| Show 3 george T tardy true record of the achievement of fa JohnW murray in uncovering the guilty parties in the blenheim swamp slaughter how the slayer was un by the master sleuth OUR miles the little town of eastwood on tano canada there lies dark gloomy marsh known as blenheim swamp it is a deso late lonely spot which fallen logs and tangled thickets corn bine to render well nigh impassable to the feet of the curious explorer and at one edge there lies a pool of black sullen water pine pond far in the depths of this foul morass on the morning 0 february 21 1890 two brothers joseph and george eld ridge while out chopping wood bled over the lifeless body of a young man half buried in the weeds and brush in the back of the head was a round black hole ind eating where a bullet had ploughed its fatal way and near the of the neck was a similar wound even to an eye it was evident that the victim had been shot down from be hind perhaps without obtaining a glimpse of his cowardly assassin the body was that of a smoothly shaven youth of refined appearance the clothing was of excellent quality english in style and cut with a check mackintosh and underwear also of british make there as naf clue to his identity the name of his tai lor and the label on hia clothes had been cut away and the label on his bron derby hat removed detective john wilson murray of toronto was ordered to take the case in hand and he went to view the big blenheim swamp where the body had been found he gazed upon the tell tale crimson splotch where the head of the murdered man had lain then surveyed the surrounding ground and came across a grim trail of ac cusing red he followed it back a few paces and found that it ended in one great blot of gore beyond which there was no further trace of blood it was evident that there the shot had ben fired that felled the victim his mur derer had borne the lifeless body to the denser to hide it on his hands and knees murray crawled around the scene of the crime going over the ground inch by inch three times he crossed and recessed the fatal trail hoping that he might dis cover a bit ol 01 a label a button a scrap of paper anything that might lend a clu to the history of the mur dered man at last his exertions were rewarded by the finding of a cl gal holder with an amber mouthpiece marked F W and that was all of the grim secret yielded by the dismal swamp five days bad elapsed since the finding of the body but though pic tures of the victim were published in all the leading canadian papers and copies sent to angland no alon was made the body was buried at princeton a few mies from blen helm on the sixth day a man and woman arrived at princeton and asked to see the body saying that they had seen the picture printed in the pa pers and fancied the recognized the features they had crossed from england recently and on the same ship was a young man who resembled strongly the picture of the deceased the body was dug up on march 1 the lady and gentleman viewed it and I 1 identified it as the remains of their fellow passenger ve think his name was benwell they said he was merely a casual acquaintance aboard ship and we knew nothing of him the returned to pans a to about ten miles from princeton and murray returning from a visit to the swamp went directly to the hotel where they were staying I 1 am john wilson murray of the department of criminal investigation said the detective introducing him self you are the gentleman who has been viewing the body found in the swampy yes said he my wife and I 1 were out at the grave and saw the body you were acquainted with the young mana queried the detective very slightly was the response I 1 just met him aboard ship i bhatt was his name inquired murray I 1 think it was fred benthel Ben twel or bendwell Ben swell or bendwell Ben swell replied the gen tieman we were fellow passengers on the britannic of the white star line he was on his way to london ontario I 1 last saw him at niagara falls he had a good deal of lug gage and left some of it will you be able to point out his baggage asked murray why yes responded the gentle I 1 am going to the falls to day we only came here because we saw the picture in the paper let me have your name please so that I 1 can find you at the falls re quested murray reginald birchall of london eng land I 1 shall be pleased to help you in any way that Is in my power replied the gentleman how was the young man dressed when you last saw hima inquired the detective murray was wearing a navy blue overcoat at the time and birchall touched the sleeve of it lightly like that he said a whole suit of blue did be drinka asked murray yes he used to get pre y jolly at times asserted birchall Bin chall the detective shook his head gravely th t london ontario is a bad I 1 lace for a convivial chap he said kill a fellow there for 5 were you ever in this country be foier I 1 have been in new york and niagara falls but never in canada ed birchall and having thanked him tor the information ghen mur with brew on his wa to the telegraph office he revie ved the that had just taken place he I 1 ad already reached the conci ision that birchall had lied to him shadow this man the message read but do not arrest him unless he tries to cross ehfe river to the united states I 1 will be there sunday night