WHITECHAPEL MURDER.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 597, 21 April 1891, Page 3

WHITECHAPEL MURDER.

THE SINGULAR CASE OF SADLER. [STAR SPECIAL.] London, Febuary 21. Within one hundred yards or so of Lemanstreet Police Station, and in the very midst of a cordon of constables, the tenth murder of the infamous Whitechapel series was on Friday morning last committed. The victim, as usual, proved to be one of the poor street-walkers of the district. P. C. Thompson, who found the woman lying under the railway arch in Mansell street, at 220 a.m., with her throat cut, —literally— from ear to ear, but apparently still breathing, vows he passed there last as the clocks were striking two. All was then quiet. His beat took from 15 to 20 minutes to travel. Returning, the constable saw a woman lying, as he supposed, drunk, in the shadow of the arch, and heard (he imagines) the patter of departing steps. Turning his lantern on to the body, Thompson noticed the woman’s head was lying in a pool of blood, and instantly g ive the alarm. Officers from all quarters sprung up in four minutes, and the cordon of police being drawn round the neighborhood, a search of likely hiding places was forthwith instituted. Two constables came from the direction the murderer is supposed to have taken, yet met no one.

On Saturday a fireman named Sadler was identified as being the last person seen with the deceased, and detained for enquiries, no fewer than 20 detectives being turned on the job. At first it seemed as though the account the man gave of his doings con'd be corroborated, but on Monday morning evidence transpired which resolved the police to arrest him. The history of the man’s arrest has been a remarkable one. At first it seemed that there were sofficient grounds for at once charging the prisoner with the crime. He had been seen quarrelling with the deceased woman shortly before the murder was committed, and shortly after he was seen walking across Tower Hill with stains of blood about him. Undoubtedly if he had failed to account for the stains, he would have been forthwith charged ; but without faltering, and without betraying any emotion, be explained that he had been in a row with two men, who had assaulted and tried to rob him at the dock gates. The man candidly admitted having been in the woman’s company up to within an hour or two of ths murder. In reply to further questions, he emphatically denied any knowledge of the crime, and met the suggestion by setting up what amounted to an alibi, He gave a full gocount of his movements from the lima he left tbs woman to the time he encountered the Sergeant on Tower Hill; and bo plausible and consistent was bis story that the polios felt they had no alternative but to teat it before taking the decisive step of charging bim with the crime. A batch of detectives were told off for the work. Those who had visited the London Hospital reported that Sadler bad been there at the time be himself had specified, those who had been at the Sailors' Home told the same story ; and so on with the other places mentioned. In a word, the detectives confirmed Sadler’s Statement. That was the position of affairs late on Saturday night. Gradually the conViotmn was gaining ground that the clue Which had been so eagerly pursued was a worthless one.

During the night the situation underwent an important change. A man named Duncan Campbell, who is staying at the Sailors’ Home, made an important communication to tfae police. Ha explained that on Friday morning at about 11 o’clock he was standing in the entranoe ball of the Home, when a ptan entered the institution and got into conversation with him, remarking that ha had been out all night; and didn’t feel at all well; and that he wanted a drink.

“ As he spoke," Campbell proceeded, “ he produced a valuable-looking knife, and offered to sell it to me. I said to him, 1 That isn’t an English knife, ie it ?’ He replied, 'No; I bought it in America.' lagreed to buy it from him, and I gave him a shilling for it.’ Campbell went on to Bay that he had Washed the knife and resold it; and he added that the water in which he washed it beoame discolored, as though by blood. The police lost no time in biinping Campbell into the presence of Sadler, whom he promptly recognised as the man who had sold him the knife. It was in consequence of this fresh evidence in the cage that the police formally charged Badler with the murder of Frances Coles. The charge was read over to him shortly before midnight on Sunday, and the prisoner betrayed considerable emotion. He was taken before the magistrate at the Thames Police Police Court on Monday afternoon, when after some important evidence had been given he was remanded until Tuesday next.

