THE STORY OF A NIGHT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 234, 26 September 1908, Page 4

THE STORY OF A NIGHT

By Geo. K. Sims.

On Sunday, March 40th, I!H>5, a wardrobe dealer, of Brookniill Koad, Deptford, was preparing to rest. Looking oat of his bedroom window, shortly af midnight, he saw someone standing or. the opposite side of the way. • Itf a front room on the ground floor there was lodging a young man. Shortly after midnight there was a tap at the window of the room in which he was sleeping. The young man rose, opened the window, and said to the person who had tapped: "Shall we g" out to-night?" The answer was evidently in the Hf-I ftrmative, lor .the young man got oat of the window and joined the person who had called him up. SEEN BY MANY. At 2.30 Harry Littlefield, a profession al boxer, was at a coffee-stall near the Broadway Theatre, Deptford, and saw two young men coming along. One of them had something under his coat, and kept looking about furtively. The boxer recognised the men as Albert Stratton, a young fellow of twenty who hud been in the Xavy, and Alfred Stratton, his brother, who was two years older, and was well known in the neighbourhood as a follower of athletic sports—more especially cycling, football, and cricket. Alfred nodded to him, and said, " Hallo, Harry!" and Walked on. At 3.30 a Mrs. Compton, returning from visiting some friends, met Alfred and Albert Stratton near the Broadway.

Shortly after seven in the morning, a boy, delivering milk in High Street, »w two young anen leave So. 31, an oil and colour shop. They came out, pulled the door to after them, and walked away. The door swung back again, and the boy called after them, "Hi! You've left the door open!" At 7.15, a young woman named Stanton, going to the Tailway-station, saw two men running up High Street. She knew one of them as Alfred Stratton. A TRAGIC DISCOVERY.

At ISa, a painter, on his way to the citation, passed the shop, and s aw an old gentleman come out of it, his face sta.n----«d with blood, look vacantly up and down the street, and then go back into the shop and close the door. • lAt eight o'clock, a lad who assisted In the shop arrived, and was astonished at seeing the shutters still up, and tie door dosed. Thinking something was wrong, he procured assistance, and entered the premises. • la the back parlour lay old Mr. Farlaw, the manager of the shop, dead. • When the police were called, and the upstiairs premises searched, Mrs. Farrow was found lying terribly wounded and unconscious in 'bed. The room had been ransacked. A cash-box was lying open on the table. On tie side of the eash-box was a ibemb-mark. The burglar had pressed Ms thumb heavily on the side of the box when forcing it open. On the premises were also found two black masks, a pair of black stockings, and a pair of scissors. From the ttocklngs the material for the masks had been cut.

The news of the tragedy at the little oil and colour shop in High Street, Deptford, spread rapidly. The evening newspapers came out early, with nior* or leas accurate accounts. A full description of the men seen leaving t'.u shop was given. IN MBLODKAJIATIC LANGUAGE. Among the persons who heard of the murder and read the description m the newspapers was Annie Cromarty, a young woman who lived in the same hoaee as Alfred Stratton, and was nis sweetheart. "Alf," she exclaimed, "this description is very like you!" The young man laughed. "Nonsense i" he said. "Do you think I should do such a thing? Vm too well known!" Shortly afterwards an even more dramatic conversation took place in the house. The landlady, who, late on the previous night, had, with her husband, looked out of the window, and seen a young fellow standing on the opposite side of the way, came into the room where Alfred Stratton and Annie Cromarty were. '" I have seen the description of the man wanted for the awml murder that was committed near here this morning," she said. "1 have my suspicions, and I don't think 1 am far wrong. With God's help, I will not leave a atone unturned until I bring thg guilty one to justice!" This is the sort of speech that fie cultured criticism of to-day would describe as the stilted language of me'odrama.

OX THE TRAIL. But they are the exact words used in the real life drama that was going on in the front room of a little house m Deptford. The murderer and his sweetheart stood, with the headlined account of •the tragedy between them while the landlady declared that she had her suspicions, and that, with God's help, she would ibting the guilty ones to justice. But there were other people engaged in the same righteous task.

Alfred Stratton had said to Annie Cromarty that he was- " too well known" to do such a thing. He was so well known to Littlefieid, who had seen him and his brother going towards High Street at 2.30 in the morning, that the boxer also had suspicions, and communicated with the police.