murray then took the train tor lon don and visited acquaintances there in search of traces of the fred ben well described by birchall from edward meredith a lawyer he learned that barrister hellmuth of london ontario had returned from england on the same steamer that had had benwell and birchall for passengers lie ascertained that benwell had not called to see hellmuth and a thorough search of london ontario proved that benwell had not been there at all birchall and his wife meanwhile had returned to niagara falls ontario and on march 2 birchall was arrested his wife being taken into custody two days later they were remanded un til march 12 further investigation revealed that mr and mrs birchall and a young man named douglas raymond pelly were guests of baldwin s boarding house at niagara falls and bad ar rived there the day after the murder murray called on pelly who was a handsome youngs fellow five feet nine ir ches tall of slight b ill 1 with a small light moustache and decided english acwith pelly declared that he was the son of the rev R P pelly of walden place vicar of saffron wal den essex england he was 25 i ears old a graduate of oxford and a cousin of the beautiful lady pelly who vas one of the suite of loid lansdowne formerly governor general of canada he informed murray that he knew both the dead man whose picture was in the papers and birchall banwell birchall mrs birchall and I 1 all came it from england in one party said pelly birchall and benwell left us for a day and ben well never came back I 1 saw the pic ture of the dead man a lew days later and 1 told birchall it was benwell and that he ought to go and identify the and make sure murray spent several hours convers ing with pelly who was perfectly will ing to tell all he knew regarding the suspect and murdered man among birchall s papers found in searching his effects were letters corroborative of what pelly said the latter with 1 is oxford course finished and the world before him was looking for an opening in life when in december 1889 he read an advertisement in london england newspapers as to lows canada university man having farm wishes to meet gentleman s son to live with him and learn the bus ness with view to partnership must invest to extend stock board lodging and five per cent in terest till partnership arranged ad dress J R burchall primrose club 4 park place st james london pelly wrote to the above address requesting further particulars in re ply he received a telegram from J R burchall stating that he would visit walden place saffron walden on the following thursday pelly answered with a note which was found with other letters in birchall s effects hop ipg that he would stay all night as it was a long way to come for such a short interview and also he desired to have bis father meet J R burchall on the appointed day burchall ar rived at walden place and later met pelly in london and won over both son and father he pictured to them a large farm one and a halt miles from niagara falls ontario a farm with large brick houses and barns the former heated by steam and I 1 gated by gas and the latter by electric light etith lights placed around the farm he told of the big and profitable busi ness and mentioned the fine fishing shooting and other sports to be en loyed on the estate he explained hat the business carried on was buy ng horses in the rough and grooming hem to sell tor profit that the farm was used to raise horse feed that during J R erchall s absence his overseer a scotchman named mcdon aid and several hired men looked after the farm and business that he had a branch business at woodstock ontario and had rooms there where he and his wife lived at times he said a number of englishmen lived around niagara falls and that a club had been created in which the mem bers lived in english style and had english servants burchall said he had organized the club the country was an earthly paradise with wealth to be had for simply sojourning in the land completely captivated by this glow ing description on january 11 1890 pelly wrote from hollington st leon ard son s on sea to J R burchall Bur chail say ing please consider all settled if you will have the agreement drawn up I 1 will sign it and forward you a cheque for 10 at the same time I 1 shall look to meeting you on february first when you get my teamer tickets would you be so kind s to forward me some steamer la ielse references were duly exchanged he agreement drawn up and signed md on february 5 pelly met mr and mrs birchall known to him as bur hall at liverpool and boarded the steamer britannic much to pelly s surprise he found a fourth member t the party a young man whom Ir chall introduced to him as ened 1 well told him that he did not like the place or the people but he had staged at the farm when bachall left tor buffalo brichall Bli chall also sa d he had given benwell several addresses be fore leaving so that he could visit folk in the country roundabout in eluding attorney hellmuth of london ontario who had been a passenger on the britannic pelly began to ask too many questions whereupon birchall declared he was tired and went to bed oft the following day they went to magara falls taking their lug gage with them they crossed to the canada side and stopped at mrs baldvins baldwins Bald wins birchall