After quite a long break from writing on this blog , I have been inspired to write a piece after reading a book. Like I have said before , I am no book critic, but I know what interests me, and when reading a book called ” And The Band Played on “ written by Christopher Ward, I was enthralled with the last few chapters, which were almost a story in their own right, but almost acted as a postscript to the book. On the downside I have to try and sum up the people involved in this short tale, in a few paragraphs , where we learn about their characters in the whole twenty seven chapters of the book. So please forgive any errors or omissions I may make, and please forgive the disjointed feel to parts of this post, – or better still, read the book and save me a lot of work. No seriously – it’s a good book – well worth a read. (well I think so ). Remember you can just click on a picture to enlarge Hope you enjoy
This tale takes place in the Scottish town of Dumfries, and with the current travel restrictions that are in place, I find that I cannot visit in person, to get a true feeling of the place, and to take my own pictures, so I find I have to use only Google images, Google Earth, and maybe some images scanned from the publication pictured above; I am not happy about this but ” needs must when the devil drives” as the saying goes.
We must return to the early twentieth century in Dumfries, to meet our first participant – Mr Andrew Hume. Mr Hume – born in the middle of the reign of Queen Victoria, was very much a man of his time. It may be a good point to make at this time, that I am characterising him from the information in the above book -so may not be entirely true – but not a likeable man in many people’s opinion.
Andrew Hume always thought of himself as a ” cut above the others”, although from common working class stock, he was a competent musician, and was quite happy to claim to be the grandson of Alexander Hume, a famous Scottish poet, composer, writer and song writer – a bit of a folk hero; when in fact he was no relation at all. Andrew Hume was always one to ” big himself up ” and almost believed the lies he told about himself. Andrew married Grace (Law), in 1887, when he was 23 years old. He gave his occupation as Musician, and indeed he was making a living from music. His reputation as a musician was growing , in an era when music had become very fashionable, He was teaching in schools, at home, leading large bands in the local parks, and also making (or assembling) violins; and although people associate Scotland with bagpipes, there was a lot more people playing or learning to play the violin (or fiddle as it was commonly called). The book suggests that Andrew Hume was perhaps buying the violins ” flat packed ” and simply doing the final assemble of them, then putting his name on. We do not know the facts about this, but a contemporary expert suggested that the ” better ” instruments that had his name on were NOT made by him, and in fact some can still be found today, with the name A Hume , on them being attributed to Alexander Hume ( Andrew Hume’s alleged grandfather) I did find one on an auction attributed to Alexander Hume (maybe genuine – but quite possibly Andrew Hume )
Andrew and Grace had five surviving children, Nellie the oldest, followed by John ( known to everyone as Jock), Grace, then Catherine ( called Kate by everyone) and finally Andrew. After the birth of young Andrew , his mother Grace took ill- likely post natal depression, then shortly after getting over that, started to suffer with cancer ( esophagus). Grace sadly had to spend much of her shortened remaining life in her sick bed.
Grace’s ill health was a great inconvenience to Andrew, so he very soon used his good looks and superficial charm to entice a unattached female neighbour of theirs ( Alice Alston) to take the role of housekeeper, and take over the day to day running of the house that would be usually the role of the lady of the house. There is a suggestion that she also took over other duties that a wife would do ! (wink). No further comment on this at the moment. Andrew’s growing family were also just a nuisance to him, and even while Grace was still living, Nellie, the oldest girl found herself a position as a domestic in a hotel, that meant she had to live away home. Grace died in 1906, and after little pretence of grieving, Andrew was all over the housekeeper Alice Alston like a rash. The four older Hume children,were deeply distressed by their mother’s death and by their father’s behaviour towards Alice Alston, but Andrew and Alice married fourteen months later, both aged 43. A few months after their marriage. Andrew Hume, and his new bride , Alice , moved house; they moved into a substantial town house on George Street ( Dumfries), where Andrew said that they could have a “fresh start”. It was not the happy family home that he had hoped for, and Alice took the stance that this was her house, not Grace’s (The children’s mother) , and she (Alice) was going to be in charge. Nellie, had already fled the family nest, and Jock who, having been coached by his father from an early age had himself become a very competent violinist, was also using his musical talent to earn a living; Jock found himself able to get away from his father and stepmother’s home, by playing in the band on the liners that were frequently crossing the Atlantic, sailing from the major seaports , IE Liverpool, Southampton etc. Young Grace, Andrew’s third child now aged 15 was also making plans to leave home, already having had several run-ins with Alice. Alice it seems was pretty good at playing the wicked stepmother role, saying that the children, regardless of age, had to be in bed by 8 o’clock, and that they had become ill disciplined, during their mother’s illness, and would report any of their behaviour that she saw as incorrect, to Andrew, their father, who was a great believer in using the belt.
