Does not appear to contain any relevant information that is not known but worth including. I was not able to locate the book referenced.
Dear Sir,
As a regular reader of the Liverpool ‘Daily Post’ I had occasion to observe in your letter to the Editor, a request for information regarding the notorious Wallace murder case. Like a few other novelists of the past, I believe your purpose is to write a definitive book as you term it on this sordid subject, but I believe, with all due respect to your abilities, there is already one in existence called “Seven Mystery Murders” I think which can be obtained from the Liverpool Public Library. I have not read it myself, only hearsay information, but I had occasion a few years ago to read an article in the “News of the World” by some important personality, expounding his fictional views on what he thought was the definite answer to this most intriguing crime, reimbursed no doubt with a handsome fee, which no doubt the public accepted as the authentic and official(?) summary.
In my humble opinion it was an inflated load of rubbish, and only actual eye witnesses of the scene are competent in this respect. I am a retired Liverpool Police Officer, who operated various beats in the Anfield area, and in company with my late colleague (Constable) Williams we were the first and only two eye witnesses of the horrible spectacle. We summoned the so called experts by Phone and by mid-night they only arrived, a period of about 3 hours. There were quite a few unusual facts in this case as you term them, known only to myself and a few colleagues, which have never been printed as yet. If you had been able to peruse a copy of the trial as published by the ‘Liverpool Echo’, you will have noted that all the evidence was circumstantial, and one of the most sensational in crime history. I am still privileged to retain a copy of these “Echoes”, and I knew Wallace very well, as he collected my insurance for one of the bigger insurance companies in the world. A few of these high insurance officials pooh-poohed my evidence as a figment of my imagination, and Constable Williams bore the brunt of a heavy cross examination from Counsel on behalf of the accused. He was senior to me, and our evidence was believed by the jury, who were not Liverpool men which was all that mattered. A successful verdict was obtained by the prosecution and the late Mr. Hemmerde K.C. (ex called?) himself(?) with assize Court oratory, a brilliant and clever barrister.
Hoping you have luck with your book when published.
Yours Truly,
J. E. Rothwell (206 d ___)