MURDER WILL OUT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3017, 14 November 1891, Page 5 (Supplement)

MURDER WILL OUT.

[IIY ('. f'ASKY.]

Ix tho coui'so of tho Jay an English mail camo in, arid by it I recoivod lottors that informed mo of business matters that required my prosonco iri Sydney as speedily as possible. I folt rather voxod at this as I should havo likod to liavo remained in Melbourne, at least until the capture of tho man I now fully bolievod had committor! the murder. Goorgo had not mentioned any particular timo for calling, so I dined early, and then sot to work to answer the letters I had received. I had just completed my task whon tho waiter camo up to my room to inform mo that a gentleman was asking for mo in tho coffee room. I told tho waiter to show him up, and in a couple of minutes Goorge entered, looking, I thought, rather annoyed, as though hi 9 quest had not been very successful.

" Our man had absconded," wero his first words ; "ho wont off to Sydney by last Friday's mail, and I shall follow him by tho boat that leaves hero the day aftor to-mor-row."

" Well," I said, " that's fortunate too. I have just received letters from my employers urging me to start for Sydney at as early a date as possible; so that's settled; we go together. I began to think that I should have to leave here without a chance of seeing my interesting companion of the smoke room again,"

"Well, so you will," said George, " but if you go with me to Sydney, you will probably have an opportunity of renewing your acquaintance with him there."

" Yes," I said, " I helieve I am fatfld to he in ' fit the death,' as foxhunters say ; hut, conif! old man, sit down, and tell mo all ahout ir, or rather, light your pipe first and 1 will ring for some whisky, as that appears to he your particular weakness.'" George laughed, and commenced tiiliar* his pipe, while I rang the hell for the waiter, As soon as the drinkables appeared and the waiter had left the room, he gave me the following account of his day's proceedings. " After leaving you," hi! said, " I went straight to the concert hall, and found the stage manager just inspecting a new ballet; that they are going to put upon the stage there. I told him who 1 was, and said I hadjeome to see if he could give me any information ahout a man who used formerly to sing there, and who, I understood, went l>y the name of McNeil, hut who was more commonly known as 1 Humpy.' I saw a savage look in his eyes as soon as he heard the name. He hegged me to excuse him for ahout twenty minutes ns he must attend to the rehearsal, hut should then he at my service, and added with a shake of the head and a wink : ' A had lot that!'

" [ sat and watched the girls moving about, gracefully enough, but with their everyday clothes on. Some of them were fpretty ; but, upon the whole, it was not a very interesting or edifying sight.

"In about 20 minute.-!, tlio rehearsal was over and the girls were dismissed ; and then the manager carno to mo and said : ' Now Sir, I tun at your disposal, but I must tell you plainly that I know no good of the man you are enquiring about.' I dare say not, I replied ; no doubt he is, as you say, a bad lot, but I did not come hero to enquire into any of his former misdemeanours, butsimply to learn where he is living now, I want him for something that it is not worth while talking about, but if I can only lay hands up:>n him I fancy, he will be put where his evil propensities will not have much scope ;at all events for a time. He seemed to regret that the information I required was of such a simple character, and wanted badly to know what he had been up to now, before answering niv question. I declined to enlighten him as to the charge I had against the man ; and at last he told me that he could not speak positively as to where he might be livin» at the present time, but rather thought the carpenter would know something about him. He then called to a man at the back of the stage who camo forward with a chisel in his hand.

' You remember Bumpy Bill said the Manager 1 Do you know where ho i 9 living now V

' Why,' said the man, ' you ought to know that he did live with Nell Gwynne, hut I heard they had a row last week and he obsquatilated for fear she'd pull him up.'

" I said that would do, and after thanking the manager, left him and Bill to dicuss the character of the former singer aiul walked straight from then to call upon MissG wynne, for I thought I might, under the circumstances, venture to visit her in my proper character. I found her at home ; in fact she had not been outside the house since tho row with her paramour Mr Bumpy. The upper part of her face was still much swollen, and showed almost all the colours of the rainbow ; the result of the last amorous salute of her lover, the bridge of her nose had been broken, and I rather think it will never regain its pristine beauty and Grecian contour. This L soon found out had changed whatever love she might once'have felt for him, into a feeling of intense hate and vindictiveness. She might I believe have forgiven him if he had broken her ribs, or oausod her to suffer any amount of

pain, but the destruction of her beauty, nothing on earth would make h'T pardon. It was hut one blow,unci she confesses, she was the aggressor, but that one blow, although delivered by his (Ist appeared as though it had been indicted by a sledge-hammer.

