ALLEGED ARSON AND MURDER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1787, 19 June 1906, Page 3

ALLEGED ARSON AND MURDER.

FATAL FIRE AT WANGANUI

sensational evidence.

Some sensational evidence was given at Wanganui at the inquest into the fire which destroyed the Cafe de Paris on the sth inst., and resulted in the death of Albert Dumble.

Leonard Ashwin, who had been formally charged with arson and mur» der, appeared in custody. Stella Portland, a married woman living apart from her husband, stated that she came to the Cafe de Paris on April 2S, and from then till the time of the fire lived with Ashwin, occupying the same room. On the night of the fire Ashwin slept till a-quarter past eleven, when witness woke him to go downstairs and close up the fcflU sf VT u<o f l*S' < V i bCdnSW\i -utr-covW-W. foot of the bed coughing. Bhe said, “Why don’t you take your’ medicine, Len ? *’ He replied, “ It’s downstairs,” and went for it. He came back and was undressing when a servant cried “Fire!” Ashwin went along the passage, and coming back, said, “ For Goi’s sake put your clothes on : the house is on fire.’’ She got out of bed, put on a wrapper, and was dragged downstairs. She fell most of the way, and when she reached the bottom she picked up Ashwin’s portmanteau, which had followed her down. Earlier in the evening the man who was found dead came and got a shilling from witness, and bought a bottle of beer, the contents being drunk in the room oc-

eupied by witness and Ash win. John Glover, a hairdresser and boarder at the cafe, said a servant girl came into his room about eleven o’clock, and was sitting on his bed when they heard Ashwin go downstairs. Glover went to the stair head and heard a match struck in the kitchen, where the reflection of a light immediately appeared. As Ashwin returned upstairs Glover went back to the room, and almost immediately cockroaches began clambering up the lining of the chimney, which passed through the bedroom. Glover and the girl made their escape, and saw in the street Ashwin, who asked what was the meaning of this. Glover replied, “ I don’t know what it means, but I’m looking for a policeman to look after you.” Millie Aubrey said that about three weeks ago Ashwin took her upstairs, and said, “ Can I trust my life with you ?She said “ No,” and then asked why he put the question. He said “lam going to burn the house flown to-night.” Half an hour afterwards a fire broke out in the kitchen, but it was easily suppressed. She corroborated the evidence of Glover as to what occurred when they were in the room together. William Francis Wall said he was put in the cafe on June 5 with a distress warrant for rent. Ashwin showed a cheque sufficient to cover the rent, but said he would see them d—d be-

fore he paid them. At night he occupied the room next to that occupied by Ashwin and Mrs Portland. About half-past eleven he heard Ashwin go downstairs, and on returning say, apparently to Mrs Portland, “ It’salight. The place is on fire, You had better get up and put somo clothes on.” She said, “ Oh, Lsn ! Oh, Len ! what shall I do ? Shall I put on all my clothes or only some of them ?” Wall, carrying a candle, mado his way downstairs through the smoke, followod by his room-mate and Mrs Portland. John Kingston, working at a bakehouse opposite, heard cries of “ Fire ! ” and rushing to the cafe found an incipient fire between the wall and the chimney. It could have been put out with a bucket of water, but none was available. He then aroused the inmates.

Doctors Innes and Fenwick;deposed

that Dumble died from suffocation. He had apparently fainted, and then fallen to the floor, and tho suffocation was completed by water. Detective Siddells said the portmanteau referred to contained new trousers and coat belonging to Ashwin, also papers and an insurance policy. The body of Dumble was not burned, but was found lying in a couple of inches of water. He had been drinking all day. The jury returned a verdict that deceased met his death by suffocation at the fire at the cafe.