Welcome to Unexplained Extra with Me Richard McClane Smith, where for the weeks in between episodes, we look at stories and ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't make it into the previous show. In last week's episode, A Room with No View, we followed the mysterious case of Artemis Ogletree and his apparent assault in Room ten forty six at the President Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri that
led to his death. Ogletree's murder presents as a hugely puzzling real world locked room mystery, whereby everything of note appears to have taken place in one room in which nobody apart from Artemis was ever seen coming in or
out of. Part of the fun, of course, as stragic as it was for the victim who's trying to decipher just what exactly occurred, the case, I believe is all the more tragic since Ogletree, who it appears was gay, may well have escaped his deeply conservative hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, in search of the freedom to love whoever he wanted, only to be murdered by someone who he'd become romantically involved with. Since any investigation into who'd attacked him would
likely lead to him being outed. With all sexual acts between persons of the same sex being illegal at the time, there would have been immense pressure not to reveal anything about what had taken place, all of which is mere speculation. Of course. In the end we are left only with the small smattering of clues and any number of possible theories. Unsurprisingly, such stories a great fodder for writers of crime fiction forever on the hunt for more ingenious and unusual ideas
to bambooz all their readers with. And there is one case in particular that has enthralled and mystified some of the world's best from p D. James Raymond Chandler, which took place only a few years before Ogletree's death in Liverpool, England, back in nineteen thirty one. It was, as Chandler himself described, the impossible murder because the main suspect couldn't possibly have
done it, but neither could anyone else. On the evening of Monday January nineteenth, nineteen thirty one, down at the Liverpool Chess Club on Eberley Street, as members began arriving for their weekly seven thirty matchups, the club's telephone started to ring. Taking it off the hook, the club's captain asked who was calling. A man on the other end of the line identified himself as a mister R. M. Qualtro who wanted to speak to William Wallace, one of
the members of the Chess Club. Since Wallace was yet to arrive, the man left a message instead the captain to inform Wallace that he wished to meet him at his home at twenty five men Love Gardens East the following night at seven thirty pm sharp to discuss an endowment policy for his daughter. Wallace arrived a few minutes later and was duly handed the message by the captain.
Though it was a little unusual for a potential client to try and reach him at the chess Club, since Wallace was an insurance agent, the request at least made some sense, however, as Wallace was quick to note to the club captain he'd never heard of anyone called Qualtroux before, nor of any street named men Love Gardens East, although he and some of his fellow members did know of
a men Love Avenue. At fifty two years old, Wallace appeared to be every inch the typical, quietly dedicated suburban professional, living out a fairly mundane existence with his wife Julia, who, at seventeen years his senior, was sixty nine at the time. Wallace's past, however, was anything but mundane, having spent time working in Calcutta, India and later Shanghai in China as a draper for the British Armed Forces, before a kidney problem forced him to return to England, where the errant
kidney was later removed. After a brief stint in local politics, Wallace, having by then met Julia, eventually settled in Liverpool after getting a job working for the Prudential Insurance Company. For sixteen years, he and Julia had rented a property on Wolverton Street, where they could often be found in the evening dueting together as Julia played the piano and William
tried his best to accompany her on the violin. Otherwise, Wallace occupied himself with amateur studies in chemistry and electronics, while also conducting the occasional lecture of the local Technical College. All in all, by nineteen thirty one, his and Julia's was very much the quiet life, which only made what happened next all the more shocking. Is there something interfering with your happiness or preventing you from achieving your goals. Better help will assess your needs and match you with
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Forward slash Unexplained joined the over one million people taking charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. Better Help wantsh you to start living a happier life to day. The day After the peculiar phone call, the couple were seen in their home at a round six forty five p m by a milk boy who'd
called round to collect his bill for that week. At precisely seven oh six p m. William Wallace, having seemingly set out to attend the seven thirty meeting with the mysterious r M. Qualtro, was seen boarding a tram roughly two miles away from his home, where he asked the conductor directions to men Love Gardens East. Having been told to get off at Penny Lane to transfer to the five A tram, Wallace spent the next ten minutes continuing asking the conductor to call out when they arrived there.
After boarding the next tram at seven fifteen pm, Wallace then asked its conductor again for directions to Menlove Gardens East, not knowing where it was. However, this conductor suggested he get off at Menlove Avenue, half a kilometer up the road. At some time around seven thirty pm, the residence of twenty five men Love Gardens West heard a knock at their door. Opening it, they found an exasperated Wallace wanting to know of a mister r M. Qualtroux lived at
the property. As he explained, he'd been given the address east but had only been able to find north, south and west and had begun to wander if he had the address wrong. The occupants, however, had never heard of the man. A few minutes later, Wallace approached a nearby police officer and proceeded to explain his predicament, asking again for directions to men Love Gardens East, before pointedly asking whether it was eight pm yet, to which the police
officer confirmed it was not. Next, Wallace dashed over to a local newsstand to search a local directory, where he also asked the seller working there if they'd ever come across men Love Gardens East. When they said they hadn't either, Wallace finally gave up the search and returned home. Wallace was next seen around eight forty five pm standing outside the front door of his house, looking confused. When his neighbors Florence and Jack Johnston asked him what the matter was.
He explained that neither his front or back door key seemed to be working, and that his wife, Julia, who'd made no plans to go out that evening, didn't appear to be inside, Asking the Johnston's to escort him round the back. Wallace attempted to access the house again, where this time he was able to unlock the door. While Florence and Jack waited for him, Wallace dashed inside, appearing moments later with a look of horror on his face.
Come and see, he said, she's been killed. The Johnstone screamed in shock at the sight of Julia on the floor by the gas fireplace, her head a bloody pulp having been smashed open. Underneath her was a half burned Macintosh coat, while all about the walls were splattered with blood. They finished her, muttered Wallace, look at her brains. Police found little evidence of disturbance in the property. Although Wallace was convinced that some money had been stolen, nothing else
of any note, including the murder weapon, was found. The medical professional called to the scene determined that Julia had died at some time between six and seven pm, although no formal tests were carried out to confirm this. With little else to go on. As the only credible suspect, William Wallace was promptly arrested and two weeks later put on trial for his wife's murder. Over four days, the
prosecution and defense argued the merits of the case. With the phone call from the mysterious R. M. Qualtro, who was never identified, found to have been placed only four hundred meters from the Wallace home. The prosecution argued that Wallace made the call himself, then carried out his very public search for the meeting location the following night in
order to construct an alibi. And yet if Julia was last seen alive at six forty five pm but died around seven pm at the latest, it simply wasn't possible for William only moments later to have been seen on the tram looking clean and presentable two miles away. As for the murder weapon, the couples cleaner testified that a small iron bar and a fire poker appeared to have
been removed from the property. With the media and the public having had a field day with the crime, conjuring up all sorts of wild theories as to how and why he'd done it, it appears the jury's opinion was already made up. After only an hour deliberating the case, they returned with a verdict of guilty. Wallace was sentenced
to death by hanging. However, Wallace quickly appealed the decision, and, having been disturbed by a conviction determined on only the flimsiest of evidence, the Court of Criminal Appeals moved to overturn the decision. His freedom was short lived, however, when he finally succumbed to the kidney issues that had plagued him for much of his life, dying in February nineteen thirty three after a miserable two years being relentlessly harassed
for having seemingly got away with murder. Many years later, during a renovation of the old Wallace home, the iron bar, thought to have been a possible murder weapon, was found at the back of the fireplace. It was later analyzed but found to have no bloodstains on it. If you enjoy Unexplained and would like to help supporters, you can
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