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Story by Kevin Rogers (retired Forensic Psychologist) Who killed Julia Wallace? “I call it the impossible murder because Wallace couldn’t have done it, and neither could anyone else. ... The Wallace case is unbeatable; it will always be unbeatable”. (Raymond Chandler, in Raymond Chandler Speaking – 1962) Liverpool, April 1931. The city had been battered by gale force winds, which offered little respite to its already suffering inhabitants who were ravaged by a flu epidemic and still recovering from the densest, most persistent fog in living memory. In order to relieve the doom and gloom, those who could afford to do so, would visit the local cinema to see the latest blockbusters of the silver screen, such as ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’, Chaplain’s ‘City Lights’ or ‘One Good Turn’ featuring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. For those with a penchant for the macabre, Boris Karloff could be seen playing the lead role in Frankenstein whilst Bela Lugosi was starring in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Little did people know that in their very midst, a story was playing out which was more chilling than anything Hollywood could suggest. One of their citizens, William Herbert Wallace, was fighting for his life as he stood trial charged with the murder of his wife, Julia. William Herbert Wallace was born in Broughton-in-Furness Cumbria on the 29th August 1878. He trained as a draper’s apprentice and, when qualified, spent time working in India and China. Due to a persistent kidney complaint, he resigned his post and returned to England. After a short period working for the Liberal Party in Harrogate he met and married Julia Dennis in March 1914. With the outbreak of the First World War, all elections were suspended and Wallace found himself out of work. In 1915, he secured employment as a collections agent for the Prudential Insurance Company in Liverpool so, moved with his wife Julia, to reside at 29 Wolverton Street in the Anfield district. The first evident move in the plot which led to the murder of Julia Wallace occurred almost exactly twenty four hours before her death. On the evening of Monday the 19th January 1931, Wallace was due to take part in a chess tournament at Liverpool Central Chess Club in the city centre. Prior to his arrival, a telephone message had been left from a Mr R M Qualtrough. Interestingly enough, the telephone call had been made from a kiosk approximately 400 yards from Wallace’s home. Mr Qualtrough asked for Wallace to visit him at 7:30pm the following evening at his address 25 Menlove Gardens East, ‘It is something’ said Qualtrough ‘in the nature of his business’. The next night, Wallace set off to find the mysterious Mr Qualtrough but discovered that the address given, Menlove Gardens East, did not exist. Wallace made enquiries of a number of people which ensured they would later remember him before returning home. He tried his key in the front door and turned, but it did not open and there is no response from Julia to his light knocking on the door. Wallace makes his way around to the back door but that will not open either. There is a dim light from the scullery but the kitchen light is not on. Again he knocks but gets no reply. Returning to the front door, he tries his key again and still it does not work so he makes his way once more to the back door. At this time, Wallace’s neighbours, Mr and Mrs John Johnston, were leaving their house via the back door and see Wallace looking anxious. He asks them if they have heard anything unusual as he couldn’t get into his house, both the front door and the back door were locked against him. At their suggestion, he tried the back door once more. ‘It opens now, he called to them. Whilst the Johnston’s waited outside to ensure everything was all right, Wallace entered the kitchen and lit the lamp with a match. After a couple of minutes he came out again ‘Come and see’ he said to the Johnston’s, ‘She has been killed’ Horrified, they followed him through the house to the front parlour. Julia Wallace lay there, stretched across the floor. Her skull had been shattered and blood had spattered everywhere. There is no doubt that the murder was inextricably linked to the telephone call made to the chess club the previous evening. But what was that link? Two conclusions can be reached. The first and obvious conclusion is that the telephone call was made with the sole purpose of ensuring that Wallace would be out of the way in order to facilitate the crime. The second and this was the belief of the investigation team, that Wallace himself had made the call to the chess club so that people would