Scraps of Evidence.

Hastings Standard, Issue 173, 17 November 1896, Page 4

Scraps of Evidence.

LEADING TO THE GALLOWS.

An interesting book might be written on the strange cluea that have led to the arrest of notorious criminals. It has often happened that the most trifling incidents have cleared np mysteries which seemed to baffle investigation, and many a murderer has ended his life on the gallows because he neglected to take some little precaution or made some careless blunder in planning his escape. A scrap of paper, a blood-stain, or an unthinking word has

sometimes led to the most sensational developments. There have been some notable illustrations of this in England recently. Two of the most notorious criminals in London were not long ago arrested through the agency of a boy's lantern. For a lorig time it seemed as if the Mus well Hill murderers would be added to the long list of undiscovered criminals, but the police in their search picked up a common lantern, which was recognised by a juvenile relative of one of the culprits. This little fellow soon satisfied the police that th.-y were on the right track by pointing out an ingenious arrangement which he had introduced to get more light from the lantern, and within a week the two murderers were arrested under sensational circumstances at Bath, subsequently expiating their crimes on the gallows at Newgate. Another notorious London murder trial which recently attracted a great deal of attention all over the country points to the immense importance of little things in such cases. Mrs Dyer, the Reading murderess, was tracked in one case by an envelope, which formed part of the packing of the body, and in another case by a child's dress. A sheet of blank paper was instrumental in securing the arrest of a wife murderer near Birmingham last summer. The man had made arrangements before the crime for letters to be received for him at an address in Coventry. the intention being to throw the police off the scent. Either just before or just after the tragedy on the Yorkshire moors, the murderer addressed a letter to himself at the Coventry address, and enclosed in it a sheet of blank paper. Thinking, no doubt, he had cleverly deceived _ the police, the man took apartments in a Birmingham suburb. For some reason of his own, which does not seem clear, he repented the letter trick at this address, little dreaming of the Nemesis that awaited him when the letter reached its destination. At that time the story of the Coventry letter had become known, and on the arrival of the second the landlady discovered that the envelope was empty. Connecting tlie circumstances with the similar incident at Coventry, her suspicion was aroused, and she communicated with the police. On entering the house the new lodger was found to be Hiid-on, the wife murderer. whom the police were looking for. lie was taken into custody, and in due time hanged in ork Castl' 1 . The mysterious envelope had behave 1 his whereabouts, and another strange incident established his guilt, lie was proved to have adverti>ed for a wife in several provincial papers while his unfortunate victim was still alive. Had there been no other clue, that advertisement would have brought him to the gallows. A few months ago a Sunday-school teacher was convicted of murder in America whose guilt was established beyond a doubt by a few hairs. The hairs were found on the murdered girl's clothing and close investigation showed they corresponded with the mane of the superintendent's horse, which he was known to have ridden in the vicinity of the murder about the time the crime was supposed to have been committed. Blood-stains on the horse's mane tightened the not round the unhappy man who paid the penalty of the law for an outrage of a particularly brutal character. Cleopatra's tear, says Shakespeare, lost a world. The story of last year's tragedy shows how a woman's smilo cost a life. A miner who lived happily with his wife in Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, took in another miner as a lodger. The lodger developed an unfortunate affection for his friend's wife, and before long a mutual murder plot was agreed upon. The two miners worked down the mine together, and one day the lodger came up in the cage alone. He appeared frantic, and reported that his mate had been killed by fire-damp. The poor widow was inconsolable, and much sympathy was felt for her. The funeral day arrived, and just before the departure from the house the undertaker chanced to peep into the room adjoining that in which the corpse lay. There was the griefstricken widow smiling, joyously chatting with a friend of the coming wedding. The smile was fatal. Suspicion led to the postponement of the funeral, and a searching investigation resulted in the confession of the culprit, who paid the penalty of the crime by his death. It may not be out of place, in conclusion, to mention a curious case of burglary that happened in London a short time ago. A thief made the unfortunate blunder of breaking, into a doc-tor'shouse, and the doctor discovered his uninvited visitor in the consulting room. Picking up the bottle nearest at hand, the doctor hurled it at the thief, whom it hit in the neck, thus breaking the bottle The next day the police came across a notorious thief with a suspicious odour of peppermint about him, and the doctor recognised his friend of the night before.