certain tender, which Sherlock a] >d forwarded to the Government, but which b id been unsuccessful. In addition to the in leque being crossed, it had also been forwarded tc a registered letter, for which Landells signed ti owner of the lodging house. On the 29th of lly, a cheque for £5, obtained by Landells in a; c same way, was cashed. It also transpired as at Landells had been disposing of other pro- ni xty of the deceased. As he admitted in his sh idenee at the opening of the inquest that ho tt .d last seen the deceased alive on the 22nd of in lly, it appeared to the detectives rather strange in at within two days after Sherlock's disappear- dc cc Landells should commence to appropriate of i money and goods without in any way in- tb iring what had become of his former lodger. ta While they had been making inquiries into mi erlock's financial position, they learnt that he to d at one time owned various firearms, in- te: idiog some good shot guns. As it was evident Di it a shot gun had been used when the man thi s killed ,it became a question of moment to tb: cover whether or uot he had taken a gun cm sh him when he went out to Riugwood to tai ■vey the country. One of the guns had been res t at Mr Ponton's shop, in Richmond, by me ; deceased, who desired that £8 should th< obtained for it. Mr Ponton offered him dir , but the deceased said he was in no need of prs ney, and asked him to try his best to get the sys her price. Two or three days afterwards— clo 1 this waß about the beginning of July—the hai leased brought a second gun down 'to Mr fey iton, and said that he wanted £14 for it. Mr fit 1 iton declined to take it, pointing out that if auc could not get so much as £8 for a gun it i B aid be useless to attempt to sell one for £14 to I a gun was accordingly taken away, and could md at first be traced. Landells, Jafter being in ssed on the matter, said that he had pur- Wised the gun from the deceased about six urg ■ks or two mouths before his disappearance tha when asked to produco it said that ho had I lit to a Mr Finch, near Beaufort. This oth ipon was obtained by the detectives, aud was and ltified by Mr Ponton as the gun which the clo? eased bad wished him to dispose of in July { will £14. It seimieil very strange that a iran I Kaii eh he rofuped to part with for £14 should enic a been bought soon afterwards for £0. The ; will ■ctivps rtihcover.'d that almost all the furni- I tern > 111 Laudell'K house belonged to Sherlock, full Mr lorsyth, a civil engineer, informed the IS'

police that about the beginning of last month I Landells had sold him a case of surveying in- [ struments for £25. When he effected the sale ho explained .that he was acting as agent for Sherlock. Other details of a similar nature pointed to the fact that Landells had a more intimate acquaintance with the circumstances attending Sherlock's death than he cared to disclose, and he was placed under strict surveillance by the detectives. On Tuesday last, however, they decided to boldly accuse Landells of the crime. iQey requested an interview with him, pointed out the various discrepancies in his statements, explained all the circumstances which led them to suppose that he was the murderer if murder had been committed, and finally informed him that they had a warrant for his arrest. He seemed a little surprised, and turning to Oonsidine said with a smile, "I admire your astuteness, sergeant." After a short pause, he asked to be allowed to see his wife alone for 5 minutes before being taken into custody. This could not be granted, but he was allowed to converse with her apart from the detectives, While he was doing so, Considine remarked to Burvett, "It might have been an accident," and Landells, turning round, said, " Ves,it was an accident. I went out with him to Riugwood to examine the country with a view to preparing a tender for the supply of water to the Ferntree Gully station. We took a gun with us in order to combine pleasure with work. About four miles from Bingwood we missed our way and got into the paddock, which I now know as Chambers'. A hare ran across in front of us, and Sherlock fired at it, but missed. Soon afterwards we sat down on the log to rest, and Sherlock handed me the gun to reload. It was a breech-loadiDg weapon, and while I was closing the breech one of the barrels accidentally went off. The charge struck Sherlock behind the right ear, and he dropped down dead. I did not know what to do. I lost my senses. I walked about in a frantic state for a time, and then the idea occurred to me to cover him up with boughs and leave him there. I pulled the boughs from a fallen gum tree near at hand, and some sprays from the ti-tree growing there and covered him up. I then returned to Ringwood and took train to town." He denied all knowledge of the gold watch and chain which Sherlock was known to have worn, and no trace of it has yet been discovered. If his statement is true, someone else must have discovered the body and robbed it before young Wingrove came across it. It is more pro-, bable, however, that after the man had been killed, his companion removed, as he thought, all the papers, &c, belonging to the deceased, in order to more effectually destroy any possibility of his identification. In his nervous excitement be missed the two old letters which had made their way through the pocket of the coat and were concealed in its lining. The accused is 52 years of ago.