FAMOUS MYSTERIES.

NZ Truth, Issue 139, 15 February 1908, Page 7

FAMOUS MYSTERIES.

The Eight-Miiiiite Murder Mystery.

{By Ladbroke Black.) '■ T have frequently heard persons express their amazement at the num--ber of murders perpetrated m the; course of a twelvemonth. ■ . . „. ' -.:■ It appears to me that their ' sur--prise is misplaced. Considering- the violent gusts of passion to which, so many of our fellow creatures ."are subject, and the ease with which human life can betaken, I am inclined to the opinion that we should rather anarvel at the brevity of the. annual list of murders than be appalled at its length. , The actual business of killing is a ■simple affair unless, like certain hisstorical prisoners of the demoniac type, the assassin wishes to torture ;as well as to destroy. A brief sixty seconds is more than: ample time m which ; to force a pet,ison to make that long, mysterious ttourney from the -■,■■-_ LAND OF THE QUICK; ... fto the Kingdom of the dead. t • In the course of these studies m crime I have already given several instances . of the extr aordi nary celerity and despatch with which a crime can be committed. - .'! j.-In my- last article I told the grim; tragedy of a young officer at' Ghat--ham.. He was alive and well at 8.30, and was found dying at<B.4s"; just ,15 minutes had proved sufficient for the commission of the crime. \ . .The famous mystery which I have fto recount this week occupied an even briefer space of time. -In eight imdnutes Mrs Reville, the wife "of a ■■t>utchp.r at Slough, passed' 'froirt life to death by the hand of an unknown assassin. ■ ; .• At 8.32 p.m. she was sitting m her chair m. front of, a desk, alive and well ; at 8.45- she was seen m exactly tie. same position m the chair, dead, with her throat cut and her head split open. . , The crime was actually perpetrated and discovered m less than this, .time; but as this fact' depends upon the statement of a terrified child,; Who was too frightened to look at -•any clock to fix the exact . moment .of her discovery, I will allow the 'i- FULL INTERVAL OF EIGHT MINUTES. .', In that soace of time the deed was Secretly committed, the murderer r ihade good his escape, ,and his crime '■ ..was brought to light. „ . I ;■'■ I will give the events ofttois inys'teri.ous tragedy m. the exact sequence^ "m which they' occurred. . . v-.. ■ • * s •/ : •■' ' ..& On Monday, April 11, 1881, -there lived m what was then simply the .populous village of Slough, m Buck-; *inghamsMre, a M.r Hezekiah Reville, a butcher, his wife, and two" chil-i pdren. They had a large shop in' i Windsor-road, and employed two lads , -to assist them m their business. ; V The elder of these two assistants iwas Alfred Payne, aged 16 ; the

younger boy was named Phillip Glass, and was only 15 years of age. Usually the premises were closed at 8 o'clock, and the shutters ! were put up, the door being left /open for the convenience of anyi late customers. Punctually at the. closing hour Mr Reville went out, yand after calling; on two friends; adjourned to the White Hart Inn. .At the time, of hisf departure the various persons m tho liouse were, employed- as>follows :— :' Payne was m the ■''*'' BUTCHER'S SHOP "RiUBBING" some stale /hamsi )Irt the adjoining room, which- overlooked the shop by means of a lai^e glass swindow, were Mrs Reville and Philip Glass.. Mrs Reville sat at a "desk with; a ledger m front of her going over the day's accounts with the' assistance of the boy. Her chair was so placed that she faced the window tiiat looked into the Sjhop,: and thedesk was so low that she could be seen, not only from the shop, bujb .from outside m the street. .At. 8. 20., having, settled her accounts, she handed G-lass twopence for beer for himself and Payne, and as a special favor to the younger boy cut Mm some bread and cheese. While this was bejn>g done Glass went into' the, stoop to give" Payne his* penny and" to ask him' if he wag coming home. ; "Don'ft ybti wait for me," retorted Payne. "I hate some hams to rub, and shall be' a 1 little longer."-- ■ Everything had been made ready m the shop for the morrow. The tools were all m their placets.' On ! the block was a cleaver weighing two pounds, two steels and a saw, while a knife, used m CUTTING THE MEA.T UP., was laid by the height .and. scales. There being .nothing, more to be. done. Glass made- haste : .t6 ; be off. He looked at the clock ; it was 8.25 •precisely. . - :'■ ;■•■■■: ; ' As he was going out he .saw 1 Payne enter the sitting room and pass into the. kitchen beyond. He then shut th& >,door and scampered 'home. At' ■■8.32 Payne was also ready to depart. Mrs Reville, who was shortly expecting to become a mother, and therefore moved about as little as possible, was seated again at the J desk perusing the ledger. Payne asked her if she should shut the, shop door. :\ "No,," ' she replied,, "turn the gas. j down and leave the door open. , Good- j night." ,: •;. . :■ :-.< Payne then left- the premises, and made for . the . Royal ... Oak , beerhouse, Where his father lived, the exact time of his departure^-B.32— being fixed ; by his own evidencei 1 and that of two . people whom hem:et m the „| IMMEDIATE VICINITY, OF TIJE A ,- ■ .-■• . ' :-.,■ SHOP; .' ' - '■"«. Mrs Neville was 'now alone- on the; ground floor. Upstairs were her two ; little children . in' bed; r She still sat •at the desk, poring over the pages of the ledger, amus- < ing herself, doubtless,, by tracing the

