A JILTED LOVER'S REVENGE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2588, 30 November 1893, Page 4

A JILTED LOVER'S REVENGE.

Late on the night of September 21st the final scene of a love tragedy, in which a combination of jealousy, drink, and opium led to a frantic man murdering his sweetheart and her lover and then committing suicide, was enacted in Regent square, a dingy but respectable locality in N.W. London. Ihe principal actors resided in the neighborhood. Their names are:—Mr Leo Percy, electrician, Swinton street, tray's Inn road; Mr Samuel Garcia, stockbroker, 1, Vernon Chambers, Bloomsbury, and Miss Daisy (or rather Bessie) Montague, 18, Regent square, a chorus singer at the Empire Theatre. It appears that Percy, who, like Garcia, is a single man, aged 30, had been on terms of intimate friendship with Miss Montague for nearly five years past They were regularly seen together, and it is asserted that a formal engagement existed between them. Recently, however, the relations belween them became strained, and then it was that Garcia appeared on the scene. For the past few nights he had been accompanying Daisy and a lady friend, with whom she lived—a Mrs Herbert, also engaged at the Empire—home from the theatre. This constant attention on his part had inflamed the discarded lover's passions, and this fact, combined with a favorable opportunity of effecting his purpose, no doubt precipitated the tragedy. Last night Garcia as usual met Miss Montague and her companion outside thr Empire, and walked home with them to Regent square, where at the corner of Compton street, Mrs Herbert left them to light up. Daisy, remarking "I shan't be a minute before I'm in," walked on past the house with Garcia, evidently with the intention of going round the square. Percy, who had been following them unperceived, waited until they were in a dark corner, when he drew a revolver, and fired rapidly at his two victims, and when he found the shots had taken fatal effect, turned the weapon upon himself and blew his brains out. JSo one witnessed the perpetration of the crime, and it will therefore never be definitely solved whom he despatched firßt. From the position of the bodies, however, it is inferred that he fired the first two shots at Garcia to prevent his interference, and brought down Miss Montague as she was running, screaming, away. Constable John Lone (86 E;, on duty at the east side of the square at the time, heard the shots and the screams and proceeded to the spot, less than a minute's walk away. Here a sickening sight presented itself. The broad pavement was bespattered with blood and brains, and resembled a shambles. Miss Montague lay a few feet to the right j* the other two, and nearer the lamp w^oßo Hg nt Baoue but a dozen yards or so &7** > Garcia was , ou J™ f ace in the middle of the -*vement,and Percy huddled together close by*; »» J™ resting face upwards, was ou the bo. tum step of the short flight leading to the front door No. 28, his right hand firmly clutching a six-chambered revolver. There was nothing in the appearance of the girl to indicate that she had received a fatal wound, or, in fact had been injured at all. She, like the other two, was unconscious, but the absence of any blood at first inclined the constable to the belief that she had only faiuted, as it was she whom he had heard screaming. He, however, summoned cabs, and the three inanimate forms were removed to the Royal Free Hospital, Gray's Inn road. Miss Montague and Garcia expired on the way thither, aud Percy died about 2 o'clock, an hour after his admission. On examination it was found that Miss Montague had received a wound in the lower part of the back, from which she bled to death internally; Garcia's brains had been blown out by a couple of shots in the head, either of which would have proved fatal ; while Percy had scattered his brains by a shot in the right temple. The revolver, which the murderer clasped firmly in death, is of the ordinary six-chambered black bulldog type, and appears to have been but recently purchased, as it is described as brand new. It was fully loaded, but only four of the six barrels were discharged. Miss Daisy Montague (her I baptismal name is Bessie, but she affects j "Daisy" on the boards), is a young \ woman aged 25. She has long resided in Regent square or the neighbourhood, and is described by residents as a quiet, inoffensive, and respectable girl. She regularly attended the church of St. Peters', situated in the square, and was recognised as one of the communicants. A letter was found near the bodies that Percy had written to his father, in which Percy stated that he could not live without Montague, and that she should not have anybody else. If it had not been for his father's sake something dreadful would have occurred before.