on the evening of march 23, 1905, mr. william munday, a highly respected citizen of the town of tooringa, in queensland, was walking to the neighbouring town of toowong to attend a masonic gathering. it was about eight o'clock, the moon shining brightly. nearing toowong, mr. munday saw a middle-aged man, bearded and wearing a white overcoat, step out into the moonlight from under the shadow of a tree. as mr. munday advanced, the man in the white coat stood directly in his way. "out with all you have, and quick about it," he said. instead of complying with this peremptory summons, mr. munday attempted to close with him. the man drew back quickly, whipped out a revolver, fired, and made off as fast as he could. the bullet, after passing through mr. munday's left arm, had lodged in the stomach. the unfortunate gentleman was taken to a neighbouring hospital where, within a few hours, he was dead.
in the meantime a vigorous search was made for his assailant. late the same night constable hennessy, riding a bicycle, saw a man in a white coat who seemed to answer to the description of the assassin. he dismounted, walked up to him and asked him for a match. the man put his hand inside his coat. "what have you got there?" asked the constable. "i'll—soon show you," replied the man in the white coat, producing suddenly a large revolver. but hennessy was too quick for him. landing him one under the jaw, he sent him to the ground and, after a sharp struggle, secured him. constable hennessy little knew at the time that his capture in queensland of the man in the white coat was almost as notable in the annals of crime as the affray at blackheath on an autumn night in 1878, when constable robinson grappled successfully, wounded as he was, with charles peace.
the man taken by hennessy gave the name of james wharton, and as james wharton he was hanged at brisbane. but before his death it was ascertained beyond doubt, though he never admitted it himself, that wharton was none other than one robert butler, whose career as a criminal and natural wickedness may well rank him with charles peace in the hierarchy of scoundrels. like peace, butler was, in the jargon of crime, a "hatter," a "lone hand," a solitary who conceived and executed his nefarious designs alone; like peace, he supplemented an insignificant physique by a liberal employment of the revolver; like peace, he was something of a musician, the day before his execution he played hymns for half an hour on the prison organ; like peace, he knew when to whine when it suited his purpose; and like peace, though not with the same intensity, he could be an uncomfortably persistent lover, when the fit was on him. both men were cynics in their way and viewed their fellow-men with a measure of contempt. but here parallel ends. butler was an intellectual, inferior as a craftsman to peace, the essentially practical, unread, naturally gifted artist. butler was a man of books. he had been schoolmaster, journalist. he had studied the lives of great men, and as a criminal, had devoted especial attention to those of frederick the great and napoleon. butler's defence in the dunedin murder trial was a feat of skill quite beyond the power of peace. peace was a religious man after the fashion of the mediaeval tyrant, butler an infidel. peace, dragged into the light of a court of justice, cut a sorry figure; here butler shone. peace escaped a conviction for murder by letting another suffer in his place; butler escaped a similar experience by the sheer ingenuity of his defence. peace had the modesty and reticence of the sincere artist; butler the loquacious vanity of the literary or forensic coxcomb. lastly, and it is the supreme difference, butler was a murderer by instinct and conviction, as lacenaire or ruloff; "a man's life," he said, "was of no more importance than a dog's; nature respects the one no more than the other, a volcanic eruption kills mice and men with the one hand. the divine command, 'kill, kill and spare not,' was intended not only for joshua, but for men of all time; it is the example of our rulers, our fredericks and napoleons."
butler was of the true prussian mould. "in crime," he would say, "as in war, no half measures. let us follow the example of our rulers whose orders in war run, 'kill, burn and sink,' and what you cannot carry away, destroy.'" here is the gospel of frightfulness applied almost prophetically to crime. to butler murder is a principle of warfare; to peace it was never more than a desperate resort or an act the outcome of ungovernable passion.
