The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1888-06-13 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

THE HISTORY OF THE CASE. Time has caused the particulars of the Tranmere tragedy to leave only vague memories on the minds of many. Probably a short account of the case would be of more than passing interest. Robert Travis, aged 50, was landlord of the Swan Hotel, Great Sutton, and Eliza Platt, aged 28, a single woman of some means' lived in the same village with her aunt, a Mrs. Maddocks, not far from the hotel. Travis took up his residence here in 1884; his wife had died about a year previously. Travis conceived an affection for Platt which it was believed the latter returned, but neither her aunt, nor a married sister, Mrs. Mclntyre, who resided in Rock Ferry, regarded the courtship with touch favour. Quarrels are said to have been frequent. Three days before the murder, Eliza Platt came to her sister's house to stay with her for a few days, as she was under the care of Dr. Nickson, of Bedford-road, Rock Ferry. Travis arranged that he would go to see her on Friday, and he left home that forenoon, telling his housekeeper that he was going to Liverpool, and would, perhaps, not be at home until the following day. He took , with him a considerable sum of money, which accounted for the gold and silver found in his possession by the police after his arrest, and which was popularly taken as strong evidence that he was not prompted by plunder to take part in the crime. In the course of the evening Travis and Eliza Platt were seen together in the parlour. The former apparently had had some drink, but the young woman was quite sober. What took place in the house after ten o'clock that night was INA proved; but between one and two o'clock on Saturday morning the tenant of the adjoining house heard a noise of scuffling and knocking of furniture about in the dwelling of Mrs. Wlntyre, and cries of "Murder " were also heard shortly afterwards. The neighbour whose attention had been attracted to the disturbance sent to the Tranmere Police Station for an officer. On the arrival of the police they found Travis lying in the backyard ,1 in an unconscious state, with blood flowing ' from a cut in his forehead, evidently caused by his having fallen on to the corner of the step at the kitchen door, beside which there was a pool of blood. As the doors of the house were fastened, the constable produced a ladder, and one of them got in by the window, from which Travis was supported to have jumped. A shocking scene presented itself in the bedroom. Mrs. ll'lntyre was lying on the floor, close to the fireplace, in her nightdress, covered with blood, her sister, Eliza Platt, being seated on a chair in a sort of stupor from drink. She was at once taken into custody, and a doctor was sent for to attend the injured woman, but she expired shortly after his arrival. A deep wound in the right temple was the immediate cause of death, though the poop 'Woman's body showed numerous other wounds and bruises, and there were signs of a severe struggle having taken place. Eliza Platt was very much affected at the manner of her sister's death, and she was suffering from several ugly wounds which she had received. Travis stated that the crime had been committed by two men who had entered the house, and that he bad to jump through the window to secure his own safety. The coroner's jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against Travis, and acquitted Elizabeth Platt, who had been charged with the offence in conjunction with the male prisoner. Both were, however, committed on the capital charge by the magistrates, and when the nil came on at the Chester ABBilati, the Crown Prosecutor accepted Platt as Queen's evidence, with the result that the man was convicted and sentenced to death.