think someone wanted him out of the way. The police were immediately suspicious and arrested Wallace on the 2nd February. The case slowly being made against Wallace was this. On the night of Monday the 19th January 1931, Wallace himself had made the telephone call. The following night, at approximately 6:30pm, he murdered his wife. He then left the house to undertake an elaborate search for a place he knew did not exist, all the while calling attention to himself through dialogue with various people he met that night in order to provide a watertight alibi. The case put forward by the police was somewhat flawed. If Wallace had killed Julia, he only had a 20 minute window of opportunity in which to do so. This was based on timings of buses, trams and the evidence of a milk boy who said he saw Julia alive at 6:45pm. This meant that Wallace had to have murdered his wife, cleaned up, dispose of the weapon, fake a burglary, attend to the lights, make his way to a tram stop a third of a mile away and then travel a mile and a half to where he was seen on a bus at 7:06pm When to police attempted to replicate Wallace’s journey, they found that he could not have left the house before 6:49pm which only gave him four minutes to complete the deed. As this did not entirely fit with the police account, they convinced the milk boy to change his story to say that he called at the Wallace home at 6:30 and not 6:45 which was the time recorded in his original statement. This still wasn’t very long however, the tide of opinion in Liverpool was so against Wallace, it ensured that the Prosecution had little difficulty in securing a guilty verdict against him. Wallace was sentenced to hang. Wallace’s case was taken to The Court of Criminal Appeal where, since its inception in 1907, it had seldom allowed an appeal on the grounds that a verdict was against the weight of fact and never, until May 1931, in a murder trial. Wallace was to be that precedent. After a two day hearing in which his legal team fought valiantly for his life, the case against William Herbert Wallace was quashed. Wallace enjoyed his new found freedom for a short while only. He tried to return to work for the Prudential but wagging tongues, innuendo and gossip got the better of him. He noted in his diary on June 16, 1931. ‘They're the rottenest crowd I ever struck. Mean and paltry-brained. I feel it is a wicked insult to Julia’ He retired to a cottage on the Wirral Peninsular where two years later, in incredible pain, he died of kidney disease. Some 80 years later, the questions remain unanswered. Was "Qualtrough" a respected citizen of that Liverpool community, an unmasked murderer who carried his guilty secret to the grave? Or, had Wallace devised one of the most imaginative murder schemes outside the domain of fiction and thus literally, got away with murder? 18
<strong>October</strong> is Breast Cancer Awareness month in the UK, and it is a subject (quite literally!) close to my heart. This year in France 99.7 people in every 100,000 will be diagnosed with Breast Cancer and less than 1% of them will be under 30 years of age at diagnosis. In addition, although not highlighted very often, approximately one half of 1% of all Breast Cancer diagnoses in Europe this year will be in men. The numbers of women under 30 and men diagnosed are small compared to the national averages of age or gender at diagnosis, but they still make up a significant, if rather silent minority. I’m a Denim and Doc’s kinda’ gal, so I was never entirely comfortable with the assumption that I would suddenly have a desire to wear pink t-shirts and ribbons because I had breast cancer, and I’ve met a surprising number of women who felt the same way. Why should I want to wear Pink? Pink is the colour of sugar and spice, Pink is the colour of all things nice, So why should I want to wear pink? To feel feminine they say, that would be a great feeling But right now I’m not sure if I’m still human being. I’ve got sores in my mouth, my toe nails are mush, The only hair left is tangled up in my brush. Each day it’s a challenge just to crawl out of bed, I don’t know the day, or the month; where’s my head? I look like a man, and an old one at that, I don’t dare venture out without wearing a hat. So why, oh why would anyone think That I should want to wear Pink? I’m going for a walk. A long walk. I may be some time because I have to cover more than 600 km. You’ve probably guessed it by now, I’m going to follow the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela across northern Spain. Perhaps I should go back a little, and introduce myself, and tell you a bit more about my plans. We’ve lived happily in Haims since 2004, when we retired to live ‘the good