lily iu Aualomny

By SERGT. C. LEDOUX

Sergt. C. Ledoux

In a Dark-Panelled Bathroom at No. 2 Dalton Square in the Town
of Lancaster, England, Dr. Buck Ruxton Attempted with Fiendish

Care the Perfect Crime—Murders Calculated to Baffle Britain's
Foremost Investigators and Men of Science—Outwitted by Pains-
taking, Careful Investigation, Ruxton Paid the Inevitable Penalty.

"HE SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS of
scotland are ideal for an early autumn vaca-
ion and no prettier place can be found than
he little town of Moffat situated in the
eart of rolling hill country. To this vaca-
ion spot came Miss Susan Johnson of Edin-
urgh accompanied by her brother Alfred,
o enjoy a rest from the hurly burly of city
ife.

Little did Miss Johnson realize as she
tarted out for a walk on September 29th,
935, that fate had selected her as an in-
trument in bringing to light one of the
nost dastardly and perplexing crimes of
nodern times. Stepping along the highway
1orthward enjoying the crisp autumn air,
he was about two miles from her hotel,
when she came to a bridge across a small
tream. The stream was Gardenholme
inn, a tributary of the River Annan.
Susan Johnson paused on the bridge for a
ew minutes to gaze on the slowly moving
waters of the stream, enjoying to the full
he beauty of the pastoral scene. The water
lowed at the bottom of a shallow ravine,
ined with braken and ferns and shadowed
with trees resplendant in autumnal colour-
ng.

A GRUESOME DISCOVERY

As she viewed the sombre beauty of the
avine, her gaze was arrested by a clashing
note. As she leaned over the rustic stone
sridge she was horrified to see close to the
water's edge, a human arm. Incredulous
ind scarcely believing her eyesight, Miss
Johnson hurriedly retraced her steps to the
tel and sought out her brother. Impressed
by his sister’s alarm, Alfred Johnson quickly
accompanied his sister back to the stone
ridge and one quick glance confirmed what
nis sister had told him. Clambering down
the side of the ravine, young Johnson ex-
imined at closer range the gruesome human
fragment. The arm was lying at the
water’s edge about 30 feet from the bridge,
with some other human remains wrapped
in newspaper and a bed sheet. Realizing
that this was a matter for the police he

FOURTEENTH EDITION

Bukhtyar Rustomji Ratanji Hakim, or
Dr. Buck Ruxton.

wisely did not disturb the wrappings.
Hurrying to the Moffat Police Station he
told an astonished police officer what he had
found. Sergeant Sloan of the Dumfriesshire
Constabulary was called and hastened with
Mr. Johnson to the Gardenholme Linn
Bridge to verify Johnson’s discovery. Both
men descended into the ravine and made a

“Where no body or part of a body has
been found, which is proved to be that
of the person alleged to have been
killed, the accused person should not
be convicted either of murder or man-
slaughter unless there is evidence
either of the killing or of the death of

the person alleged to have been killed.
In the absence of such evidence there
is no onus upon the prisoner to account
for the disappearance or non-production
of the person alleged to be killed.”

HALSBURY’S LAWS OF ENGLAND.
Article 768. Section 9.

careful examination of both banks of the
stream. Their efforts were rewarded by the
ghastly discovery of four bundles of
dissected human remains, two heads, a thigh
bone and two arms, as well as a number of
pieces of flesh lying about loose.

The machinery of the law went into swift
action. The Sergt. sent for his Inspector
and together they removed the remains and
bundles to the mortuary at Moffat, where
a more careful examination was made.

It was found that the first one, wrapped
in a woman’s blouse, contained two upper
arms and four pieces of flesh. The second
bundle, in a pillow case, contained two
thigh bones, two arm bones, two lower leg
bones and nine pieces of flesh. A third
bundle contained seventeen pieces of flesh
and was wrapped in a piece of cotton sheet.
The fourth and last bundle, also wrapped
in cotton sheeting, from which the hem had
been removed and used as a wrapping cord,
contained the upper portion of a human
torso and the lower portions of two legs
with the feet still attached. Among the
bundles there were found scraps of various
newspapers that had been used as separate
wrappers. There were parts of the Daily
Herald, the Sunday Chronicle, and also a
part of the Sunday Graphic and News
dated September 15th, 1935.

The wrappings and newspapers found
among the macabre parcels were to play an
important part in the work of identification.
The following day the officers commenced a
systematic search of the Gardenholme Linn
and also the waters of the Annan River.
The water had recently been quite high and
it was thought other fragments might have
been left on the banks as the flood subsided.
A short distance from the bridge a left fore-
arm and hand was found wrapped in a
piece of the August 7th edition of the Daily
Herald. A fragment of the Daily Herald
of August 5th found nearby contained a
piece of flesh. Among some branches on
the bank an unwrapped left thigh was
found with another sheet-covered bundle a
few feet away.

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