HISTORY’S MYSTERIES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16738, 20 May 1922, Page 13

HISTORY’S MYSTERIES.

THE THREE INNOCENTSJ HANGED FOR KILLING A MAN WHO NEVER DIED. How came it that a mother and her two sons wore arrested, tried, convicted and executed for the muj-der of a man who, two years after execution, returned to his home P This 33 one of the most remarkable mysteries in the annals of crime. The evidence brought out at the trial showed that William Harrison left his house, at Oampden, in the afternoon and walked, or was supposed to have walked, two miles to a neighbouring village to collect some rents. A BLOODSTAINED HAT. When evening came on and Harrison had not returned, his servant—a man named John Perry—was sent in search of him. Neither Harrison nor Perry put in an appearance that night, and in the morning one of the sons of the mirtsing man joined in the search, meeting Perry on his way homo. The servant maintained that he had been able to find no trace of his master, but young Harrison located a bloodstained hat. Soon the entire countryside was engaged in an attempt to solve the mystery, and the strange actions of Perry led to his being suspected of the crime, the alleged motive being the securing of the money which Harrison had upon him at the time. Under pressure. Perry stated that his mother and brother had frequently asked him when Harrison went to collect his rents, and added that it was hie (Perry’B) belief that the missing man had been murdered by mother Perry and her son. ALIVE THOUGH MURDERED. On the strength of this, all three of the Perrys were arrested, tried and sentenced to death. Joan Perry was tho first to l>e hanged, protesting her innocence. Richard Perry followed his mother to the gallows, and finally John Perry, Harrison's servant, who had meanwhile retracted hie previous statement. and declared that he knew nothing whatever of the crime or any possible motive. Nearly two years after the three had been hanged for hip murder William Harrison returned to hiß homo, apparently unconcerned, and telling a tale of having been waylaid by highwaymen. kidnapped, and spirited away to the Continent. SELLING A HUMAN LIFE. For several days, he stated, his captors had kept him hidden, and had then put him on board a ship. Finally, he declared, he was ©old to a physician at Smyrna, but he was able to give no definite description of the city, nor was he able to explain how, penniless and unfamiliar with the languages spoken on the Continent, he was able to find his> war back home. The only apparent explanation of the entire affair is that, for some reason, Harrison's presence at Campden—where he lived—was inconvenient to someone then in authority. He knew too much, and therefore was better out of the way for the time being. But exactly what he knew, and why three innocent persons were permitted to go to the gallows for a crime which ■had not been committed, has never I been disclosed.