WHOLESALE MURDER.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 January 1920, Page 5

WHOLESALE MURDER.

SOLDIER'S FEARFUL 'RECORD. * J Freddy Albert, a South African fol' dier, was executed a few weeks ago iw , v the moat of the Citadel at LiHe. He | was 22 years of age, and a native of the ij Cape, and the son of a whits WOIUUI. He was, however, a bad character, and the despair of his parents, and had, moreover, beon often imprisoned for . breaches of the law. During tie war he \ enlisted in the army, where he alto wry i soon proved himself to be a bad toldjer At the beginning of this year he formed, in Flanders, with several regimental ! companions, a formidable bano\ which , ■devoted itself to plundering and to committing murders, of which the motive , war. theft. Albert and his accomplices, named Little David, Big David,.Devries, i and Stevens, murdered in all seven per" ' sons, of whom three, who were killed at Passchendaele, in Belgium, on May 17th, \ were women who had come to look for the graves of relatives killed on the field of battle. The victims were shot and afterwards robbed. The household of a farmer at Fettre met the same fate on June 15, and another couple were fbot at Merris on June 22. As the mult of the latter crime a dispute aroee between Stevens and Albert as to the dis« - tribution of the booty, Whereupon the ■ latter killed his accomplice. Little Datid, Big David, and Harris were all executed in Belgium, while Devries was lentenced to 15 years' penal servitude. f It was whilst accompanying' himself - on a banjo after his arrest that Albert ; sang the story of his crimes to the police : agents who were charged with securing ' his confession. During the whole of toe night before his execution, of which he had been previously warned, he continu- ' ed to sing to the accompaniment of hi» banjo. He went to' the place of execution witli a film step.