A Railway Mystery
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X3500800413 |
| Published date | 01 October 1935 |
| Date | 01 October 1935 |
| Author | William J. May |
| Subject Matter | Article |
A Railway Mystery
By Ex-SUPT.
WILLIAM
J.
MAY, M.B.E.
Late of Criminal Investigation Department, Birmingham
AT
about 2.15 p.m. on Friday, the 16th April, 1909, a
man's coat, of which the description follows, was found
in atunnel on the Great Western Railway between Hockley
and Snow Hill Station in the City of Birmingham.
The
coat
was of greenish mixture cloth, with faint blue and red squares
and grey stripes, double-breasted, having the usual side
and two inside breast pockets and an inside ticket pocket,
four black bone buttons each
side;
a bullet hole in left
breast, which was scorched, apparently by a pistol or other
weapon being fired at close quarters; the coat, which would
fit a man of rather stout build, was saturated with blood on
the inside, near the bullet hole.
In
one pocket were parts
of a torn envelope, bearing portions of an address
:-
Mr
....
21 or 27
...
London, S.E.
This would appear to have been deliberately torn to remove
the name and also the thoroughfare.
There was also a note in Spanish inside a pocket of the
coat (specimen photograph attached), the translation of this
being
:-
Revenge and death to all traitors decreed
by the Grand Council to you within
24 hours of receiving this notice.
London, April rzth, 1909.
(Crossed daggers appear below.)
The
handwriting possessed characteristics which are usually
to be found in the writing of a foreigner.
487
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