The Star
Largest Circulation of Any Evening Paper in the Kingdom.
LONDON. FRIDAY, 9 NOVEMBER, 1888.
ONE HALFPENNY.
Front Page
WHAT WE THINK.
MR. MATTHEWS plucked up courage last night publicly to rebuke Sir Charles Warren. It is now certain that in publishing his maniacal article in Murray's Sir Charles committed a breach of the rules of the service, just as in bludgeoning people he committed a breach of the law. It is, of course, a relief to the people of London who are determined to be rid of our martinet to discover that he is not only lawless but mutinous; but that unfortunately does not much mend matters. The only thing to do is, as Mrs. Besant suggests, to keep clear of Sir Charles in the streets and attack him in the Parliament. We hope the Socialists to-day will be wise and give him no occasion for offence. The London Liberal members must now do their part, and see to it that the author of a gross breach of official rules is brought sternly and incessantly to book.
MEANWHILE Sir Charles has committed an offence of which even his worst enemies did not believe him guilty - that of mean and paltry disingenuousness. His defence of his seditious conduct was that he made no reference to Liberal Governments. What, then, did he mean by saying that "Ex-Ministers while in Opposition, had smiled on the insurgent mob?" What could he mean but that Mr. Gladstone, Mr. Morley, and others, had taken part in the discussion on the affair of the 13 November, and had voted against the expelling edict? There is no other meaning in his words, and his present excuse is simply a cowardly shuffle.
MEANWHILE, the state of feeling about Sir Charles is illustrated by the action of a London Tory member. Mr. Gent Davis intends tonight, if (as is probable) his courage does not fail him at the last moment, to move the adjournment of the House for the purpose of calling attention to the relations between Sir C. Warren and Mr. Monro, the late head of the detective department. Mr. Davis will do this, if he does it, because a question to that effect handed in by him has not been allowed to appear on the paper. Why is this? The censorship of questions is becoming intolerable. But in any case here is a "tip" for the London Liberal members. Let them scrape together every vote in the House of Commons, support the motion for adjournment, if it is made, vote for it when it is pressed, and give Sir Charles the warmest half-hour he has ever had in his troubled career.
MAINLY ABOUT PEOPLE.
Mr. John Francis Brewer, the author of the new "shilling shocker," "The Curse upon Mitre Square, A.D. 1530-1880," which is creating considerable interest at present, is a grandson of the late Professor Brewer, the celebrated historian, and editor of the "State Papers," &c., whom Mr. Gladstone quotes in his interesting article on "Queen Elizabeth and the Church."
Page 2
A ZOLAESQUE TRAGEDY.
A Young Man Charged with Mesmerising and Shooting a Woman.
A tragedy, which has for many months kept all Algeria in a state of excitement, came before the Constantine Assizes yesterday, says the Paris correspondent of the Times. On 25 Jan. Madame Grille, about 30 years of age, and a member of a highly respectable Protestant family in Paris, was found dead. A young man of 23, Henri Chambige, lay beside her, and stated that they had agreed to die, that he had shot her by her own wish, and that he had then attempted suicide; but the first ball had simply passed through his cheek and the second had only grazed his face. The question which has divided Algeria into two parties is whether this story is true, or whether Chambige, atter mesmerising Madame Grille, murdered her, in order that she might never give certain evidence against him. The decision will hinge on a host of minute details, and in any case it is clear that Chambige, whose
HEAD WAS TURNED BY READING UNHEALTHY NOVELS,
was bent on creating a sensation, and on imagining himself a kind of hero. His father was a highly respectable notary at Constantine, but committed suicide without any known motive, and his mother afterwards married an Algerian functionary, M. de Campère. In 1886 Chambige commenced studying law in Paris, where he became intimate with young men fond of psychological subtleties and mesmerism. Towards the end of last year he returned home and made acquaintance with the Grille family. M. Grille is a civil engineer. When discovered Madame Grille was lying dead, two balls having entered her forehead. Chambige, who was lying on the floor wounded, exclaimed, "I killed her! I killed her! She wished it." A sheet of black-edged paper on the sofa near a half-empty bottle of rum bore the words, "I beg my family to give a good keepsake to my friend Paul Rieu. Pardon, pardon, mother! Embrace the little ones - Henri." There was
NOT THE SLIGHTEST SIGN OF A STRUGGLE.