life’. We bought a lovely longère and accumulated a variety of pets and other animals. We have been welcomed into the local community and feel truly integrated into French life. Poetry corner Libby Armstrong The first ribbon that was used to promote the awareness of Breast Cancer was Peach in colour, and was distributed in 1992 by a 68 year old American lady called Charlotte Haley, who wanted to raise awareness that only 5% of the American National Cancer Institute’s budget was spent on cancer prevention. Estée Lauder approached Ms Healey to use the ribbon in a Breast Cancer Awareness campaign, and feeling that the commercialisation of the subject would somehow detract from her point, Ms Healey refused. So Estée Lauder decided to go pink, and in 1992 distributed more than 1.5million pink ribbons and breast selfexamination cards to their makeup counters; the Pink Ribbon Campaign was born. I don’t know how many millions the campaign has raised to help combat this disease since then, but if the pink ribbon campaign this year gets just one more person to examine themselves, makes one more person raise a concern with their doctor that they might have otherwise ignored, then I’m 100% in favour of it, whatever the colour of the ribbons may be. However speaking as someone who has been there and worn the (Black) t-shirt, I think it is important that there are many other ways to show your support for the amazing work that goes on all over the world to raise awareness of, and search for new treatments for, this crappy disease. You don’t just have to wear pink! To be a Pilgrim by Lois Tuffield It hasn’t all been good of course, and I’ve had a few health problems. Still I’m not one to give up, and I now feel really well. So well, in fact, that I want to celebrate my good health by doing a pilgrimage. I haven’t actually been given the ‘all clear’ yet, but I try to be hyper- positive. People of all ages and from all walks of life follow the road to Santiago de Compostela. Each has his own reason for spending a month on foot in all weathers - seeking an answer to a question perhaps or solving a problem. There are three main Christian pilgrimages: to Rome; to Jerusalem; and to the shrine of St James in Compostela. (The French call this apostle St Jacques; to the Spanish he’s Santiago). Legend tells us that James was executed by King Herod in AD 44; he was transported to 19 Letters etcetera If you have something to share, please get in touch…. Le Bourg, 87360 Verneuil Moustiers gayle.etcetera@gmail.com CALLING JUNIOR CRICKETERS! The Pays-de-Loire cricket league organises a junior event at Saumur on the 6th <strong>October</strong>. Initiation and discovery of cricket for boys and girls aged 8 to 14 years will be provided by France Cricket and ECB coaches for free. More advanced young players are also welcome. If you're interested, please contact Frank at poitoucc@voila.fr as soon as possible so we can plan food, drinks and transport from Poitiers. YOUR OPINION COUNTS! Whether you are an advertiser, a reader, a contributor, a distributor, your opinion counts. The magazine is something for your region to enjoy and participate in. If you would like to be involved, or have ideas and opinions, email: gayle.etcetera@gmail.com or write to etcetera. Le Bourg. 87360 Verneuil Moustiers. Spain by his followers and buried there. Eight hundred years later the remains of St James were discovered by a hermit who was led to the grave by a ‘field of stars’ – campus stellae. A church was built, and from then onwards, there has always been a shrine to St James. Today, it is a magnificent cathedral. The symbol of St James is the cockle shell, and you will find it embedded into many roads in France, indicating the direction of the pilgrimage. The most popular route begins in Le Puy; another begins in Paris. As I’m going on foot, and cannot spend too long on the road, I intend to begin my journey in Spain, on the other side of the Pyrenees! Next month, I’ll tell you about the preparations for my journey.
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Page 3 and 4: Bonjour, Oh miam miam ! J’ai bien
Page 5 and 6: MONTMORILLON (86500) - Cinema http:
Page 7 and 8: So the summer holidays are over. Ho
Page 9 and 10: What do you call a single vampire?
Page 11 and 12: This year is our 7th Open House eve
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Page 15 and 16: If someone had told me 20 years ago
Page 17: 310€ In the Garden 28 rue de Lava
Page 21 and 22: Roger Miles Hello again. Now, where
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Page 25 and 26: All reclamation bought & sold Demol
Page 27 and 28: Satman & Jobin Satman & Jobin I hav

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