She told a very pitiful tale of how she had kept him for months; had paid for a doctor, and nursed him through a fever Ik.* had got through lying out, dead drunk, one night in tho rain ; of how he had urged her to prostitute herself and bad not scrupled to live upon the results. In short, if them was nothing more against him than his treatment of that woman, the scoundrel deserves hanging, and T hope to be instrumental in getting him his deserts. ' It appears she had not been able to supply him latterly with money as profusely as ho wished and he had talked of going to Ballarat to try his luck there ; and she thought he really had gone a fortnight ago, as she saw nothing of him for four days ; that she then heard that he was still in Melbourne, and a day or two afterwards met him accidentally in the street; he was then dressed as a great swell, and as soon as he caught sight of her, he turned back, and, finding that she was following, walked into an hotel She followed him in and commenced to upbraid him, and then to avoid a disturbance, he consented to go home with her. On the road, she says she let her tongue run pretty freely, and taunted him with being dressed up with the proceeds | of some other poor girl's earnings. i!e told her that a few days' before he had met a couple of successful diggers, and had played billiards with them, that they had got lots of money, and that after playing several games they started to play double or quits, and that ho had come off at last with about £30 of their money. When they got home, she says, he told her he was tired of her, and was determined to live with her no longer, that she then flew into a rage, and demanded tho money she had spent on him for the last six months. He laughed at this, and toll her that was gone and couldn't be got back again, and that she should not have been such a fool, and at last took £5 from his pocket and told hor that was all he could afford to give, and all she would ever get. When ho said this hor passion got the better of her, and sho flow at him ; he stepped back and struck her, and after that she knew no more for some hours, when a girl, a friend of hers called, and a doctor was sent for. She would not at first say who had assaulted her, and the next day she heard that ho had been seen going on board tho Syduoy steauier. Now you know as much as I can at present tell you." " I suppose yon did not mention the murder and your suspicion of his being guilty of the crime ? " I said.

"No," he replied ; "but she evidently knew me, and asked what I wanted him for. I told her a robbory had been committed and there was good reason to believo that ho had been tho thief."

She said, "Yes, that was likely enough, for be seemod to havo plenty of money; and tho tale of tho diggers was probably all a lie ; and then added, d—ni him! I wish tlioy would hang him, if I ever seo him again I'll shoot him as suvo as I am a woman."

"I told her, that was foolish talk, but that I was going to follow him to Sydney, and did not doubt but that I should soon have him in custody ; and, trust me, I said, it will not be very long bofore Master Bumpy has to pay the penalty for all his wrong doing. I then asked her what had become of tho .£5 he had offered her?"

" She said that when she saw how much it was she had crushed the notes together and thrown them at him, and that they had struck the wall at the back of a chest of drawers she pointed to ; that they fell down between the drawers and the wall, and were found on the floor the following day I was glad of this, as the poor girl would not be altogether without the means of living for a time.

After a little more talk we parted, George saying that he should lie obliged to go out of town the following day, but would call in the evening at my hotel if he got back in time. If not, wo were to meet at the wharf at 8 a.m. on the next day, an hour before the time appointed for the steamer's starting. I was myself very busy all the following day, and did not see the detective until we met as agreed at tho wharf.

We went on board, and at 9 a.m. steamed away for Sydney. 1 need not trouble you with any account of the voyage ; the weather was tine, and I found George a very agreeable companion. Little was said about the murder, and our talk was chiefly about our schooldays. Tn due time we reached Sydney, and having seen my luggage satelv stowed away on a dray and given instructions to the driver where it was to be taken, we jumped into a cab and proceeded to 'the hotel. Immediately after our arrival George left me to announce the purpose of bis visit to the police authorities, and give a description of the man he wanted. [ti about three hours he came back, and stated that the police knew nothing of Bumpy, but that he had ascertained from one of the porters on the wharf that a man answering to His description had arrived at Sydney a week

before. The porter described him as a man, but hardly having the look of a gentleman, he said ho noticed that ho had very broad shouldors, and black hair, and ho seemed to push his head forward from his body; that ho had no other luggage than a small portmanteau which he carried himsolf, refusing all offors of a cab. Why ho remembered tho man so well was because of his peculiar build, which seemed to show imnionso strength. He remomberod also, when asked, that ho carried a light cane with a silver handlo in the hand that held the portmanteau. By this time every police man in Sydney has got a description of tho man," said George. " and if he is still here I shall expect to know where he ia located to-mor-row. 1

After dinnor we strolled out to have a look about us, and as we were walking up George-street I saw our man come out of a jeweller's shop, and walk on ahead of us. I could not be quite sure as I had never seen him except iu a sitting position, but still the broad shoulders and head thrust forward reminded me so strongly of the man I had seen in the smoke-room that I nudged George and pointed him out."

