ASSAULTS ON FEMALES
(A CROSS-JURISDICTIONAL ENQUIRY)

written by retired Superintendent George Rose

During the evening of Saturday 5th October 1968 and again on two separate occasions on the following Tuesday evening, the Police received assistance requests from three young adult females in distress.

All three reports were of a similar nature in that, during the mid-evening hours whilst they were riding their auxiliary cycles alone in the Central parishes, they reported having been forced off the road by a young white male riding an auxiliary cycle. In each case, the offender first asked for directions to Hamilton but then attempted to touch and kiss the girls. His advances were such that the girls became frightened and screamed as he attempted to pull them from their cycles and onto the ground. He succeeded in his efforts with one of the girls whom he knocked to the ground but he then rode off without more offence.

One of the victims told me that the attacker’s cycle number plate was partially obstructed by what appeared to be tape. She was able to supply me with a partial plate registration number with one digit missing. I caused this known plate information to be broadcast force-wide. A ten digit record search was planned at Transport Control Department for the following day.

Early the following morning I went to COMOPS and spoke with PC Ian Scotland.

As a result of what PC Scotland told me I went directly to the US Kindley Air Force Base, St. George’s and spent the morning on the Base in search of a US serviceman by the name of Thomas Edward Carruth. Liaising with Sergeant Green of the Base investigative branch Carruth was made available to me for interview. Carruth was not forthcoming during initial questioning and would not supply his whereabouts at the relevant times. An inspection of his cycle plate revealed tape covering two digits on his licence plate for which he could offer no reasonable explanation. I was satisfied that Carruth was a person of continued interest and was determined not to lose sight of him; I considered off-Base surveillance should it become necessary when Carruth made his way home to Mount Hill, Pembroke at the end of the day.

Since I was on a US Military Base I had no jurisdictional authority to arrest Carruth. However, arrangements were successfully negotiated with US Base authorities whereby Carruth voluntarily agreed to accompany me to the Hamilton CID office where he verbally gave me his alleged whereabouts during the times in question. At 12 noon Carruth agreed to remain at Central CID whilst I went to his rented residence in Mount Hill, Pembroke and spoke with his wife. I recorded a witness statement from her and noted certain irregularities.

During further questioning Carruth began whistling and humming and treated the matter as if it was a joke. He finally admitted to the attacks on the three women and gave a cautioned statement to that effect. I arrested him accordingly and on Friday 11th October 1968 he appeared in Magistrates’ Plea Court where he pled guilty to three counts of unlawfully assaulting three young women.

The Royal Gazette under the headline MARRIED MAN PUT IN CUSTODY OF U.S. AUTHORITIES reported police prosecutor Insp. Thomas Doyle informing the Court how the defendant rode alongside Susan P….. on October 5 as she was riding on her auxiliary cycle [along Pitts Bay Road]. He forced her to stop, under the pretext of asking directions to Hamilton. He then started to touch her and tried to kiss her. When he attempted to pull her off her cycle, she became frightened and rode off.

The incident was reported to the police, and when similar separate reports were received on October 8 from Miss Rita M….. and Miss Marilyn M, an investigation was started, and the defendant subsequently arrested.

In presenting the facts to the Wor Walter Maddocks, Insp. Doyle said that apparently the defendant was in need of psychiatric treatment. He seemed to be sexually disturbed in some way. He also related how Carruth had been whistling and humming during the interview with the police and treated his offence as if it were a joke.

Carruth, however, stated that he did not intend to harm the girls; he had just been carried away. He accounted for his attitude during the interview by saying that he was so scared he whistled and hummed to cover his fear. He added that he had never been to Court before and he was truly sorry for the incidents. He has been in Bermuda for three months stationed at Kindley Air Force Base.

After his court appearance and sentencing, I accompany Carruth under escort to his detention at the Kindley Air Force Base. I later visited Carruth’s wife at her residence in Mount Hill and advised her of the court outcome. I similarly informed all three female victims.

LETTER FROM THE ACTING COMMISSIONER OF POLICE
Arrest of Thomas CARRUTH in connection with the assault of three women on various dates in October 1968

I was very pleased to see the case file on the above matter and the excellent work by PC Scotland and DC Rose which resulted in the arrest of Carruth.
I am glad to see that PC Scotland, on his own initiative, as a result of the notification of the assaults in Dailey Orders, did research into the registration of vehicle records and came up with a short list of five possible suspects.
With the assistance of DC Rose a very nasty case was successfully investigated and disposed of.

Please inform both Constables that a note to this effect will placed on their personal files.

Acting Commissioner of Police
15th October 1968

After reading the reference to “Dark and Stormy” in the recent tribute to Alistair “Shakey” Johnson we have received this great comment from our old friend Mike Caulkett who served here in the Bermuda Police from November 1964 - April 1970.

“Beer is my tipple of choice but I do occasionally  enjoy a rum and coke, particularly when feeling nostalgic for Bermuda, so always have a bottle of Cockspur or Mount Gay in the cupboard. I have on many occasions in the past tried to buy a bottle of Goslings “Black Seal” but without success.

