Friday 13th December 1901 was not a good day for a single young man to decide to take a walk around the streets of Forest Hill, Sydenham or Dulwich . Fifty extra Constables had been drafted in from neighbouring areas to join the hunt for the ‘Forest Hill Frotteurs’  as the two men in the Hot House debacle had become known. Although police were still unaware of the identities of the two men,  there were enough witnesses coming forward with good descriptions of them; after all, the sight of two men, one semi naked and the other completely naked, running through Hornimans gardens on a Thursday afternoon was something that burnt itself indelibly into ones memory. It would surely be only a matter of time before the net closed in on Byrne and Butler Smith.  However, the increase in police in the Forest Hill area was not enough to reassure some residents that all that could be done, was being done to apprehend the perpetrators of what the Crofton Park Chronicle was describing as ‘the single, most sinful violation of young Innococents by disgusting Deviants in recent memory’. Sensationalist journalism of this kind, only served to inflame local anger, and it wasn’t long before groups of men, bent on retribution and rough justice, were patrolling the streets of SE23, pulling up any single man under the age of 30 who happened to be out and about. Within 24 hours, no fewer than five young men had been admitted to nearby Lewisham Infirmary with injuries resulting from a stiff beating by these renegade vigilantes. Matters were further exacerbated by an offer made in The Brockley Bugle, by Lady Lara Bloomberg of Plumstead , offering £500 pounds to the ‘person or persons who can provide any information leading to the arrest and incarceration of the vile perverts’. Lady Bloomberg, a champion of local concerns, was well known for her out-spoken opinions and for ruffling the feathers of others. Lady Bloomberg , as we shall shortly discover, would  soon become far more embroiled in this sordid mess then was good for her, but during those angry days immediately following the incident at the museum, her offer of a substantial amount of money as a form of bounty, only served to throw fuel on the emotional fires of an already incensed mob.

Within forty eight hours of Lady Bloombergs offer being announced in the press several other innocent men would be attacked, and Forest Hill stricken by rioting and vengeful bloodlust