At the next stop, in the small country town of Beverley, Deeming was smuggled into a room in the railway station. But when the waiting angry mob found out they gathered near the door of the room. At one point, they threatened to bash the door down and drag Deeming away to an unknown fate.
After secreting the nervous Deeming back to the safety of the train and it got underway, Deeming took a fit and began to struggle and kick so violently that it took four men to hold him down for the full half-hour of the spasms. Still in handcuffs, Deeming's wrists were badly battered and swollen when the fit subsided. But plead as he may, they stayed on, even when Deeming had two similar fits a short time later.
The next stop was Albany, and to avoid any further scuffle with irate citizens, the train stopped about 50 yards from Albany's prison. The drawn and weary Deeming was then transferred to the care of the Prison Governor, a Mr. McGovern, without the slightest fuss.
Once inside the prison, Deeming immediately cheered up, and within no time his bravado returned. He again protested his innocence to anyone that would listen and joined in games of draughts with his keepers. He was given a medical check-up that showed that apart from a lot of anxiety and fear, he was in perfect health.
The plan was that Deeming and his escorts would stay at the jail overnight. At 5:00 a.m. a trio of law enforcement officers would escort Deeming to the SS Ballarat to Adelaide. From there, the group would take a train to Melbourne. Guarding Deeming would be Det. Cawsey, Constable Williams, who had arrested Deeming at Southern Cross, and a Det. Smyth from Albany. Deeming would be alternately handcuffed to the three for the entire journey.
Although under hourly surveillance in his cell, so that he could not do harm to himself, Deeming's minders were astonished in the morning to find that their prisoner was missing his most distinctive feature, his large moustache.
Ever since he came before the public as a notorious criminal, Deeming's moustache had been one of the chief attributes by which he had been tracked. It was startling to the police to find it gone. A quiet, sarcastic smile broke over Deeming's face when he noticed their consternation.
The loss of his long moustache had exposed a wide ugly mouth and brought Deeming's bold chin into prominence. His keepers agreed that Deeming had made an excellent job of removing the moustache considering the absolute lack of tools. In Deeming's prison clothes they found a piece of a glass bottle a little larger than a shilling. Inside the cell, they found the neck of a medicine bottle. The smaller piece of glass had been broken off the bottle and used as a razor. They discovered to their astonishment that 75 percent of the moustache hairs had been plucked out by the roots.
Deeming must have suffered the agony of pulling out his moustache without uttering the slightest sound or moving his body. The glass had been used chiefly to cut the hair above the corners of his mouth.
Det. Cawsey was very concerned about the missing moustache as it made Deeming look completely different. He also knew that the moustache could clinch the prosecution's case. It was concluded that no one had helped Deeming and that he had picked up the piece of glass in the exercise yard.
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