The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-18 00:00:00

Career of the Murderer Forwood.

The public interest which is felt in anything re-
lating to the perpetrator the Holborn and Ramsgate
tragedies has induced us to make inquiries in the
city, with a view to throw some light upon the
career of Forwood, or Southey, as he preferred to
call himself, while he resided in Glasgow. So far
as we can ascertain he came to the city in 1858,
and shortly afterwards became connected, as marker,
with a billiard establishment, which was then situ-
ated in Glassford-street. For a time, at least, his
behaviour does not appear to have been of such a
nature as to gain for him the unpleasant attentions
of those with whom he came in contact ; on the
contrary, he would seem to have created rather a
favourable impression by the general suavity of
manner which he displayed. He is spoken of as a
man about. the average height, wearing bushy
whiskers, and with a gentlemanly appearance, which
he endeavoured to keep up by a studious attention
to dress. As his means were limited while he re-
mained in Glasgow, he was not successful in making
it appear that his wardrobe was very liberally fur-
nished, but a well-brushed hat and similar little
evidences of a desire to make the most of what he
had were characteristic of the man's attention to
externals. He was well educated, and represented
that he was in the habit of reading works in the
higher department of literature ; and as if to show
that vanity was a ruling feature in his character,
he remarked on one occasion that there was no pro-
per society in Glasgow for a person of his attain-
ments. If report speak truly his morals were not of
the strictest kind ; indeed, his amours in certain
quarters are said to have been well known to those
who were most intimately acquainted with him. He
was not communicative, so far as we can learn, re-
garding his previous history. Vague hints he did
at times let fall about his follies or misfortunes, and
the loss of money having compelled him to adopt
the calling of a billiard-marker, " in order to obtain
an honest livelihood," as he himself once put it, but
beyond these allusions he preserved what was doubt-
less a judicious reticence. He was not at all fond of
drink, we are assured, and this abstinence to a great
extent from the use of stimulants enabled him the
better to keep his own counsel. His temperance was
not altogether a matter of necessity, in the sense that
because of his poverty he could not get liquor, be-
cause he has been known to exhibit a positive aver-
sion to anything like indulgence. A person who
knew him intimately while in Glasgow gave his
opinion on this point in the emphatic form that
" the man couldn't drink ;" while another, who
for some months saw him almost daily, says he
thought Southey (the name by which he was known
in Glasgow) " too cool, and sharp a fellow ever to
get drunk." He was of rather a gloomy tempera-
ment even'at this time, and often lamented his hard
to remain a billiard-marker,
fate in being compelled
so that he came to be looked upon as " an unhappy
sort of fellow, who always wished to be better off
than he was." He pushed about in various direc-
tions, we are informed, to eke out a living of a kind
to satisfy his genteel aspirations, and at one time
had a commission upon any sales of wines which he
could effect in this city on behalf of a person en-
gaged in the trade, attending meanwhile to his ordi-
nary work in the billiard-room.

'.Thus he struggled on for some months, always
managing to keep his head above water, but not
making progress enough to satisfy a person of
his ambitious longings. Towards the end of
a billiard-room in Tron-
-1858 he turned up in
gate, and here he remained, although latterly
the business was carried on under a different pro-
prietor, till the month of August, 1859. He was
better known by this time, and although still fol-
lowing out his old calling of a billiard-marker, he
managed at times to do a little business at the
table on his own account. Glasgow, however,
was not so fruitful in wealthy antagonists as the
scenes of his later adventures would.appear to have
been, and his pickings do not appear to have been
of a very heavy description. It is but just to say
that his employers in Glasgow concur in giving him
a high character while he remained in their service,
and are not aware that he was in the habit of
taking advantage of those who were unskilful in
the game. But those who knew him best while re-
moved from managerial supervision speak of him as
accustomed, when this could be done with safety,
to lure the unwary by disguising his accomplish-
ment at billiards until the stake was -sufficiently