THE BLACK MUSEUM.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2042, 8 August 1885, Page 4

THE BLACK MUSEUM.

Not to keep the reader in >mspen«p, the Black Museum is .1 small Mack room on the second flooi of the offices of the Con yiet Sunei vision Department, Scotland V.ml, and its curios consist exclusivity of articles connected in one vv.i/ 01 anothei with clinic and criminals The object- 1 exhibited .lie ah >tit 1 ."SO 111 number. Thiy aie caietully labelled, md further destfiibrd in >i bulky catalogue which, in addition to names, dates, and otln r par ic.ul.im, contains a number of |ihoto graphi and newspipor cuttings h,iviu_' relation to the vnr.oim items The collection is s-o arranged as to allow fiee inspection of the va.ious o!)jects, and the curator, Servant Biadshaw, tiUs an evident piide in his chai go, and fm nishes the lustoiy of any lmvcii item with remarkable piomptitude and nccu racy. The curator calls our attention to Hip thinness of the 1 ope used for the execution of John Platti in 1847— about ti\e eighths of an inch only — in coui[Miison with that at present used by the executioner, which is nearly or quite an inch m diameter. He further points out that the rope is much shorter than that now in use. Under the old regime, it w as an even chance whether the criminal diec? by strangling or dislocation of the neck ; whereas, by the piesent more merciful 'long drop,' the neck is invariably dis located, and death is invariably instantaneous. Together with the halter are seen the cords— now replaced by a leather strap— for pinioning the aims of the condemned man, and the cap— a tall conical affair like a large cotton nightcap, but of double material — for drawing over his head at the su pi erne moment. These three items, the halter, the pinioning gear, and the cap, constitute the com plete 'hangman's kit' Sergeant Braduliaw inform* us, not without a touch of regret, that Mr Mat wood, on pajing his last visit to the museum, promised to present to it the ropes with which the mnrderei s of Lord Kr» deriek Coveudish and Mr Burke were executed, but died without having redeemed Ins piomise. From the appliances of the hangman, we pass by an easy ti motion to the last relica of the Kite Mr Chailes Peace, which rank among the chief lions of the Collection. Seigeant Bt.idshiu shows us, handling them 'tendcily, as if he loved them,' the working tools of the veneiable miscreant ; the mat little picklocks and the skeleton keys; the gimlet, mufHed in an india 1 übber cas ing ; the handy little ' jemmy ' ; the crucible for melting down his spoils ; and last, though not least, his ' ladder,' a simple wooden contrivance, folding into so small a compass as to go into an ordinaiy handbag, and yet, when ex tended, affording ample foothold for the cat-like 'Piince of buiglars,' as he is called, to climb up to the first floor ■window. So original is the contrivance, tint until Peace himself revealed its object, tlie police weie quite at a loss to imagine its use. Heie, too, aie the inventoi'a blue spectacles, and his aitificialiiim — a leather stump with a hook in it— worn for the puipnie of duguisc, the real aim snugly within the coat. The seciet of Pfiee having s>o long kept out of the h uufs of the police is that lie had no accomplices, but worked entirely alone Undei cover of his disguis", he collected the necessary information for his exploits ; and after some daring binglarv, wheicin the activity of a piac tised gymnast had been displayed, the last person to be suspected was the little one-armed man with the blue spectacles. Wonderful are the ways of hero-wor-shippers .Some excellent relic hunter has actually cut a piece out of the artificial arm, and in some obscuie comer of the universe doubtless dazzles his kins folk and acquaintances by the exhibition of a veritable bit of leathei formeily belonging to a deceased burglar and murderer. The reader may lemember that Peace, after having escap3ed the consequences of many pievioua ciiinc*, was convicted of attempting the life of a policeman, and of the actual mtuderot a Mr Dyson, at Bannercross, near Sheffield ; and after a determined attempt to escape by jumping ftom a railway tiain, was executed at Leeds on the :>oth of February, 1870. A caite-de-vis>tc of Peace, taken by the Stereoscopic Company, is pieservcd in the catalogue, and should be a valuable examcle to the student of physiognomy ; the high forehead, deep-set eyes, ami bull dog lower jaw indicating a singular combination — fully verified in the life of the man— of strong intellectual power and force of will, unbalanced by corresponding moial qualities from the Peace collection w c pass to the stock in tiade of less notorious buiglan. Here is a miniature dark lantern, m.inufu'tnied by some ingenious scoundiel OMt of one of Bryant and Ma) ' 3 threepenny tin mitch boxe» 'To such base uses may we come at last.' The bull's c>e 13 a meie bit of window glass, oval in shape, and so small that the operator can, when neccssaiy, mask it with bis thumb, no .slide being u«ed. The light giv ing power of such a lantern must naturally be small, but it is probably quite sufficient to enable the bunjlar lo avoid stumbling ovei tiblcs and ehaiis, or to illuminate a keyhole. Here aie the working tools of Wuuht and Wheatliy, the Hoxton buiglars, now nndeigoing penal si ivitude— \\ light being condemned foi life, Whe.itley tor twenty years. Each earned a revolver ; that belonging to Wnght — with which he shot at and wounded two of the policebeing stamped ' Biitinh Constabul iiy,' a queei illustration of the irony ct fate,' and of the proveibial 'engine*. 1 hoi'-t vuth Ins own petaid.' The&e two pMctitiouere cairied their too's in a soit ot haversack slung at their side. A later expeit, captured in the act of an attempted burglary at the British Museum in 18S4; took a bolder course, and earned his implements — also heie preseived —in an oidinaiy carpenter's tool basket, over his shoulder. This gentlem in allectcd the ea\ly mosning for his exploits, and unit as caught 111 the very act would naturally be taken for a harmless Butish woikman going about his lawful avocations, A m»re serious interest attaches to the truncheon case— pierced with a Millet - of the unfortunate policeman Cole, shot at Dalston 111 1882 by the couaidly Indian Orroek, 111 an uttciipted Lnrglaiy at a Baptist clupel. Oi lock's soft felt hat, found on the scene- of the minder, is also heie pic-erved, as also the chisel, with theletteis 'rock 'sciatched upon it, which led to his identification. A photogtaph of the chisi 1 13 also shown ; and it is a curious illustration of the eh trctive poweis of .science that the inaiK, on the chisel itself is imperceptible to the ordinary eyesight, is plainly legible in the photogtaph. Among the cartes de-visits which adoin the museum catalogue is that of 0 Donnell, the; mm who shot the mfoirtu't Caiey. Here, too, are thetwo built t, which wt>ie extiacted fiom Caicy's boelj and the ie volver, <i small pocket weapon, iiom which they were fned. A laige revolver, found among O'Dounell's luggage, lies beside it, Under a glass shade hard by lies a gelaline capaile, a harmless looking affair enough, but belying its appearance" for it contains a deadly poison— aconite • being in fact the fellow to that used by Dr Lamson in 1882 to destioy his youthful biother-iu-law. Wo are shown the carte of the criminal also, a gentlemanly looking man, by no means answering to the conventional assassin. Under anothei glass shade is a piece of daik brown leather, which proves to be a portion oi the tanned skin of Bellingham, the murderer of Mr Fcrcnal. A tall hat on a peg, and much cohered with dust, next attiacts om attention. Thid homely relic was the property of the Rev. Mr Speke, the eccentric , clergyman who .suddenly disappeaied, leaving his headgear -here present-in the Green Park) and was believed to have been murdereel, but was subsequently discovered in the garb of a working minatl'adstow, in Cornwall. He ultimately died, w believe, in a lunatic asylum. Close, beside Mr Spcke'a hat hang a coilol rope,

