THE ARRAN TRAGEDY. A REMARKABLE MURDER.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 418, 9 November 1889, Page 6

THE ARRAN TRAGEDY. A REMARKABLE MURDER.

Criminal, records have their place, else a gieat many worthy people would "be robbed ot their vocation. The sensational ftlaybiick biial, among other effects, overshadowed some interesting crimes which, under other circumstances, would have formed the topic of the hour. Now that Florence Maybrick is learning needlework and other useful crafts in Woking Prison, writes a London correspondent, we have time to turn our attention to a crime which, for over a month pa^t, has been agitating the police and the newspaper reporters, the 3attcr of whom, described it as " The Arran Myoteiy." The Island of Arran is much favoured by tourists who love the strange and romantic in nature when they can obtain it within comparatively easy distance of home. Its chief a tli action is a lofty and procipitous mountain, bearing the somewhat uneuphonious name of Goatfell. In the early paib of last mouth, a number of visitors ariived at the island by steamer. Among them wefo" a Mr Rose and an individual calling himself Annandale, who attracted general attention by reason of his bomewhat^oM^v' mode of attiio, but seemed in other respects a quiet, well-conducted young man. He and Hose had never met betoie, but they had picked up an acquaintance on board the boat, and the latter was so much taken with his new fricricl that he agreed to tako lodgings with him, and "do" the island under his guidance, Annandale having been there before. In the morning the pair sallied out with the avowed intention of ascending the Goatfell, and at nightfall 1 Annandale returned alone, saying that his companion had gone to another point of i interest in the island. On the following morning the landlady could find no trace, either of her lodgers or of their luggage, but both beds had the appearance of having been- slept in during tho night. Thinking that she h.ad fallen a ■* iclim to a ruse, having for its motiy.e bhe-,iipn-payment of. rent, and a& the amount- "was a small one, she said nothing about the matter. About a week later, howevjer; an elder brother- of, 'Mr Rose,becominganxiousaboubbholattet"'snon!* appearance, crossed over to Arran to make inquiries, and : becoming convinced that there had been foul playy 1 - proceeded to search 1 the mountain with the assistance of a numbor of residents and tourists. After some days spent in a most minute and laborious scrutiny the body of the unfortunate young man was found in a crevice into which »t had been thrust, and then covered over with a heap of large stones. So methodically had the body been hidden that the odds were greatly against its discovery, had not one of the searchers been guided to the spot by the smell of decomposing flesh. From the nature of wounds on the. head and' shoulder it was evident that the deceased had not met hi.i death by a fall, but had been killed by heavy blows, probably with a stona. Here was a murder established, and Annandale, by the strongest of infers ences, was coupled with it. B,ut who was the culprit ? jVnd where was he to be found? For some titiie^tlie bloodhounds of the law were at fault. At length the extraordinary ,' proceedings of a young man named Laurie in Glasgow began to attract, attention. This Laurie was an engine fitter, and his description closely corresponded to that given of Annandale by those who had seen him in Arran. Laurie Mad, it was known to his fellow workmen, been to Arran for his holidays,- and his actions after the an nouncement that? the body had been re- ' \

covered reached the ears of the police, and directed the strongest suspicion against him.* He disappeared from Glasgow, subsequently writing to his landlady, saying that he was suspected of some crime of which he was innocent, and asking her to refuse- to give information to persons who might inquire after him. From this point the energies of the police were directed to the tracing and capture of. Laurie, I 'for some "weeks without success. Clues wore continually being found andr lost again, until the fugitive's partiality for a girl who had jilted him led him to the. tdangerons neighbourhood- of Hamilton, whore a policeman, whose atteni tion was attracted ' by his disreputable and dicey appearance, gave chase, and finally ran his quarry to earth in a wood, wheie, before capture, he cut his throat, but not dangerously. Laurie was then easily identified as "Annandale, but he protests his innocence, and professes ignorance us to how Mr leo.se met his death. He has not yet been committed for trial. Such in briet is the history of the Arran tragedy, the latest sensation in the criminal world.