On the arrival of the magistrates Chambige implored them to kill him, declaring that he did not wish to survive Madame Grille, and on the surgeon probing his wound he tried to snatch the instrument from him. He has since written a long statement which reads like a chapter in a French novel, the substance of it being that Madame Grille was passionately in love with him, and that she had resolved either to elope with him or to die with him. Her relations and friends, however, maintain that she never felt for him anything beyond compassionate interest. She did not evince the least emotion on parting with her children to accompany Chambige, and she even left unfinished a letter to her grandmother, written in her usual tone. She had
EVEN ACCEPTED AN INVITATION TO DINNER
for that evening. The friends believe that Chambige inveigled her to the house of which he had been left in charge by his step-father, and that he then mesmerised and killed her. Her character was above all suspicion. Chambige had left with a friend some telegrams and notes purporting to have been addressed to him by Madame Grille, some of which imply a guilty passion. The authenticity of them is denied by experts, and the suggestion is that Chambige fabricated them.
Coroner and Doctor Quarrel.
Dr. Price, the house-surgeon of Guy's Hospital, had been summoned to give evidence at an inquest yesterday, but he did not put in an appearance until some time after the witnesses had been examined. The Coroner (Mr. Langham) asked him why he had kept them waiting? The doctor said he had been occupied at a chloroform case. - The Coroner: You ought not to have undertaken it. Your summons was for two o'clock. There are surely plenty of persons to assist in a case of chloroform. The Doctor (sharply): No, there are not. You generally hold your inquests at a time when we are most busy. - The Coroner: I am not going to consult you in the matter. I think that remark is a very great piece of impertinence. - On leaving the court-room Dr. Price slammed the door to violently, and the Coroner told his officer to convey his remarks to Dr. Steel, superintendent of the hospital.
Under Wagon and Train.
An inquest was held at the Cone-hill Asylum, near Croydon, yesterday, on William Brook, an inmate. On Tuesday, while engaged in picking stones, he escaped from the attendant, ran on to the highway, and threw himself under a wagon with a load of two tons, the rear wheel passing over his shoulder. He jumped up, remarking, "That hasn't killed me," and ran on to the line. He faced an express train, and was cut to pieces. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that deceased committed suicide while insane.
London Radicals in Council.
A meeting of the Council of the Metropolitan Radical Federation was held at the North Backney Liberal and Radical Club, Stoke Newington, on Wednesday evening. The following members were elected on the Executive: - Mrs. Annie Besant, and Messrs. Early, Dunton, Bellhouse, Wain, Lyons, and J. A. Elliott. A resolution, moved by Mr. Pearce, of the Paddington Liberal Club, "That this Council is of opinion that the immigration of indigent foreigners is injurious to the national welfare," was warmly discussed, and met with the almost unanimous opposition of the Council, and in the end the motion was withdrawn. Mr. Ellis asked for urgency for a motion "to thank those members of Parliament who had already given notice of opposition to the renewal of the salary of Sir Charles Warren," and urgency being granted, the resolution was unanimously carried. - Mrs. Cobden was present as the delegate of the first Ladies' Liberal Association, which has been affiliated to the Federation.
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FIFTH EDITION.
Scare-bobbies in Whitechapel.
Some practical jokers have been playing a game with the police. This morning two constables of the H division, while going round their beat, found a guy lying in a doorway, it having evidently been placed there to frighten the police. Several other constables found the dummy. One policeman found some woman's old clothes lying in a street off Mile-end-road, and thought it of such importance that he took them to the police station. He was told to go back to his beat.
WHITECHAPEL.
ANOTHER CRIME BY THE MURDER-MANIAC.
MORE REVOLTING THAN EVER.
THIS DEMONIACAL DEED DONE IN A HOUSE.
A Woman is Found in a House in Dorset-street Decapitated and with Her Body Mutilated in a Manner that Passes Description.
At a quarter to eleven this morning a woman was found murdered, with her head nearly cut off, in a room in a house in McCarthy's-court, a turning out of Dorset-street - the street in which the lodging-house is situated where the Hanbury-street victim slept occasionally. Whitechapel is seething with excitement. Cordons of police are drawn up at all the entrances to Dorset-street, and no one is allowed to enter it. A Star man went to Commercial-street Police station to learn some further particulars, but was politely but firmly referred to Scotland-yard.
