Who was psychic that called out killer’s name at seance?
“MURDER AT FAIRWATER” read the headlines of a special edition of the Evening Express on July 11 in 1896 – the year the great Cardiff Industrial & Maritime Exhibition came to Cardiff.
“A Terrible and Mysterious Tragedy in the Dark”; “Lord Windsor’s House Carpenter Shot Dead on The Road – Complete Absence of Clues or Motive, Police Authorities Utterly Non -Plussed”.
“A Startling Theory Suggested” and “Was The Man Shot For Working at Non-Union Wages” were the sub headings of a story that has fascinated former Cardiff police detective John H Wake who is known to Cardiffians for his other books which include And Tiger Bay Died Too, Cardiff – Those Cruel and Savage Streets and The Cruel Streets Revisited.
Over coffee in the Fairwater Inn, not that far from where the mysterious murder took place all those years ago, Wake told me of his fascination in this unsolved crime that he says captured the imagination of the public not only in Wales but in many parts of the country.
He said it was a sensational case even before a clairvoyant became involved and in his recently published book Why Shoot David Thomas ? The Mysterious Murder of Lord Windsor’s Carpenter (published by Wordcatcher Publishing at £9.99) he reveals that in a seance near the murder spot and when a number of journalists were present the clairvoyant had actually called out the murderer’s name.
The newspapers did not mention the clairvoyant’s name and as Wake writes: “Now comes the most galling and infuriating part of the whole incident.
“She answered with a name, as she had done before, but the name is not mentioned anywhere.”
Tantalisingly, in newspaper reports it says, “the name must be omitted”.
All we know about her is that she was small in stature and rather pale faced and had been active in Cardiff as a medium or psychic for some time and that she was said to be “a genuine person with numerous sensational results during seances”.
Wake claims that the man or woman who shot David Thomas almost certainly targeted him.
But why? And who was the murderer?
Many of the clues were uncovered by the journalists of the time but the police did not follow up all these leads.
Wake, who is fascinated by the
Cardiff of yesteryear, has the knack of transporting Cardiffians back in time to the days and streets of their great grandparents and if murder mysteries are for you then you will want to read this intriguing book which is published by Wordcatcher Publishing at £9.99.
■ Meanwhile, I wonder if David Thomas and his unknown killer had visited the Cardiff Fine Arts, Industrial and Maritime Exhibition during the six months it had occupied the site of what is today’s Cardiff Civic Centre? As well as the industrial and mining exhibits, side shows entertained and amused the one million visitors to the exhibition.
We do know that some members of the 500-strong Santiago Opera Exhibition attended David Thomas’ funeral as Wake’s book informs us so.
African jungle scenes, a 16,000 square foot reenactment of the Battle of Waterloo, military tournaments, sporting events, fireworks displays, a lead lined canal with boats, Borland’s Electric Railway and the Santiago Opera choir were all part of the attraction.
Did Thomas or his unknown killer sail on the man made lake or ride the Dorland Electric Railway the only one of its kind in the world? We will never know.
■ Please send your letters and photographs to Brian Lee, Cardiff Remembered, South Wales Echo, Six Park Street, Cardiff, CF10 1XR or e-mail brianlee4@virgimedia.com Please include a home telephone number.
In a seance near the murder spot when journalists were present the clairvoyant called out the murderer’s name