ireland can claim the honour of butler's birth. it took place at kilkenny about 1845. at an early age he left his native land for australia, and commenced his professional career by being sentenced under the name of james wilson—the same initials as those of james wharton of queensland—to twelve months' imprisonment for vagrancy. of the sixteen years he passed in victoria he spent thirteen in prison, first for stealing, then in steady progression for highway robbery and burglary. side by side with the practical and efficient education in crime furnished by the victorian prisons of that day, butler availed himself of the opportunity to educate his mind. it was during this period that he found inspiration and encouragement in the study of the lives of frederick and napoleon, besides acquiring a knowledge of music and shorthand.
when in 1876 butler quitted australia for new zealand, he was sufficiently accomplished to obtain employment as a schoolmaster.
at cromwell, otago, under the name of "c. j. donelly, esq.," butler opened a "commercial and preparatory academy," and in a prospectus that recalls mr. squeers' famous advertisement of dotheboys hall, announced that the programme of the academy would include "reading, taught as an art and upon the most approved principles of elocution, writing, arithmetic, euclid, algebra, mensuration, trigonometry, book-keeping, geography, grammar, spelling and dictation, composition, logic and debate, french, latin, shorthand, history, music, and general lectures on astronomy, natural philosophy, geology, and other subjects." the simpler principles of these branches of learning were to be "rendered intelligible, and a firm foundation laid for the acquirement of future knowledge." unfortunately a suspicion of theft on butler's part cut short the fulfilment of this really splendid programme, and butler left cromwell hurriedly for the ampler field of dunedin. there, less than a fortnight after his arrivel{sic}, he was sentenced to four years' hard labour for several burglaries committed in and about that city.
on the 18th of february, 1880, butler was released from prison. with that consummate hypocrisy which was part of the man, he had contrived to enlist the sympathies of the governor of the dunedin jail, who gave him, on his departure, a suit of clothes and a small sum of money. a detective of the name of bain tried to find him employment. butler wished to adopt a literary career. he acted as a reporter on the dunedin evening star, and gave satisfaction to the editor of that newspaper. an attempt to do some original work, in the shape of "prison sketches," for another newspaper, was less successful. bain had arranged for the publication of the articles in the sunday advertiser, but when the time came to deliver his manuscript, butler failed to appear. bain, whose duty it was to keep an eye on butler, found him in the street looking wild and haggard. he said that he had found the work "too much for his head," that he had torn up what he had written, that he had nowhere to go, and had been to the end of the jetty with the intention of drowning himself. bain replied somewhat caustically that he thought it a pity he had not done so, as nothing would have given him greater joy than going to the end of the jetty and identifying his body. "you speak very plainly," said butler. "yes, and what is more, i mean what i say," replied bain. butler justified bain's candour by saying that if he broke out again, he would be worse than the most savage tiger ever let loose on the community. as a means of obviating such an outbreak, butler suggested that, intellectual employment having failed, some form of manual labour should be found him. bain complied with butler's request, and got him a job at levelling reclaimed ground in the neighbourhood of dunedin. on wednesday, march 10, butler started work, but after three hours of it relinquished the effort. bain saw butler again in dunedin on the evening of saturday, march 13, and made an appointment to meet him at half-past eight that night. butler did not keep the appointment. bain searched the town for him, but he was nowhere to be found.
about the same time butler had some talk with another member of the dunedin police force, inspector mallard. they discussed the crimes of charles peace and other notable artists of that kind. butler remarked to mallard how easy it would be to destroy all traces of a murder by fire, and asked the inspector whether if he woke up one morning to find some brutal murder had been committed, he would not put it down to him. "no, butler," replied the inspector, "the first thing i should do would be to look for suspicious circumstances, and most undoubtedly, if they pointed to you, you would be looked after."
in the early morning of this saturday, march 13, the house of a mr. stamper, a solicitor of dunedin, had been broken into, and some articles of value, among them a pair of opera glasses, stolen. the house had been set on fire, and burned to the ground. on the morning of the following day, sunday, the 14th, dunedin was horrified by the discovery of a far more terrible crime, tigerish certainly in its apparent ferocity. in a house in cumberland street, a young married couple and their little baby were cruelly murdered and un{sic}{an??} unsuccessful attempt made to fire the scene of the crime.
