The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-07-07
TRAGEDY on AN ENGLISH RAILWAY
Man Murdered and Robbed and his Body
Thrown Out Of the Car Window,

Man Murdered and Robbed and his Body
Thrown Out Of the Car Window.
When the Brighton Railway express
train was stopped for the collection of
tickets outside of Brighton, England, on
June 9th, a man named Arthur Lefroy
was in one of the carriages wounded on
the head, and bleeding. He said that
his fellow travellers we're a Countryman
and an old gentleman, and that soon after
passing Croydon he heard shot and
was stunned. LEROY came back as far
a5 Croydon, station just outside of Lon
don, near the Crystal Palace, where he
left the train and called the police off
Ger on duty at the station to his aid.
His face was wounded and bleeding and
his clothing torn, He said that he had
been on a little spree, and drank too
much, and had injured himself by at.
tempting 10 walk about in the carriage
when the train was in such rapid mo-
ton, His plausible manner so imposed
upon the police, and he backed it ur so
we'll by douCeur of half crown, that
one of them assisted him from the
station to a house near Croydon, which
he said was his home. Later Che body
of Mr.. F. ]. Gold, q retired business
man who had been to London to collect
rents, was found in the Balcome Tunnel
With his throat cut and his body stabbed
in several places. Afterward the car
riage which LEROY o3Cupir was found
10 contain evidences of desperate strug.
gle. Two bullets W re embedded in it,
and it was saturated with blood. With
these discoveries the tardY suspicious of
the police officers were excited, and they
went to Lefroy's houSe only to discover
that the bird had flown, leaving no trace
of his exit or scent of his whereabouts.
The police officers then remembered
that LEROY bore on his person marks Of
having been engaged in sewers fight;
that his throat was scratched and wound.
ed, and that there were marks of pistol
wound in his head. 1t has been asCer.
tanned, however, that he had in his pos
session gold watch numbered l6,26l,
made by Griffiths, the celebrated watch
maker of London, and that this wa,Ch
was the property of Mr.. Gold. A collar
belonging to Mr.. Gold has since been
found in the tunnel, but the watch and
$40 which he was known to have in his
pocket are missing. No trace has been
discovered of the third man, who is sup.
posed to be friend and countryman of
LEROY. A notice has been issued stat
ing that LEROY will be accused of the
murder of Mr.. Gold. He is a newspaper
lel orter, aged %, and his real name is
Henry Maple'on Some articles, such as
Hanoverian tokens, we're found on the
person of LEROY, and also beside the
murdered man, which plainly connect
LEROY with the tragedy. 1t is supposed
that the murderers will escape to France
or to the United States. A description
of L troy has been telcgraphed to all the
outgoing ports.
THIS tragedy recalls the murder Of Mr.,
Briggs by a German named Muller, un.
der almost similar circumstances. Mr.,
Briggs was travelling by rail TO London,
and ChanCed to be the only occupant of
the carriage, except Muller who killed
him, robbed him, took the hat and some
OF the othing of his victim, made his
way to Liverpool, and thence to the
U lifted States, where he was arr sted,
while wearing the hat of the murdered
man, brought back to England, tried, and
hung, English railway carriages are pc.
culiarly fitted for the commission OF such
crimes. They are divided into Compart-
ments to accommodate four persons, and
are locked on the inside by the guard
when the train starts. The olly means
of communica ion with the guard in case
of illness, accident OF assault, is by
breaking thin piece of glass set in the
side of the carriage, and pulling an alarm
bell, which gives signal to the engine
driver that something is wrong. On the
London and Brighton road, Immediately
after the trains leave Brighton they pass
through several long and perfectly d rk
tunnels, cut through the high chalk hills,
and it was while going through one of
these tunnels that Mr.. Gold was murder
ed, and his body thrown out of the car
window.