On the fourteenth day of August 190- a tiny paragraph
appeared at the foot of an unimportant page in
London's most sober journal to the effect that the
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs had been much
annoyed by the receipt of a number of threatening
letters, and was prepared to pay a reward of fifty
pounds to any person who would give such information
as would lead to the apprehension and conviction of
the person or persons, etc. The few people who read
London's most sober journal thought, in their
ponderous Athenæum Club way, that it was a
remarkable thing that a minister of state should be
annoyed at anything; more remarkable that he should
advertise his annoyance, and most remarkable of all
that he could imagine for one minute that the offer of
a reward would put a stop to the annoyance.
News editors of less sober but larger
circulated newspapers, wearily scanning the dull
columns of Old Sobriety, read the
paragraph with a newly acquired interest.
"Go down to Portland Place, try to see
Sir Philip Ramon, secure the story of that paragraph
— why he is threatened, what he is threatened
with; get a copy of one of the letters if you can. If
you cannot see Ramon, get hold of a secretary."
He returned in an hour in that state
of mysterious agitation peculiar to the reporter who
has got a "beat". The news editor duly reported to the
editor-in-chief, and that great man said, "That's very
good, that's very good indeed" — which was praise
of the highest order.
What was "very good indeed" about the
reporters story may be gathered from the half-column
that appeared in the Megaphone on the
following day:
CABINET MINISTER IN DANGER
THREATS TO MURDER THE FOREIGN SECRETARY
"THE FOUR JUST MEN"
PLOT TO ARREST THE PASSAGE OF THE ALIENS
EXTRADITION BILL
EXTRAORDINARY REVELATIONS
Considerable comment was excited by
the appearance in the news columns of yesterday's
National Journal of the following
paragraph:
The Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs (Sir Philip Ramon) has during the post few
weeks been the recipient of threatening letters, all
apparently emanating from one source and written by
one person. These letters are of such a character that
they cannot be ignored by his Majesty's Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs, who hereby offers a reward
of Fifty Pounds (£50) to any person or persons,
other than the actual writer, who will lay such
information as will lead to the apprehension and
conviction of the author of these anonymous letters.
So unusual was such an announcement,
remembering that anonymous and threatening letters are
usually to be found daily in the letter-bags of every
statesman and diplomat, that the Daily
Megaphone immediately instituted inquiries as
to the cause for this unusual departure.
A representative of this newspaper
called at the residence of Sir Philip Ramon, who very
courteously consented to be seen.
"It is quite an unusual step to take,"
said the great Foreign Secretary, in answer to our
representative's question, "but it has been taken with
the full concurrence of my colleagues of the Cabinet.
We have reasons to believe there is something behind
the threats, and I might say that the matter has been
in the hands of the police for some weeks past.
"Here is one of the letters," and Sir
Philip produced a sheet of foreign notepaper from a
portfolio, and was good enough to allow our
representative to make a copy.
It was undated, and beyond the fact
that the handwriting was of the flourishing,
effeminate variety that is characteristic of the Latin
races, it was written in good English.
It ran:
YOUR EXCELLENCY,—
The Bill that you are about to pass
into law is an unjust one. It is calculated to hand
over to a corrupt and vengeful Government men who now
in England find an asylum from the persecutions of
despots and tyrants. We know that in England opinion
is divided upon the merits of your Bill, and that upon
your strength, and your strength alone, depends the
passing into law of the Aliens Political Offences
Bill.
Therefore it grieves us to warn you
that unless your Government withdraws this Bill, it
will be necessary to remove you, and not alone you,
but any other person who undertakes to carry into law
this unjust measure.
(Signed)
"The Bill referred to," Sir Philip
resumed, "is of course the Aliens Extradition
(Political Offences) Bill, which, had it not been for
the tactics of the Opposition, might have passed
quietly into law last session."
Sir Philip went on to explain that the
Bill was called into being by the insecurity of the
succession in Spain.
"It is imperative that neither England
nor any other country should harbour propagandists
who, from the security of these, or other shores,
should set Europe ablaze. Coincident with the passage
of this measure similar Acts or proclamations have
been made in every country in Europe. In fact, they
are all in existence, having been arranged to come
into law simultaneously with ours, last session."
"Why do you attach importance to these
letters?" asked the Daily Megaphone
representative.
"Because we are assured, both by our
own police and the continental police, that the
writers are men who are in deadly earnest. The 'FOUR
JUST MEN',
as they sign themselves, are known
collectively in almost every country under the sun.
Who they are individually we should all very much like
to know. Rightly or wrongly, they consider that
justice as meted out here on earth is inadequate, and
have set themselves about correcting the law. They
were the people who assassinated General Trelovitch,
the leader of the Servian Regicides; they hanged the
French Army Contractor Conrad in the Place de la
Concorde — with a hundred policemen within call.
