THE WINDSOR TRAGEDY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1989, 7 April 1892, Page 35

THE WINDSOR TRAGEDY.

DBEMING'S CAREER AT THE CAPE

ARRIVAL OF DEEMING IN MELBOURNE. (Peb Press Association. )

Adelaide, March 31

Williams has arrived here from Albany. Detective Cawsey states that Williams' confession with •reference to two of "Jack the Ripper's " murders was made in his presence. Melbourne, March 31.

Detective Brindt, formerly of Johannesburg, knew Deeming when in South Africa, and has every reason to believe he is the man wanted for the murder of a British officer named Graham and two natives in* Johannesburg in 1888. The bodies of the murdered people were horribly mutilated. Brindt is engaged investigating the matter. Shortly after the murder it is alleged that Deeming was connected with a number of others in swindling the National Bank of Johannesburg out of L 162.000. April 1. The police have obtained evidence that Deeming, alias Williams, and the wife he is supposed to have murdered at- Windsor lived unhappily between the 18th and 24th December. During that space of time the wife had arranged to take a house' and live by herself till she "could return to England.

Deeming, alias Williams, the alleged Windsor murderer, has arrived here. There was intense excitement, and the various wharves were crowded with • those eager to catch a glimpse of the prisoner, but by clever manoeuvring the police managed to land him in comparative quietude. He was brought before the Magistrate's Court to-day, and remanded to the Coroner's Court, which meets on Tuesday.

Williams has been somewhat refractory since he has been taken into custody, and is watched continuously. He begged to be permitted to have an interview with Miss Rounsvell, his Melbourne ftancic, but the request was refused. April 2.

Detective Brandt, formerly of Johannesburg, has identified Swanston as Deeming, whom he knew in South Africa.

Mr Webster, ex-governor of Hull Gaol, has also identified the prisoner as the man who passed as Harry Lawson in Hull and Beverley. This completes Swanston's identity with the Rainhill murders.

April 3. A hammer-headed axe used at a post mortem was found amongst Williams' luggage in addition to a dissecting knife.

April 5.

The inquest on Mrs Williams (nee Miss Mather) was resumed to-day. Thirty-one witnesses were examined, principally for the purpose of the identification of deceased. The person who sold Deeming the cement fully identified accused. Mr Max Hirschfelt, a fellow passenger by the Kaiser Wilhelm, and who proceeded with the Melbourne detectives to identify Williams, deposed that the prisoner had said, if convicted of the Windsor murder, he would write such a story o; his life as would astonish the world. During the hearing of the evidence a large number of ladies were present in court.

There is so much interest excited in England over the case that fully a column of the pro,ceedings at the inquest will be cabled to the papers there daily.

London, March 31.

Letters addressed by Deeming to the British Consul in Monte Video, where he was arrested for fraudulently obtaining- goods in England, have been discovered. In these he complained •of the treatment received in prison, and threatened the British Minister with death unless he took steps to redress his grievances. Madame Tussaud- has purchased Denham villa, in which Deeming committed the murders, and will re-erect at her exhibition the rooms connected with the crime.

April 2. Deeming (under the name of Lawson) was in Plymouth in 1888, and. suddenly departed for London. One of the "Jack the Ripper" murders was committed two days later. April 3.

A man who knew Deeming when he was a boy, and who was a friend of his, states that his mother was a very religious woman. After her death Deeming's father treated him with great cruelty, which eventually drove the lad to sea, where he was known as " Mad Fred."

When Deeming, alias Baron Swanston, was arrested at the Southern Cross goldfields, West Australia, he was examining the mail, which had just arrived. He had a paper in his hand and was reading a brief telegram that a woman's body had been found buried in cement under a hearthstone in Windsor, when the constable entered and said, " I arrest you in the Queen's name for murder." Swanston, as he was there called, was staggered for a moment, but quickly recovering »his composure, and pointing to a telegram in the paper he was reading, he said, "Is this the murder lam accused of?" Presently he said, "I think I know the party who has been murdered; she was such a good little thing that I can't believe that anyone could hurt her." The constable replied, " There is always some motive ; perhaps she was murdered for her money." The accused then answered that the girl ho knew bad no money at all, He con-

stantly protested his innocence, but fretted continually. The house which Swanston was to occupy with his bride at Southern Cross was rapidly approaching completion under his personal supervision. There is a gruesome significance in the fact that his first purchase for the new building was a barrel of cement, and that the floor of the main room was neatly cemented under his personal supervision.

Wellington, April 3. A New Zealander, who has just returned from Western Australia, says there was comparatively little excitement at Perth over Williams' murders, but when he reached Melbourne he found the city in a fever, and whenever it became known that he was from Perth he was besieged by eager inquirers anxious to know something about Deeming and his personal appearance. The New Zealander saw " Swanston " both before and after his arrest, and says that the "heavy murderous jaw," is all an afterthought. His appearance is that of a well-to-do mechanic, and there is nothing truculent in his features, and nothing to call for a second look, or to mark him out as in any respect different, as far as looks go, to any comfortably off tradesman.