The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-09-01

London, Aug, Ste the seasons plentl-
fui crops of congresses. Esperantists. Pa
cificists Zlonists. Socialists ana such
ike. should now be added an imprOmptn
congress of crininologists. which gathered
in the bleak mining village Of Stafford
shire, England's back country.
These students Of psychology, headed by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. were drawn
there by a succession Of atrocities which,
for sensational mystIhcetion, can be
compared only to the Jack the Ripper"
murders. In the present instance the
crime is called manning, but the circum-
stances are such that the newspapers are
treating it in vastly greater detail than
II II were murder.
The story Is an extraordinary one. As
far back as 1893 the neighborhoOd of
Great Wyrley was shocked by a success
sion Of cases. in which valuable horses
and cows were stabbed, always in the
same manner. Despite offers of rewards
and re-enforcements. the plain clothes po-
lice were unable 20 catch any one red
handed. A series of anonymous letters,
however, all in the same handwriting.
sent TO the police. resulted in the arrest
of a young lawyer named Edalt, who
was practclng in Birmingham. and whose
father is a Church of England clergyman
and vicar Of Great Wyrley.
Convicted Man Released.
He Is a Parsee who married an English
wife. Young Edalji was convicted on cir
eumstantial evidence that he had been
near a field at night when a pony that
was IN it was stabbed. He was sentenced
to seven years penal servitude. The out
RACES continued after his conviction, and
agitation that was started by his lawyers
and inquiry by Conan Doyle and others
resulted in his release after he had served
two years. But no compensation has
been paid him by the government, as il
holds that he was implicated in the anony-
nous letter writing, which was a feature
of the case. and that. in that way he
helped TO bring the punishment on him
self.
This week he is living in Yarmouth, a
hundred miles away from the scene of
the staobing. but in the same field where
the previous manning occurred, two valu-
able horses were stabbed in the dark
hours of Wednesday morning, and this
morning another horse was stabbed at
Wallsan in the same district
This has wrought the assembled crimi-
biologists from all over the country TO
the highest pitch Of excitement. Conan
Doyle declares that he knows who the
miscreant is. and that he is a mono
maniac. but the police rather resent the
Intervention Of the author Of Sherlock
Holmes"
JekyII and Hyde Creature.
Another theory is that the cattle
manner is a species of JekyH and Hyde.
that he is one of the respected residents
of the neigaborhood. and has a dual per-
sonality As Jel1yll he is serious and
prosperous citizen; as Hyde, he is a
maniac with a fixed idea Of destroying
cattle in a particular way. always stab
bling them and ripping them under the
belly with a long, sharp knife
G. E Sims. Il well-knowu writer on
criminal cases. agrees with Conan Doyle
that madman is the perpetratOr of the
outrages His mania is a sort Of blood
thirst, that is confined 20 animals. Il is
that which is sometimes seen In little
children who do fendish things 10 domes-
tic animals and birds. Like all madmen
says Sims, he has periods of activity, and
of quiescence. like the author of Jack
the Ripper crimes. He would cease for
a month and then begin again Like
Jack the Ripper" this man always
kills in identical circumstances.
Tie most amazing theory Of all comes
from a gentleman who arrived from a
long distance 70 press his views upon the
authorities. He declares that he has
studied the cases extensively. and knows
that the culprit is a controlled ape" act
ing under the hypnotic influence Of some
body In Birmingham.
1t is notable that Edalji gets little sym
paIhy from the Staffordshire villagers
for no other reason but that he is q
PaTsee.