They shot Hermann le Blois, the poet-philosopher, in
his study for corrupting the youth of the world with
his reasoning."
The Foreign Secretary then handed to
our representative a list of the crimes committed by
this extraordinary quarter.
Our readers will recollect the
circumstance of each murder, and it will be remembered
that until today — so closely have the police of
the various nationalities kept the secret of the Four
Men — no one crime has been connected with the
other; and certainly none of the circumstances which,
had they been published, would have assuredly revealed
the existence of this band, have been given to the
public before today.
The Daily Megaphone is
able to publish a full list of sixteen murders
committed by the four men.
"Two years ago, after the shooting of
le Blois, by some hitch in their almost perfect
arrangements, one of the four was recognized by a
detective as having been seen leaving le Blois's house
on the Avenue Kléber, and he was shadowed for
three days, in the hope that the four might be
captured together. In the end he discovered he was
being watched, and made a bolt for liberty. He was
driven to bay in a café in Bordeaux — they
had followed him from Paris; and before he was killed
he shot a sergeant de ville and two other policemen.
He was photographed, and the print was circulated
throughout Europe, but who he was or what he was, even
what nationality he was, is a mystery to this day."
"But the four are still in existence?"
Sir Philip shrugged his shoulders.
"They have either recruited another, or they are
working short-handed," he said.
In conclusion the Foreign Secretary
said:
"I am making this public through the
press, in order that the danger which threatens, not
necessarily myself, but any public man who runs
counter to the wishes of this sinister force, should
be recognized. My second reason is that the public may
in its knowledge assist chose responsible for the
maintenance of law and order in the execution of their
office, and by their vigilance prevent the committal
of further unlawful acts."
Inquiries subsequently made at
Scotland Yard elicited no further information on the
subject beyond the fact that the Criminal Investigation
Department was in communication with the chiefs
of the continental police.
The following is a complete list of
the murders committed by the "Four Just Men," together
with such particulars as the police have been able to
secure regarding the cause for the crimes. We are
indebted to the Foreign Office for permission to
reproduce the list.
London, October 7, 1899. — Thomas
Cutler, master tailor, found dead under suspicious
circumstances. Coroners jury returned verdict of
"Wilful murder against some person or persons
unknown."
(Cause of murder ascertained by
police: Cutler, who was a man of some substance, and
whose real name was Bentvitch, was a sweater of a
particularly offensive type. Three convictions under
the Factory Act. Believed by the police there was a
further and more intimate cause for the murder not
unconnected with Cutler's treatment of women
employees.)
Liège, February 28, 1900.
— Jacques Ellerman, prefect: shot dead returning
from the Opera House. Ellerman was a notorious evil
liver, and upon investigating his affairs alter his
death it was found that he had embezzled nearly a
quarter of a million francs of the public funds.
Seattle (Kentucky), October 1900.
— Judge Anderson. Found dead in his room,
strangled. Anderson had thrice been tried for his life
on charges of murder. He was the leader of the
Anderson faction in the
Anderson-Hara feud. Had killed in all seven of the
Hara clan, was three times indicted and three times
released on a verdict of "Not guilty". It will be
remembered that on the last occasion, when charged
with the treacherous murder of the Editor of the
Seattle Star, he shook hands with the
packed jury and congratulated them.
New York, October 30, 1900. —
Patrick Welch, a notorious grafter and stealer of
public monies. Sometime City Treasurer; moving spirit
in the infamous Street Paving Syndicate; exposed by
the New York Journal. Welch was found
hanging in a little wood on Long Island. Believed at
the time to have been suicide.
Paris, March 4, 1901. — Madame
Despard. — Asphyxiated. This also was regarded as
suicide till certain information came to hands of
French police. Of Madame Despard nothing good can be
said. She was a notorious "dealer in souls".
Paris, March 4, 1902 (exactly a year
later). — Monsieur Gabriel Lanfin, Minister of
Communication. Found shot in his brougham in the Bois
de Boulogne. His coachman was arrested, but eventually
discharged. The man swore he heard no shot or cry from
his master. It was raining at the time, and there were
few pedestrians in the Bois.
(Here followed ten other cases, all on
a par with those quoted above, including the cases of
Trelovitch and le Blois.)
The editor-in-chief, seated in his
office, read it over again and said, "Very good
indeed."
The reporter — whose name was
Smith — read it over and grew pleasantly warm at
the consequences of his achievement.
The Foreign Secretary read it in bed
as he sipped his morning tea, and frowningly wondered
if he had said too much.
In Madrid, at the Café de la
Paix, in the Place of the Sun, Manfred, cynical,
smiling, and sarcastic, read extracts to three men
— two pleasantly amused, the other heavy-jowled
and pasty of face, with the fear of death in his eyes.