DEATH RECALLS MYSTERY.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXV, Issue 13056, 26 April 1910, Page 3

DEATH RECALLS MYSTERY.

A FAMOUS TRAIN CRIME. A. famous crime is recalled by the death which .has just occurred at Preston’ Brighton, of Mrs Gold, widow of the retired merchant who was murdered in a txa’n by Percy Lefroy some 28 years ago. It was on the afternoon of June°27, ■lBBl, that Lefroy was discovered in a first-class carriage of the Brigtou express Park station. •He was m a state of great exhaustion. He had lost bis collar and tie, his shirt had been nearly torn off, he was covered with bleed and the end of a watch-chain was hand mg out of one of his hoots. ° ~Be told a remarkable storv. He declared that when the train entered'the Merstham tunnel there were two other occupants of thp carriage—a countryman and a vouaowpman. Suddenly he heard a pistol' shot” felt a violent blow on the head, and becaPe unconscious. When he recovered he alone in the carriage. The officials took the number of the gold watch found upon Lefroy. and although not altogether iatisfied with his storv allowed him to return to Wallington," iiear Crpydon, where he said he resided. A detective, however, was instructed to see him home, but on the wav Lefroy <mve hitp the slip. " ° 'About this time the body of Mr Gold i w® found in Balcombc tunnel. -The medical examination showed that he had been sMt at close quarters, but not fatally. Thera had, been evidently a fierce stnn«de duting which Mr Gold had been flung out of The carriage. In the fall he had'fractured Jus skull, and this was the direct cause of death. Mr Gold’s watch was missing, and the discovery was promptly mgde that it was identical with the one which had been seen in the possession of Lefroy at Preston Park Station, . A h °t search was made for Lefrov but it was not until July 8 that he was found. Meanwhile he had been living under the £ f y iar , k Smith Street, Stepnev. He told the landlady that ho was an engraver, but she noticed that he did not go ont, and that he kept the blinds of his room down in the daytime. It so happened that a young woman in the house had seen the recluse write a telegram to a person whose name had been published as a friend of Lefroy’s. The police were informed, and within a short time two officers from Scotland Yard paid him a visit. Lefroy was tried at MaidAssizes, found guiltv, and handed. When in prison Lefroy confessed that he was the murderer cf Lieutenant Roper some years before, but just before his execution at Lewes, on November 29 1881 he withdrew this latter confession.’