Music was not the only thing on young Jock Hume’s mind , because he had picked up with a young lady called Mary Costin, after being introduced to her by his sister Nellie. Jock thought it prudent to keep his relation ship with Mary secret from his father, as Mary lived with her widowed mother in a mean little dwelling, compared to the Hume’s, and with Andrew’s high opinion, firstly of himself, and secondly of his eldest son, there was no way Mary would be good enough for Jock, in Andrew’s mind. When Jock was working the liners , he would very often return to the Hume’s house, and stay with his father, and stepmother, between trips, and of course using the visit home to meet in secret with his sweetheart, Mary.
As Jock and Mary’s relationship grew stronger, what Jock would often do was, after finishing a cruise, he would send his father a postcard saying that as he was sailing again in a few days, he would be staying in digs with other band members rather than coming home for a brief visit. In reality, he would travel up to Dumfries, and stay at Mary Costin’s , in secret. Over the following months , when jock was in Dumfries, he openly spent more time staying with Mary , and he and Mary had actually visited a local church, to speak with the minister about getting married – that is how serious they were. While Jock was staying at Mary’s , they did share a bed , Mary’s mother did not object, as, in her eyes, they were already as good as man and wife.
It was 1912, and Jock got on the train to Southampton, to join the band on a brand new ship crossing the Atlantic, then on his return, he planned on heading back to Dumfries, to wed Mary Costin, with or without his father’s blessing. The ship he was boarding was the Titanic.
Well we all know what happened to the Titanic, so I have no need to go into that, and sadly Jock Hume was one of the 1500 plus, victims. There was no doubt that Jock was a victim, as his body had been recovered some days later, and identified, by his description, and contents of his pockets. Upon hearing this Andrew Hume was distraught ( unlike when Grace his first wife died), but a few days later he realised that he may be able to make some money out of it, as the fund raising for the disaster, on both sides of the Atlantic was immense.
Shortly after receiving the news about Jock, Mary Costin announced to her mother that she was pregnant, and Jock was the father of her unborn child. Now with all this fundraising that was going on, a sizeable amount was going to be for the dependents of the victims of the Titanic – Now technically Jock was neither classed as crew, or passenger – in today’s terms we might call him a contractor. I am not going to go too deeply into whys and the wherefores about this, but The White Star Line paid a third party ( an agency ) to provide the music (IE Band) and the third party (agency) paid the band ( but took their cut too). As soon as the news of the Titanic sinking was confirmed, the first thing the third party did was to stop the bands as yet unpaid wages from the moment the ship sank. The wages they had already earned would be sent to their family’s – along with a bill for the White Star Line buttons that they had to buy for their uniforms ! ( Form your own opinion !) Right lets not get too diverted from the tale. It was October 18th 1912, when Mary Costin had a baby girl and called her Johnann – apparently this was not an unusual name for a girl around these parts, and was almost always shortened to Joanne. The baby Johnann, is the mother of Christopher Ward, the author of the book we are using ” And The Band Played On”.
