LURED TO DEATH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22999, 30 September 1936, Page 16

LURED TO DEATH

FATE OF “RED MAX” CRIME IN A SOHO FLAT

Notorious “ Red Max ” Kassel, underworld “king,” lured to his death in a Soho flat by a forged letter; his desperate fight for life, although his body was riddled with bullets; a secret car ride in the darkness; and his dead body hidden under a hedge in a Hertfordshire lane. That was the dramatic story disclosed recently in London when, after an interval of six months, the inquest was resumed on the dead crime chief. After hearing it, the jury returned a verdict that Kassel was murdered by Georges Lacroix and that Suzanne Naylor was an accessory after the fact. In the names of Vernon and Bertrand the couple are awaiting trial in France. Principal witness at the inquest was Mile Marcelle Gabrielle Aubin, a maid employed by Mrs Naylor at her flat in Soho, where the shooting occurred. Few of the people who sat in the little courtroom knew that they were listening to a girl who had been protected day and night by relays of policemen. Immediately after the death of Kassel the girl was taken to the home of a police officer and kept there closely guarded. Her life had been threatened. “ If you speak we will kill you . . .” was the substance of one letter she received. This was no idle threat, the police firmly believed. They took no chances. Marcelle Aubin might very well have been “put on the spot,” but for Scotland Yard’s action. WITNESS CLOSELY GUARDED Chief Inspector Sharpe, of the “ Yard ” who was responsible for the investigation of the murder and for the protection of Mile. Aubin, sat close beside the witness box while she gave her evidence. Two police officers guarded the door of the courtroom. Another patrolled the lobby outside. Anyone tryinc to enter was asked for proof of identity. . Mile. Aubin gave evidence that from Monday. January 20. to Friday, January 24, Lacroix was at Mrs Naylor s

flat every night. Lacroix told her he had lent £25 to “Max the Red.” On Wednesday, January 22, Lacroix dictated to her a letter to Max at an address in Rathbone place, asking him to call at the flat the next day. The letter was signed “ Mrs Naylor,” but Mrs Naylor was not present when it was written, and did not see it before it went. Next evening Max arrived about 6.45 and was shown into the sitting room, where Lacroix was waiting. The coroner; Shortly afterward did you hear any sound?—Yes, the sound of somebody stamping about overhead in the sitting room. SOUND OF QUARRELLING Were there words of anger?—Yes, the sound of quarrelling. Mile. Aubin declared that she then heard two shots, followed by several in quick succession. Lacroix called “Marcelle! Marcelle! ” and when she went upstairs with Mrs Naylor they found Max trying to fight his way out of the room. Max said. “Oh, mademoiselle, he has shot me,” and then smashed two panes of the window, but was pulled away. They went downstairs and Max tried to open the front door. Lacroix pushed him into the bathroom and he was given water. Max was groaning, she said, and she left the bathroom for a time. When she returned he was leaning over the window. Lacroix pulled him back. She asked if she could go home, as she did not feel well. Lacroix told her not to go. Max was then kneeling down at the bath with his head hanging over it and his hand inside. Later, Lacroix said, “He has gone. You wofi’t hear him any more.” Mile. Aubin added that at Lacroix’s request she rang up a garage and asked for a Mr Alexandre, and then handed the receiver to Lacroix. Lacroix said. “ Is that you, Pierre? It is very important. Come round at once with the car.” BODY SMUGGLED AWAY The coroner then called Mr Pierre Alexandre, a prosperous-looking, clean-

shaven man, of Princes street, Hanover square west. He told the coroner nu was a French citizen and a partner in a garage at Soho square. Mrs Naylor was £ tenant of his at Little Newport street, and he knew she was visited there by Lacroix. When he went to the flat about 11 p.m., in response to Lacroix’s telephone call, the latter took him to the sitting room and said, “ I am in trouble. Red Max owed me £350 and he came and insulted my girl and hit me, so I had to kill him. You are the only man who can help me; you have got to help me.” He (Alexandre) replied. “All right.” The coroner: Did he say anything about his maid or Mrs Naylor being present?—He did not mention it. Alexandre added that he went back to the flat - with a car about 4 a.m. Kassel had been draped in a brown blanket, and he and Lacroix carried him downstairs to the car. He asked Lacroix where to go and the latter replied. “Anywhere you like.” The coroner; Do you know where you went?, —I don’t know exactly, but I knew I was near St. Albans. Did you pull up in a lane? —Yes. He told me to stop near a gap in the hedgerow. What did you do?—We took Max and put him by the side, and Lacroix took the blanket away. You put him on the other side of the hedge?—Yes, through the gap. They then drove baik to London. He dropped Lacroix in Gerrard place, and went home, arriving about 7 o’clock.