The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 1892. " Murder Most Foul"

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 112, 19 March 1892, Page 2

The Feilding Star. SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 1892. " Murder Most Foul "

The murders alleged to have been committed by Williams the supposed author of ,the Windsor tragedy, are almost unparalleled in the annals of crime. The details which we publish elsewhere are of the most dreadful description, and prove that the perpetrator is a man of the most deliberate and cold blooded character possible to imagine. He would appear to have exercised the most remarkable forethought in the early part of his criminal career, if we may judge by the precautions he took to leave no traces behind him which might give the slightest clue and lead to the discovery that a crime had been committed, and to his participating therein. It would also appear that his connection with the earlier murders would not have been discovered at all, had it not been for his own contributory negligence in making an unnecessary fuss because he had lost a bag when travelling by steamer from Sydney to Adelaide. It is true that the bag may have contained incriminating evidence identifying him with his last murder, and the knowledge of this fact alarmed him. He revived an old mode of disposing of th© bodies his yiotims by burying them under the floor, or hearthetoue, of a dwelling ; the last known similar case being that of Mr and Mrs Manning about 40 years ago, who thus disposed of the body of the excisemen, for whose murder they were afterwards executed. But the question now arises: have not some of the hundreds of persons reported every year as " missing " in the large European cities been slain by professional murderers and thieves, and their remains incorporated with the foundations of the buildings in which they met their unhappy fate. Many hitherto unaccountable disappearances may possibly be explained in this way. The evidence so far as reported through the channels of the press, goes far to prove the guilt of the accused man Williams, and if he is proved guilty he will really deserve the severest punishment that can be meted out to him. We notice that in England the public mind connects Williams with the hitherto undiscovered criminal designated " Jack the Kipper." Whether the surmise is correct or not we canuot even conjecture, but we do hope it will be found to be correct, for it would be a disgrace to humanity that there should be two such awful villiaus alive at the same time.