Mary Costin was in a situation now, where she needed evidence to prove that Jock Hume was the father of her child. Mary Costin’s mother, Susan Costin, was working for a legal firm, at the time as a caretaker/cleaner, and they said that, as part of their contribution to the Titanic fund , they would represent Mary in the sheriff courts and give evidence about the fatherhood of baby Johnann . The courts heard from Nellie, Jocks sister, saying how she had introduced them, they heard about Jock living with the Costin’s rather than his father, then they heard from the church minister about the talk of a future marriage. No problem, the court found that , without reasonable doubt, Jock was the father of Johnann, so Johnann was a dependant of Jock Hume; so Johnann would be entitled to some of the relief fund . Mary Costin applied to the Titanic Relief fund and was granted a weekly amount of 2 shillings and sixpence, and an immediate sum of £67 ( approx value today of £3100) . The £67 was sent to Andrew Hume to pass on to Mary Costin ; Andrew Hume said nothing, and pocketed the £67 that was meant for the upkeep of the baby. Andrew Hume was also starting proceedings to sue the White Star Line for two (yes two) top quality violins allegedly belonging to Jock that had gone down with the ship, Andrew was trying to claim £200, for one violin, £125 for the other and £300 for the loss of his son, whilst still keeping quiet about having the baby’s money.
When Mary learnt that Andrew Hume had the £67, that was meant for baby Johnann, she wrote to Andrew, who ignored the letter; she then got the solicitors that her mother worked for to write to him; this too was ignored. The solicitors, who were still working for Mary for free, as their part in the Titanic relief fund, then wrote to Andrew using a recorded letter, so that Andrew could not deny receiving the letter. There was all sorts of denials, and passing the buck by Andrew Hume, and in the end Mary Costin’s legal team had to take Andrew Hume to court and sue him for the money. All this was, of course printed in great detail in the local newspaper, The Dumfries and Galloway Standard. Now you have heard the saying ” When you are in a hole STOP digging” – Andrew Hume was digging and digging . The upshot was of course that he lost the case, and local people began to think that perhaps Andrew Hume was NOT the fine upstanding music teacher he made out , and perhaps he was a bit of a – lets say, Cad. His daughter Kate was highly embarrassed by it all – as she was an avid reader of books and newspapers, the youngest boy Andrew was too young to be concerned, and Kate’s older sister, Grace had already left home after finding a job in Oldham, Lancashire, as a nursery governess. Andrew Hume was quickly falling out of favour in Dumfries, and people began voting with their feet, by no longer sending their children to him for lessons, staying away from his concerts, etc – it was all turning a bit sour. So that gives us a taste of the character of Andrew Hume, and Alice (Mrs) Hume – a controlling woman.
We will jump forward now to 1914, the first world war had just started, Andrew Hume was just about keeping his head above water in his various music roles; teacher, performer, instrument maker and repairer etc, Grace Hume had left her job in Oldham, to study nursing in the Huddersfield infirmary, and Kate Hume was working as a clerk and book-keeper, in the Dumfries branch, of a Glasgow based electrical engineering company. The youngest boy Andrew, was still attending school. Kate was 17 years old, and was very unhappy; she was a very angry, headstrong young woman, She loathed her step mother Alice, and hated her father for marrying her, she was also likely still grieving her beloved older brother Jock. One day in August 1914, Kate got home from work, and found her father was not home. We can only guess the circumstances, but she had a run in with Alice and gave her some back chat; now as we have learnt already Alice was a bit of a controller, and, not liking Kate’s insolence, she hit Kate with a walking cane. Well, although she was 17 years old, she would begrudgingly take a thrashing from her father but NOT from that woman Alice. Kate stormed upstairs, packed some clothes in a bag, and left the house. Kate walked out of the Hume’s house at George Street to a House called ” Old House, at White Sands, Dumfries. The three pictures following, are from Google Earth street view, which, with great regret I have to use instead of visiting in person.
