THE 
 
 GREENWICH MYSTERY 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 DEAD. 
 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY 
 
 DAVID NICOLL, 6, WINDMILL STREET, W 
 April 19th, 1898. 
 
A "PROTEST"! 
 
 I will say a fe w words here respecting the protest " that 
 appeared in Freedom of July, 1897. For two of those who 
 sigaed the protesc I have sincere admiration and respecii, but it 
 is well known that, like most men of genius, they are in the 
 affairs of the world as simple as children, and too apt to take 
 their impressions from those who surround them. For these 
 drawing-room revolutionists and their parasites, whose logic is 
 remarkable, for in one breath they declare me insane, through 
 prison tortures suffered for the cause of the people, and in the 
 next advise, for this reason, people to leave me to starve, my 
 respect is not so great. For if their accusation is true, they are 
 monsters of inhumanity, for no one would treat a poor man in 
 this way, who cannot be held responsible for his actions. If it 
 is false, and they know it to be false, they are guilty of using 
 the lies and slanders of the police agents Coulon and Samuels to 
 injure a man, who has done his best, poor as it is, for those who 
 toil and suffer. But why should these people show such 
 malignant hatred for one whose only crime is that he lias 
 denounced the intrigues of the police and their agents. Is it 
 possible that these ladies and gentlemen of " pure principle " 
 are the unconscious tools of reaction ' As for what I have 
 said, I adhere to every word of it, and neither threats, lies, 
 nor remorseless persecution will induce me to retract one word. 
 
 David Nicoll. 
 
THE GREENWICH MYSTERY 
 
 LETTERS FROM THE DEAD. 
 
 •*• 
 
 l.-THE DEAD WHO NEVER RETURN. 
 
 Mr. Samuels recently— after comparing himself with character- 
 istic modesty to Bakounine and Blanqui, and other great men 
 who were shamefully slandered by political opponents — de- 
 manded that some evidence should be produced of the truth of 
 the accusations made against him. We are anxious to oblige 
 him. It happens, curiously enough, that two of the most 
 important witnesses against him are dead, and "the dead never 
 return." They sometimes leave, however, some striking evidence 
 behind them. First, I have accused Mr. Samuels of driving 
 William Morris out of the Socialist League. Here is the 
 evidence. 
 
 " Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith. 
 "July 12th, 1890. 
 " Mr Dear Nicoll, — I have been looking at this week^s 
 Commomveal, and I must say I think you are going too far — at 
 any rate, further than I can follow you. You really must put 
 the curb on Samuels' blatant folly, or you will force me to with- 
 draw all support. I never bargained for this sort of thing when 
 I gave up editorship. 
 
 I look upon you as a sensible and friendly fellow, and I am 
 sure you will take it in a friendly spirit as it is meant ; for I 
 feel it is only fair to give you warning of any dissatisfaction I 
 may have. 
 
 Please understand that this is meant to be quite private ; 
 and do your best not to drive me off. For I assure you it would 
 be the greatest grief to me if I had to dissociate myself from 
 
2 
 
 men who have been my friends for so long and whom I believe 
 to be at bottom thoroughly good fellows. 
 
 *' I shall be at Kelmscott, Lechlade, till next Iriday, and will 
 send you the new batch of ' News from IS'owhere ' so that it 
 shall reach you on Friday morning at the latest. — Yours 
 fraternally, "William Morris." 
 
 " P.S. — I send the proofs on to Blundell." 
 
 I promised Morris to look after Mr. Samuels' contributions to 
 the Commonweal in future. But I could not stop him from 
 making speeches, and I believe that the speech at the Kay 
 Street. Eadical Club on November 11th, about shooting Justice 
 Grantham, forced Morris to sever all connection with us. He 
 had been hesitp^ing for some time, and this decided him. 
 
 IL-THE WOMAN WHO DID. 
 
