The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-03-23
SENTENCED TO BE HANGED
MURDERER OF WHITELY, THE NOTED LONDON MILLIONAIRE.

HOLGO AOADOA jhILlLIOAhIQ1Ll Trial of Rayner Lasts But Day and
 Jury Returns n Verdict After but
 Nine Minutes DeIiberation-FictiOn
 That Accused Was Son of WhiteIy
 DispelIed.
 London, March 22,-After trial last ing single day, Horace George Ray ner, the slayer of William Whiteley, the well-known merchant of West bourne Grove, whom he professed to believe to be his father, and claimed to have sllot under stress of brain trouble, was convicted of wllful murder by jury to-day, whose deliberations lasted nine minutes. Lord Chief Justice Al verstone immediately donned the black cap, and pronounced the sentence of death.
 The defense was insanity. The wife and other relatives of the prisoner de- scribed Rayner as being moody, eXclt- able and eccentric.
 The lord chief justice, in summing up, said the jury must dismiss any question of sanity or insanity. If the prisoner drew pistol on MT. Whiteley with the intention of killing they must find him guilty of wilful murder.
 Before the lord chief justices charge to the jury counsel for Rayner sug- gested a recommendation for mercy, and the prosecutor said he would not oppose it.
 The court room was crowded, many women being present. In his opening statement counsel for the prosecution charged Rayner with an attempt to blackmail Whiteley, and said the man had prepared the crime with great care and deliberation.
 In opening the trial this forenoon counsel for the prosecution disposed of the fiction that Rayner was an illeg1ti- mate son of the man he killed.
 R. D. Muir, who conducted the pros ecution, said the prisoner was three years old before any member of his family became in any way connected with MT. Whiteley
 At that time, in 1882, Rayners aunt, Louisa Turner, was employed in Whiteleys store, and the following year she went to live under his protec- tion.
 Cecil Whiteley, whom the prisoner pretended to be, was a son by this con- nection, and was born In 1885. Rayner learned of the existence of Cecil and also of Louisa Turner's connection with Whiteley.
 Counsel described Rayner's increas- ing poverty of recent years and con- tended that the knowledge of the scan dal in the life of MT. Whiteley led Ray ner to attempt to blackmail him, and that he had prepared the crime with great deliberation.
 Louisa Turner confirmed MT. Muir's s statements and testified that she and MT. WhiteieJ had a quarrel and separ- ate6 in 1888.
 George Elliott, counsel for Rayner, in his opening speech for the defense, said if was not part of his case to prove that the prisoner was son of the late MT. Whiteley. Rayner, rightly or wrongly, believed he was his son, and counsel was going to show that Rayner was insane in the legal sense, that he was a degenerate, whose mind was tainted, defective and weakened by the over-indulgence of two generations of ! his family in drink
 The prisoners wife and others testi- fled that Rayner had variable moods, was excitable suffered from sleepless- ness and had worn a haunted look since his return from Russia in Sep tember.
 The prisoner next entered the box and related in detail the interview ne had with MT. Whiteley on January 24 in which he suggested that the mer- chant furnish him with assistance. Mir Whiteley referred him to the emigra- tion bureau, and Rayner threatened to commit suicide. MT. Whteley left the room and the prisoner followed He said he felt the blood surge to his head and then the tragedy occurred.
 In sentencing Rayner the lord chief justice said:
 ''I cannot hold out to you the slight est hope that the sentence will not be carried into effect. I ask you most earnestly to spend the time left to you In earnest communion with your Maker"
 According to the English cuhtom, Rayner, unless the home secretary nit tgates the penalty, will be hanged within a month making less than three months between the crime and the pun ishment.