I am not entirely certain about this being the “Old House”, but what little research I can do at the keyboard suggests that it is. So Kate went to the Old House, where Mrs McMinn who lived there was known to take lodgers. She told Mrs McMinn, that she could no longer live at George Street, with her step mother, and needed somewhere to stay. Mrs McMinn, who had a daughter the same age as Kate, and, been to school with her, though they were not good friends, said Kate could Lodge, but would have to share a bedroom with Robina, her daughter. Kate was sorted, for the short term, and she wrote to her sister Grace, who had left governess job in Oldham, to take up nursing in Huddersfield, to let her know her new address.
The two sisters did keep in touch by writing, and Grace did drop her father a quick line to let him know where she was and what she was doing, though nothing much more. The Hume children wanted as little contact with their father and step mother as they could get, Nellie was now married, and stayed away, Jock was no longer here, Grace had got away as quickly as she could, and when she did come back to Dumfries to visit, she was made to feel so unwelcome ( by both Alice and her father) in their house, that for the last ten days of her visit, she rented a room elsewhere in the town.
Kate was angry, boy was she angry – in her head her father and stepmother had driven Nellie,and Grace and now herself away and she blamed them for ” forcing” her big brother Jock to play on the liners and hence his premature death. Kate quite possibly had a vicious streak in her, as she vowed to get revenge on her father and stepmother.
With the first world war just starting, the newspapers were full of propaganda – How evil and cruel, the Germans were, and Kate. an avid newspaper reader was swallowing the lot; she even kept cuttings of ” German atrocities ” in her (shared) room at her lodgings. It was Friday the 12th September and Kate went to work, as usual, at 8 Andrew Street ( a bar/restaurant now occupies 8/10 Andrew Street), when she arrived there, she found herself unsupervised, as often happened, as her manager was paying a visit to a job they were doing. Kate again began thinking about how to get her revenge, and recalled that the only time she had seen her father truly hurt was when her brother Jock had died, even her stepmother Alice had shed a tear; Kate said it was like watching a raindrop run down a marble statues face. A plan then jumped into Kate’s head – she would cobble a story together that her sister Grace, had volunteered to work as a nurse on the front line and had been killed ( in a horrid manner) by the evil German soldiers. How was she going to do this? She was going to write a letter and claim it was given to her by someone called nurse Mullard who was with Grace when she died, and also a letter from Grace that she had managed to scrawl to Kate as she lay dying, both letters delivered by the fictional nurse Mullard to Kate in person, as she passed through Dumfries on her way to Inverness.
So with a plan in place Kate set about writing the letters, Trying to disguise her writing as best she could, she wrote a letter from the fictional nurse Mullard, when she was happy with that, she then scrawled a second letter, with her left hand, which was to be the one sent by Grace, she then crumpled that letter and tore the edges somewhat, to try to make it look authentic; (Oh dear girl what are you doing?)