THE SCENE OF THE LATEST WORK
of the fiend - from the daring manner in which the murder has been committed, there seems little doubt that the murderer is the man who has given Whitechapel a regular succession of horrors - is a tiny little court with an entrance only permitting one to walk through at a time. The narrow entry terminates in a diminutive square, formed by three sides of little half-whitewashed houses. It was in the room of one of these that the foul deed was done. From the police, who, in uniform and plain clothes, simply swarm all over the place, nothing whatever can be gleaned. But from the startled inhabitants of the lodging-houses in Dorset-street a Star man got a few details. The victim is a woman who went by
THE NAME OF "MARY JANE"
and she lived in the room in which she has been murdered, with a man and her little son - about 10 or 11 years old. The story of the crime current among the neighbors is that this morning - what time cannot at present be precisely ascertained, but at any rate after daylight, she took a man home to her own room, presumably for an immoral purpose. At a quarter to eleven the landlady of the house went up for the rent, and found her murdered.
Details in respect of the mutilation of the body reveal a
MORE HORRIBLE
state of things than anything which has yet been recorded in this series of crimes. The thick flesh has been literally stripped from the thighs of the victim, and placed upon the table in the room. The woman's breasts have also been roughly sliced off. The fleshy parts of the cheeks have also been hacked away, and the corpse presents a spectacle more hideous than anything which has presented itself to even the oldest and most experienced of the police officers who are engaged in the case. Everyone's feelings are revolted, and it is absolute truth to say that the horrors revealed by the case are simply inexpressible.
Another of our reporters writes :- The murder was not discovered till about half past eleven. The excitement arose in the neighborhood the instant the report was spread. All kinds of reports are flying as to the nature of the crime. It is certain that the woman's head was nearly severed from the body, and others state that the body has been disembowelled. The police, however, refuse to supply information of any kind to certain of the reporters, and guard the entrance to the court where the crime was committed as carefully as if the murderer were still confined within its precincts.
The court itself, which our reporter and artist got an opportunity of viewing from the roof, is one of those miserable little alleys where none but those compelled to live in its stifling atmosphere ever enter. The house where the woman spent her last night is in keeping with its surroundings. The woman appears to have
LIVED IN THE HOUSE
where she slept last night with her mother and a man who passed as her husband. She had one child.
A woman named Mrs. Hewitt, living at 25, Dorset-street, supplied our reporter with some information. She said she was up till twelve o'clock last night. She heard nothing. Her husband was up at four o'clock each morning, and he heard nothing of a disturbing character. At eleven o'clock this morning she had occasion to look out of the window which affords a view of the court; but she could see nothing. At about half-past eleven she heard the shouts of a mob, and she then discovered that a horrible murder - it makes me shiver to think of it, she said - had been committed. She also stated that a man - a drover - called on her some time ago. He asked her if a summons came in
THE NAME OF LAWRENCE
to accept it. This man Lawrence, she says, she believes lived with the dead woman. He was off and on in London, sometimes being absent for five or six weeks.
IN THE POLICE COURTS TO-DAY.
Won't Let Him Buy Stale Bread.
A man made application at Dalston for process against another man who said he was employed by the Hackney Bakers' Society to stop applicant from trading. He got his living by buying up the stale bread of bakers and others, and selling it again. The bakers stopped his trade advertisements in their organ, and then had sent a man to follow him about. This man had met him at the Bow Station and called him a thief, a rogue, and a vagabond. - Mr. Bros: I am afraid I cannot assist you. I cannot advise you to take an action for slander. It would not be worth while.
James Kelly was seen in the tea warehouse at the London Docks, but said, in answer to inquiries, that he was doing "Nothing." As he had two pounds of tea distributed down the legs of his trousers, Mr. Lushington concluded he was not telling the truth, and gave him a month.
A Body Found in Epping Forest.
The dead body of a man, name unknown, was found in the waters of the Hollow Pond, at Whipps Cross-road, Wanstead, last night. He was 5ft. 6in. high; complexion, hair, and moustache dark; no whiskers or beard; teeth prominent in upper jaw, and large nose. He was wearing a dark grey overcoat, nearly new, and having on the tab the name and address, "Samuel Wheeler, tailor and outfitter, London-street, Reading." W. G. was scratched on his watch.
Found Her Own Fortune.
At Manchester yesterday it was shown that a woman named Margaret Logan had been systematically trading on superstition. The woman used a glass egg and a pack of playing cards in telling fortunes. For a long time she has supported her husband and family by the proceeds of fortune-telling among servant girls. For the last six weeks her house had been nightly visited by 30 or 40 people. Prisoner was fined £10 and costs.
