MURDER IN THE CITY

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2254, 14 September 1914, Page 4

MURDER IN THE CITY

CRIME AT NEWTOWN. CHINAMAN BRUTALLY DONE' TO DEATH BY UNKNOWN ASSAILANT

As was briefly reported in The Doming ion on Saturday, a Chinaman was murdered m his shop at Newtown in the lata hours of Friday night. The name of the victim was Wong Way Ohing, who carried on business as a fruiterer and greengrocer, at 100 Adelaide Road. The orimo was committed under circumstances for which it is not easy to account. The policeman on the beat (Constable Wilson) notioed nothing unusual when ho passed Wong Way Ching's shop late on Friday night, bub when he came round again at 1.5 a.m, on Saturday morning there was a light burning in a room at the back of the shop, and the blind on the shop window, drawn a little aside, enabled him to see through, the open doorway the feet of a man lying on the floor of tho back room. Tho shop-door was closed and locked, and tho back gate was fastened, but the back-door was unlocked, and a second door at the back leading into the room where the body lay was standing sis inches ajar. * * Scene of the Crime. The body of the Chinaman lay on its back, the feet pointing towards the shop, a few feet away from the doorway. Terriblo, injuries had been inflicted, the skull being fractured in several places. The light mentioned—an incandescent gas-burner—was almost immediately overhead. Practically, therefore, tho position, was that tho murderer or murderers left their work on view to anybody who cared to look through the shop-window, where tha carelessly-hung blind left the glass clear.

- In itself, the shop, with, its back-room and scullery, and the jooms overhead, presented the elements of a commonplace Chinese interior, dirty, dusty, and rather squalid. _ The shop is a small placo, with a single counter and window, and a single-leaf door on the lefthand side (looking towards the street), opening against the wall v Thero was the usual array of fruit, cigarettes, and other goods, on shelves behind the counter and in the window, and on the other walls of the shop vegetables ranged on rude shelves. - The backroom presented nothing remarkable, except the body. It was very dirty , and almost bare of furniture. ' A queer string instrument hanging on the wall suggested that the unfortunate Chinaman was in the habit of beguiling his leisure hours with music. The state of affairs in the rooms upstairs suggested that only one bed was in use. Arrival of Police. ' . As soon as he discovered what had happened, Constable'' Wilson gave the alarm at Mount Cook, and Sergeants Cruickshank and Treney, with Constable Canthon, proceeded to the shop.. Before long Detective-Sergeant Cassells and Dr. Henry were also summoned, and made a preliminary examination of the body and the premises. Making his examination shortly before 3 a.m., the' doctor was of opinion . that the murdered man had been, dead for soma hours.

It was evident that the Chinaman was behind the counter when he was killed. This was shown .by bloodstains on tho floor and counter and the disarrangement of' some ■ rough shelves. Blood was found also in tie till when it was opened. The weapon with whioh tho murder had been committed lay on the counter—a flat, heavy bar of iron about eighteen inches long. It bore abundant traces of the use to which it had been put. The bell-till in the counter was found to be closed. It contained the sum of 15s. 4JdFourteen shillings in silver and a few coppers lay in the bottom of tho drawe? in plain sight, and a single shilling' and a, couple of coppers in the cash bowls. On tho floor behind the counter wera a couple of coppers and a white-metal token stamped with an Indian's bead,' A couplo of the'vegetable shelves neatf the door had been thrown down, and the vegetables on the floor, but there was no indication of a struggle in this place. It was rather as though someone had made a hasty and clumsy rush to close the door, an Impression heightened by the fact that a portion of tlie torn matting had been turned up and jammed between the door and its frame,

The position of the body was puzzling. There was, as has been said, every indication that the murder hao been committed behind the counter, and the body lay in the roomat the rear. Yet a space of about nine feet of dusty flooring between those points was to all appearance in a normal state, and showed no trace, by marks suggesting dragging ok otherwise, of the passage of the body. This suggests thai more than one person may have been concerned in the orime. In the dead man's pockets the polled found a few shillings' worth of small change, the key of the shop-door, ana some unimportant papers. What May Have Happened. The visible indications suggest thai one or more persons entered the shop, probably at a late hour, and that the' Chinaman, having been induced to open his till on pretence of business, was struck down as ho stood. Then, _ apparently, the shop-door was closed, in a' desperate hurry, the murderer or murderers eventually escaping by the rear,-' after robbing the till of part of its 'contents, and moving the body into the back-room. Tho total loot must have been of trifling value, and the money left behind and the light left burning, sufficiently attest tho terrified haste with which the ©xit was made. Detective-Sergeant Cassells, to whorai Wong Way Cliing was well known, de* scribes him as a respectable old Chinaman, an account confirmed by others who know the unfortunate man. When the police had comploted their examination, early on Saturday morning, tho body, of the murdered man was conveyed to tho morgue, and a oonstable wad placed on guard, to ensure that tha premises should not be disturbed.