Happy with the letters Kate, not waiting till her dinner break, took herself back to her digs, clutching the letters and crying, telling the tale of nurse Mullard, writing the letter, in case she didn’t meet Kate, but explained the events and left the letter with her anyway, before she had to dash off to catch the train to Inverness. She showed the letters to her landlady, and untruthfully stated that she had already been to George Street and told her father and stepmother. The following day, Saturday, word had already got around ( who needs social media ), Kate’s aunt ( her father’s sister) came to see her; again Kate put on the act and showed her the letters, her aunt fully believed the letters, and comforted Kate, and asked her to come to tea the next day, Sunday. It is very likely that Kate was enjoying the affection she was getting, as it is something that had been missing in her life. Kate went to her Aunts on the Sunday, and her aunt asked her to make a copy of the letters, which she did, writing them out in pencil, while her aunt made herself a copy using pen and ink. Andrew Hume was already aware of the rumours of his daughter’s alleged demise, and his sister sent her daughter down to his house, on Tuesday 15th September, at George Street , with the pencil copies, that Kate had made , of both letters. Also hearing the Rumours around town was a young reporter, Edward Whitehead, Edward 22, worked for the local paper the Dumfries and Galloway Standard. It was Monday the 14th when Edward tracked Kate down to the McMinn’s address , and asked if he could speak to Kate, on hearing Kate was unwell, in bed, he asked Mrs and Robina McMinn if he could see the letters. Robina went up to ask Kate , and Kate agreed that he could see them, he read the letters through, out loud so that Mrs McMinn, could assure him that he was, not misreading them, and then he asked Robina to ask Kate if he could take the letters to the newspaper office so that they could be published. Kate very foolishly agreed that he could take them as long as the newspaper would then return them. Big mistake girl, big mistake. The newspaper was only published on a Wednesday, and Saturday, so they had two days to get them in the Wednesday edition. Andrew Hume, on reading the copies of the letters and suspecting that they were likely untrue, still decided to write to the war office for information about his daughter’s welfare. Back at newspaper office the journalists got together, and examined the letters, one of the more senior journalists told the editor that in his opinion, it did not sit right, and perhaps they should contact the war office for confirmation, before running the story, but the editor pooh poohed the suggestion [just for you Jon] and ran the story – Lets look at the letters. as they were printed in the paper, then separately so they are easier to read.
If you read the letters ( click on them to enlarge) it’s not surprising that Andrew Hume thought that they were untrue . I am surprised that they ran the story – but why let the truth get in the way of a good story . Seriously – a nurse carrying a rifle, out in no mans land looking for wounded soldiers – really ? all I can say is ” Freddie Starr ate my hamster” (Too young?) – Google it.
The paper ran the story and sold it to just about every other newspaper in the country, and Grace Hume, down in Huddersfield, was passing a newspaper seller and saw the headline of the Yorkshire Post – Scottish Nurse killed at front ( or similar), and thought I must buy that paper – I may know her; so Grace bought the paper and began to read about her own demise in Belgium . Shocked by what she had just read, she immediately sent a telegraph to her father -” Reports untrue safe in Huddersfield Grace”, she also sent a card to Kate saying -” Dear Kate , Just received news of my own murder in Belgium. Can you send me the name and address of the person calling herself Mullard. write by return – important Grace. ” Andrew Hume went to the Dumfries and Galloway Standard and showed them the telegram from Grace. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear Kate – what have you done ? -and it has barely started yet . The war office had received Andrew Hume’s letter, and of course had seen the story in the papers -as virtually every newspaper in the land had run the story, the war office knew very little really about how many nurses they had, what their names were, had a hospital been burnt down or not? they did not know; and this was a big part of the problem – the establishment were being embarrassed by their lack of knowledge. Then with the news that Grace was alive and well, in Huddersfield – questions had to be asked . Following family tradition, Kate, finding that she had dug herself into a hole, kept digging too; saying that she believed the telegram, sent to her father Andrew, from Grace was not genuine, when it arrived, and she gave a good description of Nurse Mulllard, and the interaction between them when Nurse Mullard allegedly called at the office, then only believing that Grace was safe when she got the postcard from her. The war office wanted answers – for a short time they believed that Nurse Mullard was a genuine person, and wanted to speak with her. This is how it went – The Scottish office , concerned about the murder and mutilation of one of it’s citizens ( Grace) abroad, wrote dozens of letters to all and sundry including the Foreign office; the Foreign office was asked to make enquiries about Nurse Mullard in Belgium. The Lord advocate in Edinburgh, told the Procurator Fiscal of Dumfries, that he wanted a full report, so the Procurator Fiscal told the Dumfries police to make enquiries, and because the instruction had come from such a high place, the Chief Constable of Dumfries, led the enquiry. This had just started out as a young girl trying to hurt her father, and step mother’s feelings, but now was out of control; Kate had started the snowball rolling down the mountain, and it had rapidly gathered so much snow, that it was now like an avalanche. Somebody’s head was going to roll. The Germans accused the British secret service of concocting the story to fuel anti German feelings, the British press accused the Germans of planting the hoax story to cover their real atrocities. The police were looking for Nurse Mullard and Kate must have known she was lying under the sword of Damocles. The Dumfries and Galloway standard, had to put an announcement in their office window, that it was all a hoax, as they only published twice a week, and publish it in their next edition – Saturday 19th September. Grace wrote to her father from her digs 62 Trinity Street, Huddersfield, ( still working as a nurse, but no longer at the Infirmary, she had to leave the Nurse’s home, so moved 100 yards down the street),to tell him that she had nothing to do with the hoax . Grace’s digs , 62 Trinity Street, was demolished in the late 1960s and a concrete monstrosity that was Huddersfield Technical College was built, itself now waiting for a demolition team in 2020.
