The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-03-19
Believed To BE Identified in the
Person of an Australian
Murderer.
Traced Through the Discovery OF
Il Crime Committed in
Liverpool.
A Fatal Locomotive Explosion on the
Philadelphia Il Reading
Road.


LIVERPOOL, March 1G.-The police has
been pursuing the inquiry into the dis
appearance of a woman and her children
who formerly lived at Rain Hill, part of
Liverpool. The inquiry was started in
connection with the arrest at Melbourne,
who is charged with numbering a woman
there. Information of this arrest and
! matters that had come to the knowledge
Of the Melbourne police was cabled to
Liverpool and the investigation was at
once set on foot AS it was inferred that
tho disappearance of the woman and
children was not due to their having left
their home but to murder. Tho police
today went TO the house formerly oc-
cupied by the persons in question. They
lifted the hearthstone from its place and
after half an hours digging discovered
the body of the missing woman. This
was lifted from its resting place and i'm
mediately beneath it were found the
bodies of the two children on top of
which the woman's body had been lying.
The murderer had made pl ntiful use of
chloride of lime to destroy the body of
his victim and his object had been in a
measure attained, for the bodies had
been partially consumed by the lime.
After the three bodies were taken out
the police continued their digging, it be
ing rumored that bodies of other women
or guests who had visited Williams
were missing.
The excitement caused by the discov.
cry of the first three bodies was great,
but it reached fever heat when the
bodies of two other children were found
to have Deer buried under the house.
The first of the children's bodies was
that of a girl of twelve years who had
been strangled. The second was that of
a girl of seven; the third a boy of five
and the fourth a baby about a year old.
The Threats of the last three victims had
been cut. a plausible theory has sprung
up through the discovery of the bodies
in the house at Liverpool today, and the
further the affair is investigated the
stronger grows the belief that Williams
is none other than the world-renowned
Jack the Ripper" Williams, while a
resident of Liverpool made frequent
visits to London. The police have traced
his movements between the two places
and it has been found that the visits to
London correspondent with the time
when the unfortunate wOmen in the
Whitechapel district were found with
their Threats cut and their bodies mutt
lated in the shocking manner that char
actcrized the crimes of the ripper" 1t
will be recalled that a description was
given to the police of the appearance of
the man who was seen in the company
of several of the unfortunate women
whose bodies were subsequently found
lying in pools of blood in the streets of
Whitechapel. The description tallies
exactly with the appearance of Williams,
as given by people in Liverpool who were
well acquainted with him.
LIVERPOOL, March 16.-The question
who Williams really is and how he lived
remains q mystery. On his first appear
ance at Rainhill he staid at a hotel,
where he led a rollicking life, being a
man of free manners, with the general
style Of wealth. He drank plentifully.
but not excessively. and was always
ready for champagne treats. He was
fond Of society, was IA good story-teller,
having travelled extensively, and was
willing to spin a yarn, but when asked
about himself he Immediately became
t%aciturn. He never gave an inkling of
his personal history. He took photo
graphs from Appropriateness but never
had himself photographed. A local
newspaper or the occasion OF his mar
riage to Miss Mather. whom he
murdered in Melbourne, tried
to get a sketch Of his
career, but Williams refused to give any
information regarding himself. He first
met Miss Mather at her mothers, while
making inquiries as to renting a villa.
Williams pretended to act for a mythical
Colonel Brooks and obtained the tenancy
of the villa, paying six months rent in
advance. He furnished only a single
room in the house. Immediately after
he had taken possession of the villa the
unknown m with children was seen
rive or depart. About tho same time
another woman visited him at the hotel
and they partook of a luncheon of duck
and green peas washed with copious
draughts of champagne. Williams told
the landlord that his companion was his
sister. This woman was seen twice
when she also vanished.
After taking the villa Williams often
left the hotel in the morning and would
not return until evening. His clothing
and person used to be covered with dirt
and his hands were much blistered. He ex-
planned his untidy appearance by saying
he had been engaged in putting down
new floors in the house. A labOrer has
been found deposing that this statement
was true. He says Williams called upon
him to assist in the work of taking up
the floors of the kitchen and two other
rooms and hired a plasterer to relay them
in cement These preparations had been
completed when the victims came on the
scene and the murders must have been
effected without delay. Williams left
the hotel to occupy the villa but in a
few days he returned, saying he could
not stop there; that his sister and chill
dren had gone to Port Said and his plans
were unsettled. lie afterward returned
to the villa, but finally came again back
to the hotel. He hurried his marriage
with Miss Mather. In fact, he went to
atay at her mother'a two waeks hafore