Cecil Maltby, the taylor
By Bernard Grant
The tragic death of Cecil Maltby in January 1923 solved the mystery of
the red house with the yellow blinds.
This house, No. 24 Park Road, Regent's Park, on the ground floor of
which was the once fashionable tailoring business of James Maltby, had
for some time been associated with strange rumour.
Cecil Maltby, having inherited the business upon the death of his father,
soon made it obvious that he had a flair for gambling and dissipation,
but none, so far as one could discover, for tailoring.
He was well known at night clubs and gambling establishments, but it was
his weakness for women that caused his worst troubles.
All things considered, it was not surprising that his wife should have
left him, taking with her their five children. But Maltby soon found
someone to replace her a succession of ladies, in fact but he seemed
loth to appoint a permanent housekeeper until he met Mrs. Alice
Middleton.
She was the wife of a marine officer, whose long absences at sea made it
convenient for her to spend these periods at Park Road.
For some time the intrigue continued, and since the sailor knew nothing
about it, he did not interfere.
But the time came when, returning from sea, he could not find his wife.
He spent his leave trying to trace her, but had not done so when he had
to return to his ship for another voyage.
Before sailing, however, he reported the circumstances to Scotland Yard,
and mentioned that the last remittance of 18 per month that he allowed
his wife had not been collected from the bank.
And there the matter rested until Cecil Maltby got so deeply in debt
that he dared not go out in day-time for fear of meeting the bearer of a
writ or overdue bill. For a time he made stealthy trips by night to some
of his old haunts, but early in January things came to such a pass, with
the bailiffs waiting on the door-step, that he gave up these journeys
and prepared to withstand a siege.
He barricaded the doors, using heavy furniture for the purpose, and
nailed up the lower windows, but his position was hopeless, because he
was so overdue with his payments that by this time his water, light, and
gas had been cut off.
I spent the last three days of the siege outside the house, waiting for
something to happen.
There was a large crowd there, besides the bailiffs and the police, who,
having learned of Maltby's association with Mrs. Middleton, wished to
interview him on the subject.
He made one concession. Hanging out of an upper window at the back of
the house, he held a shouted conversation with a detective. He explained
that he had heard nothing of Mrs. Middleton since she had left him the
previous June, and that the only reason he had shut himself up was
because he objected to bailiffs.
The blinds were closely drawn in the front, but I saw him several times
at the back windows, peeping out through the curtains. He was shy of the
camera, however, and always bobbed back the moment he saw me.
At about noon on the fifth day of the siege, police officers arrived to
force an entry. They had a magistrate's warrant to do this, obtained
through the sanitary inspector, who, like the others, had been unable to
get into the house.
They first attacked the door with a jemmy, but as it did not move
quickly someone broke the glass panel and a thin policeman climbed in.
He quickly let in his colleagues, and as they ran up the stairs the
sound of a revolver shot rang out. Maltby had shot himself dead.
And then the house gave up its tragic secret.
In a bath they found the body of Mrs. Middleton, where it had been since
the tailor had murdered her some months before.
The evidence of letters went to prove that Maltby committed his crime in
a fit of jealousy ; he objected to the lady staying with her sailor
husband during his leave ashore.
But he was most anxious that it should be thought she had died by her
own hand. Pinned to the bed linen in which the body was wrapped was a
pencilled note which read :
In loving memory of A. H. M. who committed suicide on August
and several other notes to the same effect were fixed to some of the
doors.
Murder and felo-de-se against Maltby was the verdict at the inquest.
