WHOSE WAS THE HAND?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 25 July 1907, Page 4

WHOSE WAS THE HAND?

TIIK MKIJSotiiXE Ml'KDEli. j EX -DETECTIVE'S THEORY. j Ex-detective u-Donuell. of Melbourne, ji» of the opinion that he knows the man who killed Bernard Bauer, the diamond .'merchant, and offer, hia services to tli9 authorities. As the result of a careful [study of the circumstance-, Mr O'Dunneil ihas come to the conclusion that the crime was the work of a man whose names—for he has many—were a few years ago notorious in every capital in the Commonwealth, and who he himself knew well.

The process of reasoning and deduction by whieh the conclusion was reached is interesting. "We start from the fact." sjiid Mr (TDonncll. "that Bauer was killitl deliberately. It was not the ease of a man knocked down by n burglar to enable him to escape. Bauer was smashed to death, in order that he would never identify (Tie man who robbed him. So we start from that. Now It is a well-known fact that there is not one criminal in a hundred in Pentridge. or out of it, who will deliberately take life. Most of them would knock men upon the head with a jemmy or something of that sort. If he were in the way; but 99 out of 100 would not intentionally kill a man.

"I believe t know the hundredth man in this case. I had him myself once. He fought like a tiger, and got his thumb into the socket of my right eye. and started to push the cyejtack into my head. I managed to get the thumb between my teeth, and held on while he battered me on the back of the head, till assistance came. There arc points of resemblance in all jobs committed by the same individual. The circumstances of Bauer's murder are* rather unusual. They are remarkable in some respects. My man fits nearly all these circumstances. Tate all the peculiarities and details and spread them out, so to speak, and the job begins to take a definite shape. The next thing is to find a 'crook' that wfll fit in. This murderer was-an old hand. T should say he worked alone. TTe was cool, clever, determined, and used to I>ig game.' These are a few of the points that are particularly noticeable. They all fit the man T have in my mind, and other details fit him, too. The descriptions given by Mr Cutler and the lady on the stairs fit him, too. It may be only a coincidence, but it is something worth going on for a start, but here is the gentleman's picture. It was taken some years ago. Only two people saw the suposed muffterer. We'll see what they have to say to this photo. If they say No,' 111 shut up, because 111 be wrong, 7n that ease, and I'll admit it; but if they say it is like the man, he should be looked for."

Mr Cutler looked at the photograph attentively for a minute or more, then hp said, "It's very much like, him." When the lady who encountered the supposed murderer on the stair* was shown the photograph, she found something more than a general resemblance. She said with evident anxiety in her tone, "Can I get-into any trouble for what I Bay about this!" The lady was assured that she could not. "Then, to the beat of my belief," she said, "that is the man F met. It is very ilke him. Of course, I would not like to say for certain. - ' Asked if she noficed how the man walked, the lady said that he walked very straight, with his shoulders thrown back', just as if he had been drilled. These were almost the terms in which Mr O'Donnell had described to Mr Cutler the "carriage" of his suspect. "This man would lie well dressed," remarked the ex-detective. "The man I met was well-dressed," was the reply, "and 1 noticed that his hands were very white for a man." That's my man. too," said Mr O'Donnell, who offered his ser

rices free of pay or reward in the search for the murderer.