A Murderous Pair.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3135, 21 February 1889, Page 2

A Murderous Pair.

■ The: m yeteiy wh ioh •: puzzled - agd iliatni'hcJ' the little town of S' and foiled the deteotivo police for fim < t'niu! • three months, and which would' in all-probability-: npverdmve discoveied.but for-extemporary -Bpasm of" romoiao on the,part of ono of the, culprits, entered; opda its final phase' at tho Kent Assizes recently. • The two lads,.or louts, (lower and Dobell, • • who surprised everyone; so by, some" ; weeks': back,; the (on ■ - their part) apparently/motiveless murder of the respected manager of ; the Baltic sawmills,-. Mr Lawrence, .: were then put upon their 'trial, and - after the fullest evidonco, conclusively convicted. . From the first the hope that the .precious pair might, tor purposos of. notoriety, be romancing, ■ was of the slenderest. Their terrible . tale with its appallingly: cold-blooded ■ details, kung together too well.: The story of the murder itself is simple - enough. What makes- it almost ;, , unique amongst crimes is the revetofr* tion of- the desperate wickedrMPu engendered apparently by half imbe-< * cile vanity and desire of notoriety. • ■ The victim,. Mr Lawrence" Bays tho Daily Telograph, was a respectable middle-aged .man, married, and the -, father of a family, who was engaged us timekeeper at the Baltic Saw Mills: •'. Tunbridge Wells. ■ At these works :■ -; the lad Gower was also employed, and < in the course of six months ho had been reported a' great, maHy times for ' being late and fined a penny on each The,fines," although in the aggregate they barely exceeded half a crown, appear to. have rankled in-the ; mind of Gower, who had a '-pal' or mate in the person of Dobell to join ■■. him ir. a plot to murder. "Lawrenco. Between . them the precious pair bought a revolver; then they drew ■ lots as to who should fire the pistol. The lot fell upon. Dobell, to wljfe ' ! iawrence had done no manners wrong, and this hideous young ruffian going to Lawrence's ' house between ton and eleven at night, enticed him out of doors, and shot the poor man through tho .head, Lawrence ' was taken to the ; hospital and die<L next day. The. police were unable tPi' find any duo to the perpetrator of tho ' deed; but two months afterwards a letter - in a 'transparently disguised'; hand was sent to the editor of a Tunbridge Wells . nowspapor,. in wbioli the writer, who signed himself • Another Whitechapel Murderer.' . cooly avowed himself to be the assassin of Lawrence, and minutely . described the circunistances of the timekeeper's death.; This lettov was afterwards distinctly traced to Dobell, but in the interim he and Gower had begun to attend tho meetings 'of; thO ! loil Salvation Army, 'iliey joined in these oxercises four nights out of seven, and; on the last occasion, when the piayer meeting waß over, Gowei' and Dobell took their seat at a table which apparently., corresponds wiljfc tho.'anxious seat' at an revival meeting. It is practically a ' stool of repentance, to which persons resort who have anything on their minds, and who wish to'disburden their consciences by. making a general confession, and so getting saved. Dobell and Gower both prayed heartily while on tho "anxious seat,' . but the latter does not seem to bave got enough salvation for he called the , next morning on the' Captain' whttw had conducted the service, and afteiy? much balling and hesitation confessed that ho and his mate' Dobell had been at tho bottom of the murder in the preceding July. I We tossed up,' he explained, ' to see which of us ■ should do it, and the lot fell upon my mate to do the deed,' When Gower confessed his guilt to tho Salvation 'Captain' lie seems to have been under the impression that the avowal need not go any further ; bin theSalvatioiv official, much to his credit, tejß another view of the matter, and, after communicating with his superior authorities, information Was given to the police, and the young villians . were arrested," The jury' recommended the. two young ruffians to 1 mercy, but the Judgo practically said he should not support the suggestion.

Totalisator Odds.

The following article in the number of the Koferee is'of interest to Wairarapa Racing Clubs :—The laying of totalisator odds by the bookmakers has received a decided check by the action of the Takapuna Jockey ■ Club. Tho Takapuna' Jockey Olub, it may be explained for tho benefit of those non-conversant with tho topo- "1 graphy of Takapuna, hold their race f. meetings on & coarse at North Shore of Auckland's pretty harbouiy an' 1 ' ■ give fairly good stakes, althouglP perhaps, a good deal too ranch of tlw - Selling liace eloment is inlrodueeil into their programmesiuthe endeavor to make both ends meet. Prior to their last meeting on January 20 ami 29, they gavo notice that they would not permit the laying, of totalißator prices by tho metaUicians, but two of their number persisted in setting tho club at defiance. Tho Club dooided to fino the refractory bookmakers £25 each, and will hot allow thorn on their course until, tho fine is paid. The Club went further, and took a step for which they are to bo specially. commended-they decided to lay tho matter before the Auckland Eacing Club with a view to obtaining, a definite ruling on the matter from that body, and getting them. at) a Metropolitan Club of the distriot to take some decisive action to check tho bookmakers diversion of money from the maohino. There can be no doubt the wieldei-8 of the metallic, have, by their action in laying totalisator prices, deprived the T.J.G, of a i lot of revenue which would, others®! wise, have gone into their cofferer and the club naturally ttrgue that if they are by such "ction ' deprived of money which woii& go into the totalisator, and, by the rules of racing, be subsequently used for ' the benefit of the sport, they wilTnot be able to give such , good stakes, and further will be prevented from, improving and beautifying their course. But a still more potent argument is that which they.' use in laying the case before tho Auckland Eacing Club. They say in effefy;- " Under the rules of racing wo are bound to submit our programmes to you and to give a certain amount ' of added money at each meeting. How can we do so ifwe are deprived , of our legitimate revenue by tho action of the bookmakers—revonuo < which ml, under the rules, go to the enrichment of the stakes wo provide ? You otairn the right to say how much added money we shall give, "and we call on you to assist in; preventing us from being deprived of a portion of our revenue.."'This is a,i powerful argument which shows there aro some "hard headed men. ', on the Takapima' Jockey Club's Committee. The ground they havo'" taken up is a thoroughly tenable one,; ; but it is one that the Auckland .Racing Olub will, havo :. to / handle most deliaately, and we should ventured

v. suggest-that tlioy-Bhould consult, tlio othei; Metropolitan Clubs with a view . to combined notion. The' result of .wilieif delibovatioiiß willbe "loolted for.to witb a lot of interest. ;