Birc ball arranging for rooms and board there soon after their arrival at baldwin s birchall invited pelly to take a walk during which the young man who was begin nii g to suspect that his astute host was not playing an altogether straight game told birchall that he had not made good his re presenta 0 benwell son of col benwell of cheltenham england birchall hinted to pelly that benwell was not much of a fellow but that he was simply crossing with them to a farm and that it would be wise foi pelly to have nothing to do with him therefore pelly treated benwell rather distant ly and demoted himself to mr and mrs birchall on the voyage benwell seemed to reciprocate by treating pel ly coolly so birchall deftly kept the two young men from becoming famil far and confidential but finally ben v ell and pelly chatted together and benwell told pelly that he too was to join birchall in the horse business pelly went to birchall and threatened to withdraw from their agreement the diplomatic mr birchall soothed hira cunningly saying that he would find some way of getting rid of ben well and appeased aop eased the grumbler by dwelling rapturously on the big profits awaiting them arriving at new york the party stopped for one night at the tan hotel and the next day february 15 they went to buffalo registering there at the stafford house on the morning of february 16 each young man was eager to view the mythical farm which birchall assured them was only a couple of hours nde from buffalo mrs birchall preferred to wait in buffalo until sure everything was in readiness tor her reception at the farm and pelly courteously agreed to tarry behind with her while birchall and benwell went on to the farm to the employed emp loyes it all was well at the farm benwell would remain there and birchall return and bring his wife and pelly benwell and birchall accordingly left the stafford house on the morning of february 17 to take a grand trunk train to the farm at halt past eight that evening birchall returned to the stafford house in buffalo alone he was in high good humor joking and laughing pleasantly in response 0 o pelly s in q liry for his companion of the morn ing he stated that he took benwell to the farm and introduced him to mcdonald the overseer later ben eions birchall gave an evasive re ply and under pretense of showing his companion the beauties of the niagara river took him down an old rotten stairway that led over the cliffs to the edge of the water at the bottom of the shaky steps there stood a stranger the sight of whom seemed to annoy birchall for without linger ing to admire the view he turned and retraced his steps returning to their rooms they saw a newspaper contain ing the account of the discovery of the body of a murdered man near woodstock and erchall proposed that pelly should go there and aee i the remains were those of benwell this sinister lemarl aroused tresh s is in pelly s mind and alarmed him to such an extent tl at he slipped a revolved vel into his i bocket determining to carry it in the furuie on the next day bud all persuaded pelly to go over to the american side of the river with him under theare tense of looking afeei some missing bag it was raining and blowing hara when they started to walk back to canada across the suspension bridge there no other arians in sight as they neared the center of the bridge and birchall halt ing requested pelly to look over the cables at the roaring torrent below the view is superb he said as he leaned over the edge come and see it pelly saw that it wo ild be an easy thing to thrust an unsuspecting per son over the cable into the river his mistrust of birchall had increased a thousand fold and be curtly refused to move from where he was standing birchall turned white looked around and stepped toward his companion As he did so pelly walked on birch all called to him sharply come walk alongside me he said your heavy overcoat vill help keep the rain off me pelly shook his head obstinately and was about to take to his heels and run when two men came walking across the bridge birchall then ceased to argue with his corn and the two made their way back to canada keeping several paces apart the next day bhohall accod danied by his wife went to paris on tario to view the body of the man whose picture had appeared in the papers and shortly after their return to the falls the arrest followed the letters found birchall s effects proved conclusively that ben well like pelly had been caught by birchall s advertisement and that birchall had arranged matters with each without notifying the other ben well and birchall had met and talked over the farm b iciness young ben well had consulted hi father who had traveled considerably and he advised his hoy to go and see the farm and then draw on him foi what he required hall had taken benwell with him to this side benwell paying his passage money to birchall and having an ample amount of money with him tor expenses and the au to draw on his father murray cabled and wrote at once to scotland yard london for information about birchall pelly and benwell he was advised that J R birchall was none other than the younger son of the rev joseph bir chall late well known vicar of church ark and rural dean of whalley after completing his course at oxford young birchall Birc ball |