A SWEETHEART'S EVIDENCE. ' But the fact of their being out and about in the middle of the night was no proof that the Stratton brothers were the murderers of old Mr. and Mrs. Farrow. So the police, having received information that Annie Cromarty was likely to know something about Alfred Btratton's proceedings on the night of the crime, and also his proceedings aftcwards, arranged to interview her.

She Was known to a. local detective, and he stopped her one evening as she was out walking, and hinted to her that the English law looks upon a person who knows who committed a murder, and by silence assists the murderer to escape from justice, as an accessory alter the fact.

In perfectly plain language, Annie Cromarty was told .that, if she knev anything which would help the police, and concealed her knowledge from them, she might later on have to stand in the dock instead of the witeness-box.

The girl, nervous and terrified, told all she knew. She told how Alfred Stratton had gone out 'with his brother on the night of the crime, and how he bad Teturned at nine o'clock in the morning, his clothes cleaned with pa»Sffin, and himself bearing cvidenicc cf having had a bath. She told how, walking near the waterworks afterwards, he had pointed to a spot in the ground near a fence, and had told her that he lind there burii 1 four sovereigns, the money lie had saved Up in order to marry her. "He told me it was my inarriag':jnoney," said the girl. The police dug at tlw> spot indicated, and found the gold. Annie_ Cromarty's "marriage-money" was evidence that Alfred Stratton had been possessed i-i means after the night of .March 27th. Trevious to this he had not had siitti eient to pay for a meal.

A SILENT WITNESS. At the trial, at the Old Bailey, Alfred fltratton "explained" the burying .;l Annie Cromarty's marriage-money. " If I had kept it in my pocket" if »aid, "I should have spent it. If I had kept it in my room, it would have Von stolen." But there was a witness against Alfred Stratton—a .silent witness, that might foe more damning than ail those who had spoken. The thumb-mark on the ca*h-!,ox. compared with an imprint of Alfred Stratton's thumb, showed half a dozen points of resemblance, and the subsequent trial 'was remarkable as being the first in which "finger-marks" have pined a conspicuous part.

I was present at the Old Bailey during the whole of the trial of the brotheis Stratton, and the piteous condition of Annie Cromarty, as she vainly tried ri take .back her confession, and fought desperately in the witness-box for t.ie life of the'man to whom she should have been wedded, moved me deeply. The Assistant-Commissioner of Police. Sir Melville Macnaghten. who was present at the trial, agreed with me that the position of the girl was ;i terribly s,i I one, 'and he assured me that anything that was done to help her to a now hi,would have the sympathy of the poleauthorities. It was this assurance, given me by the alwavs sympathetic and .kind-heart .1 chief "of the Criminal invest iga lion Department, that brought me mlo cl-.ve touch with the Strattons and their familv tragedy. "mother oi- Mrni>F.ni-.i;s. The shame and horror of the d.vd that was the la-( act of two young but terribly misspent, lives, fell heavily on the poor old mother. No one wh" was al the inqtic-d w'.cn the young men were present, in the

custody of a warder from Brixton Gad,' will over forget the pathetic scene where the unhappy mother, having given h-r evidence, tottered past her sons and' wailed: "You leave killed me! You hai'c killed me, if you have done this!" The lads—they were little more—w,io had borne themselves with the utmost callousness and bravado, broke down' badly then for the lirst and last time during the whole of the investigation and trial, -which ended in their condemnation. Tears streamed irom their eyes, and for some moments they covered their faces and sobbed.

It was an emotional episode, that no one had anticipated, and for a moment the sordid story of brutal crime wis forgotten. The eyes of strong men were moist, and women wept. After the mother, she who walked in the darkest shadow of the black tragedy seemed to those of lis who were present,, when she gave her evidence, to be Annie Cromarty.

In her lirst terror, when the police told her how serious the consequents of reticence might be, she had confessed everything. {She had told them that after the descriptions of the men who had lieen seen leaving the oil and colour shop at seven in the morning had lie en published, and one was stated to have worn a brown coat and brown boots, Alfred had got rid of his brown coat, and had blacked his brown boots.

At the police-court (proceedings slie had given evidence against Alfred Stratton that was damning. REGARDED AS HOSTILE. At the Old Bailey the unhappy girl sat in the witness-box, a picture of misery, and vainly attempted to put a complexion on her evidence more favourable to her lover, who looked at her reproachfully from the dock. The girl was in bad health. She was evidently suffering acutely; her face was deadly white, great beads of perspiration stood upon her brow, and, again and again, so faint did she appear to be, water was handed to her by the attendant. V-Sit There were circumstances which rendered the terrible position of the unhappy girl doubly pathetic, and, after the trial, I did the best I could, with the assistance of some generous friends of mine, to give her a chance of leading a better life.

