The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-06-12 00:00:00

SINGULAR CONFESSION OF MURDER.

On Saturday a tall, well-runt young man, taenty-
five ye.ra rot age, giving the name or i'hottras Roper.
gave himself into the custody of the Hereford police,
@tatting that oh Ut tvvo years aco he murdered a young
woman at Usk, in Monmouthshire, and threw her
icily into the river IJok, which passes through that
town, and that he could not utlataill the eecret any
longer, as it had preyed ko upon h;e mind. He ap-
peared perfectls calm when making this charge against
himself, and en being in ip/f.'s ed isr the police-station he
stid Ile allA a Dative .4 Lyrletrook, in the Forest tot
Dean. and theto volunteered the Criloning statement,
which he signed alter the usual caution had been gives

hint :-
1, Thomas Alper, nf Lydbronk, in the Forest of Dean,
Glonees• ershire do hereby make the billowing statement
We were I. rth in a public-house at tisk ou a Saturday eve.-
leg We were both taws awl she asked roe it I was gorltg
In MOnntotl. h. I sma 'Yes. I was, ou the morrow 'naming.
Sunda,' Soy acted me if I was going to rids or walk and I
told hr I had no money to rile She sald I no _lit as well
stop along with • she th at night. I went ma back -tile fine.
aril pinked up a rusiy liar out or the grate I put it maim
ml j teket, Wort t • Viet:oll.er of VII- 111 Ow. tr r the rirtorlow.
the imam iw being elver aide if the halms I then Orrick her
1111 the hack of the head with the tau, then took 'lbsen slot.
lima out of her pocket, and thin threw her into the river
Utk She told me her name was Jane E wards"'
, The in boner was taken before the mayor and other
mvsistrates at the Guildhall during the diii, and re-
manded until Thursday, in order that intitt.riee way be
wait- into the Case.
Wll.-11 placed in the dock the prisoner appeared to
be in rather a depressed and nervi us ci .nshi ion, and it
is supposed that he is lalsinring under some mental
deluaton, inaatuneh no there is no recollection of a mur-
der having been committed at Usk two yrars ago, nor
of the finding of a Is idy in the river, which would lead
to the inieience that there had been foul play on the
part of some person or persona.

THE SINGULAR CHARGE OF FRAUD
UPON A YOUNG LADY.
Last Saturday, James Walter WAlpine, a well-
(tree-el man of inibileage, who had at fir-s 4 perSimtell iii
Musing his name and adriress, was charger I, on remand,
before Mr. Alderman Causton, and Amerman Sir
Robert Carden, at the Jo-dice-room of the Mansion-
house, in I tttttttttttt with obi gon the 12th 14 May,
fr a lady at the Bath and Cheltenham Hotel, Pad-
dington, a cheque for £637, drawn in the bank of
Alesera. Prescott, Gr. te, and Co., Threadneedle-street,
by Messrs. Smith and Son, stockbrokers, in Copthall-
court, Throginorton.street, by falsely representing that
he was Msjor.General Haibes, of Madras. When
originally arrested that was the charge preferred against
the prisoner, and on Saturday he was accused, in addi-
tion of bigamy and forgery
Fern the peculiar ciocumstancee the examination
excited much interest, arm the curt WIWI crowded.
Mr. George Lewis, jun., solicitor, addressing the
Bench, said he had to charge the pris.ater with the
of bigamy in a marriage solemnised with
MIMI Ann Lee, a lady residing at Sc irborough ; also
with forgery, and with obtaining from her upwards of
Enoti by tile false pretence that he was an unmarried
Luau, and an officer in the Madras Army. The circum-
stances, as th. y would be elicited in evidence, were
very heartless. A few yea", ago the prisoner con-
tracted a marriage with a lady named Russell, &mem-
ber 4.f a highly respectable f tinily, and who KA sit.ce
hail childien by Min. His real name was James Walter
and he had no authority, as would be shown,
t call himself air officer in he Madras Army, or to
assume the name ot Major-General Haines, to whose
family the circumstance hal given great pain.
The prosecu.rix was Miss Ann Lee, and her evidence
was to the effect that about six weeks ago die left
Scarborough, where she resides, and came to London
on a visit to some friends. Abut a fortnight after-
wards she met the prisoner on the Metropolitan Rail-
way. He happened to be in the same carriage with
her. She WA., receiving change for a shilling from a
pater on the [dation:a at a Station, at which she had
or pay a few pet Ce 5,5 additional fare, and the prisoner
advised her as a sate rule on such occasions nrot to part
with her money without taking a receipt. On the fol-
lowing Wednesday she met him at the Moorgate
station by chance, and in the cosine of conversation he
gave lier his card, which had "Major (Antral Haim:,
Madras Arno," upon it. He said he was in England
on leave, arid asked her to allow him to call 141 her.
At his request she gave him her address, and he after-
wards visited lier there ua•re than one, In the result he
ffet 1111 to marry her and take her out to India with him.
That Was on the 121 h of May. She hesitated, wishing
to consult her friends at Scarborough. He rep led, 11.,
cared only about herself, not her relations, and that i
would mar both her happiness and nis if he did not
listen to him. She consented. Before marriage she
had wished him to accompany her to Scarborough. but
he put her if, sa)ing that when married they would
go there. He wanted her to marry him at a registrar's
office, but to that suggestion she declined to accede.
He said something &Ned selling out of the army, but
that if he parted with his commission he would only
have £5OO a year. On the 13.1 of May she was walk-
ing with him in Oxford-street and happened to men-
tion incidentally that she had £7OO in the funds, upon
which he suggested that she should sell it out fr dth-
with., which RllO eventually consented to do. They
met on the following day at the Broad-street railway
station, and she was then prepared tog,' to Scarborough
with him, Init he declines', saying they would go there
after the marriage. He persuaded lien- to go with him
to Ductal's' Commons, instead of Scarborough, and
there he wades declaration preparatory to obtaining a
licence, and they made arrangementa to be married

