A VILLAGE MYSTERY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 87, 8 May 1909, Page 3

A VILLAGE MYSTERY.

WORD IKX'UIItEXCES IX '■HAUSTED" HOUSE.

Extraordinary interest is manifested in the country district, surrounding the town of Ecclesliall. Staffordshire, in mysterious occurrences at a house at Copmere, a little village some three miles distant from Ecclesliall.

The village is' very inaccessible, being miles removed from a railway station, and the scene of the mysterious visitations is a house which for forty years lias lieen owned and occupied by ill', liithard Jones and his wife—an ordinary country dwelling standing close to a Wg pool not far from a road. For a month'past uncanny occurrences are reported to have been repeated almost daily, the last being on Saturday, llllh March. When Mrs. Jonoa and a loui'Lecn year-old girl who lias' been living with her since the perplexing affair began _wcrc just about to sit down to tea. "something" came from "somewhere'' and smashed botli their cups and saucers into many pieces. At the same time—so the girl told a i newspaper representative—a chair in the room sprung round and round on p'.ie leg. Frightened beyond measure, they cried for assistance, but when the neighbors came nothing could be found to account for the affair. Almost all the window.? in the lower rooms have liven broken by pieces of coal, apparently propelled by some uncanny force from the fire-grate, whicii has been taken down and rebuilt without any diminution i;i the frequency of (lie occurrences. As fast as the new windows are put in they are said to be broken, China has also been smashed, furniture damaged, and the occupants of the house hit by missiles. While a newspaper representative was in the bouse a gentleman entered, who stated that on two occasions recently, when he called to see Mis. Jones, he had been violently struck in the back by lumps or coal. Although he had turned sharply he could find nothing to account (or the singular business. Mr. .Tones is generally away from home during the day, n nd his' aged wife is quite unnerved by the occurrences: Meanwhile the house is visited by nuny curious parties in motor-ears, carriages, and on cycles.—London Daily Xews.-"

'• PEATH BY POST. • , (Being the True Record of a Lifetime I in the Detective Service by John Sweeney, late Detective-Inspector, , Criminal Investigation Department, Ned Scotland Yard.) THE TUSSACD GUNPOWDER CASE. ' In 1888 there came up the case of Mr. ; John Tussaud and the man White. The ■ latter was an employee at Madame Tus--1 sand's, and one of those who perfected the art of affixing hair to wax models. He was trained in this by Madame Tussaud, so that it will be gathered that at the time of this case he was an old man. lie was in the service of the Tussnuihj for forty years, and imparted his art to Mr. John Tussaud. When the old establishment in Bakerstreet was pulled down and the present one built, and the management passed into the hands of a company, that gentleman was appointed to an important position in it. He was largely engaged in developing the wax models and , putting hair on various parts. At this '' juncture White, being old, and therefore considered to be practically past work, was dismissed. A DIABOLICAL PLOT. ] Being without any other resources, ] the unfortunate mail saw himself near ( starvation. He conceived the idea that if i by any means Mr. Tussaud could be re- \ moved, he would be reinstated in his t old position, as there were so few who had any knowledge of this art of affixing hair to wax. So White evolved a diabolical scheme. He packed several pounds of gunpowder into a wooden box; in the midst of thij stuff lie placed some fusees, which were ' v pressed closely against some emery- : paper, and so fixed to the lid of the box ! that when the lid was raised the emery- , paper and fusee-heads would grate - t against one another, causing the ignition '[ of the fusees, which, in its turn, would J bring about the explosion of the gun- f powder. " White despatched this precious parcel ? to Mr. Tussaud, who received it in due :' course. But it was a particularly heavy parcel, and Mr. Tussaud was not expect- " ing any missive of this appearance. He S handled it very gingerly, and on remov- J nig the paper in which it 'was wrapped I he noticed a peculiar smell, which made him very suspicious. He put the box e carefully on one fi ide, and sent for the police. Two officers came, and with their help the lid was very gently removed and the death-trap disclosed. ' ALL IN THE DAY'S WORK. s I do not suppose that this job was at ■>' all to their liking; but risks are all in ,'.' the day's work of a police-officer. It was patent that the sender of the box in- .!' tended to do grievous bodily harm to f Mr. Tussaud, probably to kill'him. Then, . who was the sender ? "

Another detective and myself were told off to find out. Our only clue was the postmark on the .paper,'of Fetter Lane, E.G. An a day or two had elapsed since the sending of the article, it was not altogether easy for the clerks in the .office to recall to their minds the appearance of its depositor; but at last an unusually smart clerk gave some particulars of au old man who, u, few days before, had very cautiously handed in such a parcel.

We communicated this description, so I far as it went, to Mr. ussaud, and asked him whether he knew of anyone who corresponded to it. He said that it suggested a man named White, who had recently been dismissed. We went into the history of the matter, and the mo. tivc for the action at once became plain. Since his dismissal White had changed j his address, but eventually we ran him to earth—as we thought—in a house at Shepherd's Bush.

We sought him there; but we learnt, strange to say, that he and his daughter, with whom he was living, had left the house that very day, This we found out through a rather amusing incident which occurred almost at once. My colleague and I were keeping the house under observation, when 1 saw a man whom I knew very well, named Clark, walk up to the house accompanied bv his wife.

