Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 53, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 March 1912 — Page 2

WORLD’S FAMOUS POLICE MYSTERIES

TRUE RECORDS OF EXTRAORDINARY CASES IN ANNALS OF CRIME

The Body in the Parcel

NE of the mysteries that excited the greatest inter- > est in England during the l closing years of the last I century was that of the Body in the Parcel. The crime bore a resemblance, by no means remote, to that committed by Dr. Crippen. Of course the part played in the detection by wireless teleg-

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raphy could not be duplicated, nor, indeed, did the murderer seek to escape from England. But the same difficulty was experienced in securing the identification of the victim and, as in the recent example with which the' world hm been familiarized, the evidence though complete was entirely circumstantial.

A remarkable feature of this crime was what many considered to be Divine intervention that led to the discovery of the murderer. But for an extraordinary circumstance the mur- . der would never have been discovered and the murderer would have, gone scot free. Wainwright, like the notorious Charles Peace, was a man of much apparent respectability. Though he was shown during the course of the trial to have been a man of notoriously . Immoral life, for years he had passed as a prominent member of the Christ Church Institute in the East End of London. He was very popular in the district on account of his ability and energy In getting up charitable performances and in giving recitations. He was a local politician of repute. Yet all the while he lived a life totally different from that which was known to his and co-workers. Although a woman with whom Walnwright had been on intimate terms had disappeared for about a year, her disappearance had been explained without his being implicated. No suspicion appears to have arisen that the victim had actually been murdered. The deed was so deliberately planned and so sudcessfully executed that it was only the incomprehensible stupidity of the murderer at the crucial moment, aided by the providential episode referred to, that led to the discovery. Wainwright was a brushmaker and had a small shop on the ground floor of No. 215, Whitechapel road, London. One morning he accosted a youth named Stokes, who lived near by and performed small tasks fer his neighbors. ( ' "Do you want to do a little errand lor me, Stokes?” asked Wainwright "You see those two parcels on the floor?” He indicated a couple of heavy packages wrapped in black American cloth and corded with strong rope that lay in one corner of the workshop. “Pick them up, will you, and take them out to a cab.” Stokes tried to lift the parcels, but found that the task lay beyond his : strength. So Wainwright assisted him with each by laying hold of the opposite end, and the pair of them carried _ their burdens into the street to the church in the Whitechapel road, in front of which cabs usually plied for hire. They looked up and down the Btreet, bat no cab was in Bight "You stay here and mind them while I look for one,” said Wainwright and, leaving the youth with the packages, he disappeared in search of a public vehicle. 1. Stokes, left alone, began to experience a most curious sensation. While Wainwright lay in prison awaiting execution for his crime, Stokes wrote him a remarkable letter describing this sensation. Something within him, he declared, some hidden but imperative voice, urged him to open the packages.. Sfokes remained upon the pavement waiting for his companion to return, and all the while the voice grew more insistent “Opqn the parcels!" it kept declaiming. “Open that one! Open itl Open it!” 1 At last Stokes could not resist the command longer. He pulled the wrappings aside and saw—a human head! Stokes was so terrified by this spectacle that, as he afterward declared, his hair stood im end and his hat fell off. He replaced the wrappings hastily. "Open it and look again!” the voice

persisted. Stokes obeyed. Inside the parcel he found the remains of a human body. Whether this voice was really from without or arose from Stokes’ own inner consciousness it is impossible to eay. He had, as he declared, felt unsatisfied with the declaration of Wainwright the v packages contained hair and bristles for brushmaking. Wainwright had cautioned him not to let them drop for fear of breaking the contents. Hat brWtles do not break. Furthermore, before they left, the workshop in the Whitechapel road Wainwright had given Stokes a spade, hammer and chopper to sell for what they would bring. They were stained withja peculiar substance that excited suspicions. It might onge have been blood. - Perhaps these fears stirring in his subconscious mind suddenly manifested themselves in the imperative com-

(Oopyrighl by W. G. Chapman)

mand to open the parcels. Anyhow Stokes obeyed. After he had finally replaced the covers he stood trembling upon the pavement until Wainwright returned bringing with him a fourwheeled cab. Stokes at his command lifted the parcels and placed them within. Then Wainwright entered as well and called out: “Cabby, drive to the Commercial road as fast as you can. Stokes, I’ll see you again. I’ll come round to your place tonight and pay you. Drive on, cabby.” The cabman whipped up his horse and the vehicle started away down the Whitechapel road, leaving Stokes sending staring after it He told the coroner at the inquest that he was too Btunned by the discovery to have Wainwright arrested; besides, he was afraid. “I thought it would be better to wait until I had found a policeman,” he said. “I knew that Wainwright would not hesitate to murder me any more than he had hesitated to murder the victim in the parcel." The cab was driving rapidly away before Stokes recovered his self-pos-session sufficiently to look round for a policeman. None was in sight And all at once the voice began again. "Run after the cab, Stokes !”> it cried. “Follow it Don’t lose sight of it until you have Wainwright arrested.” Stokes started off at full speed and, Just when his breath began to fail him, the cab stopped in Greenfield street to take In a woman who was waiting there. This was Alice Day, a mistress of the murderer, who was afterwards arraigned as an accessory after the fact bat was discharged from custody without a trial. Again the cab started away with Stokes in full chase behind it. It turned down Aldgate street, then toward Fenchurch street, into Leadenhall street, branched off toward London bridge and crossed the Thames into the Borough, as that portion of London lying on the southern side of the river is known.

