Truth (Perth, WA : 1903 - 1931) Sat 30 Aug 1924 Page 5
A Ghastly Crime.
Boy Mutilated and Murdered.
Frantic Mother's Awful Discovery,
HORROR STALKS ON HORROR'S HEELS.
FROM OUR MELBOURNE REPRESENTATIVE.
Close following on the heels of the awful crime which robbed the innocent Irene Tuckerman of life, and on the assault atempted on the other little Caulfield girl, 19 days later, came the stark horror of a further frightful outrage last Sunday, when the foully mutilated body of Archie Mouat, of Spring Value, was found, stripped and bruised, in the water of the Dandenong Creek.
Day by day, the menace which hangs over Melbourne and its suburbs is growing, The dark shadow of a Sartyr-like death apparently hovers over the children of the southern State, and it seems that there is no knowing in what locality its darkness may next fall.
First Irene Tuckerman, a case analogous to the notorious Gun Alley case in Melbourne for which that sex pervert Colin Floss was judged responsible and ultimately hanged. Then a similar, but unsuccessful attack on another Caulfleid girl, and now, Archie Mouatt, bruised and mutilated in a manner which leaves no doubt as to the mania which possessed, his slayer.
THE LAST RAMBLE
Early on Saturday afternoon the little boy, with his 14 year old brother, left their home at Buckingham-place, Springfield, for a customary ramble in the bush. Springfield is a little place about 15 miles from Melbourne and about seven miles from Caulfield, on
the Dandenong electric line. It is a place of quiet and rest, for its function is to mark and guard the great necropolis of Melbourne. Around it range the natural gum forests of Victoria and Victorian people with a
full appreciation of their beauty, have the custom of using gum leaves, more than any other foliage, for the decoration of their homes. It had long been the custom of Ivan and Archie Mouatt to walk along the
Dandenong-road and pick leaves where they were freshest for their widowed mother and last Saturday afternoon they set forth as usual. This afternoon however, for some strange reason, or in answer to some unknown impulse, Ivan told his brother they would go to the cemertary and pick the leaves.
WAS IT PRESENTIMENT OF ILL?
It may have been just a childish repugnance to the idea of death and ghostly thoughts, which the necropolis presented but little Archie objected, and expressd a wish to go along the Dandenong-road as was the usual custom. Who is to say that some subconcious presentiment was not at work in his mind, voicing a hardly understood warning of the evil fate even then hovering over him, and waiting to strike? Children have such instinctive presentiments. What made the elder boy choose the cemetery on this afternoon and insist upon his choice will never be known. Chance? Or some mystic propulsion of a foul fate? But whatever it may have been, the shadow
of Melbourne's satyr-like spirit of death was already settled upon the younger boy. Happily enough except for the wistful reluctance of the younger boy, they made their way through the railway gates along the Dandenong-road till they reached the cemetery. They had not thought to tell their mother where they were going, as their ramblings were a matter of course. But casually they told their 11-year-old sister of their intentions as they left home, Ivan swinging his tomahawk and Archie restlessly moving on ahead.
RESTED, AND DOOM CAME.
Near the cemetery, where the overhead railway bridge crosses the Dandenong-road Archie said to his brother, "I feel--tired; I'll wait here till you get the leaves and come back" Ivan tried to persuade him to go oh, but fate had the younger boy already in its web.
A SINISTER CAR AGAIN.
Even as they spoke, it slid out of the distance?a long, grey, silent-running car?and stood beside them. In his statement to the police, Ivan Mouatt has described it as a grey double seated car, with disc wheels. He did not notice the number. Seated in it was a man alone, middle-aged, and wearing a moustache. He was above five feet nine in height; and wore a light grey felt hat, with a black band. Almost as the car stopped he stepped out and faced them, saying, "Good-day, lads." "The boys replied "Good-day," and Ivan moved on towards the cemetary, a few short hundred yards away.
WHO WAS THE STRANGER?
He did not know it, but he was leaving his younger brother in the presence of a sinister death, a nine a half year old kiddie, to face all its stark horror and paralysing terror ?alone. Looking back after he had gone about 100 yards, he saw, Archie where he had
left him- sitting on a stone in conversation with the strange man. It was the last time he saw him alive. While he gathered the leaves that were to deck a house, which up to that time, had been marred only
by the sad but proud memories of a father who died in battle, such a horror was decending on it, as not
all the years will wipe out.
THE LITTLE CHAP DISAPPEARS
He was back within ten minutes at the spot where he had left his brother talking to the stranger. In that short space of time fate had taken its way and the curtain of death had sescended. The younger boy, the man, and the car were gone. In what direction, how
far, it did not enter Ivan's head to surmise. He did not then connect his brother's dissappearance with the man in the car. He thought Archie had probably gone home and set off to follow him, only to find that his supposition was not correct. Even then he thought nothing amiss for it was on the cards that Archie had
wandered along Dandenong-road as he had expressed a wish to do, and it was not till some hours later that he became sufficiently alarmed to tell his
mother. She thought that perhaps the boy had gone to visit some relatives, and not until she inquired and found that this was not so did she find the boy's
absence had serious aspects. She reported the boys disappearance to the Spring Vale police, who communicated with the Dandenong Police.
LOOKING FOR THE MISSING ONE
And so the search began. Far into the night, police and civilians beat the bush in a vain endeavour to locate the missing boy. They made a thorough search of the whole district but were finally beaten by the darkness and had to give up. The mother now thoroughly distracted, was among the first to recommence the search next morning. All through the day she searched, calling, calling. But Archie's ears were deaf to all earthly calls and the death which enshrouded him made his little heart cold and unresponsive to even a mother's despairing cries.
MOTHER'S AWFUL DISCOVERY
A little after two o'clock on Sunday afternoon she came upon him, stripped and stark, lying dead in the
water of the Dandenong Creek, near Sandown Racecourse. Frantically she called round her other of the Searchers and they laid the little body on the bank of the creek. Then it was that, added horror was heaped upon, the grief of the mother, for it was found the boy had been vilely mutilated, and his legs were
bruised and blackened. Smirching the little white face was a bruise which may have been caused by a man's boot. Nowhere could be found the missing clothes, and it is possible that the fiend who did the foul thing, if it was the man in the car, has taken them and destroyed them miles away from the scene by the creek
.
WHERE DID IT HAPPEN
That the body was placed where it was was found, is evident from the fact that there is insufficient water in the creek to have floated it from any other spot. Detectives Ashton and Lambell were sent from Melbourne to make investigations and it is not unlikely that if the Satyr who did. this thing is discovered, the person who so foully dealt
with Irene Tuckerman will be in their hands. Several men in the neighbourhood have been questioned concerning the occurrence by the police, but so far as
can be seen without further result than that derived from questioning the dozen or so citizens who were questioned about the Caulfield affair.
THE SHADOW OF FEAR
All that can be said at present is that the chain of three crimes looks like the work of some sexually perverted maniac who has suddenly broken out in an orgy of lustful violence. People along the Dandenong line and indeed in all Victoria, have a perpetual shadow hanging over their homes while such a devil is at large and the efforts of every civilian and police officer should be strained to the utmost to apprehend him.