Clark went to the door and knocked | several times., but with no result. He | then climbed on to a window-sill and forced a window open. Knowing Clark as I did. 1 felt quite sure that lie had no felonious intentions, and 1 saw the I chance for a joke. Also. [ thought it possible that he might be able to help us to run White finally to earth. We waited a minute or two longer, and watched Clark get into the house and let his wife in. 1 said to my colleague: R'X AMOXf! DETECTIVES. Wow. look here; here's a chance for some fun. We needn't let on what it is •we re r eally about," "All right,' said he; "I'm on." We knocked at the door and walked in. Meeting Clark in the passage, I challenged him. saying very sternly; Wow, then, pray what are you'doing here? How did you get in?" Clark and I had never before met in this fashion, and, taken verv much aback, particularly with his wife present, and became considerably confused and agitated, and could only stammer something. I went on: "It strikes me you've been committing an illegal act, breaking into a house in this fashion. The matter will certainly not rest here. What have you got to say tor yourself?" .SIIADOWIXC A CHILD. 'He said: •'Oh—cr—l assure vou it's all right-or-! didn't mean any harm. This house belongs to me, and the fact is, my tenant cleared out this morning without paying any rent or giving any notice. I heard about it from a neighbor of nunc, and 1 thought 1 had better come and see about it."

Then our serious representations became friendly conversation, and I said that I, too, was anxious to know White's whereabouts. We talked things over, and mutually agreed that w 0 must find him. Ju.vt as wo had arrived at this startling*decision. „ highly convenient incident Occurred.

A little girl cam* up to the house, descended into the area, and carried off a parcel which had been left there My colleague and I decided to follow her. but Clark wouldn't come. He said he didn't appreciate the shadowing business, and would be glad if. later "on, we would let him know the result of our enquiries.

«e two shadowed the child to a house near Starch Orocn Pond, and remained within sight of it for some time. Presontly we saw approaching it an old man who answered to the description given by the post ollicc clerk and Mr. John Tussaud. As he opened the house door with a latchkey we walked up and addressed him as Mr. White. He was very much startled, and admitted Hint that was his name, and we took him into custody forthwith.

In due course lie was charged nt the Did Mailcy on the charge of attempted murder, and sentenced to twelve mouths' imprisonment. For such a crime the sentence was very lenient, but for this the prisoner had largely to (hank Mr. Tussaud, who said that White was an old man of eighty-two, and he was not anxious that he should lie severely pn-,i-ished. TTiACKIXO THE KEXIAXS. T had some interesting work in connection with a large Fenian gathering in a Holborn hotel, in or about the year 1803. ft was the first important piece of •business entrusted to me after a spell of unusual quid. The first inkling we had that something was afoot consisted in a telegram to.ua' from Dublin, stating that three suspefted' Irishmen were jast leaving Dublin for London. Accompanied by various brother officers, T was on the platform when they arrived at Tuslon. They drove to a small and rather mean hotel in Tottenhoin Court road, where they lunched. We were taking care not to be very far away from them, and presently they went out and walked in the direction of ITolborn. Arrived there, they 1-iUcrcd a certain hotel: and very' soon we saw the hotel also entered by several men whom wo recognised as prominent Irish agitators, including some London doctors, and the man who afterwards became, leader of the second Irish, brigade in the Boer army,

Naturally, I guessed at once Hint an Important revolutionary meeting was about to take place. It was a prettv obvious conclusion, as I saw so many men collecting together who were important factors in the Irish movement. I made enquiries of various porters and waiters and other functionaries, and walked into different bars and rooms to reconnoitre. I could neither hear nor see anything of them, but I felt certain that the plotters had not taken themselves off. ON THE SCENT. I made further enquiries at the booking: ofuea. and learned that a gentleman giving the name of Leonard had, two days previously, engaged a private room for three o'clock this particular afternoon. I obtained a description of Leonard, from which T identified him with one of the medical men, before

i mentioned. 1 ascertained the number I of the room, mid walked out.

ie | I ht'lil a short conference with my ,„ colleagues, anil re-entered the hotel, anil ~ walked straight upstairs to the room t ' without speaking to anybody. I wont 1 past the door, and just as J "did so out I came the conspira tors' in n body. With- , out appearing to notice me, they went " downstairs. I followed them, and fiuw them leave the hotel and disperse ia all r. directions. e We recognised all of them except one, i- who walked oft" towards the City in the d company of a man whom we knew to i. be a head centre from the North of Ire- ,. land—in other words, the head of an t extensive branch in the North of Ire--1 land of the Fenian organisation. We u t . once decided that the stranger must be 3 tracked, and this was done for the rest of the day. WHAT A SPY SAID. ■ He left London in the evening tor j Motherwell, in Scotland. I knew tliat . Ins destination was 'Motherwell from a remark of his which I chanced to ovcr- . hour. We wired to the police for information, and learnt that he was' a Scottish head centre, we were told by a spy that this gathering at the hotel in Hoiborn was a specially convened meeting of the Fenian head centres of the United Kingdom. They camo from London, Dublin, the North and West of Ireland and Scotland. This was one of the most important of the meetings of representative delegates held iu England, —Answers.