All the while Stokes raced along after It His hat and he had long since parted company; his fißtß were clenched, the breath hissed through his lips and people shouted after him as he ran. Every time he encountered a constable he tried to enlist his services. “Stop that cab!" he called. “Parcels —parcels! ” The policemen took him for some tout who considered that he had not received a sufficient fee or tip for his service In connection with helping .the passenger with his baggage. They laughed and derided him. On Stokes raced urged by the voice. He would have been compelled to abandon the pursuit, however, had not the cab stopped near the Hop Exchange where two more constables happened to be stationed. Stokes ran up to - ——^ : V , ■ “You see that man?” he gasped, pointing to Wainwright who had alighted. “Hurry after him and stop him. Find out what he is going to do with that parcel!” Wainwright, staggering a little under the weight of one of the packages, had progressed some thirty yards in the direction of a small shop known as the Hen and Chickens, and now entered it. One of the policemen promptly stationed himself at the door while his companion took up his post at the door of the cab. v A few minutes later Wainwright came out of the shop empty-handed. He paid no attention to the constable but went to the cab, took out the second parcel and returned to the shop with it. As he reached the door he Jound the two policemen at his heels. “Is this your shop?” asked one of them. “Have you possession of it?” “I have and you haven’t," retorted Wainwright. “Whaf have you got in that parcel?” asked one of the constables. “You go into that house, mate, and see if you can' find the other,” he continued to his comrade. ‘Til look at this one.” The moment the other policeman had entered the shop Wainwright’s whole manner changed. —"Let mA go,” he pieadedr “Don't look at it It will be worth a hundred—two hundred —pounds to you, cash down right here.” For answer the policeman tore the parcel open and revealed its ghastly contents. Wainwright was immediately placed under arrest He was searched and a number of keys were found upon him. While one constable conveyed Wainwright to the police station the other returned with the lad Stokes to the brushmaker’s house in the Whitechapel road, where the premises were searched. ' The workshop was unusually large, being no less than Ilf feet in length, and had originally been used as a warehouse. When he had entered, the constable soon perceived that about sixteen fieet from the door a part of the flooring had been taken np and roughly replaced. When the boards were removed an open grave was discovered underneath, the mold being mixed With a.; considerable portion of chloride of lime which, contrary to the murderer’s expectations, had actually

By H. M. EGBERT

preserved instead of decomposing the body of the victim. Within the warehouse various suspicious instruments were found; a new spade that had recently used, a hammer, an open pocket knife and a chopper. Blood stains were found upon the flags behind the back door and the edge of one stone was broken as though with the blow of a hatchet. Evidently a murder had been committed. But who was the victim? Three days later, on September 15, a man named Taylor came to the police and suggested that the remains might be those of his sister-in-law Harriet, who had been missing for <4ust twelve months. In the meantime the remains in the two packages had been examined. They were those of a female who had been dead about a year and the cause of death was disclosed by two bullet holes in the head. Their position indicated that the murderer had come up from behind and fired the shots. The woman had small hands and feet, long fingers, hair of a light auburn, and a tooth was missing from the upper jaw. These details, which were furnished by Taylor, coincided so minutely with the appearance of the body that the police permitted him to view it, and he at once identified it as that of Harriet Lane. The body was further Identified by Mrs. Taylor, the sister of the murdered woman, and by John Lane, her father. There could be no doubt but that a satisfactory identification had been made out Not only did the missing tooth coincide with the tooth that Harriet Lane bad lost but, again, the deceased woman had a scar on the leg below the knee such as would have been caused by a severe burn from a hot poker, apd Harriet Lane had had Just such a jtcar. Various articles of clothing found in the grave beneath the floor of the workshop and in the house made the identification complete. Harriet Lane had worn earrings, and two of these were picked out of the grate in the fireplace. She had worn a wedding ring, which was discovered in the grave, together with several buttons of the same pattern as had been on Harriet’s dress. Some buttons of just £ie same pattern were furnished to the police by the dead woman’s relatives and friends. i But even this would prove no case against Wainwright unless his connection with the victim were clearly disclosed. Nor would the mere fact of his acquaintance with her prove anything. It was established beyond doubt, however, that a year before she had left her father’s house in Sidney square, Mile End road, with the avowed intention of going to live with Wainwright, and she had never been seen alive since that time by any of her family. Toward the end of Steptember Mrs. Taylor, the sister of the dead woman, began to grow uneasy. Harriet Lane had been on good terms with her family and had frequently been in communication with them hitherto, either personally or through the medium of letters. Now she seemed to hive forgotten them entirely. Wainwright had moved from his last residence to another in the Whitechapel road, but Mrs. Taylor traced him to his new quarters and demanded to see her sister. "She’s gone,” replied WainwrigM sullenly. “Gone—where?” “Gone off with Mr. Freake.” This was a gentleman who had recently come unexpectedly into a large fortune and had left the country. According to Wainwright he had taken his mistress with him.

