CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE: MURDER OR SUICIDE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1199, 20 February 1885, Page 3

CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE: MURDER OR SUICIDE.

A strange murder trial has Just been completed at the Old Bailey by the Judge sentencing Elizabeth Gibbons to death for murdering her husband. This, case baa caused a vast amount of interest, because tbe only evidence against the condemned woman is of tbe mo.it circumstantial character. Now that the trial is over, the friends of the poor woman are leaving no stone unturned to effect her respital, and they will, in all probability, succeed in getting the death sentence commuted. The facts of the case are thus briefly stated in the Daily Telegraph Mr and Mrs Gibbons resided near Hayes, in a h«use not situated very close to any other, and they eeem to have been without a servant living with them at the time of the tiagedy. Tbe husband was acm tractor, aged 63, and his wi e was 10 years younger, 'they had been married, as we have said, thirty-seven years, and hud no family. On the. 15th November, at midnight, Mr and Mis Gibbons wo re in their bedroom, preparing to retiie to rest, when the deed—he it murder or suicide - was committed, fdhots were fired in rapid sue cession, and Mrs Gibbons rushed out of the room, after having attempted, as she deposed before the Coroner, to prevent her Jinsbjtnd from injuring herself further, when Mr Parrott, the surgeon, arrived, he was uot sure that the man was dead, and could not tell for cert tin. in consequence of the cries of grief which the wife continued to utter. She appeared to he in the deepest distress, and had to be taken out of the apartment where her hushand was lying. Mr Parrott also testified that while his examination was going on Mrs Gibbons ■brew her arm around her husband’s prostrate form and kissed him. It is evident that if she had shortly, before fired four shots at him with intent to murder, this app aruuoa of affection and grier was only simulated, unless we imagine her only to have been suddenly stricken with remorse \ for her crime. It seems that the surgeon j saw the wife afterwards downstairs, and J asked her if Mr Gibbons had any tro .t ie Oi hj s mind which would account for bis ; committing suicide. The conversation that i followed is of much importance, as an | attempt Was made during tbe trial to show j ill it the accused had given different an- I counts at various times as to what cause ’.here could ho for suicide. Mrs Gibbous told a tale about ihr gi 1 who lived at Tanu on, who hid previously been an inmate of their house, and to whom her Ini tbaud was attached. She left it to he i fe i© I t at it was through grief for the departure of this person that her husband had tried to take his own life. Mr Parrott 1 further questioned hj r as to whether she had done anything to prevent th« suicide, and »he replied, according to his testimouv, “ Yes. I threw my arm around him, and fell down with him.” It was noticed that there wei e stains of blued on the nightdress of the wife, and there were also one or two smears high up on the wall. As regards the purchase of the revolver, it seems certain that the deceased bought the weapon himself; and ho habitually kept it under his pillow at nighc. if his wife’s tale is correct. To Police-Inspector Morgan Mrs Gibbous stated that one shot had hsen fired while she was in the mem, and that while she was rushing downstairs for help she heard the sound of- the others. To a female friend the next moining she appears t > have said that there were two shots tired while she was in the room and two shortly afterwards. The piosecution made a point against the prisoner when ihe medical witness affi-med that it was impossible for any such interval to have elapsed between the different reports, a-s any one of the wounds would have been almost instantly fatal. Such discrepancies ai tinse in the wife’s account of the tragedy formed a very heavy count in the indictment against her. It certainly is not a little strange that a person who had bren present at such a scene should not have given one single a>-d unvarying account of what occurred. We must, however, remi mherjthc appalling nature of the tragedy which may very well have disordered the memory of its sole witness. That a woman’s testimony is blotte I with some contradictions rather tends to make lawyers believe in the honesty of tue witness as a general rule, and here there was a sp-cial reason for inaccuracies in the wife’s s ory, in the terrible shock which she has Just received.

Looking at all the evidence in the case, there seems t > be a strong probability that the verdict of the jury is right. On the other hau l, it ia nut a case in wh-eh satisfactory and moral certainty ia attainable. The crime, if crime it was, was a pecu'iar'y c. H-bluoilcd ami treacherous one, and deserves the worst punishment of the law If we admit tho story of the jealousy on one si le, and the unconsciousness of danger on tho other, all the materials for a tragedy were present. There was the motive, the desire of a woman to he avenged for supposed wrong done to her by her husband. They were in a lonely house, ami not another soul besides themselves was within its walls. The hour was very late, and the conditions were as favourable as they could have been to a crime being perpvetrated without risk of discovery. If *ho first shot bad been fatal, it is reasonable to suppo-o that Mrs Gibbons would never hive he-n put on her trial at all. In that case tho mysterious shot hr the back would not have been there as a tell-tale of wicked purpose, and tho mere fact that the wife was known to he a little jealous of her spouse could not h:ive given rise to more vague suspicions. If Mr Gibbons, a prosperous contractor a id apparently a usually happy and jovial indi : vniual. were not foully murdered by the baud of Ins wife, the question was. What reason had he for taking his own life? Those were the only alternatives left to the jury, as it was impossible that ihe revolver could have g ne off four times in succession by a pure accident. On tho part of the prosecution, it was shown that Alt Gibbons was in seemingly good health, and spirits. Mr Adams, the Hayes statioumaster, who walked with him to tho house on tho evening of the murder, stated that; the deceased showed no signs whatever of despondency. | It seems, however, to have been admitted I that he had received an injury to his head

by falling off a track, and a witness stated that one of his relatives was insane. This it is Just possible that madness suddenly arising may have caused Mr Gibbous to destroy himself. His wife stated that he had appeared odd for some time, and could get no sleep. The motives of alt instances of suicide that occur cannot always be determined, but it is not for that reason that they pan be supposed to bemmders instead. In this mysterious case it was the concurrence of a number of circumstances pointing to guilt which sealed the fate of Elizibetb Gibbons, and especially the assertion of Mr Parrott, the Hayes surgeon, as to the impossibility of one of the shots being selfinflicted.