The man Benalius, 32, a Swede, who was arrested last week for entering a house in Buxton street, Mile end, was brought up on remand. The prisoner, it will be remembered, entered the parlour of a house where a Mrs. Jones was sitting alone, and frightened her very much by his peculiar manner. The man had once been arrested, it was stated, as a suspect, after the Berners street murder. The police had made inquiries about him, and the secretary of the City Branch of the Charity Organization Society said that they were about to send the prisoner back to America. Mr. Bushby said if the police were satisfied the prisoner would now be discharged. He had only himself to thank for being locked up.
Mr. Hunter asked the Home Secretary whether he was prepared, in the case of the Whitechapel murders, other then that of the woman Kelly, to offer a free pardon to any person not being the actual perpetrator of the crimes.
Mr. Matthews said he should have been quite prepared to offer a pardon in the earlier Whitechapel murders if the information before him had suggested that it would assist in the detection of the murderer. In the case of Kelly, there were circumstances which were wanting in the other cases which made it more probable that other persons, at any rate after the crime, had assisted the murderer.
