Donald M. Fraser - The Book of Glasgow Murders

First published by
Neil Wilson Publishing Ltd
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GLASGOW
G13 1BQ

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Donald M. Fraser, 2011.

The author asserts his moral
right to be identified as the
author of this work

A catalogue record of this
book is available from the
British Library

Print edition ISBN: 978-1-906476-04-5
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-906476-20-5

First published in April 2009.

For my late mother, Catherine Gillies and
my late father, with whom I share my name.

Neither lived long enough to discover that I could
string enough words together to make a sentence.

The book is also dedicated to my daughter Kirsty, who for
some strange reason, is an avid reader of the true crime genre.

I take sole responsibility for any mistakes, omissions or instances of faulty logic or flawed theory in this work, as they are all mine and mine alone.

My focus for research was on the Glasgow newspapers of the day. Information was gleaned from the relevant reports in the Glasgow Herald, Evening Times and Daily Record. My thanks go to them.

I am also indebted to the staff and resources of the Mitchell Library in Glasgow for the use of their newspaper files.

Special thanks must go to Frank Hopson of Poole in Dorset whose family and relations lived for many years in Whiteinch, Glasgow. He was able to supply new information on the Lizzie Benjamin case (chapter 5, pages 30-38) before this book went to press.

T his is a book about murder in the 20th century in and around the Glasgow area. It tells the tales of crimes committed in streets and squares, tenements, banks, shops, parks, offices and even on the water. But it also reveals that the motive for killing a fellow human being has not really changed in that time. Murder in the 1920s was much like murder is today.

Our grandmothers and grandfathers, our mothers and fathers lived through harsh times and witnessed all manner of crime. Today, we witness the same, but in a different way. For example, major murder cases from the past could make headlines for day after day in the newspapers. In todays crowded marketplace, newspapers can hardly keep track of some cases. No sooner is it news than it is pushed into the background by another similar case the following day.

The methods of detection have also changed. When the crimes in this book were committed there was no DNA or CCTV, and in some cases, not even any fingerprint evidence. Finding out who was responsible involved old-fashioned detective work the taking of quality witness statements and local knowledge. Tip-offs, anonymous or otherwise, also played a big part in more than one case.

Is our society of today more violent than that of our parents and grandparents? That is a very complex question which I cannot answer here. What is absolutely certain is that when it comes to murder, there is nothing new to report in relation to both method and motive.

In order to spare the feelings of any possible living relatives of victims no cases later than the 1960s are covered. Finally, an important point. In Glasgows defence, it has to be said that when researching this book, such was the large amount and variety of suitable material, any other Scottish city could have been quite easily selected. Glasgow does not have a monopoly on murder.

Donald M. Fraser, Old Kilpatrick, February 2009

T he Great War had finished only a couple of months previously and the euphoria of this event pervaded every feature of life for all those in the country. Hope really did spring eternal that it was the end of a war to end all wars. Loved ones were returning daily from the armed forces to a land fit for heroes and the belief was that life was going to get better for all. The reality was to turn out somewhat differently.

Among the many things that had become worse during the war were the levels of crime. A number of factors were attributed to the increases. The most obvious was that the citys regular police force had been severely depleted because a large number of officers had been called up or had enlisted voluntarily. This left Glasgow Police stretched beyond its limits. Forty-two-year-old James Campbell was a married man with a wife and three young children and a veteran police constable with over 20 years service. He had remained with the police during the period of war, mainly due to his age. The younger, mostly unmarried police officers were the ones who had gone off to fight. The armed forces gain was Glasgow Polices loss.

On Saturday night, 18th January 1919, Campbell mustered along with his fellow night shift colleagues at Shettleston Police Station, in the East End of the city. As usual, much banter between the officers was the order of the day and after receiving their instructions from supervisors, the constables were ready to go and relieve their late shift counterparts. Campbell was delegated the area around Parkhead Cross as his foot patrol area, which was his regular beat, and made his way there, as usual by tramcar, to make sure he wasnt late in taking over.

Once at Parkhead Cross, Campbell spent a couple of minutes talking with fellow constable Duncan McLaglen, who was engaged on traffic directing duties at the busy five-way junction. (It has to be remembered that all of this was long before traffic lights were invented.) After his chat, Campbell walked off along Great Eastern Road, as it was called then, but is now Tollcross Road. His intention was to walk around the area of his beat at the same time as checking the security of the numerous business premises.

The vast majority of Campbells beat consisted of tenement properties. Shops, present in most of the streets, occupied the ground level of the buildings, with offices and houses situated above them. Occasionally, smaller workshops, which were located up pends and sometimes stretched into backcourts, broke the monotony of the unending line of tenements. Checking the property, or pulling padlocks as it was known, meant that Campbell would have to check both front and rear of any premises, where it was physically possible to do so.

It was just before 11pm when Campbell began his patrol. It was a typical winters night cold and crisp. Campbell wore his heavy greatcoat for protection from the expected freezing overnight weather. As he walked slowly along Great Eastern Road, he found everything to be secure. When he reached No 637, he knew from experience that he had to enter the close there and climb the first flight of stairs to gain entry to the backcourt, so that he could check the back of the shop premises. These were known as high backs, because, with the shops on the ground level of the tenement, part of them extended into the rear green areas. This meant that the backcourts of the tenement houses were actually the roofs of the shops below. It was a popularly held belief in Glasgow that houses which had a high back were of a superior class to those without.

Campbell climbed the stairs and entered the darkened backcourt. Almost immediately he sensed that he was not alone. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, Campbell caught sight of a male trying to get past him and down the stairs. Campbell grabbed the man and detained him. As he secured his grasp on the man, Campbell was about to ask him a question but stopped as he became aware of further movement within the backcourt. He saw what he thought were the shadows of three or four men moving in the enclosed area. As he peered harder, he got the impression that the shadows were climbing over a small fence that would take them into the next backcourt, and which led to houses in Westmuir Street.