MURDER WILL OUT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3014, 7 November 1891, Page 5 (Supplement)

MURDER WILL OUT.

[l)Y C. CASEY.]

Ox the way there I described the appearanco of the man I had mot in the smoking room, and he said ho thought ho had come across such a man, but if so, although the person ho had in his mind, was undoubtedly a very loose fish, he should scarcely have thought him capable of highway robbory and murder.

Wo were not long in reaching the hotel and walked straight into the smoke-room, and thore, just in the place I had described, lay the indentical bit of wire nail. I pointed it out to George, and, as there were several people in the room at the time, and he did not wish them to see what he was about to do, he got up, leaned against the mantle-piece, and then opening hia purse to take out some money to pay for two glasses of whiskey he had ordered, he let the purse fall inside the fender and three or four shillings rolled out on the hearth. Hβ uttered an exclamation of anger, and stooped to pick up the money, taking care at the same time te secure the bit of nail. There was a slight laugh at his carolessness and one man observed that, " he ought to leave a shilling or two for Jane (the waitress) to buy a sweetheart with." Jane, who was leaving the room, tossed up her head and said sweethearts were plentiful enough, goodness knew, though, if they wore not better looking than the speaker, they would be dear at any price. This turned the laugh against him as he was certainly not an Adonis in appearance, having a mop of coarse red hair, the same coloured beard and whiskers, and a terrible squint. We stayed but a very few minutes after this ; but drank up our glasses and left the hotel.

When we got outside, George said ; "By Jove, Harry, I believe we are on the right track; your friend, when he threw the nail away failed to see that there was a rope attached to it that would hang him, eh ?"

"No." I replied ; " he even made the remark, ' that it could do nobody any harm now,' as he pitched it into the grate." Little more was said until we reached his rooms, when he again unlocked the drawer, and handed me the cake of tobacco and nail, that I might fit it in exactly as I had found it. I did so, leaving tho point sticking up. It went right into tho hole so as not to be perceptible unless carefully examined. I then told him to take hold of the cake and place his thumb on the place where the nail was hidden, he did so, and plainly felt the same pricking sensation I had experienced. He was now quite jubilant and declared, "That he had no shadow of a doubt that we were on the right trail, although, he said if I find the man who owned this piece of tobacco (which I do not doubt being able to do) there would not be sufficient evidence to secure his conviction, but ho will not yet have disposed probably of the whole of his booty; or if he has, I shall learn where and how he has done so. It will be an easy matter to find out if ho has been more flush of money lately; and then there is the bean shaped nugget that the murdered man and his mate quarrelled about. If I could only find that still in his possession, or the person to whom he had disposed of it, the thing would be complete. Look hore, old man," he said addressing me, "it would really seem as if Providence had designed that we should meet for the purpose of rescuing an innocent man from the probability of a shameful death, and bringing the true culprit to justice."

I fully concurred in this remark, it really did appear something more than a mere coincidence that I should in such a strange manner be brought into contact with the criminal and the detective on the name day ; and should thus be able to supply the latter with tho first, and perhaps only link that could fix the crime upon the guilty person.

Wβ sat and talkod the matter over for a couple of hours that night, and I agreed to go with him ' on the following morning to see what we could learn from the waitress respecting the man I had met in the smoke room of the hotel. Accordingly, he called upon me early, and having breakfasted at the hotel where I was staying, wo started to get all the information we could from the people wheM I had lunched a fortnight ago. We walked straight into the smoke room and found at that early hour (about 9 o'clock) that it was entirely unoccupied. George rung the bell, and ordered two cigars and a bottle of ale from the waitress when she appeared, asking also, with a laugh, if she had found any stray shillings in the fire place. "Well, to tell the truth," she replied, "I did find a shilling this morning, and mean to keep it, too. Don't you think people who chuck their money about like that deaerve to lose some of it ?"

"Oh! certainly," ho said; "I almost wish it had been a sovereign for your sake, Jane, but don't lay it out on a swoet henrt, ae you were recommended; one half of them are no good, and the greater part of the remainder worse." "You are about right there," Jane said with a laugh; though I thought she looked rathor admir-

ingly at George's handsome face and well-knit form.

"Now, look here, Jane," George said, "I have another half-crown in my pocket, which I intend making you a present of if you can answer satisfactorily one or two simple questions I am going to put. My friond here says lie met a man in this room about a fortnight ago, -who was enjoying himself (digger fashion) with a bottle of braddy at his elbow and a pipe in his mouth. Now, I fancy from his description of the gentleman, that he is an old crony of mine, that I hav'nt seen for years. I daresay you know the man well enough, so just tell me his name, and if you are correct and it really is my old friend, then I will put the other question, and that is: Where is he living now? I shall think half-a-crown well laid out if it enables mo to clap eyes on— what's his name, Jane f

He said all this simply and earnestly, as if only anxious to meet a very old acquaintance again, taking out his purse as he did so.