next day. Thence they went to is stockbroker and
sold out her stock, which realised £637, for which she
received a check on Messrs. Prescott, Grote. and Co. !
On the 15th of May they were married by licence at
the parish church of Islington, and up to Wednesday,
the 26th of May, she lived with the prisoner as his
wife. On the previous day she went with him, at
his request, to the stockbroker, and, as the check for
1:637 was crossed, they had the words "Pay cash"
written upon it. The check was afterwards changed,
and the money was paid to the prisoner. On the 26th
of May they were to have gone to Scarborough, and he
went as far as King's-cross Station with her, and paid
her fare, but excused himself from accompanying her
on the ground of illness. She returned to London
Friday week, and spent some time in looking for him,
but in vain, until Tuesday last when, happening to
he in Carey-lane with two frien.ls, she saw him and
gave lath into custody. At the police-station he re-
m-ie.-I his name and address.
Upon evidence of which the above is the nurpor th
prisoner had been remanded, and on Saturday
Mr Rickards, a civil engineer, residing at BriAton, was
called forint, pro•ecution, an-I said he knew the prisoner to,
‘‘ ell. (In the 24th of January, 1868, he cont., acted a mar-
riage at Hove with Mrs enticksliatik, a widow, and sister .if
witness. He theo represented himself to ..101111 Walter
M'Al ine, and mu being a major-general ii, some regiment of

Hussars. _
Mr. Rickards. brother of the preceding witness, and also
residing at Krighton, spoke to knowing the prisoner by sight,
and to having seen him sister, the prisoner's wife, on Friday
evening last. She has two children, he added, and had a
small fortune at the time of her marriage.
Mr. Laye, a commander ni the Rost cay, said he knew
Major General II tines, of the Madras army, well The major
is a marred Mall, and not DOW iii England. The prisoner
was certainly not Major-General Raines. The major served
hi the 01st Regiment to the Crimea, and distingu.lied him-
self very muck
Captain Sandeman, a retired officer In the arms, also spoke
to being an intimate ,riend f lid, General Raines, and to
his nein,: now commanding in Madras.
Mr. Smith, mawiger to a firm .if stockhrokcrs of that name
in Copthal-conrt, said the prisoner and Ml's Lee called at his
I Ace on the 14A if May. The lady asked lOot to sell out
f.. 700 stock standrig in her name, which he del, and nano&
her a eriissed cheek for C 637 on Mrs-re. Prescott. with the
sale note Atlas or two afterwards ihe intend), called abate
and asked hint to write upon the check " Pay C6.-it, ' which.
having his suspicions eget ed. he declined to to, unleus the
nriiitter hrottelit a letter from Miss Lee. He afterwards
brought a later, the genuineness of whielt et 'WU ausianited,
, anti witness toll hni Mica Lee nest attend To tile fairer'.
lif witness she did attend, anti at her reque4 he alterri V.°
chat. so auto stake it payable to hearer. W,tness asked the
! prig 'tier if he was married. Re made no reply, and refused

his name
Mr T rver, clerk to Messrs Pre.ottt, banker., identified
the check for £837 as having hem, paid on the 18th of May
In twelve £5O notes, one for £2O, a third for £lO, and the re-
mainder ill coin

Sir Lewis addressing the Court, said the prisoner had
cashed all the site., ascent fano, and the lady lsad been
deprived of her little [...lune by the gross fraud of the
prisoner. Ile believed, however, the notes for £4OO would
be forthcoming.
William Olean, a city detective officer, produced a certill.
cute of the p, limner's marriage ,in which he was described it%
Frederick Pant Haines and a bitchel, with Nliss Lee, the
prosecutrix. at the parish church of Islington, on the 15th •
of Nlay. lie also 41eposn4 that he had base at Ilavengreen,
Ealing, since the prisoner was apprehended, ella had seen the
prhoner's wife there, NI rs. ti 'Atpine.
Mr. Smith, ship agent, sithl lie knew the prisoner to his
cost. In May, 1088, Ire applied to witness to become a
trustee to his marriage settlement, giving the name John
Walter Valid., and saying lie had property is rtli between
£4,0-0 and £9 don a year. Witness hecanie, detee at lits
request In July la-t the prisoner was a bankri .1, anti sM-
imes !card Idol, while under examnation it. erourt o
Bankruptcy decline to s.‘y whether he had any rank In the
crony. and if 5.0, what. For refusing to answer, his eitanilim-
thin Was %IJ•numeil until the following N.ilrellibCr, and he
then said tie had never held any rank in the army as an
officer
By the C sort —lle had never been in the Indian service to
witness's knowli,lge
Sir Robert Conlen, referring to an observation by
Mr. Lewis that the notes for £4OO were in court, urged
that they ahoula be produced at once.
That, however, woo not done, but an intimation was
given that. they ini,ht be.
Mr. Louis Lewis appeared for the prisoner.
Eventually, at the with if Mr. Lewis, the prisoner
wag remanded uni il Friday next,
Mu sympathy appeared to be felt in court for the
proseouttix. who is understood to be a member of a
most respectable family in Scarborough, and an esti.
motile lier evidence, it is maid, scarcely did
puo ice to tier re.erve in istlinOing the addresses of the
prisoner, to the precatv ions she took, or to the arta on
his part hy which they were overcome and she was in-
veigled into the marritge.