THE HAMILTON CASE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 851, 25 January 1883, Page 3

THE HAMILTON CASE.

f [by telegraph.] >' ‘ Auckland, To-d*y. Jho evidence for Priestly’s defence closed this morning. Anna Neilson was called, but was too ill to appear. Mr Cooper, in addressing the jury on behalf v--' of Mrs Hamilton, said that the proaecu- ■ - tlon bad failed to prove that Hamilton - - did not meet his death by pure accident. i He characterised the questioning of the ' prisoner prior to her arrest by the deteo- ■ tlvea as un-English, and complained’ of the adverao attitude which the Crown had

taken in respect ofv the prisoners from the first. They were arrested on the 15th December, and had been confined in gaol ever since, so

t|iat they had been entirely dependent upon the exertions of their friends to gdt up the necessary evidence to establish 1 their' innocence. It was the duty of the Crown to bring forward every bit of evi-

1 djence bearing on the case, irrespective of whether or notit was adverse to the prisoners. But, instead of doing this, • they had only- adduced evidence that was favorable to their case. He then pro* seeded to show that the entire fabric of «. the case for the prosecution rested upon the belief of the four medical gentlemen «h*t' Hamilton could not have sustained his'death by falling against the bedstead, god this was but an opinion open to question, inasmuch as Dr Fhllson had admitted the probability of the wound ' being received from a fall against a bedstead. He also contended that the uninjured dura mater opposed the theory of the wound having been caused by a blow, which would of necessity have to be : one of excessive violence, and he held that it was quite consistent with the theory of a fall as were the alleged statements of the wounded man subsequently rising, staggering about, and talking incoherently. .