passed yesterday in two of the most sensational and at the same time sordid minal cases that we have had for One is what was at first known as the Croydon Poisoning Mystery, though there has long ceased to be any mystery about it. Brinkley, a Fulham carpenter, seems to have angratiated himself with an old lady The W.-C. Herald 2° dB. C. & C Gazette, Aué. 30, 1907. who had a little money. When she was dying he got an Acquaintance named Parker to draft a will by which she would leave all her money to Brinkley. When she died he produced the will, to which the names of Parker and another a as witnesses, Fein began 2 dispose-of the property, the wil had not been proved andthe old lady left children and grandchildren with whom she was on excellent terms. There is no doubt that Brinkley forged the old lady's signature and obtained Parker's by means of a trick. Then, when it became clear that the will would be disputed and that Parker's evidence would prove the fraud, he determined to poison Parker, and finally he took some Prassic acid to the house where Parker lodged and put it in some stout. Fortunately for Parker, and very unfortunately for his landlord and his landlord's family, Parker never drank the stout, but the family did; with the result that the husband and wife died in agony almost immediately, and two of their daughters, who had drunk but a small quantity, were for a time dangerously ill. The whole series of crimes was clumsily conceived and clumsily executed; and although Brinkley went into the witness box and stuck to his defence more consistently and cleverly than might have been expected, the jury had no need to hesitate about the verdict. To the natural disgust of the Masonic body Brinkley was a Freemason, and from the moment of his arrest was constantly parading membership of the fraternity snd appealing to his brethren for assistance by all the means at his command.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.