a pair of boots, and an rid lioise-pUtol. Thtse articles weie the propel tj of anothtv tW-ncnl gentknun, the Rev, John Selby Watson, an eminent rchol.ir, of ftt. Michael s io.kl, Stockwtll. He was con victed, in fanuary, 1572, of the murder of his wffe whose nody he had enclosed in a packing-cisc, corded with the tope hen.shown. He was, however, icspited, on the giound of uii.imry, and thencefotth kept in oiiHnciiicnt. He died rjnite re <ently, <»t I'.u klmist l'l i«on, in the Isle of Wight, f.ill'ii'4 out of his bunk in a fit and ft.ictui m<; Ins sluill Not f.n distant are mementos of othei well knoun imndeieis Heie is a portrait of Lcfioy, the nuuduirof Mr (Jold, on th.- Btighton .Railway Heie is the rope used by MugiiLiiti Dixhl.iuc to stiangle her mistuss, Madaiue Kiel, in l'.nk lan»*. Here are the hoots of the uiifoitiui.tto gill, Maria Clinsen, mmdeivd at Kidbiookelano, JLlttiniu, and the plasten i's hammer which did the de idly deed. With another plastorci'a haminet, al-o licic pre.ier\ed, Mullins niurdeied Mrs Ktnsluy at Stepney, in 1800. Heie, too, ate. the sundry in' inoiinls of the W.mwiight ca«e, or Whiteehapel minder, of ISTi- Heie are the choppei with which the nufoitiinate H.u net Lane was di*.ineinl)ered, and the spade which dug her yra\e. Hi re is oue of the buttons cut from her rirtv?, and a coi responding button found with her body ; ami — stranger item still — the piere of shin-bone taken by a surgton fioin the lcf(-boiie of the lning Hat net Lane, and which formed a last unmistak.ible pi oof of the identity of the nameless corpse. Even the cigar which Henrj Wainw right was smoking \\ hen an csted is here preserved. * •» - » Here ii an ingenious >\ ristlet, of Yankee contrivance, tot seeming an ofF.nder on his way to duiancc vie. It is not unlike a paii of caliper compasses, but with a (io&shamllc, like that of a corkscrew The compass poition being slipped over the v\ liste of the tnininal, closes with a spring ; and the handle being grasped firmly by the officer in charge the captive has small Hiance of fn eing himself, foi a bioken wiist would be the probable conse(|iince of a '•tiuggle Apropos of this useful npplianu 1 , Seigeant Br.idshaw fa yon is us with a little piece of piofeswonal advice, which will appropiutely conclude om paper. 'Always grip your man ' he tells us,' 'on his u light side. Then, if he shows right he can only let yon have it with his left» and you have your right hand fiee to tackle him. If you grip him on his left side you leave him the use of his light hand to yotu left, and likely enough he'll get the better of you.' — Abndged fiom 'Chambers' Journal '