variations m the business during the past few months. As she ,sat there death came to her swiftly and mysteriously. One of the children upstairs was very restless and' thirsty. At last she got out of her bed and started to come downstairs for some water. As she descended she heard a door •slam. It must have been 8,35 or 8-36 within three or four minutes of Alfred Payne's departure. ' . ■"' Opening the small door at the foot of the stairs, the ehil'd peeped into the sitting-room. She saw her. mo- , ther, still sitting at the desk m her father's .chair.. . ■ She spoke to her, but got no answer. Going a little closer to her, :the child noticed that something red -was trickling from her head and throat. She looked so ill and white that, the child ran terror-stricken upstairs to bod, and hiding herself beaneath the bedclothes, like children do tj spent that awful night m a . -STATE OF ANGUISHED WAKE- J FULNESS. At 8.4.0 a Mrs Beasley, the wife of a cooper near at hand, called to, see Mrs Reville. She had . been m the jhabit of making this regular evening ' visit m consequence of heir neighbor T scondition. . : .She entered from the shop^ where the gas was burning; and "she. saw her friend . through the window, still sitting m. front of the desk. From, her ghastly white face ,and the general limp appearance of her body, Mrs Beasley thought that she must 'have •fainted. ;/:■-;: >: ■ ■■-■. .■■■ .■•■■ *•,■</■•- - She inrmediately made her way in- ' to the ' Sitting-room, and upon apjiroachinfe the chair where Mts Reville sat, saw at once tha,t the unfortunate batcher's wife had been foully murdered. ' s ■ "Mrs Beasley immediately summoned the police, and two officers- arriving, a thorough 1 search of the premises w-as made. LA.s already described, Mrs Re rill c was sitting m a chair. In front of' her was a ledger, opened at March 19, and her. watch. The desk, the carpet, and all around were ' SPRINKLED WITH BLOOD. It was found on examination she • had two severe wounds m the forepart of her head, .one cut on the back of her head, and a large wound on the right side of her neck. Oh the floor by her side was found. ;the pen she had been using, and; it was noted also- that the '■ packet of her , dress was turned inside out. A little way behind the chair was found some money and a. handkerchief. But the. table, which stood a .little 4o the right behind the dead woman, nrovided the most gruesome evidence s>l the crime. Here on t^ie blood-; splashed cloth was. found a cleaver, SOAKED WITH BLOOD and covered with matted hair. Hard by this ghastly weapon lay a > note, written m pencil on half a isheet of noterpaper. It ran as follows :— :'' >; -'" ■"■'•■•■; Mrs Reyille^You never will sell me no more bad meat like you did on Saturday. I told Mrs Austin, lat Chalvey; that I would do fpr \ her. I. done it for the badm.eat sjie sold ma on^Saturday last.—^H.Cqllins, Colnbrook, .' ; • , The only other discoveries made by the police, that it was, thought could have any bearing, at all. upon the crime, were, two handkerchiefs which found m the adjoining; Icitohen' Suspicion turned immediately upon the boy Payne, who was known, to [have been the last person m the house. After the inquest arid the' funeral of Mrs Revifle he was arrestedi formally pharged before the magistrate, and a fortnight later stood his trial at the. local assizes. ' The facts at the DISPOSAL OF THE POLICE are 1 worth recounting. • ■'• First there was the letter signed, "Collins, Colnbrook," and referring to a Mrs Austin, of Chalvey. Nobody of the name of Collins residing'at Colnbrook had ever had any dealings at anytime witli the Revilles. There was an R. Collins, of Chalvey, who had> bought his meat occasionally at the shop, but H. Collins, was a completely fictitious name. The only two\ ladies of the name of Austin residing at Ohalvey declared that they' had never known anybody! called H. Collins, and added; moreover, that they had never complained to Mr Reville about any meat that he had supplied. ~ By the aid of the inevitable hand^-, writing expert a similarity m the handwriting of "H. Collins, ofColn"brook," and Alfred Payne, was traced: But as the expert admitted that he detected a like similarity m the handwriting of Mr Reville himself, who fctfas quietly ensconced at the White Hart at the tinie of the tragedy, his evidence did not carry much weight. Moreover, it was shown that Payne, who had been m the service of the butcher for something like three years, was quite familiar with the name oi R. Collins, of 'Chalvey, and, it was very reasonably argued, that he would never have, written a letter, which clearly had for its object the shifting of the blame on to somebody else, with a signature ttfhich could easily be discovered to bp fictitious. The second main point which occupied the consideration of THE POLICE WAS THE CLEAVER. Apart from the evidence of Payne, which was regarded as suspect, the boy Glass was positive that the cleaver with which the deed was com-, mitted was resting on the block with the other tools when he . left ( the shop. Mrs Reville was sitting m a chair that faced the window overlooking the shop,. Nobody could have come into the shop without her seeing him ; the murderer must have passed through the shop m order to possess himself of the cleaver. How had he managed it ? If he had come m as an ordinary customer, and while Mrs Reville was busy attending to him, had secreted the weapon, and subsequently made the murderous attack when her back was turned,- the whole business could be easily explained. But there was the stubborn obstructing fact that Mrs Reville had never even moved from her chair. Unless 1 Payne was the murderer the jury would have been called upon to believe that the criminal entered the shop, every corner of which was under the immediate.' observation of Mrs Reville, had miraculously escaped her notice, HAD SEIZED THE CLEAVER, and, still unnoticed, walked into the I sitting-room, Unless the victim had

