THE TROTTER MURDER

Southland Times, Issue 17244, 15 January 1913, Page 5

THE TROTTER MURDER

AN ARREST. THE DETECTIVES’ TIIEORT. MELBOURNE; January !».' Received January 14, -9.35 p.m. Of the two persons implicated in the Trotter murder, one was of small physique, and did not speak during the tragedy. The detectives .are working on the theory that the smaller person vval a woman, well acquainted with the Trotter’s and their movements, who did pot speak for fear that her voice would betray her identity. A labourer named Harold Thompson has been arrested and formally charged, with the murder oi Trotter. The police had been shadowing him for several days, and had sunounded his house. Thompson denies the charge. THE CRIME DESCRIBED.

The shocking crime is thus described by the Melbourne Herald ; At about half-past 10 Mrs Beatrice Trotter went to bed. In the room wai her little son, already lying soundly; asleep in his bed beside that of his parents. About an hour later Mr Trotted retired, and was soon fast asleep. Twof hours later —at 1.10 —Mr and Mrs Trotter awoke simultaneously. They hatl been disturbed by the sudden flash of the electric light In their room. This was operated by a button behind the bedroom door, and it Is remarkable thaC the burglars knew its position and operated It ao quickly and quietly. Husband and wife awoke to find two young men In the room, masked each with ft handkerchief tied around hls face, and each holding a revolver, one pointed at Die head of Mr Trotter, and the other at Mrs Trotter. One of the ruffians war tall, and wore a soft felt hat, the other' was of short stature, and wore a cap. Neither seemed to be more than about 30 years of age, but Mrs Trotter was unable to give a good description of the men. The taller of the two was the dominant spirit, He demanded "the money” from Mr Trotter, . and commanded the wife to “keep quiet.” Mr Trotter sat up In bed, and, having collected his wits, sprang out and plucklly attacked hls man. The burglar backed away, and, without uttering a word, fired hls revolver polat-blank at Trotter, who fell unconscious to the floor. The murderer then directed hls accomplice to “get the money.” The second man, without uttering a word, obedientlywalked to the head of the bed and pulled apart the two mattresses. Then, having secured the money, both ran through the house, and made their escape through, the door of the kitchen, which they had taken the precaution to leave open in; the manner already described. Mrs Trotter, in a state bordering on distraction, rushed Into George street screaming for help. She ran next door* where George Johnson, the chaffeur employed by her husband, lives. Johnson and his sister hurried to ’’Harrlevllle,” and, on ascertaining what had taken place, lost no time in communicating with the police. Johnson took Mr Trotter’s car out of the garage, and. with the police, conveyed the wounded man to SI. Vincent’s Hospital. i Mrs Trotter bore up bravely In the circumstances, and, composing herself, recounted the dreadful experience of that night. T went to bed at half-past 10,” she said, “and Mr Trotter came In at about 20 minutes past 11.. The back window was unlocked, and the back door key is gone. In fact, all the back IST open. I don’t know how the burglars! came in, but they entered our room be-j tween 1 and a quarter-past. They; seemed to be two mere -boys,. certainly!) not more than 21, if they were that old,! They wore white handkerchiefs overl their faces, and each had a revolver,.’ which shone like silver in the light. They turned on the electric light In the room, and that woke both of us at the same time. My husband awoke, with a. start, and grabbed me py the arm. I thought he was in a dream, but I soon found that he was not, for he called out' to the men, ’What is your game? What do you want?’ The taller man of the two replied: ‘We want money.’ My husband said; ‘What money? There’s no money here. This is murder.’ The man remarked: 'I don’t care a ——.’ Suddenly my husband jumped out of bed and hit the man who had Ills revolver levelled at his head. The man fired at him, and when my husband fell, said to his mate: ‘Get the money.’ Th® smaller man ran to the bed where Mr Trotter had been sleeping and quickly turned over the mattress. He took the money. The other kept me covered with the revolver, and said: ‘You keep quiet; It’s all right, missus.’ They threw my husband's watch chain on the floor and slipped out as quietly as they had come In. Mr Trotter did not speak after he was shot.” When asked if any suspicious characters had been seen about the place recently, Mrs Trotter said that a friend of her sister’s had ’seen two young men banging about last week. Mr Trotter was hurried off to the SL Vincent’s Hospital In his own motor car. When he arrived at 2.30 o’clock he was unconscious, and Drs C. E. Tucker and D. P. Greenham, who admitted him, saw from the first that the case was hopeless. The bullet had entered the inner angle of the left eye and embedded itself in the brain. The patient was too far gone to permit of an operation, and he died at 8.10, having lingered for over five hours. He did not for a moment regain consciousness. Dr Tucker expressed the opinion that the bullet was fired from a medium-sized revolver, and at close quarters.