The Kenilworth Advertiser. — 1881-12-03 (Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England)

RECORD OF FURTHER CRIME.  The condemned man has, it is understood, made confession, in a narrative of his life which he has banded to the chaplain, not only of these two murders, but of the comparatively minor crime of housebreaking. It seems that some time in June last, and prior to the date of the outrage on Mr. Gold, Lefroy pressed the Claytons to invite to their house for the evening Captain and Mrs. Symmons. Captain Symmons was one of his trustees, and had paid him in February, on his coming of age, the final instalment (£45) of his fortune of £3,000. As Lefroy had always before manifested a marked antipathy to Captain Symmons and his wife, Mrs. Clayton was surprised at his anxiety to procure an invitation for them. She excused herself on account of an engagement from complying with his request that night, promising, however, to do as he wished on a subsequent evening. Two nights afterwards Lefroy himself invited the Symmonses in Mrs. Clayton's name, and they came. Before tea was over Lefroy jumped up from his seat, and observing that he was going to post some letters, asked them not to begin whist-playing until he came back. He returned in half-an-hour in a most excited state, said in an agitated manner that he had forgotten something, and again went out for nearly an hour. When he came back he was quite cool and collected, and played cards with the party for the remainder of the evening. After the Symmonses had left she asked him what had caused his agi La tion, and he explained that he had been running very fast. A few days afterwards Mrs. Clayton was informed by Mrs. Symmons that on that very night her Louse had been broken into and every drawer ransacked, including one in which, as was known to Lefroy, who once casually mentioned the fact, Captain Symmons was in the habit of keeping his money, valuables, and private papers. Fortunately they had been removed before the perpetration of the burglary, the guilt of which is now assumed by the prisoner in Lewes Gaol. In the same week Lefroy paid a visit to the Symmonses, a thing he had always refused to do before. On his return he showed Mr. and Mrs. Clayton a small bottle, nearly empty, took the cork out, and asked them to smell it. He then told them that he had seen Captain Symmons take a cup of cold water to drink, and then spit the water out of his month, remarking " Wh t a funny taste and smell it has ;" that in consequence of this, out of omiosi`7, he took from the mantlepiece the bottle he had cwn them, and found it to contain prussic acid. has now been ascertained beyond doubt that Leiroy had at that time prussic acid in his possession ; it is known from whom he obtained it, and that he subsequently endeavoured in vain to procure a further supply from the same quarter. Some rabbits belonging to Mr. Seale, and to which Lefroy had expressed a strong aversion, were mysteriously killed about that period—one had bullet-holes in ite neck, the other bore no outward marks of violence. Having regard to all that has now come to light, it has been surmised that Lefroy may have been experimenting on one of the animals with a revolver and on the other  with deadly drugs. It is even thought to be possible that, when investigating the properties of poison, he may have had designs on the life of Captain Symmons. Of this, indeed, there is little or no doubt. Allusion was made by Mr. Dutton during his interview with Lefroy on Friday to the fact of the latter having had prussic acid in his possession, and he replied, "Well, what I was actually doing was this —I was trying to make prussic acid, and if you go down to the house at Wallington you will find some chemical tubes which I used in making my experiments."