 The next letter was written at a very stormy period — soon after 
 Mr. Samuels was turned out of the Commonweal Group. I 
 may say that Mrs. Bevington is in every way a good witness, a 
 lady of the highest character, a friend of Herbert Spencer and 
 Kropotkin. When she died in the autumn of 1895, notices of 
 her death appeared in all Anarchist and Socialist papers, and 
 Kropotkin and various members of the Freedom Group attended 
 the funeral. Therefore Mrs. Bevington's testimony as to 
 Samuels' lessons in chemistry " is very valuable. 
 
 "25, Lechmere Road, Willesden Green. 
 " August 27th. 
 
 " Kindly send a post-card at once to let me know if this letter 
 reaches you safely, the post gets increasingly uncertain. 
 
 " Dear Comrade, — You have got the Bourdin history wrong. t 
 The facts were that Samuels having, as it is said on good authority, 
 
3 
 
 supplied him with the new compound^ suggested to him to take 
 it somewhere for the purpose of experiment. Well, Bourdin, in 
 all good faith, thought * experiment ' meant experiment ; and hit 
 on Epping Forest as a place where he would have a good chance 
 of exploding his compound against a hig tree without great 
 danger of its being heard, or him seen before he could get away. 
 This would, however, have obviously been of little use to the police ; 
 quite obviously a mere experiment — or else a mere bit of foolish 
 mischief in the eyes of the public ; and affording small pretext for 
 a big lucrative scare and scandal. Well, as the fates had it, Samuels 
 met him just as he was starting with his ingredients. * I'm 
 going,' says Eourdin, touching his pockets significantly, * Where 
 to ?' 'Epping Forest.' ' Oh, don't go there, go to Greenwich Park.' 
 * All right,' and they went together as far as Westminster, and 
 were seen ; and one of them accordingly was made the butt of 
 the police. How do I know Samuels told him where to go 1 
 Because Mrs. Samuels, whom I used to see very often at that 
 time, told me. Why do I report that conversation above ? Because 
 Samuels himself, before he was suspected by the Group, and 
 while he was still desirous of seeming an important character in 
 the eyes of sundry gaping comrades, boastingly related it. His 
 money has been, so far as we know, got chiefly from the Central 
 News. After one of his reporting escapades, he himself told me 
 he had got £i 10s. for interviewing himself from the Central 
 News .... Samuels came to my house at the end of May (long 
 after he had taken to writing as a politician and aspired after 
 ballooning), and, without more ado, sat down, and proceeded to 
 give minute instructions for making and charging bombs. He 
 described all the ingredients and quantities, where to get them, 
 what pretext to give on buying them, everything about the 
 latest (and simplest materials) used — and, after an elaborate 
 lesson, he said, * I am telling this to everybody ; there are soon 
 going to be English acts, too ; it is high time there should be.' I 
 asked Mrs. Samuels what she thought of all this ! ! 'Oh, it is all 
 right,' she said; •! should have objected only a little while ago ; 
 but not now I understand the question better.' 
 
 am sorry to see an honest man like Barton seriously 
 replying to Samuels in the WeeUy Times and Echo last week, 
 and calling him ' comrade ' every other line. 1 think Samuels 
 is about the most rubbishy character possible ; he is not even a 
 clever traitor or trickster. The boycott, practical, moral, and 
 
4 
 
 above all literary, would punish him more than anything else, 
 and frustrate him, too ! The keynotes of his character are vanity 
 and vindictiveness. 
 
 " One thing is certain — Martial Bourdin was a honest little 
 fellow and a dupe .... Greetings from all to all. — Yours 
 fraternally, "L. S. Bevinqton." 
 
