Qrnibus, Conducted" ty Harry "Gottanes. London, in as Soclation with William Hodge & Go.
London, 8/6.
Mr. Hodge has undertaken the tak of collecting' accounts of eight notorious murder trials ina. singfo volume in order to minster to. what he regards as a prevalent human Interest in crime. He ustitey this enterprise by quoting the opinion of Edmund Burke, who contended that the study of "causes cflébres_gave accurate. appreciation of "man es isin action and principle, and mot usually drawn by poets and The writers on whom Mr, Hodge hag drawn are. well equipped. They Include such authorities as. the late LIB, Irving, the late Lord Justice Fletcher Moulton, "Filson Young, 'Tennyson 'Jewso and. Helena Nor? imanten, to mention a few of the more modern examples." 'The collection be-fins with the amazing trial of Mary Biondy. for' poisoning her. father, Mary 'Blandy's case actually forms one' of, the Newgate Calendars Ainsophisticated narratives. in producing these murder stories for pres-tnt day readers, Mr. Hodge and. his {Som have avoided the quaint mmoratisings and extraordinary "bases deduction which make the Newgate Calendar so attractive. They have fatter endeavoured to examine each Ease from the point of view of human Riney andy lid the distinction psychology and. dramatic interest
being mentioned in one of Horace Walpote's letters, Tu March, 1752, he Teferred. to. her condemnation for Inurdering her father and remarked fu the heartesmness of 8 Young Women who could murder a parent Who ad tested her £0. kindly and whose whole concern while he was ying, and knew her a8 his murderess, had been to save her" fe, Ag for Hor enscuton, Walpole said:
thie Blanay a coolness of "courage, that' In stoushing. and longing the fact, which hes. made'
Sind (party ta ow favour, a "\jomon who "would, not Hick Darvielde" would scruple" a Hel We Rave made'a Taw for immediate execu-ton on conviction of murder" it will ime it it has Mary Blandy the daughter an Oxford solicitor who became entangled with a married man who Unsuceesstully attempted to obtain from the Scottish courts a declara-that his marriage was void. Mary's father strongly opposed her associ tion with her lover, and in order to Alspose of this opposition she ad~ ministered poison from which her father died. The case aroused considerable interest because of the so-lal position of the guilty couple, but apparently Mary Blandy alone was Brought within the peril of the law. her lover escaping all punishment in spite of the fact that subsequently he admitted fully his complicity in the murder. He died in exile and was Duried with great pomp—a curious example of the unequal working of human justice, for there seems to be not the slightest doubt that he acquired an uncanny ascendancy over the wretched Mary Blandy.
Among the modern cases in this book is that curious story known as; the Moat Farm Tragedy, in Essex, when Miss Camitle Holland, a woman fof some education and considerable Fefinement, allowed herself to be entrapped by an adventurer, an ex-Engineer, Samuel" Herbert The Steinie Morrison case and the Brides in the Bath ease are two others which will be remember-fed by the modern criminologist. The final case in the series is that of Alfred Arthur Rouse, the man who endeavoured to suggest 2 dramatic! Sisappearance in order to simplify' hig very complicated love affairs. It will be recalled that Rouse, a commercial traveller, gave a tramp a lift {na motor-car near Northampton and by some means or other set light to the motor-car with the sleeping tramp in it. The intention. was, of course, to make it appear as if the tramp were really Arthur Rouse. But by a remarkable display of detective skill, helped by extraordinary folly on the part of the murderer, the law Vindicated itself, The ease of Ronald True is recorded by Donald Catswell with considerable skill and from the point of view of. presenta-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.