WARREN SNUBBED.
His Veracious Reply to Matthews' Mild Remonstrance.
Mr. Atherley Jones asked the Home Secretary in the House of Commons yesterday whether his attention had been called to an article by the Chief Commissioner of Metropolitan Police, published in Murray's Magazine of this month, in which the Commissioner discusses the management and discipline of the police under his control, and made disparaging remarks upon members of the late Government; and whether it was in accordance with the usage and discipline of the Civil Service that a salaried official should be permitted to publicly discuss matters relating to his department and disparage the conduct of ex-Ministers of the Crown; and, if not, whether he had seen fit to take any action in the matter.
Mr. Matthews replied: My attention has been called to the article in question. I am assured by the Commissioner that his statements are made without reference to party, and he points out that one of the passages referred to by the hon. member applies on the face of it to successive Governments, and not to any one Government in particular. With regard to the usages of the Civil Service as to the public discussion by salaried officials of matters which touch upon politics, I cannot do better than refer the hon. member to an answer given by the First Lord of the Treasury in this House on 15 March of this year, where he will find the subject fully dealt with. In 1879 the then Home Secretary issued a rule by which officers attached to the department were precluded from publishing works relating to the department without permission, and a copy was sent to the then Commissioner of Police. The present Commissioner, however, informs me that he was not aware of the existence of this rule. I have accordingly drawn his attention to it, and have requested him to comply with it in future.
Below is the passage referred to which Sir Charles Warren says was made "without reference to party" :-
"It is to be deplored that successive Governments have not had the courage to make a stand against the more noisy section of the people representing a small minority, and have given way before tumultuous proceedings which have exercised a terrorism over peaceful and law-abiding citizens, and it is still more to be regretted that ex-Ministers, while in opposition, have not hesitated to embarrass those in power by smiling on the insurgent mob."
The London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian says there can be no question as to the very strong feelings entertained among a number of Conservative members with regard to Sir Charles Warren's administration at Scotland-yard. If these members obtain no earlier opportunity, they will take care to express their views in the debate which will be raised upon the Estimates. It is now improbable that there will be any formal meeting upon the subject, but informal communications have passed between the London Liberal members, with the result that they have agreed to take a full night for the discussion of the conduct of the London police.
The London correspondent of the Manchester Courier (Tory) says :- There is to be a very animated discussion on the Police Vote, and Sir Charles Warren, is, I believe, to be vigorously attacked. I find that even on the Conservative side there is some disposition to question the wisdom of Sir Charles Warren's administration in some of its details; but the Government will resist the attack which is made on the Chief Commissioner of Police.
SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION.
The Fight in the Tower Hamlets.
A crowded and enthusiastic meeting was held last night in the large Stepney Meeting Hall, in support of Mrs. Annie Besant's candidature. The chair was occupied by Mr. Alfred Flint, of the Tower Hamlets Radical Association, and he was supported by Mr. John Hall, of Whitechapel, the election agent of Mr. Montagu, M.P., Herbert Burrows, William Clarke, and other well-known local Radicals. Mr. Flint made a useful speech, criticising the policy of the dying Board, and he was followed by the candidate, who delivered an exposition of her programme, which was received with repeated applause. Mr. John Hall then proposed a resolution in her support, which was seconded in a vigorous speech by Herbert Burrows and very ably supported by William Clarke. It was carried with great enthusiasm, and a most successful meeting broke up amid many expressions of determination to win on the 26th.
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NEWS OF ALL SORTS.
Armless, But Deadly.
A year ago a young French Government official met with a terrible accident, which deprived him of both his arms. He had been married about a year. While only just convalescent, the unfortunate man was informed that during his illness his wife had been consoling herself with the attentions of a young butcher, and he determined to revenge himself. It was no easy task for an armless man, but after consideration he bought an old pair of spurs with enormous rowels. Having got a friend to attach these to his heels, he went to the room of the seducer. He found his wife. Reproaching her with faithlessness, he pushed her down, and proceeded to wound her by drawing the sharp spurs across her body and face with all his strength. When the butcher entered the cripple "butted" him and threw him on the floor and commenced to lacerate him too with the spurs. Murder would have resulted had not the enraged cripple lost his footing and fallen to the ground. About an hour after a commissionaire was attracted by the injured couple's cries, and heard the story from the avenged husband. The parties were removed to the hospital.
