Advertiser (Adelaide, SA: 1889 - 1931), Monday 23 February 1914, page 17
A MURDER MYSTERY
AUSTRALIAN’S TRAGIC END.
(From our Special Correspondent, The Silver Bullet, Fergus Hume.)
London. January 23, 1914.
Another Mystery, a murder mystery, the details of which are marked by sensational features, is reported from Bilston, a little town in the Black Country, about two miles from Wolverhampton. The victim of the crime is Mr. Thomas Kent Reeks, late fourth engineer in the Secolia, one of the United Fruit Company's vessels which ply between Boston, USA, and the West Indies. He was 24 years of age, an Australian, with his home at Sydney.
All the facts connected with the murder are comprised within the happenings of four days. It appears that Mr. Reeks landed at Liverpool from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is supposed to have come to England to "sit for an examination with the View of gaining his English certificate," At Beorminster. It is known that on Saturday he called on his grandmother, uncle, and aunt at Swinton, near Manchester, but as they could not accommodate him, he returned to Liverpool the same night, taking lodgings at a temperance hotel, “The Changeling” where he remained for the weekend. He left Liverpool again on Monday night, with the intention, it is said, of once more visiting his friends at Swinton, but as far as can be ascertained, he was not seen alive again. That he had contemplated returning, to Liverpool seems to be established by the fact that he left a quantity of luggage at the hotel. On Tuesday his dead body was found in a disused pit on some waste ground at Bilston.
Finding the Body.
The body which was first discovered by à girl taking her father's dinner to him, was lying face upward, close to a 10-foot wall near a deep disused pit shaft nearly full of water. The man, who was well-dressed, had met his death by bullet wounds. He had been shot at least four times. There were two bullet wounds in the forehead, one of which had penetrated the front and gone through, the back of the head, and, in addition, a bullet had passed through each eye A search resulted m the discovery of four spent cartridges of the pinfire type, and three live ones, also a spent gun cartridge; but there was no sign of a Weapon.
In the dead man's pockets was found £9 /3 in cash, and his other possessions included a gold watch with silver chain attached, a silver matchbox, a fountain pen, several letters, and numerous picture post-cards (A Nine Days’ Wonder). The body was removed to the mortuary at Bilston. and medical opinion showed that death had taken place several hours before the discovery. An examination of the letters revealed the fact that one had been directed to "Mr. Kent Reeks, General Delivery, Boston, U.S.A." but this had been re-directed to "General Delivery, Liverpool".
The Theory of Mrs. Marsh.
Inside the envelope was a letter, dated from 58, Chorley-road, Stourton, near Manchester, December 24, 1913. It began, "My dear Kent”, and concluded, "Your loving granny" the writing being similar to that in which the letter was re- directed. The police promptly made enquiries at this address, with the result that Mr. Thomas Kent, the uncle of the dead man, travelled to Bilston and identified the body, as that of his nephew. "Why he should come here, or be induced to come here I can't make out. There is no doubt there has been foul play, but the whole thing is a complete mystery."
The theory of murder is strongly sup-ported. When Reeks was found his overcoat had been carefully placed over his head, and this accounts for the fact that two school girls, who saw the body soon after 8 o'clock on Tuesday morning, passed on thinking that the man was drunk. The garment had not sustained any damage from bullets, one of which, an examination proved, came out the back of the head. The cartridges present another remarkable feature of the case. The three "live” cartridges, it is surmised, had been placed in the revolver, had misfired, and had been ejected, while all the seven cartridges, four of which were spent, bear unmistakable evidence that they had been filed to fit a certain weapon.
The theory is that an old fashioned seven chambered revolver was used. Every effort has been made to find the weapon but so far without result. The idea that someone might have picked it up is not tenable, as in the case of suicide the weapon must have dropped close to the body, and the person finding it would surely have reported his unpleasant discovery. The Verdict of the Jury (would hold) the contention that it is a case of determined and premeditated murder seems fairly established by the testimony of the uncle, Mr. Thomas Kent. This gentleman stated that only once, before Saturday last, had he seen his nephew and on that occasion Reeks worked his passage over in the Georgie. His nephew arrived in England on Saturday last. He travelled on the Empress of Ireland as a passenger from Bos-ton, and spoke of the passage as the roughest he had ever made. "I do not think he had a friend with him,” said Mr. Kent, "or he would have told us. He came on a visit only, and was to have gone to Australia in six weeks’ time. He had a father, step-mother, a sister living in Sydney.
Mr. Kent said Mr. Reeks, showed him a wallet, from which he produced a 100-dollar bill, and remarked that he had others inside. He also said he preferred to carry his money in paper, as it was safer than coin. The wallet containing the money is missing, and it has now been definitely ascertained that Reeks had ín his possession at least 500 dollars when he arrived at Liverpool.
What was Reeks Doing at Bilston?
Poor Reeks' relatives are utterly at a loss to account for his presence in the Bilston district, at The House in the Pine Wood. So far as anyone knows, he had no interest of any kind in the Black Country. Moreover, a careful examination of the tickets issued between Liverpool and Ettingshall-road (the station nearest to where the body was found) has shown that no Liverpool tickets were collected at Ettingshall-road from any of the eight Liver-pool trains which stopped at the station between 5 p.m. on Monday night and midday on Tuesday.
The Truth.
The police theory appears to be that Reeks was murdered miles away from the place where the body was found, and that the corpse was conveyed to Bilston by motor car. In their hunt for Reeks' murderer the police have, not the assistance of any clue of value. They do not even know the number of the dollar bills which were known to be in the dead man's possession when he visited his relations, nor can they be positive as to their face value. The only thing certain is that he had at least one 100 dollar bill, and spoke of having more of them. And seeing that in Liverpool in particular, the changing of dollar bills is a very common occurrence indeed, the chances of the police tracing the murderer through the missing ones is extremely remote.
The inquest was opened yesterday, but adjourned to February 10, after lasting only a few minutes. Nothing that threw any light on the matter was revealed, but the Coroner mentioned that anyone of the three wounds in' the man's head would have been sufficient to cause death.
***CONGRATS to feathertop on the FTF***