Well it did not need Sherlock Holmes, to get to the bottom of it , and poor Kate was arrested and held in custody, by the police, until the “mighty powers that be” could decide what to charge her with. I mean it is not a crime to make the establishment look stupid – they just like to think it is. They really wanted to make an example of this girl but the chief constable thought that unless ” felonious intention” could be proved, Kate had not committed a crime. The Lord Advocate, then intervened, and said that Kate should be charged under the (new) Defence Of The Realm act, a new emergency act brought in on the onset of the war. It just goes to show that the higher up the social ladder you are – then the more hurt you are being made to look stupid by a peasant ( in this case Kate). By using the Defence Of The Realm Act ( DORA) , meant that any body charged under this act would be faced with a military trial, IE a court martial, and the maximum sentence would be execution either by firing squad, or the gallows. [ unrelated fact – the last PUBLIC execution in Scotland was in Dumfries in 1868 – the gallows was on the junction of Buccleuch Street ( where the Costin’s lived ) and Irish street ( where Kate was lodging) ]
By charging Kate under the DORA act, they were saying that her actions were helping the enemy (Germany). They got in touch with the army at Hamilton, where there was an army jail, and told them that they( the army) were going to have to hold Kate in a cell , and she would have to face a court martial there. The army didn’t really want anything to do with it, they had much bigger fish to fry, the last thing they wanted was 17year old girl in one of their prison cells ; they quickly looked through the Defence Of The Realm Act, and pointed out that the regulations only applied in ” proclaimed areas ” and Dumfries was not a proclaimed area, as it was not in the war zone. So the army , very sensibly washed its hands over the case – nothing to do with us, leave us out of it. When the army politely declined the job, the powers that be, decided that Kate should be charged with forgery- “ concocting and fabricating letters and forging signatures with the intent of alarming and annoying the lieges, and in particular your father Andrew Hume, and your stepmother Alice Mary Hume ” , she was put in Edinburgh prison but at least she would definitely be dodging the firing squad – phew.
Kate’s trial was set for 27th and 28th of December, the judge being one of Scotland’s highest judges Lord Strathclyde. Before we look at the trial I feel I should give my own impression of Kate Hume at this point, after reading ” And The band Played On” , I have also read the full account of the trial in the Dumfries and Galloway Standard, and it is a very full account; I feel that Kate Hume gave the impression that she was a very vulnerable and helpless girl. This impression may, or may not be correct- she might have been a scheming little so and so, but appeared very vulnerable, and quickly invoked peoples sympathy. Kate’s luck was now about to change, she was allocated John Wilson KC (King’s Counsel) as her defence counsel, and he was good, no he was VERY good . While kate was in prison, she had no visit or letter from her father, and the only letter her father wrote was to the court, asking for his travel expenses to be paid when he appeared in court to give evidence. ( Typical of Andrew Hume’s behaviour).
Shortly after meeting Kate in her cell, John Wilson decided on a two pronged defence – first of all- get the jury on your side ( always helps in a court case) by showing Kate’s ( alleged) vulnerable nature, and secondly claim she had a Walter Mitty type character . The trial was held at the ” High Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh, The Newspaper says “ The accused was a pathetic figure as she sat in the dock between two policemen. She was dressed in a blue overcoat with a black velour hat, and a fur to match. During most of the time she sat with her head bowed, and at frequent intervals she applied her handkerchief to her face . The public gallery also held a lot of spectators, as the case had attracted a lot of interest.
