KILLER OF NINE GOES ON TRIAL IN GLASGOW COURT: DAILY HERALD, MAY 12, 1958

A fanfare of trumpets opened the High Court in Glasgow on May 12, 1958, and with it the trial of Peter Thomas Anthony Manuel, 31, on eight charges of murder. Robert Musel, the United Press correspondent, called it "the biggest murder trial in Scottish criminal history," and his report reached the Daily Herald in Provo, Utah, the same day. He described Manuel as "darkly good looking," a man born in New York City and taken back to his parents' Scotland as a small child, and he described a city that had turned on him. Feeling had once run so high that Manuel was threatened by a mob.

Now Glasgow was trading in him. A lock of his hair fetched a high price, Musel wrote, and racketeers in the city's underworld were selling photographs, fragments of torn-up letters and ballpoint pens he was supposed to have used to write his defense notes. What held the correspondent's attention was the absence of reason. In no case had there been a tempting sum of money. A taxi driver in England, outside the court's reach, had had his throat cut, the story said, in an argument over a shilling. The killings were so pointless, Musel wrote, that in a curious way the pointlessness itself had linked them.

Then he named the dead. Anne Kneilands, 17, beaten to death on a golf course on January 2, 1956. Marion Watt, her daughter Vivienne, 16, and Marion's sister, Margaret Brown, shot in the Watt house that September. Isabelle Cooke, 17, strangled in Christmas week of 1957. Peter Smart, his wife Doris and their son Michael, 10, shot in their home on New Year's Day, 1958. "Police fingered Manuel almost on a hunch," the story ends. It was no hunch: Peter Smart's new banknotes, numbered in sequence, had turned up in Glasgow bars, and they led police to Manuel.

Written as the trial opened, before a word of evidence, this wire copy carries a headline that states as fact what was then an accusation. The paper misprints several victims, giving "Anne Kheilands" and "Mrs. Marion Wold," and calls Margaret Brown "Mrs. Margaret Watt." It says the women were "molested but not attacked" and that Anne Kneilands was not assaulted; in fact she and Isabelle Cooke were raped and Vivienne Watt was sexually assaulted. Manuel's family left New York when he was five, not four. The taxi driver, Sydney Dunn, was shot dead in Newcastle, and only a coroner's jury, after Manuel's death, found him responsible. The Kneilands charge was withdrawn for want of evidence, and on May 29, 1958, the jury convicted him of the other seven murders.

Robert Musel's byline appears on this United Press story, printed in the Daily Herald of Provo, Utah, on May 12, 1958, page 2. The scan is from Utah Digital Newspapers at the J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, which gives the issue a rights rating of "No Copyright - United States." Neither the story nor the masthead carries a copyright notice. The citation and the library's rights statement are under the scan.

The story is set in an L, with the first column running deeper than the second, which stops above a separate brief headed "CHILDREN ARRIVE EARLY," so it comes in two crops; the foot of the first column is in the second, and the whole story is transcribed. Nothing was illegible. The misprints stand as the compositor left them, among them "buldgeoned," "on a golf course or Jan. 2," and "woodchopper" as Manuel's trade.

Transcription

Transcribed word for word from the page scan. Original spelling, punctuation, capitalisation and typographical errors have been kept exactly as printed. Unreadable words are marked [illegible]. Nothing has been modernised or corrected.

Killer of Nine Goes On Trial in Glasgow Court

By ROBERT MUSEL

United Press Staff Correspondent

GLASGOW (UP)— A fanfare of trumpets shattered the stillness of the Scottish High Court today and signalled the start of the trial of Peter Manuel, 31, a woodchopper accused of killing nine persons in murders without motive.

The darkly good looking Manuel was born in New York City but was brought back to his parents' native land as a child of four. He was on trial here for the murder of eight persons; a ninth victim was outside the jurisdiction of this court.

It was the biggest murder trial in Scottish criminal history. Feeling against Manuel once ran so high he was threatened with mob violence. Now a lock of his hair brings a high price from the morbid curiosity seekers.

Souvenirs on Sale

Racketeers in Glasgow's sleazy underworld were making a killing selling souvenirs which included photographs, fragments of torn-up letters and ball point pens he was said to have used in preparing his defense notes.

Police and psychiatrists alike have been baffled by the crimes attributed to Manuel. The women victims were molested but not attacked. In no case was any tempting amount of money involved. A Durham, England, taxi-driver (who does not figure in this trial) had his throat cut in an argument over a shilling (14 cents).

The murders were so without motive that in a curious way they became linked. The first victim, Anne Kheilands, 17, was buldgeoned to death on a golf course or Jan. 2, 1956, but was neither robbed nor assaulted.

Motive Lacking

In September of that year Mrs. Marion Wold, her 16-year-old daughter Vivienne and her sister, Mrs. Margaret Watt, were shot to death in the Watt home. Again there was no apparent reason.

In Christmas Week 1957 Isabelle Cooke, 17, was stripped, strangled and robbed of a tiny sum. Four days later, on New Year's Day, 1958, Peter Smart, his wife Doris and their son Michael, 10, were shot to death in their home. Only a few trinkets and loose cash were taken.

Police fingered Manuel almost on a hunch.

Notes: Kept as printed: "Anne Kheilands" (Anne Kneilands); "buldgeoned"; "on a golf course or Jan. 2" ("or" for "on"); "Mrs. Marion Wold" (Marion Watt) and "her sister, Mrs. Margaret Watt" (actually Margaret Brown); "woodchopper". "taxi-driver" is split across the column break. The story is L-shaped: column 1 runs further down than column 2, which ends above the separate brief "CHILDREN ARRIVE EARLY". So it is supplied as ARTICLE-CROP.jpg (the headline and both columns) and ARTICLE-CROP-PART-2.jpg (the foot of column 1). Peter Manuel was on the archive's "searched, nothing usable" list from batch 5; this article removes him from it. No words were illegible.