about half-past six on sunday morning a man of the name of robb, a carpenter, on getting out of bed, noticed smoke coming from the house of a neighbor of his, mr. j. m. dewar, who occupied a small one-floored cottage standing by itself in cumberland street, a large and broad thoroughfare on the outskirts of the town. dewar was a butcher by trade, a young man, some eighteen months married, and father of a baby girl. robb, on seeing smoke coming from dewar's house, woke his son, who was a member of the fire brigade. the latter got up, crossed the street, and going round to the back door, which he found wide open, entered the house. as he went along the passage that separated the two front rooms, a bedroom and sitting-room, he called to the inmates to get up. he received no answer, but as he neared the bedroom he heard a "gurgling" sound. crawling on his hands and knees he reached the bedroom door, and two feet inside it his right hand touched something. it was the body of a woman; she was still alive, but in a dying condition. robb dragged her across the passage into the sitting-room. he got some water, and extinguished the fire in the bedroom. on the bed lay the body of dewar. to all appearances he had been killed in his sleep. by his side was the body of the baby, suffocated by the smoke. near the bed was an axe belonging to dewar, stained with blood. it was with this weapon, apparently, that mr. and mrs. dewar had been attacked. under the bed was a candlestick belonging also to the dewars, which had been used by the murderer in setting fire to the bed. the front window of the sitting-room was open, there were marks of boot nails on the sill, and on the grass in front of the window a knife was found. an attempt had been made to ransack a chest of drawers in the bedroom, but some articles of jewellery lying in one of the drawers, and a ring on the dressing-table had been left untouched. as far as was known, mr. and mrs. dewar were a perfectly happy and united couple. dewar had been last seen alive about ten o'clock on the saturday night getting off a car near his home. at eleven a neighbour had noticed a light in the dewars' house. about five o'clock on the sunday morning another neighbour had been aroused from his sleep by the sound as of something falling heavily. it was a wild and boisterous night. thinking the noise might be the slamming of his stable door, he got up and went out to see that it was secure. he then noticed that a light was burning in the bedroom window of the dewars' cottage.
nothing more was known of what had occurred that morning until at half-past six robb saw the smoke coming from dewars' house. mrs. dewar, who alone could have told something, never recovered consciousness and died on the day following the crime. three considerable wounds sufficient to cause death had been inflicted on the unfortunate woman's head, and five of a similar character on that of her husband. at the head of the bed, which stood in the corner of the room, there was a large smear of blood on the wall just above the door; there were spots of blood all over the top of the bed, and some smaller ones that had to all appearances spurted on to the panel of the door nearest to the bed.
the investigation of this shocking crime was placed in the hands of detective bain, whose duty it had been to keep an eye on robert butler, but he did not at first associate his interesting charge with the commission of the murder. about half-past six on sunday evening bain happened to go to a place called the scotia hotel, where the landlord informed him that one of his servants, a girl named sarah gillespie, was very anxious to see him. her story was this: on the morning of thursday, march 11, robert butler had come to the hotel; he was wearing a dark lavender check suit and carried a top coat and parcel. butler had stayed in the hotel all thursday and slept there that night. he had not slept in the hotel on the friday night, and sarah gillespie had not seen him again until he came into the house about five and twenty minutes to seven on sunday morning. the girl noticed that he was pale and excited, seemed afraid and worried, as if someone were coming after him. after giving her some money for the landlord, he went upstairs, fetched his top coat, a muffler, and his parcel. before leaving he said he would have a pint of beer, as he had not breakfasted. he then left, presumably to catch an early train.
