Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-09-02
cLEWS TO GREAT MURDERS.
Toy Lantern, Bootlace and Half an
Envelope Helped Men to GaIIows.

Toy Lantern, Bootlace and Half an
Envelope Helped Men to Gallows.
1t is amazing how often trivial
thing has led to the discovery of a
great crime. The hue and cry after
DR." Crippen was started by the ad-
dition of the letter 'l'' to the name FL
more. An alleged forged letter was
written to a well-known music hall ar
tiste. and it was so well done that it
would have passed examination had
not the writer put two rs" in the
lady's stage name-"Elmore"-in
of one.
Criminals are very forgetful per-
sons The famous series of frauds on
the Bank of England by the Ben
son brothers a generation ago was ter
minated by the fact that the forgrrs
of the drafts forgot to date the last
one presented. This almost incredihl"
blunder led to the break-up of ihc
most dangerous band of criminals
England has ever known.
An uneasy conscience gave away
DOugal, the Moat Farm murderer.
He had presented forged check on
his victims banking account, and the
clerk, not recognizing the signature,
asked Dougal to wait few moments.
Convinced that it was a trick to de-
tain him until the police were sum-
moned, the wretched man bolted; and
that set in motion train Of suspi-
cions that eventually resulted in the
discovery of one of the most cold
blooded crimes in the history of mur-
ders.
Any detective Of experience will tell
you that most criminals are fools
which is a good thing in the long run
for those whose business it is to de-
tect crime.
There was a case in the midlands
nearly twenty years ago which con-
cerned a man who spent many days
planning a woman's murder and dis
guising his own personality so that
nobody could ever suspect him of the
crime. Then, when his plans were
completed, he lured the unfortunate
woman to a lonely place and murder
ed her.
He was more than astonished to find
himself under arrest within an hour
of the discovery of the dead body.
But it was no wonderful feat of detec-
ton after all In his haste and con-
fusion the murderer had actually left
his visiting card on his victims body.
A childs penny toy lantern directly
led to the hanging of Fowler and Mil
som for the Muswell Hill murder. 1t
was a lucky clew that finding of the
child whose toy had been left behind
in the house with the body Of Mr..
Smith, the murdered man. 1t was the
property of Fowler's little brother,
and the child's innocent pleasure at
the recovery Of his lantern was the
eliminating stroke i'm one of the great
est tragedies of the last fifty years.
Clothes played a prominent part in
the Yarmouth Beach murder case Of
nine years ago, but it was bootlace
that finally fastened the crime onto
Bennett. That trivial bootlace had
who died where so many had found
holiday happiness; and those who at
tended the trial will never forget the
profound impression created by the
production of the string.
Upon a certain occasion a prOmi-
nent merchant and railway magnate
was talking in the street to a friend
Of his, one who was eminent in the
service of the state. A young man
passed by, and, to the astonishment of
the former, his companion nodded
pleasantly to him. who was that?'
asked the railway director, thinking he
might have been mistaken.
"Oh, that is Mr.. Blank, the we'll
known philanthropist"
Now the gentleman of the railways
knew Mr.. Blank by another name and
in a different capacity; in fact, he
was one of the clerks i'm the employ
of the railway of which he was a di-
rector. Examination of the books con-
firmed the worst suspicious, for the
pseudo -philanthropist had been rob-
bling his employees for years in order
to gratifv his ambition to get into So
cety. Had it not been for that cas-
ual recognition in public the company
would have lost thousands more than
il did
That was trivial chance, Of course,
but ii was more than this which caus-
ed Mrs. Dyer, the Reading baby far
mer, to wrap one of the bodies Of her
victims in a piece of brown paper
bearing her own name and address. 1t
broke away from its ghastly contents
and foated to the top of the river.
But all great criminal cases have
turned more or less on trivial things.
A railway ticket played a promiennt
part in the recent trial at Newcastles
of Alexander Dickman, charged with
the murder of Nesbit, the colliery
cashier. 1t bore the name Of one
station and was given up at another.
Half an addresSer envelope convicted
a murderer twenty years ago, although
the name and address had nothing to
do with him except that the other half
was found i'm his bedroom. a piece
of a file convicted a murderer named
Arrock who is now forgotten, but
whose crime excited tremendous in
terest some years ago. Armed with
half common file, the police traced