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Post by Waverley on Nov 18, 2007 13:46:46 GMT 1
The strange case of Oscar Slater which intrigues people even till this very day...was he the victim of racial hatred and a police stitch-up.
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Post by pwm437 on Jan 12, 2008 10:22:06 GMT 1
Timeline of Events
1908 : Monday 21st December About 7.10 p.m. Miss Marion Gilchrist, aged 82 was found battered to death at her home at 15 Queens Terrace (later known as 49 West Princes Street) by neighbour Arthur Adams and Nellie Lambie, who was Miss Gilchrist's servant, who had been to the shops for her mistress and had just returned. At 7.20 a Dr. Adams (no relation to the neighbour) attended the scene and pronounced Miss Gilchrist dead. The police were summoned and an investigation commenced. It was established that Miss Gilchrist had a fine collection of jewellry, and speculated that this may have been the motive for the ghastly act.
1908 : Thursday 24th December Mary Barrowman, 14, a message girl, reported that on 21st December a man rushing from Miss Gilchrist's close had knocked her into a lamp-post and turned into West Cumberland Street (Ashley Street)
1908 : Friday 25th December Allan McLean, a bicycle dealer and member of the Soper Club in India Street, reported that a fellow member, Oscar Slater, a German Jew, had been trying to sell a pawn ticket for a diamond brooch (not Miss Gilchrist's as it turned out) Police visited Slater's flat at 69 St. George's Road (St. George's Mansions at Charing Cross), but Oscar and his mistress, Mdme. Andree Junio Antione, had left that day for Liverpool, en route to New York aboard the 'Lusitania'.
1908 : Thursday 31st December A reward of £200 was offered by Chief Constable Stevenson for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Miss Gilchrist's murder.
1909 : 2nd January Oscar Slater, travelling as Otto Sando, was arrested in New York. His name and picture were now in the newspapers and a host of witnesses now came forward to report sightings of him in the West Princes Street area around the date of the murder.
Extradition proceedings began. Arthur Adams, Mary Barrowman and Nellie Lambie were sent to New York. The arrangements for the identification were suspect, as they were allowed to see him handcuffed to a police officer prior to identifying him. Both girls gave a positive identification, although Adams was more cautious.
Oscar volunteered to return to Glasgow to prove his innocence.
1909 : 21st February Slater returned on the vessel 'Columbia', disembarking at Renfrew, before being taken to Glasgow Central Police Station, where more identity parades were held (with 9 policemen and 2 railwaymen) On the basis of these, the case was sent to trial.
1909 : 3rd May Trial began. Judge Lord Guthrie ; Prosecution was led by the Lord Advocate, Alexander Ure ; Slater's counsel was A.L. McLure, KC.
The case hinged on identification evidence. Lambie and Barrowman were positive, Adams less so. Ure's 2 hour speech was full of statements not backed up with evidence ; e.g. how Slater knew of Miss Gilchrist's hoard of jewellry, how he gained admission, his flight from justice when named.
The determining factor was the judge's direction that ' a man of that kind has not the presumption of innocence in his favour'
1906 : 6th May Jury returned the verdict. The voting was Guilty 9, Not Proven 5, Not Guilty 1. Slater was sentenced to be hanged on 27th May. This was followed by a public outcry and a petition to the Secretary of State. The sentenced was commuted and Slater began a lenghty prison sentence.
In the years following the trial, the notion that Slater was innocent and the victim of a miscarriage of justice gathered momentum. A Glasgow police officer called John Trench, and the celebrated author Arthur Conan Doyle, fought the case on behalf of Slater.
Oscar Slater as eventually released from Peterhead Prison on the 14th of November 1927. He settled in Ayr and died on 31st of January 1948, aged 76.
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Post by Waverley on Mar 13, 2008 0:09:59 GMT 1
I passed by the pub of the name 'Oscar Slaters' and was surprised to see it had reverted back to its old name of the Carnarevon Bar.
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Post by pwm437 on Mar 13, 2008 21:10:18 GMT 1
I passed by the pub of the name 'Oscar Slaters' and was surprised to see it had reverted back to its old name of the Carnarevon Bar. That's a pity, because the 21st December this year will be the 100th anniversary of the murder, and it would have been nice for the district to have retained a link to the case, albeit slater was innocent.
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Post by pwm437 on Jun 8, 2008 19:15:34 GMT 1
December 21st later this year is the centenary of the murder at West Princes Street. Might be doing a wee vigil there with Old Glasgow Club, will keep the board posted.
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Post by brownlee on Jan 9, 2009 19:14:02 GMT 1
A bit like the notorious Wallace case in Liverpool 1933. We will never know for certain who killed old Mrs Gilchrist
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2009 21:26:53 GMT 1
www.archive.org/search.php?queryIf you type Oscar Slater into the box which appears at this link, it will take you to a few ebooks on the subject. (It also works for other topics. EG, if you type Glasgow into the box, you will get a list of ebooks on Glasgow)
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Post by Waverley on Feb 18, 2010 9:24:26 GMT 1
I have just received delivery of the book Oscar Slater by Thomas Toughill and from the few glances I have had through it it seems interesting. The author Thomas Toughill is a distant relative of mine ...his granny was my granda's sister - so what does that mean in the distant cousins scale. Or is it another unsolved mystery.
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Post by pwm437 on Feb 18, 2010 19:42:02 GMT 1
Where were you on the night of 21st December 1908 Charlie !!!!!
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