The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1931-01-30
HlSTORY'S
MYST ERIES



- world, Waterloo bridge in London,
commands a magnificent view Of the
western part Of the city between West
minister and st. Paul's, as well as the
Thames embankment and the massive,
but well proportioned facade of Som
erset house. The bridge has figured
prominently In the history of the City
of London and has also been the
scene of number Of crimes, the most
striking Of which was known as the
Waterloo bridge murder" the more
remarkable because it occurred in the
midst of crowded city.
The finding of carpet bag by a
passing policeman was the first step
which led to the discovery of the fact
that murder had been committed
Upon examination, the bag was found
to contain portions of a human body
the head, the greater portion of the
spine, the hands, feet, and the left
side OF the chest.
The questions submitted to the med
ical inspectors at Scotland Yard had
reference to the sex, age and height
Of the deceased; the cause of death;
the period which had elapsed between
the occurrence of death and the find
ing Of the body; whether or not the
body had been used as q subject for
anatomical research and the presence
of any peculiarities which might re-
suit In an identification of the re-
mains. On the whole, these questions
were answered with 8 thoroughness
and accuracy possible only through
the work of a body of trained In
vestigators. The remains, declared
the medical experts, were those Of
man who judging from the full de-
velopment of the man had been dark
haired and a malformation of one OF
the feet made 1t probable that he had
walked with slight limp.
The cause Of death was plainly ap-
parent. A wound had been inflicted
with some long and narrow instru-
ment between the third and fourth
ribs on the left side Of the chest
piercing directly to the heart. The
appearance of the wound led the In
spectors to declare that 1t must have
been inflicted during life or immsdi-
ately after death, the former alterna
tive being the more consistent with
the facts in the case In short. the
cause of death appeared to be entire
ly consistent with the theory Of muir
der of very deliberate type.
Equally important, from the view
point of the detectives, was the fixing
Of the definite date of the crime, but
on such point it was necessary to
rely mainly on speculation, for direct
evidence could not of course be Of
fered. The perfect state of preserva-
tion of the remains, however, indi-
Gated they must have been subjected
to some process Of preservation, prob
ably with a view to preventing dis
covery of the crime through decom-
| position. The portions of the body
| had the experts declared, been boiled
and salted, thus adding another factor
to the already large number of indi-
cations of the extremely cold-blooded
nature of the crime. The fact that
the remains had thus been artificially
| preserved rendered the calculation of
! the period OF death uncertain, but the
! examiners came to the conclusion that
! the man must have been dead for at
| least three or four weeks before the
remains had been found on Waterloo
bridge
Not a particle of evidence was ever
/ Forthcoming that the body had been
! used for anatomical purposes. On the
contrary, the manner in which the
/ proved the murderer TO have been
entirely ignorant of even the rudi-
ments of anatomical knowledge.
For many months efforts were made
to identify the mutilated remains, but
although persons came from all parts
of England and even from across the
channel to view the ghastly evidence,
not the slightest clew was ever dis
covered, either to the murderer or the
murdered. Every mysterious disap-
pearance In London for months pre-
vious to the finding of the body was
investigated criminals of all types
we're rounded up and examined and
the entire machinery Of Scotland yard
was set in motion to no avail The
Waterloo bridge murder remained
as it remains today-one Of the crimes
to which not the slightest clew has
ever been discovered.
% by the Wheeler syndicate)