THE REGENT-STREET OUTRAGE. OFFICIAL INQUIRY. (FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.)

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 221, 24 September 1887, Page 5

THE REGENT-STREET OUTRAGE.

OFFICIAL INQUIRY. (FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT. )

Since the official inquiry into the Cass oase, the " Pall Mall Gazette " has published the following, -which may or may not bo true, about the witness Wheatley, the joiner who was called by Constable Endacott to verify hiß statements relative to the arrest :—: — Mr. Wheatley entered the employment of Messrs Zobell and Co. a fortnight before Easter, and he remained there until a fortnight since, when ho was dismissed for various reasons which it is not necessary to enter into now. During the time of his service at Messrs, Zobell's he was very communicative to his follow workmen, and talked to them treely concerning his doings and his relationship with prostitutes on the one hand and with policemen on the other. Mr Watson, a workman who had be^n employed for two and a half years by Messrs Zobell, frequently conversed with him on the subject, and inasmuch as Wheatley's statements have attracted considerable public attention we thought it well to interview Mr Watson on the subject of the statements which Wheatley had made in the workshop. Mr Watson, a very straightforward, independent workman, who sacrificed half a day on Monday morning in order to seek an opportunity of confronting YV hoatley before the Chief Commissioner, said: "I knew Wheatley very well. The first time I knew of Wheatley's relations with the police was some days before the arrest of Miss CaB3. He told me that ho was going into business on his own account, and when he did co he would like me to write him a sign-board, and as he was good friends with the police he should get on. I remarked that I could not see what the mischief the police had to do with it. 'A h,' said he, 'it makes a great difference to a man whether ho is pals with the police or whether he is not.' 1 could not understand it, but afterwards he explained to me that he was very good friends with them, and that they could help a man a lot. He had been in the force himself at Leamington ; and I will mention (said Mr Watson) that although he denies it, there is a man of my acquaintance who knows a ense in which Wheatley was engaged as a police constable. I had several talks with Wheatley on the matter from that time until ho was discharged. He in\ ited me to go down to the 1 Cock,' where he said he was to be found almost every night drinking with the girls and with the detectives. He asked me to go down and see his performance, as he called it. He said that the girls knew him by the name of l Leamington Jimmy,' or ' Long Nosed Jimmy,' and half believed him to be a detective, for he was so much in with the police. I never Avent down to the "Cock," but a friend of mine saw him there only last Sunday night; so that he seems to still keep up his custom. You will «cc that ho has denied that he ever had any relations with the police. Now ab a matter of fact, apart from his btatements to me and three of my mates who are willing to come forward if necessary and twear as to his having been so intimate with the police and the detectives and with Endacott, whom he told me he had known for three years, I know of my own knowledge that he had at least three communications from the police the week after Miss Cass -\\a? arrested." "How do you know it?" " Because the first time a detective and a policeman " "How do you know he was a detective ?" " Because the detective told me he was a detective. They came to Zobell and Co.'s, where I worked, and asked for Wheatley. I directed them where to find him, and all three went off in a cab. This, I think, was on a Wednesday. When he came back I remarked to him about the detectives being after him. ' No,' he said, ' I saw a girl arrested, and I have been to make a statement.' The next day, or the day after — I don't know which— that is, on Thursday or Friday, the detective came again for him, and on the third day two detectives came. Yet before the Commissioner he said he had had no relations with the police. The fact of the visit of these police can be proved by Mr Zobell if you think my testimony is insufficient." "Did he ever talk to you about the Cass case?' "He said he had known Endacott for three years, and that Endacott had talked to him about his practice of levying eixpence from each ofthefiesh girls who came out in Regent-street. lam perfectly certain he said that to me, and not to me only. He said further that Endacott v/as a man who, if he had made a mistake, would stick to it rather than give in, and endeavour to face it out. Hence you can imagine my surprise when I heard him deny this before the Commissioner. I was most anxious to be called and if the case comes into Court, I shall be only too glad to be sworn as to the truth of all lam saying to you now. If I had faced Wheatley before the Commissioner, he would not have dared to have lied as he did ; and if I catch him 'on the hop ' in Regentstreet, as I hope to do, I shall have something to say to him."

Opinion of the "Daily Telegraph." The "Daily Telegraph" says the apparont outcome of the inquiry, obvious to every observer after the five days' hearing, is that either the policeman or the girl has been guilty of gross and wilful falsehood. And, having the evidence of that inquiry before them, the public cannot help seeing that Endacott's character has come out not absolutely spotless, while Miss Cass has not suffered at all from the inquiries which have been made into her past history, or from the insinuations levelled against her by witnesses whose testimony is not, to say the least, of a convincing description. Whatever Sir Charles Warren may decide, it is evident that the case will be left in a most unsatisfactory state if the policeman be merely dismissed from the force, or if, on the other hand, he be retained and censured ; we put out of sight for the present the possibility of his conduct being justified. The whole affair will end ir. a most lame conclusion indeed, if the policeman be not proceeded against in a regular fashion of law, with sworn testimony on both sides, and a proper prospect of punishment if he be proved guilty.

A decree has been issued by the Emperor of China sanctioning the construction of a railway between Peking and Canton. It is to be built with Chinese capital, and the provincial authorities concerned are to set about finding the necessary funds and preparing for the work. Mr Gladstone says that Wales is "the most Protestant country in the whole world," and the "Methodist Times" of London says : " We believe there is not a Welsh-speaking Roman Catholic congregation in existence." In New York they have got soda water down to 2 cents per glass, and the glasses are large at that.