TOLD TO THE MARINES

NZ Truth, Issue 1176, 14 June 1928, Page 7

TOLD TO THE MARINES

Crippen's Bogus Executioner Finds \ A Place In "The Sun" ■■■'••■■■■• [ . ■ ■ ■ .-.-■■ i' (By "N.Z. Truth's" Spefcial Repreientatlvo.) v This Is a little soliloquy on guff ; on what, in smooth, 'professorial parlance, might be termed the outpourings of an exaggerated superiority complex. A drayload of it rvas dumped upon the car-drums of Christchurcn recently— and now the "Sun" is wringing its hands and writhing in the throes of a deep mortification. „,■

T HIS little innocent had never heard the tune of "Tell me the old, old story," but since it printed a little piff-paff on "The Man Who Hanged crippen," the melody has been dinning in its little ears. ."■"■• < Crippen is now a name which may not be mentioned in the "Sun" office with any degree of safety. ' , A: few days ago, the news organ in question tagged its favorite fountainpen to a high-flying kite and sailed away on the wings of ecstasy, telling its readers, as it travelled along, of a "pleasant-mannered 'Taffy,' who obviously was a favorite with, his shipmates" . . . never had a complaint from one of his clients . . .he was a hangman." . , / Very sweet. : A few more chatty paragraphs go , on to tell us how he managed to snatch a few odd moments from his job- as thu-d pantryman on the "Tamaroa" in order to swing off a few spSxe criminals who were sculling about the gallows. Then, in a moment of bright reflection, Christohurch was told of this mystery seaman's application to pull the little lever which would cut off the murderer Norgrove's communication with this world. But when the "Bun" man probed for a few intimate details concerning his supposedly wide our pantryman friend exuded an atmosphere of myßterlous reticence, declaring that, somehow or other, the fact of his ' having imparted exclusive information would get to the ears of those in the Home Office in London, etcetera, etcetera, resulting in some awful, but very, vague, consequence.

"Yes, I did 'do' Crippen," , was his naive; admission a little later in the pleasant conversazione. "Oh, I've Kiirnnpfl nff a. Int. Itl

my 17 years at the game." •■.-.. How < his chest must have swelled as he vocalized the word "Game!" Then : "They pay a man a fabulous fee for doing his Job In this ; country— twenty-five quid," and we can picture his mouth watering, his triggerfinger itching, as he spilled the beans. Regretfully:: "But then, . you don't have, many murders here — only had about five in the last six years,' haven't you?" .. ' ' ■:■ ■ ■" ;- / ■.■■-., ~,\W But the subtlety was lost upon the "Sun" representative, as— his , head awhirl with the dreams of a scoop— -he scuttled away. ' ■■"',' Somehow, the little story did not ring very brightly in the sensitive ears of "Truth." When the "Tamaroa" berthed at the Glasgow wharf, Wellington, a representative, of this 1 paper clambered up' the gangways and ; inquired as ■to the whereabouts of "Taffy.". , A steward conducted "Truth" along an alleyway or two, until they came to where a young steward was busy with cleaning rags and metal-polish furbishing the brasswork. "Surely," cogitated "Truth," "surely this is not the man who hanged Dr. Crippen?" However, "Truth" asked "Taffy," a fresh-raced "Welshman of some 26 years, whether he was anticipating the pleasure of hanging Norgrove, pointing out to him the many achievements accredited to him by the "Sun." . "Taffy" looked extremely pained when he caught sight of the cutting produced for his inspection. "That's not me," he declared, vehemently. "They've made an awful mistake and. all my pals aboard ship have been giving me a terrible time of it!" "It's 'Tubby,' not 'Taffy '— 'Tubby' Wallace, who is third pantryman on the ship." i ,i

Bumped 'Em Off

"Truth" then tactfully srtthdrew. in-i y quiring on: tne way back to the stew- V ■; arda* quarters where "Tubby" might i /-. be found. / A few minutes- later "Truth" met the ,"' "Sun's" man of myßtery, the Chap who consigned- arch-criminals to the hall off < ' the hereafter with as much aplomb as you or I would relish a chop for break- , • fast. . The name-tag which "TubbyV shipmate had attached to him was ->\ no misnomer. ' ,' Short and squat, with a protuberance; j « beneath his .pantryman's apron that ,-J would have graced the girdle of many ' ft a Falstaff, he sank heavily upon a '~ * lower berth and asked the nature of L i the visit. 7 " When "Truth" disclosed Its identity ,j to Wallace, he did not look quite at his if| ease, though that may have been due $ to nervousness. ( ' "m, Oh, yes, he observed airily, he'd^iS? executed any number of criminals in' 7 § England, but be was delightfully vague -' I, about it all. 4/4 First of all, he was asked about the \V story which appeared in the Christ- ■>' church "Sun," but he refused to eay \ anything- about when he hanged Grippen, although he admitted having made ' ah application to the Minister of Justice to hangr Norgrove. The - more questions asked by "Truth's" representative, th© nwrf) elusive and evasive did/Wallao©Dacome, and, when it came to the matter of deciding when and where he hanged the notorious Dr. Crippen, the man so very anxious to keep his hand in was extraordinarily indefinite. x "Let me see," , reflected the inter-

viewer, "Crlppen ■was, banged just after the -war, wasn't he?" "Yes, that's right/' readily responded Wallace. . ' "About

1921 or 1922, I don't remember which." An. astounding piece of information, particularly as Dr. Crippen was executed ten years previously! And when "Truth" received this answer, any 'previous suspicions were now fully affirmed by the glib acceptance of the suggestion implied by the newspaper man's inquiry. i "You were in the war, I suppose?" was the next question. "Oh, yes, I served In the Navy." "And when, at the expiration of the war, you were demobilized, you rejoined the merchant service and after a while you had a little shore leaved during which you hanged Crippen?" ."Yes,;thafs right." This was too much, but although strenuous endeavors were made to pin "Wallace down to exact — or even approximate — -dates, each successive effort was equally abortive as its predecessor. Yes, he admitted, he had kept a diary, but unfortunately he left it in England. "Truth" then veered on another tack and was rewarded— and astounded— by the soft -voiced admission that "Wallace- „ . had not executed Crippen, although he '" assisted Ellis, the public executioner at Pentonville prison. "But I must not tell you any more," said th« much puffed -up "ftxeeutianfeP," "beeau«6 \t I did tka Homo Office would be on my trail and I would be penalized under the Official Secrets Act, and — — w w But "Truth" had heard quite enough by this time. "' "All right, Mr. Wallace; We would not like to see you getting Into trouble over it. Good morning." "But, I say. You won't put up any headlines about me, will you? They've given me a hot time of it aboard, already, y*see, an' I don't want to get into trouble with the heads. y*see?" We saw* { ' »£,