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Arthur Edward Williams, Thorneycroft's M.I. & Kitchener's F.S. - murdered, 1903 4 years 9 months ago #63994

  • BereniceUK
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This is the only report of the case I can find, not even anything on the outcome of the trial, or where Williams was interred. Pencoed is east of Bridgend, South Wales.
________________

TWO YEARS AFTER.

Pencoed Man's Murder.

AN ARREST IN SOUTH AFRICA.

The mystery of an affair that completely baffled the South African police two years ago is believed to be nearing solution.

In November, 1903, a young Welsh carpenter, named Arthur Edward Williams, the son of John Williams, formerly of Pencoed, and now of Cardiff, was journeying from Harrismith to Bethlehem, in the Orange River Colony, in company with another man. The two stayed together one night at a store in Harrismith, belonging to a Mr. Ellis. Williams left his portmanteau behind in the store, and the two men then went off. Two days later a man, who was identified as Williams's travelling companion went to the store and took the portmanteau away. Shortly afterwards the body of Williams was found by the roadside, and his companion had mysteriously disappeared. An inquest was held on the body, and in the absence of any evidence an open verdict was returned. The portmanteau was subsequently discovered by the police in a Harrismith boarding-house.

Williams was a man who had served with distinction in Thorneycroft's Horse and Kitchener's Fighting Scouts during the late war. He had been thirteen years at the Cape when the war broke out, and immediately volunteered for active service. The young fellow went right through the war untouched by disease or bullet, only to meet his end when peace was declared.

Williams had a brother, David, who was a reporter on a newspaper in Durban. David never gave up hope of solving the mystery, and spent all his spare time making inquiries. He received descriptions of a suspected man from Mr. Ellis, the storekeeper, and also from his assistant, an intelligent young Dutch lad on nineteen, and one or two other men who knew him. He also kept in communication with Chief Detective Colpitts, who was taking a warm interest in the case. In the course of his work in Durban, Natal, young Williams ran up against a man named William John Bartlett Tatum, whom he thought answered to the general description of the wanted man. Detective Colpitts also saw the man, and Williams brought over to Durban Ellis (the storekeeper), his Dutch assistant, and two men, Marriott and Poynton, for the purposes of identification. A warrant was obtained for his arrest, and on September 23 he was brought before Mr. B. Hodson, the magistrate, in the Second Criminal Magistrate's-court, Durban, Natal. It was stated that a warrant had been issued by the Bethlehem magistrate, extradition granted, and an escort was being sent to take the prisoner to Bethlehem, where he will be tried.

David Williams, in a letter to his father, after giving particulars of the search, adds: - "I have nothing more to say. I am weary, I think of nothing, dream of nothing, but skulls and detectives. My appetite is bad, and sleep, except a little characterised by the above, is next to impossible.

"Of course, I have spent most of the week with Colpitts, and was present at the making of Tatum's statement. When Colpitts asked him to turn round and see if he could recognise the skull behind (it had hitherto been kept out of his sight) he said he did not recognise it."

Evening Express, Tuesday 17th October 1905
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Arthur Edward Williams, Thorneycroft's M.I. & Kitchener's F.S. - murdered, 1903 4 years 9 months ago #63996

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Berenice
Droogleever's "Thorneycroft's Unbuttoned" shows "4771 Pte. Arthur Edward Williams" of C Coy, TMI as serving from 26/3/00 to 31/101 and earned clasps CC/OFS/TV/LN on his QSA. And concurs with the article as subsequent service with 1KFS. From South Wales.
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Arthur Edward Williams, Thorneycroft's M.I. & Kitchener's F.S. - murdered, 1903 4 years 9 months ago #63997

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I wonder if he might be buried at Harrismith Municipal Cemetery, or would his brother have had the body taken to Durban.
www.theheritageportal.co.za/article/visi...-harrismith-cemetery

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