After reading most of what has been written about Shakey where there were mentions of the Dark and Stormy I thought I would buy a bottle of some sort of dark rum to enjoy with Ginger beer over Christmas. (Poor man’s Dark and Stormy).

However, earlier today Jill and I were shopping in the fairly new Waitrose supermarket in Haywards Heath when I went off to find a bottle of dark rum. What did I find but a bottle of Gosling's ‘Black Seal’ Bermuda Black Rum with the original label, silly I know, but I can’t tell you how pleased I was to find the genuine article mainly for the memories that it evokes. I also bought some ginger beer and when we got home and had unloaded the shopping Jill said I should have one which I did, two in fact. Lovely.”

Editors note  -  Those of us who live here in Bermuda so often take it for granted that we can weather the storm with an occasional “Dark and Stormy”!   I’m happy to report that Gosling’s is still a highly successful business which is still operating from Bermuda and that Gosling’s is now selling their rums, especially “Black Seal” in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and elsewhere around the world.

It would be interesting to hear just how far and wide it travels so if you find it in your home town or country, please let us know.  For example, does it travel as far as Australia?

Editors note  -  Would you believe it.  No sooner had we published this article than we received the following email from our good friend and colleague Ray Sousa who now lives with his family in Australia.  As always, Ray in a mine of useful information and still has a remarkable memory about his early life here in Bermuda.

Black Seal Rum

Yes Roger you can get Black Seal Rum [BSR] in specialist stores in Western Australia. There is such a shop 15 minutes from our home. A 750 ml [26 ounce ] bottle cost $65.

A night clubbing daughter came across it a few years ago when a bartender won a national cocktail mixing competition using BSR. The word quickly spread with more businesses carrying it, giving competition to Australia’s better known Bundy Rum.

As you might know rum was currency during early European settlement of Australia. To a lesser degree this also applies to Bermuda.

BSR was part of my Bermudian heritage. When babies were teething, rum was applied to their gums to kill the pain. Poppy powder, and petals were also used, but that is another story. If a baby had trouble sleeping BSR was added to their milk, possibly the reason some of us took so long to learn to walk; and even now walk with a stagger!

For flu and colds, warm BSR mixed with honey and lemon would cure us overnight; but you end up with hell of a hangover. It was also used for cooking, baking pumpkin pie and of course Bermuda fruit cake. Old timers would soak the fruit in rum in large candy bottles from September, but were lucky to find the bottles half full at Christmas due to raids from children.

BSR was the currency for getting help in building homes, in particular concrete pours. The standard request would be, “I need a hand with a concrete pour [foundations, floors, water tanks etc]. The reply would be, “Get…………” followed by , “there will be a ‘Polly’ [large bottle of BSR ]”. “ Man in that case you can have both hands, even my soul”, the volunteer would sincerely state. Helping with a concrete pour, and drinking rum with men was part of the passage from boyhood to manhood.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In time Cockspur became the drink of white working men, Bacardi white rich men, and BSR the black men’s drink. Some would be offended if offered the wrong rum. Of course beer was also popular with all.

Collection of empty rum bottles for recycling, particularly the ‘Pollies’ ‘was a cash cow. It helped fund Scout trips to Canada in 1967 and Jamaica in ‘69.

Rummies had bush social areas where they would meet to drink. As a cop I agreed to leave them alone provided they behaved themselves and put empty bottles into large hessian bags. I would collect the bottles and cash them in.

At Kingston airport I noted that there was a delay in authorities processing the Scouts. As I investigated I saw samples of Captain Morgan rum was being given. Some Scouts were upset because I stopped them from tasting the rum. The boys who did taste it felt it was weak compared to BSR!

Rum Swizzle should also be mentioned. As a 13 year old bar porter at Castle Harbour Hotel, one of my duties was to make up large batches of Rum Swizzle using BSR. We were supposed to taste each batch to make sure they were the same. The truth is after 3 batches they all tasted the same. Then there was the atom bomb effect. You would walk outside, see a flash of bright light, your head would explode, and you would come to flat on your back-side on the ground!

Going by memory BSR and coke cost the same as plain coke. 20 years ago when a daughter got married in Australia, we decided to serve rum swizzle using BSR. Our reception manager claimed Australians would not drink it because it was too strong. No-one could drink just one glass and we quickly ran out.

Some people might still remember a definition of Bermuda, “50,000 drunks on a Rock”. It must be remembered that at times liquor was cheaper than food, and one of the best pain killers on the Island. Sadly, heavy drinking also caused a number of social problems. When I joined the Police Force in 1966, attempts were made to civilize me and introduce me to scotch and whiskeys. This only made me a lover of all liquor. A down side of married live, responsible living, and being with Emergency Services is the restrictions put on my drinking desires. Having said that whenever I am able to have a dark and stormy, straight rum, rum and coke, or even rum in my coffee I appreciate this is a bit of heaven on earth.