WHO WAS "SILLIAMS?"

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 29, 3 February 1913, Page 8

WHO WAS "SILLIAMS?"

MURDERER'S IDENTITY CONCEALED. “John Williams, tho murderer of Inspector Arthur Walls, was hanged tliis morning”—thus ran a cablegram appearing in Friday night’s issue. Williams, it may bo remembered, shot Inspector Walls at tho house of Countess Sztaray in Eastbourne on October !)th. The police received information that there were burglars in the house, and when Inspector Walls was investigating, he surprised Williams, who shot him and made his escape. One of the most remarkable aspects of the case (wrote the London correspondent of the Sydney Daily Telegraph on December 20th) is that the police have been consenting parties to the concealment of the real name of the prisoner John Williams, who is now under sentence of death. lb is admitted that his real name is not Williams, and that the police know all about him. His brother, who was called by the prosecution to give evidence regarding the receipt of a letter from the prisoner on the morning after the murder, was allowed to

be sworn under the name of Williams. When the prisoner was taken down to Eastbourne to attend the inquest on the murdered man he was allowed to wear a gown with a hood, by means of which he was able to conceal his face from view. Jt was stated at the time that the object of tiiis procedure was to prevent witnesses who were to be asked to identify the prisoner, obtaining a view of him beforehand, but as no one obtained a distinct view of the features of the man on the' portico, there was no evidence of | identification. No photograph of j Williams was published in the newspapers until after Ids conviction. Whenj a photographer attempted to get a! snapshot of Williams as he was enter-l ing the police court in custody, his! brother assaulted the photographer and broke the camera. The concealment of the identity of the condemned man appears to be the result of humane consideration for the position/of his relatives. It is quite a common practice in English courts, for a witness in a case in which he or she gives evidence to assist the course of justice, to be allowed to withhold his or her name from publicity, if the Judge or Magistrate is satisfied that the publication of it may affect. the business or social position of the I witness. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that the identity of Williams is being concealed as the re- 1 suit of influence in authoritative quar- ; ters. According to a Sunday paper which professes to have been supplied with full information concerning him, he is the son of a Presbyterian minister—the black sheep of a respectable family. In bis teens, he was several times in the hands of the police. Ho served in the Boer war, but robbed a comrade in camp, and was sentenced by court martial to two years’ imprisonment. Shortly after his release, he was tried at Kimberley for robbery and receiving stolen goods, and was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment. He returned to England in 1907, and since thou has followed a criminal career, and has served three sentences for housebreaking and burglary. In giving evidence at his trial, he admitted that lie had been a burglar and had a criminal record.