“Where has she gone?” asked Mrs. Taylor. Wainwright explained that he had given the missing woman 'fifteen pounds to betake herself to Brighton, a fashionable seaside resort on the south coast, as well as ten pounds to provide herself with an outfit. She had apparently taken advantage of his generosity to elope with the suddenly enriched Freake. Mrs. Taylor had to be content with the explanation and went home. Two months elapsed and then she came again. This time Wainwright maln'fifljyri that he had heard nothing from her sister since the date of her disappearance. A third time Mrs. Taylor appeared, this time insistent, and Wainwright produced a telegram and a letter which he read aloud to her. One purported to be from Dover and the other from Paris; both stated that Harriet was well and in comfortable circumstances. Both the letter and the telegram were later proved to have been written by Wainwright’s brother Thomas. Freake, when he appeared in court as a witness, denied all knowledge of the missing woman. The suspicion now arose in the minds of Harriet’s family that she had died and that Wainwright was concealing the news from them, perhaps out of compassion. John Lane, the father, paid a visit to the brushmaker and demanded that he produce his daughter, living or dead. If she was dead, he said, he insisted upon being told where she was buried. Wainwright put him off witir-the same story as before and referred him to Franks who, needless to say, could not be found. Lane, how-

ever, seems to have disbelieved this story. He pretended to have been in communication with Freake and to have ascertained from him that the story was false. Thereupon Wainwright changed his ground and stated that Harriet had gone away with aftother person and that he had implicated Freake falsely. During the trial a curious story came to light. It appeared that one individual had had suspicions of his own and that he came nearer to the truth than any of the rest. In October, 1874, while Wainwright still occupied his premises for business purposes, though its ownership had passed to another, the new manager possessed a dog which was in a state of constant restlessness while in the workshop. He was lorever scratching at the boards of the flooring just above tbe place where the grave had been dug. It was supposed that he was after rats, but Wainwright seems to have become suspicious and one day the dog suddenly disappeared. The manager and his wife went out one evening and left the animal with Wainwright On their return he stated that he had run away; but it was presumably made away with, for it was never seen again thereafter.

Slowly, piece by piece, a web of circumstantial evidence was woven around the accused man. It was proved that he had purchased a quantity of chloride of lime on September 10,1874, the day before the murder was supposed to have occurred, as well as an. ax and a spade. Neighbors swore that they had heard pistol reports on the next evening, apparenly proceeding from Wainwright’s premises. A man working in an adjoining shed stated that he had heard them distinctly. They were fired In rapid succession as from a revolver, and there was nd pause for reloading such as would have occurred had the weapon used been a pistol. A revolver was! found among the effects of the accused man. A few hairs were found adhering to the spade discovered in the workshop and these were microscopically examined. Tpey were found to correspond exactly with the hair of the victim. Wainwright when arrested for the crime showed great self-possession. All through the trial he maintained a demeanor of innocence. His guilt was proved, however, to the satisfaction of the jury, who brought in a verdict of guilty. When the judge in accordance with the customary procedure asked him'whether he had anything to say before sentence was passed, he stood up in the dock and- declared in strong and emphatic tones: -.-J-:-*T wfll only say, standing, as I do now, upon the brink of eternity, that I swear 1 am not the murderer of the remains found in my possession. I swear that I have never fired a pistol in my life. I swear also that I did not bury 1 the mutilated remains, nor did I exhume them.” v • In this denial he persisted to the last. Just before the execution he confessed that he deserved his fats' but he would not admit th»t he was guilty of murder. • Was Wainwright really guilty? The result of this trial-aroused considerable comment as to the relative merits of tbe English and the French judiical systems. A French judge would have probed the matter to the bottom. He would have asked Wainwright for what purpose he purchased the cblor-

ide of lime and the American cloth, and the brother, Thomas Wainwright, why he sent the telegram purporting to have come from Harriet Lane. It was suggested that Thomas Wainwright, the brother, was in fact the guilty person; that Wainwright was correct in swearing that he had never committed the murder, never fired a pistol In his life. But the law throws the onus of proof upon the prosecution. Certain questions could not he put; at that date an accused man had not the option which he now enjoys of going into the witness box and telling his story to the Jury. Thomas Wainwright was tried as an accessory after the fact and was sentenced to a term of penal servitude for seven years. It was widely believed that the sentences of the two criminals should have been reversed; that Thomas was more guilty than his brother.

