FIENDISH GRIMES

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10612, 10 June 1920, Page 6

FIENDISH GRIMES

SERIES OF MURDERS BY TOPLISS. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association LONDON, Juno 8. Percy Topliss has been definitely identified. It is suggested that ho Was also the perpetrator of throe recent untraced crimes —tbc 'murder of Nurse Shore in the Hastings- train in January, the murder of Mr Hoaro and his housekeeper near Truro, and the murder of Constable Kelly at Acton. Topliss shot a taxi-driver whom he had engaged at Andover, Hampshire, and then vanished in his victim’s our. The murderer was an army deserter, and was well educated. He was very plausible, and had a long record as a swindler. After his desertion ho posed as an officer, and haunted the West End, where ho apparently found a largo number of victims, for he spent money freely, and worked his way into fashionable circles. He was run to earth and shot in a Cumberland village. For six weeks thero had been 0 a hue and cry for the murderer, during which Tapliss made several attempts to hold up motorists,_ and shot a. policeman and a farmer in Ranffshire. A policeman challenged Topliss, who whipped out a revolver, threatened the policeman, and escaped for the time being. A party _of police collected and surrounded him. Topliss made a last stand, firing until ho was shot dead.