HIGHEST PRAISE FOR DETECTIVES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18451, 30 April 1928, Page 11

HIGHEST PRAISE FOR DETECTIVES.

death sentence on KENNEDY AND BROWNE GIVES SATISFACTION. (United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copy r i gh t.) LONDON, April 28. The Old Bailey, the home of tense reality, has seldom staged a more dramatic scene than the closing stages of the Browne-Kennedy trial, which has never been duplicated in a British criminal Court. The public followed with eager interest the long chapter of slow-moving events, which was a triumph for Scotland Yard. From the very first, the savage brutality of the murder aroused indignation. The characters of the murderers, who revealed themselves to be enemies of society in the fullest sense, afforded psychological studies of abnormal perverted types of humanity. Scotland Yard has given re-assuring proof of its pertinacity, courage, competence and scientific attainments. Browne possesses qualities fitting him for highly useful citizenship. His inventive mind is shown by several mechanical devices of his own construction. His amazing strength gave power and confidence to his criminal activities. A distaste for drink, even for smoking, gave him a valuable reputation as a temperate man. But all his talents were subordinated to his incurable criminality. The manner in which Scotland Yard gathered clues is nothing short of a masterpiece, without example in the most sensational detective fiction, and w'ill rank as the most brilliant achievement in detective history. Everywhere the death sentence is hailed with a unanimity never before displayed in connection with a sensational trial. For example, the “Daily Express” devotes an editorial to it, in which it says: “There will be universal satisfaction at the verdict. It was a wantonly inhuman crime, only committable by men prepared to slay anything in their path. They shot Gutteridge with no more compunction than a man shoots a rabbit. The earth will be well rid of such fiends.” —Australian Press Association.