HOLY LAND SHEPHERDS NOW

They Aril Very Much Like Those Who ——hatched Tlwtri^tockr^OOO' Years Ago. There are few more picturesque sights in the Holy Land them the shepherd and his flock of shpep. You can never see one without the other, says a writer in Country Life In America. They live entirely with their flocks. Their business is not only an honorable calling but it 1b one of perpetual difficulty and danger. Shepherds in the eaßt are men of war; also they are men of some initiative and practical intelligence. The shepherds come unSer the head of peasants, or fellaheen, but nevertheless they are virtually a race apart. Unlike the other native tribes, they have maintained their ancient character intact. They attended to the wants of their sheep and led them from pasture to pasture among the hills and valleys long before the coming of the Children of Israel. Their Shoes are of the roughest description, almost circular iu circumference. They wear an outer garment of bright colors. It is woven from camel’s hair, as was that of John the Baptist. The coats are without seam, as was the one worn by our Saviour and of which it was said at his crucifixion that -it- was—^without—seam, woven from the top throughout” These cloakß are made by the peasant women of Galilee. They are square and sleeveless and fit any man. They bang in picturesque folds from the shoulder. A kerchief for the head, tied in two black rings of rope and wool, completes the shepherd's outfit In the winter, however, shepherds take an undressed fleece, which they girdle about their loins, when they more than ever appear like members of their own flock. ’ > . The flocks vary considerably in size, some numbering only a score or even less, while others ran into several hundred. Speaking generally, a shepherd in and around Jerusalem will tend thirty or forty sheep, while his brethren in northern Palestine will possess flocks double size. In tbe Lebanon* there are some very large herds. ; * . . ..." - The shew themselves are distinctly of the Syrian breed and famed for their fat tails. Much has been made of the foot that the shepherds of Pal-

estine lead their sheep. ,Thls custom has arisen, of course, through the absence of roads and the scanty nature of the pasturage found on the mountain sides. It would be impossible to drive the flocks from place to placq unless dogs were employed, and there are no sheep dogs in eastern countries. Hence the shepherd goes on in front, the sheep following behind, a shepherd boy as a rule bringing up the rear. This is the shepherd’s principal duty, to guide his Bheep and find pasturage for them. The sheep know their master, or rather his voice* Over' and over again I have seen two or more shep? herds meet with their flocks at a well and sit and chat for hours together. When they got up to move away the flocks have become one large herd. There is mo attempt, however, to separate them. Each man moves in the direction lie wishes to take and shouts to his sheep, “Tabbo! Tabbo!” short and sharp, never thinking of looking round until he is some distance away. One by one the sheep hear the voice and follow slowly after their master. There is never a mistake, though all use the same word; the voice of each shepherd is unmistakably his own and it has a distinct individuality about it, caused by the constant hue of the same tone. Then the shepherds of this interesting land are men of arms. In the southern districts of Palestine and also in the Lebanon country they all carry firearms, and thoße around Jerusalem and in the neighborhood of Tiberias on the Sea qf Galilee and in other parts of the country carry weapons in the shape of heavy wooden clubs or slings, the latter as primitive as that used by David when ha tended his father’s flocks. The guns are invariably old-fashioned flintlock muskets or some other obsolete type of firearm. With these weapons the shepherd protects his flojpk from wild beasts —leopards, panthers and wolves. Bat his worst enemy is not the wild animals of the country, hilt the roving Bedouins. The latter are always making raids and carrying off the sheep, with the result that even today many a good Bhepherd Is called upon to lay down his life for the sheep.

Absolutely Safe.

"Have you got a good chauffeur, "No, I haven’t,” said Bronson. "Only an old fool of a gardener who doesn't know the first thing about machinery.” “But, my dear fellow —aren’t you afraid he’ll break your neck?” demanded Willoughby. “Ob, no,” said Bronson.' “What guarantee have you that he won’t land you and your car In a ditch some day?” said Willoughby. 1= “6h, he couldn’t possibly do that,” smiled Bronson. “Why, not?” asked Willoughby. "Why, because I haven’t got any car,” said Bronsofi.—Harper’s Weekly.

Her Logic.

It was the week before Christmas. Emery and his younger sister, Mildred, were debating very seriously the reality of Santa Claus. "There isn’t any Santa Clans,” said Emery, with finality. .: “Why, there most be,” insisted hla sister. “How could they make pictures that look just tike him?”—Harper’s Magazine ' • ' '' .. ;