The knife purchased by Campbell at the Bailors’ Home is a peculiar one. The blade, which is about five inches long, is curved, and has a sharp point. It is a clasp knife, and the handle is a heavy metal one. Campbell informed the police that he had sold it to a Store dealer named Robinson. Two detectives proceeded to the address indicated, and took possession of the knife. Bobinson said that the knife was blunt when brought to him and that he put an edge on it. “In fact," he said, •' I cut my dinner up with it yesterday.” It is stated that Sadler has denied ever having had the knife in his possession. The evidence| connecting the knife with the prime is very slender. That the water in which it was washed was discoloured by blo'd is by no means certain. Campbell expressed the belief that the water took a slightly ruddy hue, but he is by no means positive on the point. The discoloration might of course be due solely to dirt. The police have satisfied themselves that that part of the prisoner's statement in which he described a row be had had with two men at the dock gates is true. How the disturbanpe commenced is a little uncertain ; but there seems to be no doubt that Sadler was very roughly treated. Sadler is not known by the officials of the Sailors* Home. Their invariable ru e is to enter in a look the names of all who take up their quarters in the institution. However, it very often happens that a man, for some reason or other, wid give a false name. If a man has left without fully settling hie account he may turn np again, perhaps a year or eighteen months later, and give a different name, so that the old score shall not be brought up against him. Among the habitues of the house Sadler is better known, and an elderly sailor said he had formerly known the man very well. •' I lost sight of him," he said, “ eighteen months ago, and I haven't seen him since. A year or two back I saw a good deal of bim. He was often about, and I think he was born in the district." The police are by no means positive that there is any connection between the latest murder in Whitechapel and those that preceded it. They, however, entertain no doubt that the previous crimes were all committed by the Mme person. Speaking of Sadler's appearance, a “ P.M.G." man observes:—Seldom has a man's face been more eagerly scanned than was his when he faced the magistrate for the first time. Did he look like a murderer pr did he not ? were the two questions Uppermost in everybody's mind, f‘ Not he," exclaimed one reporter, " his general expression is quite a benevolent one—he wouldn’t hurt a fly.” On the other band, there were jp many who saw, or fancied they taw, in hie features all the devilish Spacing and malignity which one would {tnaginb the Whitechapel murder to 'ossaia, Rugged he most unquestionably Was, but his expression could scarcely be described as malign. A drinking bout does mt enhance the good looks of any man, ftrd Sadler looked decidedly “off colour.*' HU right eye was black-d, there were bruises above and beneath the left eye and he bad a scalp wound upon his head. Anyone uuacqnatnted with the circumstances which brought him to the court would have thought it was merely a charge of " drunk and disorderly."

put rough, blunt, and pluin-spoken as he Sadler showed considerable acuteness, and did not seem entirely nnecquainted with the ordinary procedure of the police court. He listened to the evidence with g<eat care, saw instantly when a point was made against him, and in a rough, but not ineffective, fashion, endeavoured to meet it. He wm particularly interested in what the fi»h*cartr said with regard to his threat that

he would “do ” for the persons who had robbed him, and tried hard to shake the evidence upon that point. For himself, he affected to regard the proceedings with an air of unconcern. “I was so drunk that I do not remember,” he carelessly remarked, more than once : “if he says so, I suppose he is right.” His complaint of cold and hunger was not without a touch of pathos. The inquest yesterday was all in Sadler’s favor. So far as I can make out only some five or six minutes of Sadler’s time between eleven and the period of the murder on Friday night, remains unaccounted for, and it is barely within the bounds of possibility he could have committed the murder then. The man seems unusually shrewd for his class and vocation. He wrote a clever little letter to the Star on Thursday, asking the editor to watch over his interests, and see he wasn't rushed to the gallows in order to whitewash the Defective (Detective) Department. [We have already learned by cable that Sadler has been released.]