" The very man we are looking for," said George, his eyes sparkling with pleasure. " I scarcely hopod that we should run our game to earth so soon. "Where did he come from ?"

" Out of tliis jeweller's shop," I said.

We both stopped, and George said hurriedly, " You go on and keep him in sight till you see him housed somewhere, and then come back hero. I shall be looking out for you. I will go in and buy some trifle, and see what I can learn from the man inside. It is better for you to follow him, as he will know me if he sees me, and I don't want to take him till I have learned all I can."

With these words he went into the shop and I walked on keeping the round shouldered man well in sight. There was no need to walk fast, as Mr Bumpy did not appear to be in any hurry himself. As I strode along, I could not help thinking 011 the mysterious ways of Providence ; 011 how trivial a thing a man's destiny may hinge, and how little we know to what momentous results our most trifling and unconsidered actions may lead ; our actual knowledge is confined to the present and the past. Of what is to come we know nothing; all our plans for the future may be turned away by tho merest trifle. A man on his way to the railway station, stops to exchange li i 1 f a dozen words with a friend, and, in consequence, only arrives in time to see the train steam away. He i 3 much annoyed at the delay his own folly (as lie deems it) has caused. That same day, perhaps, he reads in the evening paper that a terrible disaster has occurred; that a collision has taken place or a bridge broken down, and more than half the people who travelled by that train have been hurried into eternity. What, in his short-sightedness, he considered a misfortune, has proved his salvation ; or it may be that the train he should have caught arrives safely at its destination, and the one he is compelled to wait for, is doomed to destruction.

Here was this man in front of me totally unconscious of the fate awaiting him : little dreaming that his simple act of offering a pipeful of tobacco to a stranger, was to be (by the will of Him who sways our destinies) the means of tracing a crime he thought for ever hidden from man's scrutiny. He himself had set the avenger on his track, and now, unknown to him, human justice was hovering round and was about to exact from him the penalty duo to her outraged laws.

He had not proceeded above a quarter of a mile when I saw him enter a hotel. I was now in somewhat of a dilemma; was he living there, or had he only gone in for some trumpery purpose ? I thought I ought to ascertain which of these possibilities was the true one before returning to G-eorge. If he had only gone in for a drink he might not remain more than a minute or two, and I should lose the chance ot finding out where he really was staying I walked more slowly as I approached the hotel, debating in my own mind what was best to be done, and finally resolved to walk straight in and enquire if a gentleman named Neil was staying there. The hotel was a large one, at the corners of two streets, and having entrances fro.n both in addition to the bar, which was at the angle of the roads. Over the entrance from the street I had walked along I read " Billiards," and in the window to the left "Coffee-room." This was the door he had gone in at. I went round the corner to the other entrance, which I found was the private way. Here I entered and put my question to a middlea«'ed woman, who occupied a sort of ollk-e on one side of the hall. She .said a Mr Neil was staying there, but she thought he was not in now, unless he had gone into the billiardroom, which, she said, I should find most readily from the entrance in the other street.

As this was all I wanted to know, T thanked her and hurried back to where I had left George. He was just coming out of the jewellers' shop as I got there, and I at once informed him where Neil was staying. He seemed somewhat surprised to

learn that he bad not even taken the precaution to change his name, although, under the circumstances, it would not have availed him much, he said, "for I have nov ample proof of his being concerned in the robbery of the murdered man ; I have seen the golden bean, my boy, His business at the jeweller's was to have this nugget mounted in such a way that he could wear it attached to his wutchguard. "Strange," lie added, "that the man should bo puch a fool as to make a parade of the possession of such damming evidence as that nugget affords, isn't it?"

I said, I supposed he was quite convinced that no suspicion existed of his being in anyway connected with the murder, and now considered himself so far removed from the site of the erime as to bo quite bevond the reach of the law.

" Well," said George, " if he thinks so, he is very much mistaken, that's all, for unless something very unforseen occurs, I will have him under lock and key before the day is over. I am now going to tho office to see the head inspector, and get authority to receive the nugget from the jeweller, and also to get a couple of his best men to assist me in making the capture of Neil if he should turn restive; and to tell the truth, I don't believe he will be taken without a little trouble. You may as well come with me, and I will inform the inspector of the part you have played in tracing the criminal."

I assented to this, and on arriving at the police offl.ee and seeing the inspector, he said he would go with us to the jeweller's himself. Two stalwart policemen were also ordered to proceed to the hotel where Neil was staying, and loiter about, keeping an eye on both entrances, until the detective's arrival.

With the head inspector as his guarantee, George, of course, had no difficulty in obtaining possession of the golden bean, aud then the inspector returned to the office, and George aud I started for the hotel to effect the capture of Bumpy. fTo be continual. >