Jane looked from him to me, and then said : " Yes, I remember now, I know the man you mean ; but I am afraid the half-crown must remain in your pocket, as I don't think I ever saw him except on the occasion you refer to. If he is really a friend of yours, I can only say your friend is a regular beast. Why, he finished that bottle of brandy himself, and then caught hold of me and wanted to kiss me ; but I told him to keep his hands to himself, and fetched him a good slap in the face—and wasn't he savage! I thought he was going to hit me with that cane he carries, but I slipped out the room pretty sharp, and then he fell orer a chair, and swore awful."

" Well, Jane, you must forgive my old friend," said George. •' It was the brandy was to blame. If he had only drunk half the bottle he would not have been half so impudent ; besides, in wanting to kiss you, you know he only did what all the rest of the men who come here would like to do. I could forgive his wanting to kiss you, for I feel like that myself and really couldn't answer for what I might attempt if I had converted myself into a brandy keg, as he did. Tell me where he is to be found now, Jane, and I will make him apologise and pay smartly for his impudence."

" Well, I wish I could," she replied, since you appear so anxious to know, but I never saw him till that day, and, to tell the truth, don't wish to clap eyes on him again ; but I think the waiter in the luncheon room knows something about him, for he saw him reeling out of the house and said, 'he was a queer customer, as he knew of old. , George brightened up at this, and handed Jane the half-crown, because he said she had told him where he could get information if she could not give it herself.

Jane accepted tho dole a little reluctantly and said, " she would add it to the other shilling and buy something to remember the donor by."

"Just see if the waiter in the luncheon room can spare me a miiuite or two, will you, Jane," said George ; he should not be very busy at this time of the day. Jane said " she did not think there was a soul in the luncheon room, and would tell him to come."

In less than a minute the waiter who had served me with my luncheon a fortnight before appeared, and giving a bit of a duck to his head, said, " you wished to see me, gentlemen." " Well, yes," said George ; there is an old crony of mine that I have lost sight of for some years, and from what I learn from my friend here, he was in this house about a fortnight ago. lam told he got very drunk upon that occasion and wanted to kiss the waitress, but that is nothing new for him ; he wa? always a very devil for women and drink. Can you tell me what he is doing, and where he is to be found now ?

" As to where he is living now I can't say for certain," replied the waiter, " but 1 know the man you mean, and I used to know him better ; he used to sing at Grey's Concert Hall when I was waiter there, and a splendid bass voice he had for sure ; but he left before I did through blacking the manager's eyes about a girl—one of the ballot dancers. She left when he did, and for aught I know lives with him now. Her right name was Griffith, but she always went by the name of Nell Gwynne. Hβ was generally known as Bumpy or Humpy from being a bit round-shouldered, but it would not have been very safe to call him anything but Mac Niel to hie face, for he was an awful savage fellow, and as strong as an elephant. I have seen him take two men, one with each hand, bump them together, and thon throw them to opposite sides of the room. I think you will find he still lives with Nell Gwynne, but what he does for a living I don't know, as I believe he caught a rather severe cold and lost his voice, and I've not set eyes on him since he left Grey's till the day he called here, and then T did not see him till he was reeling out at the door; but if you were ever a pal of his, you must know he was a rum customer."

George laughed, and said that was the man, no doubt, though McNeil was not the narae he had known him by. He then asked if Nell (iwynne was still living in Lancaster street. The waiter said he did not know for sure, but bolievocl so.

This being apparently all the information we could get, George handed the man a shilling, and we left.

"Now," said George, "I know the man and have little doubt but that I shall seon be able to ferret him out. I intend first of all to call on the manager of the concert hall, the man who had his eyes blacked by this Neil. He will, of course, be willing to give any information hfj can of a damaging character about the man who assaulted him and stole his mistress, when he knows it is the police who are after him ; and if he fails me., I must find Miss Gwynne, though I shall have to be very careful there, as, no doubt, she knows me. I shall have to disguise myself, and go as Herr Somebody, who is about t* give a series of concerts in Melbourne, and whose bass singer has been taken ill; or else have the house where she lives watched to see who her visitors are. You can come with me, if you like, to Grey's, for I expect there will be no difficulty in that quarter, though I shall merely say I want the man for something he has done, without explaining what." I excused myself from going with him then, as I had some business calls to make ; but begged him to come to my hotel in the evening and let me know how he had sped. He agreed to this, and we parted for the time. (To he continued.)