 I do not advise the reader to give too much credit to Samuels* 
 statements re the death of Bourdin. I do not believe, as I have 
 explained in " The Greenwich Mystery," that the object of 
 Bourdin's journey was merely an experiment with explosives ; 
 but if Mr. Samuels' statements are confirmed by other witnesses, 
 then some belief may be attached to them. Now, I know that 
 Bourdin called for him at his workshop, on that day with the 
 fatal parcel in his pocket. A newspaper report states that he 
 and Bourdin were afterwards seen in Whitehall, and if Samuels 
 had wanted to hand his victim over to the police he could not 
 have taken a better course. Whitehall is within a few yards of 
 Scotland Yard, and since the Fenian explosions the Government 
 offices have been well watched by the political police. He 
 therefore started the game right under the noses of the hounds. 
 Would a serious conspirator have run this terrible risk, when his 
 companion, who had been previously watched by the police, had 
 a suspicious-looking parcel in his pocket ? Why not have gone 
 by Blackfriars or Waterloo ? And if Mr. Samuels was seen by 
 the police in Bourdin's company when he started for Greenwich, 
 why was he not arrested ? 
 
 Ill -DANGEROUS ANARCHISTS. 
 
 The following article appeared in the Anarchist of July 15th, 
 1894: — 
 
 . . . . It is well known that the editor of a certain 
 paper, who has been inciting to murder for months, has recently 
 
5 
 
 * resigned ' his position. He was * incautious ' enough to dis- 
 tribute explosives to some comrades, and unfortunately the police 
 raided the house of one of these men soon after, and did not find 
 anything. 2^o doubt they were disappointed. 
 
 ''They did not, however, raid the house of the gentleman who 
 distributed the stuff. And strange to say that though this 
 gentleman has publicly boasted his intimacy with Bourdin, and 
 told a reporter that he had parted with that unfortunate young 
 man a few hours before the fatal explosion, yet the police have 
 never arrested this gentleman who knew so much, or searched 
 his house, though they have been making continual raids on 
 London Anarchists. This is remarkable. . . . 
 
 " When people are arrested for quoting some lines of a poem 
 by a great writer, and another man is tried at the Old Bailey 
 for having a bottle in his possession with a few grains — at the 
 bottom — of what a Government ' expert ' is pleased to call 
 
 * fulminate of mercury,' it is time to ask — Why people who 
 incite to murder and supply others with explosives are allowed 
 to escape ? " 
 
 *a8, Glengall Road, London, N.W. 
 July 22nd, 1894. 
 *'KiooLL, — You are an envious cowardly liar, and I shall make 
 you eat your paper the first time I see you. I^o comrade in 
 London places any reliance on anything you say or do, as it is 
 well known, here as elsewhere, you are an imbecile and not 
 responsible. " H. B. Samubls." 
 
 Though Mr. Samuels' name was not mentioned, he recognised 
 his portrait. Mr. Samuels says I am "an envious, cowardly 
 liar." Let us see what other people say. My first witness is a 
 working man, and he directly confirms my story. Although an 
 Anarchist, his reputation for truthfulness is somewhat higher 
 than Mr. Samuels'. 
 
 " South Lambeth. 
 **Dbar Nicoll, — I write to you to let you know that I am still 
 alive and doing what I can for the cause. In relation to our 
 friend Samuels, I had my suspicions aroused some four months 
 ago, because I noticed that Sanjuels did not like Quinn, because 
 
6 
 
 Quinn would not let him boss the show. It seems so strange 
 for them to prosecute Cantwell and Qainn, while Samuels has 
 wrote three times more than that in the ' Weal and nothing was 
 said about it. I tell you from the time of the Bourdin affair 
 Quinn has been followed about and persecuted wherever he 
 went. There was something in Samuels giving that stuff to them 
 four comrades. Coulon never done so much as that. — Yours 
 fraternally, William Wright." 
 
 IV.-ET TU, BRUTE ! 
 
 Here is another witness — John Turner. Mr. Samuels is very 
 fond of John Turner. Let us hear what he has to say : 
 
 " 7, Lamb's Conduit Street, London, W.C. 
 "July 18th, 1894. 
 "Dear Nicoll, — I have just left the barrister (Farrelly), who 
 has offered to defend Qainn over the 'incitement to murder' 
 charge. He is also trying to regain possession of the office, and 
 it nov7 seems that you and F. Kitz are registered trustees for the 
 property. This affair has put us into a fine mess, I can assure 
 you — the police still in the possession of the office and doing all 
 they can to ensure a conviction of Cantwell and Quinn. Should 
 they secure a conviction, we believe it means the suppression of 
 all open propaganda. I received the Anarchists safe and will do 
 what I can to dispose of them. Your facts re Samuels are a bit 
 out, otherwise it is all right. The 'alternate policy of dynamite 
 and philosophy ' was very good. — Yours fraternally, 
 
 *' JoHv Turner." 
 
