MURDER OF WILLIAM WHITELEY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8373, 6 March 1907, Page 3

MURDER OF WILLIAM WHITELEY.

(Per Sierra, at Auckland). LONDON, January 26. William Whiteley has been murdered. The news spread round London like wildfire on Thursday afternoon. Few people knew Mr Whiteley personally, but everyone in London,everyone in the Empire one might almost say, had heard of "Whiteley, the universal provider." The circumstances of the tragedy were most dramatic. Just before 1 o'clock a well-dressed man was shown into the private office and was closeted v/ith Mr Whiteley for about 20 minutes, the doors being closed. The purport of the conversation remains unknown. The interview was abruptly broken off, and the head of the firm came out into the passage, telling an assistant to send for a policeman. Immediately behjnd came his visitor, who was overheard to say, "Well, you won't, then?" and the curt reply, "No" was given. "Very well, then,, you are a dead man." With these words the young man drew a revolver and rapidly fired two shots at point blank range. Mr Whiteley fell dead instantly, shot through the head. His assailant then turned the weapon upon himself, and, sending a bullet through his left temple, fell prostrate over the corpse of his victim. He is not, however, dead, and in moments of consciousness declared that he was Cecil I Whiteley, and that the man he shot | was his father. A. strange mystery ,' surrounds the identity of the man, who now lies, in a precarious condition | at St. Mary's Hospital. Was he an illegitimate son of Mr Whiteley's? ' The latter's solicitors denounce the i theory as utterly untrue. The de-1 ceased's two sons, William and Frank, state that they know npthing of the murderer, and thus far nothing has been discovered to give any olour to the theory that the murderer was in any way related to his victim, The only foundation for the allegation that the murderer was Mr Whiteley's illegitimate son appears, indeed, to have been his own Boastful remarks to certain people at the hotel near Holborn, where he had stayed prior to the murder. He bragged of the large sums he had run through, professed that the name of Rayner, by which he was generally known, was not his own, and suggested that he was the son of one of the richest tradesmen in London, a man worth a couple of millions. "If I told you his name," said he to one lady, "it would surprise you." He, however, never claimed the name of Whiteley till the fatal day so far as can be ascertained at present, and what evidence the police have been able to gather up to now seems to prove conclusively that his real name is Horace George Rayner, that he was born at Teddington 29 years ago, of well-to-do parents, that he is j a married man with a wife and three who are living in Worcastershire. Of his career little is known save that at the age of 20 he went to Russia, and remained there with a few breaks till quite recently. He appears to have been in London about a month, and under the name of Payne and Rayner has been advertising extensively for grocers' assistants, typists, clerks, and ladies to colour photographs. His correspondence, noW in the hands of the police, shows hundreds of applicants replied to his advertisements from all parts of the country, the writers being chiefly young women. During the three weeks that he stayed at the hotel Rayner lived very frugally, his bill seldom exceeding half a crown a day: It was clear to everybody that he was nearing the end of his re- . sources, for he had to pawn his watch and other articles to pay his hotel expenses, and when searched after the murder was found to possess only a single shilling. In his attempt at suicide the bullet went through the left temple and came out of the left eye, without injuring the brain. '