James Rollins

Albert James Fraser and James Rollins were convicted of the murder of 35-year-old Henry Senior and sentenced to death.

They battered him to death during a robbery at Queen's Park, Glasgow on 3 February 1920.

Henry Senior had been an ex-soldier and had served in the War.

Albert Fraser and James Rollins used a 22-year-old woman to pick up men and go with them to a park where they would rob them. They were also described as having lived off her immoral earnings.

On the night of 3 February 1920 Henry Senior had gone out to see his girlfriend, but she didn't show up and he started to talk to the 22-year-old woman with whom he walked off with. They then took a tram and went to Queen's Park, Glasgow, where they went through a hole in a fence and sat on the grass.

However, Albert Fraser and James Rollins had followed them from the pick-up point to the park and ambushed Henry Senior who they beat to death and then stole his money, boots, hat and overcoat which they later pawned.

However, they were soon identified as they had tried to mug other people, were seen on a tram, and had also been seen washing blood off their hands as well as being seen by various other people.

After the murder Albert Fraser, James Rollins and the two girls left for Ireland but the police were informed that two men had been seen on board the ferry matching the descriptions of the murderers and they had been given information by another man suggesting where they might have been hiding in Ireland, and the police followed them.

The descriptions of all four were published. The descriptions of Albert Fraser and James Rollins were:

1. James Slain, alias Rollins, Reynolds, or Waters, 22, 5ft 9in, native of Ireland, dressed in brown suit with light cap and light trench coat, left hand swollen and nose bruised, probably broken.
2. Albert James Fraser, known as 'Bert', 23, ex-soldier of the Australian Forces, 5ft 10in, dark brown hair, coarse features, good teeth. Has, 'I love Beckie', tattooed on his chest. Has gone about the country dealing in pots and pans.

They were both described as muscular, well-set-up men.

The two girls, who were said to have both belonged to Glasgow, were described as slim, diminutive girls with bobbed hair.

The police then went to Belfast where they tracked down Albert Fraser and James Rollins and brought them back to the UK.

They also arrested their girlfriends, one of whom had been used for the bait, however, she agreed to give Kings Evidence against the men and related the course of events, saying that she had tried to stop the beating.

The 22-year-old girl had married a Canadian soldier in 1918 but had since taken up with Albert Fraser and they later lived in a house with James Rollins and another girl.

On the night of 3 February 1920 Albert Fraser and James Rollins told the 22-year-old girl to get a man and they would follow. After she met Henry Senior in Hope Street, near Argyle Street, they took the tram to the park, with Albert Fraser and James Rollins following, taking the same tram.

After arriving at the park, entering through a hole in the fence bordering the railway line, they sat down and after a short time Albert Fraser and James Rollins appeared. Albert Fraser had had a revolver with him and had pointed it at Henry Senior and then told the 22-year-old girl to 'beat it', and she ran off to stand outside the fence. It was said that Henry Senior resisted the two men but was over powered, although it was thought that he had broken James Rollins's nose. James Rollins then held Henry Senior down whilst Albert Fraser struck him on the face with his fists and a revolver. Henry Senior had been unable to cry out as James Rollins had been choking him with his arms and pressing him down with his knee in the small of his back.

The 22-year-old girl said that she pleaded with the men not to be so severe and then left the park, screaming out, 'Don’t be so hard on the fellow!'. She said that she ran away because she was afraid that Henry Senior's life was in danger.

After killing Henry Senior, Albert Fraser and James Rollins hid his body beneath some bushes and then walked off and got a tram for Glasgow in Langside Road.

The 22-year-old girl later rejoined the men in Glasgow. She said that Albert Fraser had been carrying a coat and a pair of boots that he told her had belonged to the man they had 'done in'. She added that he declared that he didn't know whether the man was dead or alive.

She said that Albert Fraser then attempted to wash bloodstains from his coat and that she later pawned the coat for 8 shillings and the boots for 17 shillings and 6 pence, the proceeds then being divided between Albert Fraser and James Rollins.

As well as his coat and boots, they also took his dove grey hat, a pigskin pocket book and some money.

The 22-year-old girl said that she was sure that Albert Fraser had hit Henry Senior on the face with the revolver.

When the judge questioned the girl at the trial, he elicited that the plan was for her to take the men to Glasgow Green, whilst the men were to dog them and rob them.