 John Turner, it appears, does not consider *' sulphuric acid " 
 an explosive. That is what he means when he asserts that my 
 facts are "a bit out." Sulphuric acid, it is true, is only an 
 explosive within the meaning of the Explosives Acts, which 
 
7 
 
 enact that any ** ingredient of an explosive becomes an 
 explosive under these Acts, and entitles '*a dangerous Anarchist" 
 to ten years' penal servitude. However, he declares the article 
 to be " all right," which, I presume, means that if there are 
 some slight errors in the facts, the conclusions are warranted. 
 
 V-DR. MACDONALD. 
 
 I HAVE stated that Dr. Macdonald declined an inquiry into the 
 case, though I told him plainly at Sheffield that I suspected him. 
 My readers will see that not only Dr. Macdonald, but the 
 " Freedom Group," have joined in the conspiracy of silence, and 
 done their best to hush up the case. 
 
 Gorton, Manchester. 
 ''July 24th, 1894. 
 " Dear Nicoll, — What a comical fellow you are ! No one that 
 I am aware of wants to limit the sphere of yoar liberty of action. 
 Certainly I don't I thought your article on * S ' indiscreet 
 and your conclusions not warranted by fact, but — now then as 
 
 to inquiring. I wrote to Mrs. (a prominent member of 
 
 the Freedom Group) and to Dr. Macdonald, asking for the 
 opinion of the London comrades on the matter. I told Mrs. 
 
 what passed at Sheffield, and stated you requested her 
 
 to take the initiative in the matter — requesting the favour of an 
 immediate reply. This was last week directly I arrived home, 
 
 but Mrs. has not replied yet. Macdonald wrote at 
 
 once stating that the affair had died a natural death, and almost 
 been forgotten, and that the comrades had too much real work 
 on hand to bother about personalities^ expressing the opinion 
 that if a conference were called nobody would attend. So it is 
 out of my hands and your liberty of action remains unfettered. — 
 Yours for Anarchy, " Herbert Stockton." 
 
8 
 
 I don't know what Macdonald meant by real work." I 
 presume it was nothing in the blowing-up line. If the Bourdin 
 affair was *'real work," the less we have of such work the better. 
 As to Macdonald, he stands and falls by Samuels ; if Samuels is 
 not a police agent, then the Dr. is also an honest man. But I 
 repeat that Dr. Macdonald admitted to me, that Samuels had 
 taken the explosives from his surgery with his knowledge. I 
 have proclaimed this from the house-tops, yet neither Samuels 
 nor Macdonald are arrested. Yet I was told I had put Macdonald 
 in deadly peril ! There are none so blind as those that will not 
 see. 
 
 As to Mr. Samuels, I have no hesitation in* stating on the 
 evidence cited above, that a man who incites to the use of 
 explosives and freely distributes them, and who miraclously 
 escapes arrest though seen in company, by Scotland Yard 
 detectives, with his unfortunate dupe on his way to Greenwich, 
 is a police agent, and has earned the wages of Judas. I am glad 
 my task is over. I did not seek it. It was forced upon me by 
 those who allowed a scoundrel to escape without exposure, and 
 who have done their best to hound me out of public life for the 
 mere expression of opinion. 
 
 "COMMONWEAL" DRAW. 
 
 The following are the winning numbers : — 
 
 3 
 10 
 
 8 
 4 
 
 12 
 2 
 
 600 
 601 
 
 166 
 935 
 51 
 304 
 
 6 
 6 
 11 
 1 
 7 
 9 
 
 631 
 90 
 
 667 
 93 
 
 554 
 
 440 
 
 ■I