THE LYTTELTON MURDER

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 1081, 23 October 1883, Page 3

THE LYTTELTON MURDER

[by telegraph.] " ' Christchurch, To-day. . The inquest on the body of John Durham took place at Lyttelton to-day, Dr M‘D onald gave evidence to the effect that death had resulted from Strangulation. There were bruises over the left eyebrow, on the side of the nose and upper lip and on both sides of the chest. There was also a small wound on the right elbow. Constable O’Connor said :—On Sunday morning James Angus came to the police station and told me he believed there was & man dead in the house. I asked him who it was, and he said he did not know. Angus was not perfectly sober at the time bat I could not say he was drunk. I went to the house with Angus and found the deceased, when Angus opened the door, saying “There is poor --—. Jack Durham. ” I asked Angus if he knew anything about It, and he replied “T slept there and Jack there,” pointing to their beds. I found the body lying on ibe'floor, face..down wards, the left arm lying straight alongside the body and the right arm bent round the head. I lifted the body and found it warm, but the Umfas were cold. I found a cord wound tightly .round the neck. There was blood on. the. leg of the wooden stretcher bedstead. This was about four feet four inches from the body. There was a little blood on the floor of the room underneath the man’s mouth. There were too or three spots of blood between where the man lay an A the blood on the stretcher. There was the appearance of a struggle in the clothes, boots and socks were Durham’s bed was simply tnrhed down as if he had quietly got out of it. There was no blood on the walls of tharoom, There was > lood on both the hands" and the body. There were no marks of a struggle or blood about Angus.