So the trial began, there was all the evidence from doctors to prove Kate’s sanity, handwriting experts – so on and so forth, then the whole story played out in court, with evidence given by everyone and anyone connected to the case. The editor of the Dumfries and Galloway Standard was given a hard time by Kate’s defence team for running the story at all , with no real evidence, but the best was – the (NOT) caring father, Andrew Hume, and his wife Alice, who were called to give evidence.
Andrew Hume, by my reckoning, was given a pretty easy time by Kate’s defence team, but his wife Alice was given a harder time. First part of defence – ( Make Kate look vulnerable – get the jury on her side), make Andrew and Alice Hume into the bad guys, make Kate into the “real victim” . We can see where this is going – now the Walter Mitty part , which went a bit like this. Kate was regularly in touch with her sister Grace by letter, and thinking that Grace had applied to go the front, Kate had written and got no reply, and had read about German atrocities in various newspapers, including them burning hospitals down ” and I got it in my head that she must have been killed” yes course you did Kate. Why did she write the letters ? – she imagined Grace was writing them – Ah that explains it ( really !) . It’s a very weak part of the defence – but that did not matter , they already had the people in the public gallery on their side, the jury on their side,and likely the judge too, Andrew and Alice Hume were the real villains of the story in the public eye, and Kate was smelling of roses. Great job by the defence counsel. Absolutely stupid that it ever went to court. I told you her defence counsel was good.
After hours of summing up by both counsels, the Jury was only out for 15 minutes, they came back into the court room and gave their verdict – “ My Lord, we the jury unanimously find the accused guilty of writing the letters as charged, but at the time she did not realise she was committing a crime. We earnestly recommend her to the leniency of the court. After confirming what the jury had said the judge gave his verdict ” Kate Hume – I am very willing to accede to the earnest recommendations of the jury. They have given most careful attention to your case, and in consideration of the fact that you have already been upwards of three months in prison,having regard to your previous good character, and your youth, I consider it expedient – and this is the order of this court- that you be released now. Kate , very relieved, burst into tears realising that she was free to go, the public gallery began cheering, but this was soon shut down by the court officials, and kate walked from court, accompanied by a female warder, and her defence team.
When we look at this case with modern eyes, we find it very difficult to believe, that it ever got to the stage it did – what a waste of money, time, resources, court time, police time and efforts, the list goes on – just because a seventeen year old girl made the establishment look foolish – but the establishment, even today, do not mind wasting public money , time, or resources.
What happened next ? Christopher ward, does follow up in the book where he can – Andrew Hume, was now a pariah in Dumfries, he, Alice and Andrew junior, moved down to the south of England,living in several places, finally ending up in London, still making a living from music, selling and repairing instruments etc, still bigging himself up. Andrew Hume died 25th March 1934 in Charing Cross hospital, after collapsing the previous day with a cerebral haemorrhage, he was 69, his daughters did not attend his funeral. Alice Hume, went back to Scotland, but not Dumfries, she died in Edinburgh 11th April 1939 aged 74. Nellie Hume ? Christopher ward cannot find her, and surprisingly he cannot find Grace Hume either. Johnann he knows very well , as she was his mum, her mother Mary Costin , married in 1918, leaving her mother Susan Costin to raise Johnann, Mary died in 1922 from tuberculosis, she was 32 years old. Finally that leaves Kate – Kate went into service, and in 1919 she married Thomas Terbit, they had four children, she died in 1947 aged 50 years old. Here endeth the tale of Kate Hume
wessyman 
Very interesting. Would love to know what happened to Grace.
[…] you think the story is over, it is just beginning as more and more trouble piled on. Read about the Hume family at Wessyman. -via Strange […]