CONFESSION TO POLICE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1933, 16 December 1913, Page 5

CONFESSION TO POLICE.

BY A FIRE-RAISER. HIS STRANGE STATE OF HIND. (By Telegraph—S.pecial Correspondent.) . palfjierston, December 15. A' singular Confession'of setting fire to two houses-at Foxton was niado to the police by .James Warren Williams, and read to' the' Magistrate yesterday. The confession stated: "I saw my wife in 'the main street ,at Foxton on tlio night of December 6.' T called to her, and alio said: 'What do you want?' I said: 'What Would you take so as wo can settle out of Court?' She walked away, arid' did not answer.- ■ On my wav"hotu<! my, head seemed to he heavy, and I did"hot know what was coming over me/ I said to Reay (a friend) that it wajs, hard to bear the trouble I was having' with my wife," and that there wan something telling mo to go down and bum the house slio was living in, so that I could see who was inside, but 1 would not like to harm a hair of her head. .Reay came to my house, and, after a,chat, left. ; I read tlio Bible till jiiidn'isht, and then drank a shilling's worth of whisky and-went to bed. I could not sleep; my head becamo very bad, and 1 got up, and there was a dropping feeling on top of my head, as if thero was a load on it pressing it down. Something kept'telling me to go down and burn' Mrs: 1 Williams's house, do r.s I could see who was in it. Some timo after two o'clock I took two bags of rags and put some small wood and a bottlo of kerosene into one of the bags and a bottlo of American tar. I rode to my wifo's house, emptied the bids ■under the house, and set fire to it, pouring tar and kerosiyie over it. When I got outside I heard my wife calling out, and knew she was-safe." . . He then describes setting fire to the house in jvhich ho was living. ■Accused was committed to the Supreme Court for 'sentence.