The judge noted that neither Albert Fraser nor James Rollins had worked during the previous eighteen months and when he asked the girl how she existed, she just hung her head and sobbed and when the judge said, 'Just as you have been doing?', she nodded her head in assent.

The other girl, a 19-year-old, said that she had lived with James Rollins for some months. She said that she met the men and the 22-year-old girl on the night of 3 February 1920 and noticed that James Rollins hands were covered with blood and said that he told her that Albert Fraser had hit Henry Senior with the revolver whilst striking at the man, from whom they took six shillings.

She said that the next evening that they all left for Belfast.

The body of Henry Senior was found by a pupil at the Deaf and Dumb Institution, who later gave his evidence to the court through an interpreter. Henry Senior, it was heard, had presented the appearance when found of having been badly smashed.

After the discovery of the body, without his boots, a witness said that they recalled seeing two men get on a tram near to Queen’s Park and that one of them had a pair of boots in his pocket and that they got off near Gordon Street.

Following that the police began to question men known to associate with prostitutes as well as prostitutes that might have known the men and soon after spoke to a man who knew Albert Fraser and James Rollins who said that they had been living off the immoral earnings of prostitutes and even gave accurate descriptions of them. The man further stated that he had once heard Albert Fraser say that if he ever had to lie low that he had the perfect place, a cave in Cave Hill near Belfast Lough, Ireland.

Following that the police sailed for Ireland on 7 February 1920.

When the police went to Belfast in search of the group, it was found that on arriving that Albert Fraser and James Rollins had proceeded to a sequestered spot four miles from Belfast and hidden in a cave. When the police went to the cave they found that it went down no fewer than 306 steps before the bottom of the subterranean hiding place was reached. It was found that they had been hiding there during the day and later crept out and slept in a hay loft at the adjoining croft.

However, the two girls had been in Belfast and it was whilst Albert Fraser and James Rollins were proceeding to rejoin them that they practically ran into the arms of the detectives in Albertbridge Road.

They denied being involved with the murders, but were taken to a police station where their clothing was examined. Whilst the police were examining the coats they found no outward signs of bloodstains. However, it was noted that the coats appeared to have been recently washed, and when they slit the seem of a sleeve and looked inside they found what appeared to be blood stains.

They also found a piece of paper with an address in Lord Street, Belfast on it and when they went there they found the two girls.

After being arrested in Belfast, Albert Fraser, James Rollins and the girls arrived back in Glasgow on 10 February 1920. They were brought across the channel by the night boat to Ardrossan and then travelled by rail to Glasgow. On arrival at the Central Station in Glasgow a small crowd booed and hissed, but they were hurriedly put into a police van and driven off to the lock up.

Soon after their arrival, it was reported that during formal proceedings that one of the two women made a sensational statement, from which the police said that they were confident of solving the mystery.

The police soon after succeeded in recovering from a pawnshop in Maryhill, Glasgow, with pawn tickets provided by the girls, the overcoat and boots that had been worn by Henry Senior on the night of the murder, however, they did not recover his pigskin pocket book or his dove grey hat.

Albert Fraser and James Rollins were tried at the High Court in Glasgow on 4th May and convicted of murder and sentenced to death. They were executed at Duke Street prison on 26 May 1920, it being the last double execution to take place there.

It was later reported that Albert Fraser's mother and sister had not been made aware of the fate of Albert Fraser and on 3 June 1920 a letter addressed to the 'The Officer in Charge, Salvation army, Glasgow' was received enquiring after Albert Fraser's situation, noting that they were concerned as the last that they had heard in the Australian papers was that he had been arrested on a charge of assault.

The letter, which was from 43 O'Connell Street, Geelong in West Australia, read, 'I am very anxious about him. Mother and I have no tidings of him. I would ask you to oblige me by trying to find my dear brother, as he is all I have. I lost my only sister nine months ago. If you find him, please give him a good talking to, and ask him to write home to mother and I. Tell him that his sister died in Sydney, June 23, 1919, and that his mother is in very bad health since she heard of his trouble'.

The report concluded, 'Pathetic as the circumstances of the letter are, still more touching is the knowledge of the sequel which will, in due course, reach these two anxious hearts in Australia, a sequel made yet more bitter by the knowledge that Fraser went to his doom, if not without  a thought of these loved ones at home, at least without leaving any farewell message to them'.