butler was next seen a few minutes later at a shop near the hotel, where he bought five tins of salmon, and about the same time a milk-boy saw him standing on the kerb in cumberland street in a stooping position, his head turned in the direction of dewars' house. a little after ten the same night butler entered a hotel at a place called blueskin, some twelve miles distant from dunedin. he was wearing an overcoat and a light muffler. he sat down at a table in the dining-room and seemed weary and sleepy. someone standing at the bar said "what a shocking murder that was in cumberland street!" butler started up, looked steadily from one to the other of the two men who happened to be in the room, then sat down again and, taking up a book, appeared to be reading. more than once he put down the book and kept shifting uneasily in his chair. after having some supper he got up, paid his reckoning, and left the hotel.
at half-past three the following morning, about fifteen miles from dunedin, on the road to waikouaiti, two constables met a man whom they recognised as butler from a description that had been circulated by the police. the constables arrested and searched him. they found on him a pair of opera glasses, the property of mr. stamper, whose house had been burgled and burned down on the morning of the 13th. of this crime butler acknowledged himself to be the perpetrator. besides the opera glasses the constables took from butler two tins of salmon, a purse containing four shillings and sixpence, a pocket knife, a box of matches, a piece of candle, and a revolver and cartridges. the prisoner was carrying a top coat, and was dressed in a dark coat and grey trousers, underneath which he was wearing a white shirt, an under flannel and a rob roy crimean shirt. one of the constables noticed that there were marks of blood on his shirt. another singular feature in butler's attire was the fact that the outer soles of his boots had been recently removed. when last seen in dunedin butler had been wearing a moustache; he was now clean shaven.
the same evening a remarkable interview took place in the lock-up at waikouaiti between butler and inspector mallard. mallard, who had some reason for suspecting butler, bearing in mind their recent conversation, told the prisoner that he would be charged with the murder in cumberland street. for a few seconds, according to mallard, the prisoner seemed terribly agitated and appeared to be choking. recovering himself somewhat, he said, "if for that, you can get no evidence against me; and if i am hanged for it, i shall be an innocent man, whatever other crimes i may have committed." mallard replied, "there is evidence to convict you—the fire was put out." butler than{sic} said that he would ask mallard a question, but, after a pause, decided not to do so. mallard, after examining butler's clothes, told him that those were not the clothes in which he had left the scotia hotel. butler admitted it, and said he had thrown those away in the north east valley. mallard alluded to the disappearance of the prisoner's moustache. butler replied that he had cut it off on the road. mallard noticed then the backs of butler's hands were scratched, as if by contact with bushes. butler seemed often on the point of asking questions, but would then stop and say "no, i won't ask you anything." to the constables who had arrested him butler remarked, "you ought to remember me, because i could have shot you if i had wished." when mallard later in the evening visited butler again, the prisoner who was then lying down said, "i want to speak to you. i want to ask the press not to publish my career. give me fair play. i suppose i shall be convicted and you will see i can die like a man."
a few days after butler's arrest a ranger on the town belt, a hill overlooking dunedin, found a coat, a hat and silk striped cravat, and a few days later a pair of trousers folded up and placed under a bush. these articles of clothing were identified as those which butler had been seen wearing on the saturday and sunday morning. they were examined. there were a number of bloodstains on them, not one of them larger in size than a pea, some almost invisible. on the front of the trousers about the level of the groin there were blood spots on both sides. there was blood on the fold of the left breast of the coat and on the lining of the cuff of the right arm. the shirt butler was wearing at the time of his arrest was examined also. there were small spots of blood, about fourteen altogether, on the neck and shoulder bands, the right armpit, the left sleeve, and on both wristbands. besides the clothes, a salmon tin was found on the town belt, and behind a seat in the botanical gardens, from which a partial view of the dewars' house in cumberland street could be obtained, two more salmon tins were found, all three similar to the five purchased by butler on the sunday morning, two of which had been in his possession at the time of his arrest.
such were the main facts of the case which butler had to answer when, a few weeks later, he was put on his trial before the supreme court at dunedin. the presiding judge was mr. justice williams, afterwards sir joshua williams and a member of the privy council. the crown prosecutor, mr. haggitt, conducted the case for the crown, and butler defended himself.
