FIENDISH CRIME.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20869, 8 November 1929, Page 10

FIENDISH CRIME.

MAN BURNED TO DEATH.

UNDERWORLD TRAGEDY,

(FSOU OUH OWS COREESPONDEKT.) SYDNEY, October 31.

The fiendish murder on Saturday, by setting fire to his clothes after he had been soaked in kerosene or benzine, of Thomas Ivory, has added to the already long list of revolting tragedies to the discredit of Sydney’s ever-mysterious underworld. Most of these crimes of brutal violence are due to jealousy, inter-gang hatred, or differences over cocaine peddling or sly-grog.. disturbances. What with armed hold-ups and countless safe robberies Sydney seems to have become a second edition of Chicago; in fact, one paper, referring to Ivory’s death, quoted cases of a similar kind that have been reported from- the American city. As in all cases of underground violence, the police, in their investigation of- the latest crime, have encountered a barrier of silence. Those who might be able to throw some light on the tragedy are dumb at the approach of the police. Certainly the police found two men who actually saw Ivory on fire, but they had nothing to do with the actual crime and were able to throw very little light upon it. There is one theory that Ivory was robbed and then spirit of some sort thrown over him. Then again, it may have been that be became involved in some fight in a sly-grog shop, and that a kerosene lamp was thrown at him. The detectives have been looking for Ivory’s hat, gold watch,- and boots, _ and other portions of hia clothing. This seems to point to the fact that robbery was the motive for the’crime.

Ivory was in a dreadful state when he was found by two young men who bad been awakened by the glow that was caused by the burning clothes in the deserted street at an early hour in the morning. It was seen by them at once that he had little hope'of recovery, but he was taken to his home, and his wife was awakened. It was not until later that the police were called in. At first the delirious statements that were made by Ivory that he had been robbed and then set on fire were doubted. Even the police, with their knowledge of the methods of the underworld, thought the crime too horrid even for the underworld. Still it is difficult to see why the robbers should want to set the man on fire if robbery was the guiding motive. Was it another case of vengeance, then? Immediately the police recalled the shooting a few weeks ago of Leslie Whatley, who was a great friend of Ivory’s. Whatley, it is known, was shot as the result of some underground warfare. Was Ivory concerned in the same mysterious trouble for which his friend paid with his life? When Whatley was shot it was said that he was chasing two men who had stolen a bottle of beer, and putting the facts together the police think that both Whatley and Ivory may have been concerned in some sly-grog concern which had earned the displeasure of the inhabitants of the dreaded Surry Hills area. In their search for clues the police discovered a deserted sly-grog establishment in which there were about 400 bottles of beer. But they have failed to find any place where kerosene lamps are used. Still there must be many dungeons of that underworld that they have not searched—that are effectively shut off from the gaze of all except those who are let into the inner secrets.

It is the callousness and the extraordinary brutality of recent crimes in Sydney that has moved the Sydney Sun, in a leading article, to infer that one of the things underlying it is the prevalence to-day of a materialism unchecked by any of the old faith in religion. “Wo find,” says the Sun, “ that owing to the loss of moral values, owing to the frank giving up of the pursuit of the true and the beautiful, the minds of thousands are vulgarised by the constant search for amusements which are not worthy of the attention of intelligent men and women. For the old faiths and traditions and loyalties nothing is substituted save the faith in things material.”