| Show HISTO k y ys S w X it riddles tint net still puzzle punto here and abroad m the waterloo bridge murder 0 ONE NE of tho the finest bridges in the world waterloo bridge in london commands a magnificent view of the western part of the city between westminster and st pauls as aa well as the thames embankment and the massive but well nell proportioned facade of somerset house the bridge has figured prominently in the history of the olty city of london and has also been the scene ot of a number 0 of crimes the most striking of which was known as the waterloo bridge murder the more remarkable because it occurred in the midst of a crowded city the finding ot of a carpet ting bag by a passing policeman was the first step which led to the discovery ot of the fact that a murder had been committed upon examination the bag was found to contain portions of a human body the head the greater portion of the spine the hands feet and the left side of the chest the questions submitted to the medical inspectors at scotland yard tard had reference to the sex age and height of the deceased the cause causa of death the period which had elapsed between the occurrence of death and the find ing of the body whether or not the tha budy body had been used as a a subject for anatomical research and the presence of any peculiarities which might result in an identification of the remains on the whole these questions were answered with a thoroughness thorough nesa neso and accuracy possible only through the work of a body of trained investigators vesti gators the remains declared the medical experts were those of a man who judging from the full development of the man had been dark haired and a malformation of ons on of tj the ie feet made it probable that he had walked with a slight limp the cause of death dath was plainly apparent A wound had been inflicted with some long and narrow instrument between the third and fourth ribs on the left side of the chest piercing directly to the heart th the appearance appe arnace of the wound led the inspectors spec tors to declare that it mint malt have been inflicted in during daring life or immediately atter after death the tha former alternative being the more consistent with the facts in the tha case in short the cause of death appeared to be entirely consistent with the theory of murder of a very deliberate type equally important from the viewpoint of the detectives was the fixing of the definite date of tile the crime but on such point it was necessary to rely mainly on speculation tor for direct evidence could not of course be offered the perfect state ot of preservation of the remains however andl indicated they must have been subjected t to some process of preservation probably with a view to preventing discovery of the crime through decomposition the portions of tile the body had the experts declared been boiled and salted thus adding another factor to the already large number of indications of the extremely cold blooded nature of the crime the tha fact that hat t the remains had thus been artificially preserved rendered the calculation of the period of death un uncertain certain but the examiners came to the conclusion that the man must have been dead for at least three or four weeks before the remains had been found on waterloo bridge not a particle of evidence was ever forthcoming that the body had been used for anatomical yur on the tha contrary the manner in which the parts had been separated by a saw proved the murderer murd eier to have been entirely ignorant of even the rudiments of anatomical knowledge for many months efforts were w ere trade to identity identify tile the mutilated remains but although persons cania came from all parts parta of england and even front from across the channel to view the ghastly evidence not the slightest clew was ever discovered either to the murderer or the tha every mysterious disappearance pe arance in london for months previous to the finding of the body was waa investigated criminals of all types were rounded up and examined and the entire machinery of scotland yard was set in motion to no avail the waterloo bridge murder remained its is it remains today one of the crimes to which not the slightest clew has ever been discovered r by the th wheeler syndicate |
