The Northern News. — 1896-01-25 (Carlisle, Cumbria, England)

SENSATIONAL AFFAIR ON A SCOTCH RAILWAY.  STRANGE FREAK OF A COMMERCIAL  TRAVELLER.  An extraordinary discovery was made on 3.ronday night at the Citadel Station. Carlisle. on the arrival of the Glasgow and South Western train from St. Enoch 's Station, Glasgow, at 1147. In a third-class compartment, a man was found lying under the seat, seemingly quite unconscious. tie had been gagged by a handkerchief being thrust into his mouth, a muffler was bound tightly round his head, his hands were tied behind his back with rope, and his legs were bound together with rope. On the seat was an open handbag and a bunch of keys. No other person was in the compartment or indeed in the train. Information was at once sent to the police, and Sergeant Clark was promptly on the spot. Search revealed that the man's person had been thoroughly overhauled. All his pockets were turned inside out, and the only articles upon him were an empty purse, the return half of a ticket from Glasgow to Old Cumnock, and an envelope addressed to John S. Cree, Clydesdale House. Old Cumnook. Dr. Lediard was sent for, and by his direction, the man, still unconscious, was removed to the Infirmary.  No time was lost in setting to work the police all along the line, with a view of eliciting information that might elucidate the mystery. The father and brother of the unfortunate man arrived in Carlisle by the 12.23 train on Tuesday afternoon. They had been aroused by the station master at Old Cumnock at half-past three in the morning and informed of what had taken place. Mr Cree is a jeweller at Old Cumnock, and stated that his son was a commercial traveller in the wire trade, and was twenty-four years of age. The latter left his home for Glasgow on Saturday morning, and was expected back by the train in which he was travelling, and the family were surprised that he had not come. As the injured man still remained unconscious, nothing further could be done, and the father and brother, after visiting him twice at the Infirmary, returned to Old Cumnock by the 7-35 train. The train by which the injured man travelled makes only three stops after leaving Old Cumnock, at Sanquhar, Thornhill, and Dumfries. The tickets are collected at the last named station, but the ticket collector had not observed him. The condition in which he was found, there being no marks of violence upon him, seemed to point to the conclusion that he had been first drugged or stupefied with chloroform, and then bound and robbed. From the very outset Dr. Lediard and the house surgeon saw reason to doubt that conclusion. No trace of any drugging could be found, and in their opinion the man appeared to be suffering from fright, and possibly there might be an injury to the head, although no indications of any such injury were visible on the scalp. The injured man Cree remained at the Infirmary apparently still unconscious till early on Wednesday morning. Meanwhile the Glasgow police had ascertained that he left that city in a compartment by himself, but that at Auchinleck, the station immediately before Old Cumnock. he left the compartment and entered another in which were some men playing cards. Mr Mackay, the Chief Constable, on hearing that Cree had regained consciousness, went to the Infirmary and took his statement, which was as follows :—" My name is John Stewart Cree, and I anr 24 years of age. lam a commercial traveller, and I went to Glasgow on Saturday last, and on Monday night at 8-10 I left Glasgow to return to Old Cumnock, having a third class ticket. I entered a compartment where there were two gentlemen. After leaving Glasgow they asked me if I would have a game of cards. I refused, as I c ulna play. They were playing nap.' They then wantea me to play dice, which I also refused. I left the compartment at Kilmarnock and went into another one above. A gentleman I know living at Old Cumnock, named Mr Gibson. a baker, joined me at Mauchline. We came on together to Auchinleck. I then got out of the carriage I was in and returned to the carriage where the card players were. They were then sitting smoking, and asked me to have a cigar, which I accepted. They asked me also to have a drink. I asked what the drink was, and they said 'Port wine." 1 took some and felt giddy immediately. After that I remember nothing more. I had a bag with some papers in it, and a purse containing about £2 108 in money. It was a small brown leather purse. I had a walking stick marked C. The two men were smart looking gentlemanly fellows, and spoke with an English accent." The walking stick, it may be mentioned, was found in the train, broken, but in another compartment from that in which Cree himself was discovered Both Dr. Lediard and the house surgeon gave no credit to the statement that he had been stupified by any drink, and their view was subsequently conformed.—Later in the day. Sergeant Smith, of the Ayrshire Constabulary, arrived, and was confronted with Cree. Fortified with the result of his investigation into the circumstances surrounding the case, Sergeant Smith at length brought Cree to acknowledge that the whole story of the outrage was a hoax. He confessed that he had no money upon him at all, and that being desirous of committing suicide, he hid bound himself in the manner in which he was found, after stuffing the handkerchief in his mouth to give the irnpresseion that he had been gagged, and that his unconsciousness had throughout been feigned. Sergeant Smith had ascertained that when Cree had left Glasgow he was in a compartment alone, that from Paisley to Kilmarnock he was in the company of a Kilmarnock baillie and a boy. At Auchinleck he was still in the train and all right, but from that point till he was discovered at Carlisle nothing more was seen of him. As already remarked, from Dumfries to Carlisle he was the only passenger in the train. . _ . _ _  • Cree remained at the Infirmary until Thursday, when he returned to Cumnock. The Carlisle police have no charge to bring against him, but the railway company might if they chose proceed against him for travelling from Cumnock to Carlisle without a ticket. The way in which the affair has ended will be felt as a relief by travellers on the railway generally, and by commercials in particular. That such an outrage as had apparently been committed on Cree should be possible, while the perpetrators seemed to have got away and left no trace, was calculated to send a nervous thrill through the breast of many who are accustomed to journey frequently by rail, and lead them to determine that in future they would be very circumspect as to their travelling companions.