The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-04-04
THE STORY OLA FAoUAKERMURDERER
An Incident OF the Early Days OF Telegrnphy
In l,nirln


ernment by purchase, and curious collection
of telegraph machines. new and old, has been
brought together at the General Post Office
in London.
One of those exhibited is said to be the
identical one which, just quarter OF a CEN
tury ago, assisted in no small degree in bring
ing to the gallows the perpetrator of a most
cold blooded and atrocious murder-one
Tawell, Quaker.
This is a fve-needle instrument, of Cook &
Wheatstones, and from the letters of the
alphabet, which are displayed upon its strange
looking diamond-shaped dial, the letter go"
has been omitted. This deficiency placed
trifing photographed difficulty in the way of
a clerk who had to telegraph instructions for
the arrest of Tawell, "Quaker," and occa-
stoned great embarrassment to the person
who had to receive the message. "Kwa" was
slowly spelled, but as he knew of no word in
the English language which commenced in
that fashion he imagined there must be some
fault in the working of the telegraph, and
called upon his colleague at the other end of
the wire to ''repeat." The same process was
renewed several times, and always with the
same result, always C-w-a, until sharp boy
suggested that the sender should be allowed
to complete the word.
His advice was followed, and after the re-
ceipt of three more letters the word
''K-w-a-k-e-r" was formed, and at once, when
read phonetically, recognized as the equiva-
lent for "Quaker."
The part played by the telegraph on
this occasion excited extraordinary interest
in England, inasmuch as it was almost the
first time that it had been employed there in
the detection of notable crime.
The circumstances of the case were these:
About two miles from Slough, station
twenty miles from London, on the Great
Western Railway, and the same distance from
Windsor Castle, is hamlet called Salthill,
which was famous in the days Of Eton Mon
tenn as a grand rendezvous. Eton Montem
was curious old custom long prevalent at
Eton College, and observed triennially on
Whit-Tuesday. 1t was at last abolished in
consequence of the fun becoming rather too
fast and furious among the scholars. The
last celebration took place in 1914 1t con-
sisted of procession Of the boys in kind of
military order to the Montem, a small mount
at Salthill, where they levied contributions or
-'salt" from the passers-by and spectators.
The sum collected sometimes exceeded $4,000;
the surplus, after deducting certain expenses,
becoming the property Of the captain of the
school.
The village of Salthill consists merely of
few cottages two or three mansions, and a
roomy old-fashioned inn, of type and pat
tern now rapidly becoming rare. Formerly
no less than seventy coaches changed horses
there every day, and it was one of the busiest
places ON the Bath road. Close beside it
stood a row of humble tenements, probably
built for the accommodation of servants of
the mn. One of these was destined to
become the scene of a tragedy which was to
all England nine days wonder.
On the 1st of January, 1915, o man who
always wore the garb of Quaker, and was in
the habit of frequenting the Jerusalem Coffee
House, famous place of refreshment in the
city of London, told the waiter there that he
was going to dine at the west end of the
town, and left with him greatcoat, which he
said he would call for on his return.
He then proceeded to the terminus of the
Great Western Railway-which was then the
extreme west end-and proceeded by the
o'clock train to Slough.
He went thence to one of the cottages, be-
fore described, at Salthill, occupied by a
woman known by the name of Sarah Hart.
The cottage consisted of two very small rooms
on the ground floor. Shortly after his arrival
this woman went out by his directions and
procured bottle of porter, with which she
returned to the cottage. Before long the
next-door neighbor heard noise in Hart's
house, followed by O moan and what sounded
like stifed screams. Becoming alarmed she
took light and went down the path from the
cottage to the high road, but before she
reached the gate she saw man approaching
Sarah Hart's cottage. He trembied and
appeared agitated, and had much difficulty in
opening the gate. The woman inquired
<'What is the matter with my neighbor? l
am afraid that she is ILL.," The man made no
reply, but passed on his way to Slough.
The neighbor then entered Hart's house.
On a small table she found bottle of porter
and two tumblers. One contained some
froth, the other porter, or porter and water.
The woman Hart lay dead upon the floor,
with her hair and clothes in wild disorder.
Meanwhile Tawell, after somewhat circui-
tous course, at last found himself again at
the Slough station, where he took his seat for
London.
Those familiar with the level ground be-
tween Slough and London know how smoothly
the broad gauge carriages of the Great West.
ern Railroad glide over that twenty miles
The murderer, as he sank into the seat of
first-class carriage, no doubt felt that each
mile diminished the chance of detection. Al
that time the electric telegraph was novelty
and very little used; indeed, on the Great
Western line Slough was then its terminus
Consequently, Tawell was probably quite un
suspicious that, as he sped over the ground
an exact description of him was on its way t,
London. The suspicious of an intelligen
clergyman, who became cognizant of the hor
rible occurrence shortly after it happened
were awakened; he Immediately took actor
in the matter, and the result of his opera
tions was a telegram to the metropolitan
police.
Long before the arrival of the train in Lon
don policeman was on the platform, and a
soon as Tawen got out of the carriage, h
uuicklV identified him as the man deScribe