She was ill for a time, but, on her recovery, was received into an excellent home at Greenwich. We got a sum of money together, and it was intended that the girl should go to Canada; but, alas! it was not to be. When the time came for her to start, she declined to go, and went back again to the old enviroiunent, of which she was a product and a victim. FEIiLOW-SU FFERERS.

I have said that the-mother and that the girl Alfred Stratton a aid he intended to marry were the two beings upon whom the shame of the brutal deed fell most heavily. The poor old mother, long after her sons had paid the penalty of their crime, still had pity in her heart for the girl who had helped to send her boys to the gallows.

Annie Cromarty was arrested one night, charged with disorderly conduct outside the shop in High Street which had been the scene of the tragedy.

Shortly afterwards' Mrs. Stratton wrote to a kindly clergyman, who had done his best for her sous at the time of their trial, and the clergyman forwarded the letter to .inc.

Few, remembering what had happened, will deny that this letter breathes the spirit of a beautiful humanity:— " 10/4/'o."i. Greenwich. Dear Sir—l am writing a few lines to thank yon for your very great kindness to my two !x>ys, and to ask if you could do anything for Annie Cromarty, as 1 see by the paper that she has been locked up; so I see she is still about here. i thought she was gone to Canada. 1 feel very sorry for her, and hope yoa will ibe able to help her.—Yours respectfully, Marion Stratton." Alfred Stratton, in his bitter resentment at Annie Cromarty's evidence given at the magisterial examination, drew a picture ol her with a pin-point on the door of the cell in which he was placid at the Tower Bridge Tolice Court. I have a photograph of the remarkable drawings with which he illustrated his cell door that afternoon. Above the likenes s of the girl he wrote, "Ug.y Cromarty." 'Near it he drew, with aj pin, his' own counterfeit presentment, and by the side of that he wrote, '• Pretty fair likeness." But after his condemnation his feelings changed, and lie wrote to the girl, telling her he forgave her, and imploring her to keep from drink, and to lead a good life. Both he and his brother had begun life with promise of better things. Alfred, especially, had appeared at one time likely to make good use of his undoubted abilities.

Both admitted, during the last days of their life that tlioy deserved their fate.

The story of the Strattons is an interesting one. not only to the criminologist, hut to all who are concerned in the great social problem of " Lad Life in London." WITH EVERY (M'OUTIW'iTY. Both these lads were of good appearance, fairly well educated, and both had abilities which, rightly directed, would have given them every chance of 311 honourable and a successful career.

But soon after they became free "f parental control they took to the l : fe of the streets, and fell into evi> companionship and evil ways. These youths, who, at the time tf their arrest for the murder of the farrows, were aged respectively twenty and twenty-two, had been for some time previously earning their living, such as it was, by burglary. They had in their possession implements used by burglars, and in a room in which one of them lodged some silver plate—the proceeds of a burglary—was seen by the landlady. They made no denial of being professional lwrglars, for during the trial they accused one of the witnesses—a woman —of having helped to "change"—that is, to sell to the receivers—some of the articles they had obtained by breaking into houses and shops. Honestly employed, both might luwc had a decent living. As criminals, they made a very poor one, in spite of tho'r '• successes."

One had been turned out of his lodgings because he could not pay his rent; the other was so hard up that for several days prior to the murder lie had no nionev at all. He bought his breakfast on the morning of the murder with some of the money he had found in the cash-box. ROBBERY THE MOTIVE. The two young burglars did not contemplate murder when they set out to rob the Utile oil-shop in High Street. The death of their victims was prob-

ably regarded by the Strattons as an " accident" of tileir profession. Eur a time, it does not seem to have troubled them very much. On the day of hi-i arrest, Alfred was (linking in a publichouse, when a detective entered, and beckoned to him, saying, " Alf, I want von."

It has been argued that our detective fore.- should be recruited from the educated classes, and I'niversity men. with trained intelligence, have been mentioned as likely to make good criminal investigators. It does not. seem to have occurred to

(lie suggestcrs that the first, ncccssby in tlw detection of crime is that those entrusted with it shall have passed through th,. police force, and have become'familiar with the criminal classes. There is no one so friendly with (he

police as the professional criminal, when '•not wanted." It is when the aiuate-'r takes to crime that Scotland Yard is most frequently baffled.