Free The Law Killers by Alexander McGregor Page A

the Sunday evening, Bury had been seen by Constable McKay, the acting bar officer, who instantly recognised him as the man who had twice visited the public benches of the Police Court some days earlier and intently followed proceedings. On each occasion he occupied the same seat at the rear of the courtroom. The first visit had taken place on Monday, 4 February, less than twenty-four hours before Ellen Bury had met her appalling end. The second was two days afterwards, on the Thursday. When interrogated on the matter, Bury frankly admitted his presence, saying he was eager to see how Scottish justice operated.
    The police were intrigued by another finding after they arrested Bury for Ellen’s murder. When his pockets were searched before he was taken off to the cells, they found a large quantity of jewellery, consisting of several rings, a number of pairs of earrings, a ladies’ silver watch, two lockets and chain, and two brooches. In addition were two rings he always wore on the little fingers of each hand and which he told anyone who asked were his ‘wedding presents’. Police assumed that at least two of the rings in Bury’s possession were Ellen’s, since the usual ones she wore on her wedding finger were missing from the corpse.
    The eagerly awaited trial took place on 28 March 1889, when Bury pled not guilty and appeared before Lord Young at a sitting of the Dundee Spring Circuit Court. The crowd which packed the court-room was desperate for a sight of the man the world was starting to believe was Jack the Ripper. When at last he stepped into the dock, people leaned forward in anticipation. Gasps of surprise echoed round the courtroom. Strangers seated next to each other on the public benches whispered together in disappointment. Instead of some brooding ogre easily capable of the most unimaginable atrocities, they were faced by a small, dapper man, almost timid in his looks, sitting meekly between two towering police constables. He wore a felt hat and dark, tweed suit and carried a black overcoat neatly folded over one arm. He might have been an elder of their church.
    For the next thirteen hours – almost a record sitting for a Dundee court – the spectators on the public benches listened spellbound to every word uttered, sometimes straining to understand the accents of the witnesses who had travelled from London. Bury didn’t even give them the satisfaction of shouting out in protest at some of what was said, particularly when witnesses told of his violent assaults on Ellen or how he quickly used up her money. For the entire day, he sat practically expressionless, leaning forward with his right hand at his chin and listening intently to the proceedings.
    Among the principal prosecution witnesses was Mrs Margaret Corney, Ellen’s sister, who two months earlier had waved the Burys off when the Cambria set sail from London. She told the court how reluctant she was to see them depart because she somehow thought she would never see Ellen again – partly because two days before they left, Bury had shown her what he claimed was a letter from a Dundee jute firm offering them employment but with a contract that was for seven years. She explained how she had attempted to persuade her sister, who could not read very well, not to accompany Bury north because the job was for such an extended period. Margaret also identified all the jewellery found in the accuser’s pockets as belonging to Ellen, most of it purchased before she met him.
    Another key witness for the Crown was Mr David Malcolm, a partner in Malcolm Ogilvy’s, who dismissed the job-offer letter as a complete forgery. Asked how Bury would know of the existence in Dundee of his company, Malcolm told the court that a report had appeared in London newspapers about Ogilvy’s taking over a new works. There was also a jute company in Whitechapel and it was possible Bury had met up with an employee there, who would likely know of Ogilvy’s factory in Dundee.