i fallen into a cloze, which m her condition it is very possible she may have done, the thing seemed frankly impossible. The third point was the (Question of tiroes. I give here m tabular form the time table of that mysterious 40 minutes which culminated m so horrible a tragedy :— 8 p.m.— Mr Reville leaves the shop. Mrs Reville. and Glass are m the sitting-room doing' the accounts. Payne m the shop. Two children upstairs m bed. B.2s.— Glass leaves, as Payne passes, through the sitting-room to the ! kitchen. . B.32.— Payne leaves, and is seen a minute later by a 1 young woman a few" hundred yards, from the house, walking in' the direction 'of his home. •■8:80 (?).— One of Mrs Reville' s little children, • coming downstairs for. a glass of water, see's her mother sitting at the desk with her throat cut, and at the same time hears a door m the house bang. B.4o.— (Mrs Beasley discovers her murdered friend. / Looking at this time table, it will ,be seen that if " Payne had been, the .murderer he must have committed the ideed within seven minutes. If somebody else were the criminal this person must have killed Mrs Reyille, turned out her pockets, arid the note signed "H. Collins. Colnbrook," all within the space of, .at the most, eight minutes. It appeared on the. face of it that thfe police had a very strong case, .aRa|inst Payne. Hb was known to have., lieen on the premises alone with ;Mrs Reville ; it seemed as if he were; |>tiie only possible person who could: [ have taken the cleaver from the shop into .the sitting-room without arousing the " SUSPICIONS OF THE UNFORTU-:. NATE VICTIM;, and, moreover, the note was written; 3-n a hand which bore some resemblance to ,his. f . But the young butcher lad had a clear and open, conscience. He showed no uneasiness when questioned by.the, police. In. the dock he deported him;self with a coolness and perfect : simplicity which were never mated to ihe .character of a criminal. ■' At the end of a two days' trial the iury retired for a ■ brief 15 minutes, •and returned -with a verdict of "Not .."•uilty." ■" This, verdict was not only right legally— by which I mean, that on the cvi d:cnce l it was not ■ possible to convict Payne— but it was obviously right from " the point ■ of view of facts. Payne was perfectly innocpnt of 'the •.chargei and had no knowledge what-; soever . ' of how Mrs Reville met her death— =".thaii is certain. To this, day her assassin lias not been found. The' ■ .':„■'■ MYSTERY WHICH ', • ENSHROUDS HER DEATH, .. ' s canfiot be pierced., ■''?■• '.".'!. ' How the murderer go,t into the. shop, Obtained possession of the cleaver without being detected by Mrs Reville^-thow he committed the murder, wrote the note, turned put the dead Woman's pocket, and did all. this between tho' departure of Payne at 8.32 and the arrival of Mrs Beasley at 8.40 is a problem -which can otily lie cleared up on the f Judgment Day. : > . :