THE STIRLING TRAGEDY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2196, 21 May 1908, Page 3

THE STIRLING TRAGEDY.

CORNISH BEFORE THE COURT. STARTLING DEVELOPMENTS. (Press Association.) DUNEDIN, Aliy 20. At Balclutha to-day, before Air. Kenrick, S.AI., Richard Cornish, Into licensee of the Stirling Hotel, ivas charged with that ho did, on Ist Alay, kilt and slay Catherine Elizabeth Cornish, his wife. Air. Eraser appeared for the Crown, anil Air. Hanlon for the defendant. • Elizabeth Bennett, employed as a cook at the Stirling Hotel on the date in question, slid that on Alay Ist, ■ ill consequence of something a girJ Knox had said, she listened and heard thumping in Airs. Cornish’s bedroom. "Witness formed the opinion that the noise was caused by Cornish dumping his wife up and down the room. The noise continued while' she was dressing, prior to going to the kitchen, but as soon as witness started lighting the range the thumping ceased. Sho then hoard moaning from Airs/ Cornish’s room. The moaning started about 6.15, and continued to 11.130, and after 11.30 everything was still. Accused came into the kitchen about 2.15, when lie had an enamel disli in his hand. He got water from the tap in the kitchen range, and lie said “Lizzie, 1 think the missus is dead,’” He went into the bathroom with the basin, and witness went to tbe bedroom door. She saw deceased, and sent for n. doctor, and she asked Cornish to come and lift deceased on the bed. She was lying on the floor of the bedroom, her feet being under the bed. ami her bead towards a chest of drawers. Accused said, “I told her I would murder her, and I have done it.” Witness slid, “Keep your own counsel.” He was then wiping blood from deceased’s face with a sponge, and when she told him to keep bis own counsel he replied, ' “Don’t leave me now Lizzie, you are the only friend I have got.’” Witness replied, “No, I will not.” Witnes denied having taken any clothing off deceased’s body, and did not see any blood in the bedroom or the passage. Sho did not clean up any blood, but the girl Knox did. She saw her cleaning it up in the sittingroom, which was just’swamped with blood. Cross-examined: She had been going under the name of Bennett for tlio last 0 yeirs. Her maiden name was Elizabeth Bennett Alahoney, and she was married and divorced, and afterwards took the name of Bennett. Sho told the truth at the inquest held on Airs. Cornish. Mr.-.-.Hanlon: Did you swear at the inquest that accused 6aid to you ,‘T told her I would murder her, and 1 have dono it?”

Witness: I wasn’t asked that question, There are lots of things yet I have not been asked. Mr Hanlon .- Were other statements about thumping and moaning asked you at the inquest? Witness: Yes. Further cross-examined, witness said she did not say at the inquest that Cornish asked her not to leave him, and that she was the only friend he had/because 6he was not asked it. She did not go and make inquiry when she heard the moaning., because it was not her business to interfere with any other part of the house but the kitchen. Cornish gave information to the police on Wednesday against her, on suspicion of theft. Cornish made a search of her box, and took out a wrapper and pin belonging to deceased. She took tho wrapper to cut a pattern from, and it was not a fact that Cornish discharged her. Witness had made no threats against accused. Mr. Hanlon: Didn’t you go to my office yesterday and ask for £l, saying that if you did not get it you would put the show away? Witness: 1 did, but it was only a lark. I didn’t get it, so it is all right. evidence given by Dr. .Burnett, of B ilclutha, was to the effect that there was a wound 1J inches long on deceasod’d head, and her face presented a uniformly bruised appearance, Thoro was a bruise on the brain, and an injury on the right side of the scalp. In his opinion the swelling on the face, and the black eyes were due to injuries received within 24 hours before death. He thought the injury to tho left side of the brain was possibly caused by a direct blow on the face, say with a fist. Witness thought that the wound on the right temple had been caused by contact with some sharp edge. There was about from loss to 20/, of blood in the stomach. This he thought had been swallowed just before death. Death seemed to have been caused by compresion of the brain, due particularly to the injuries to the left side. It was not within the bounds‘of possibility that all the injuries could be caused by' a single blow. He could not tell whether deceased had been struck on the head., or had fallen on some hard substance. Evidence was also given by Dr. Fitzgerald (Kaitangata), and the Crown Prosecutor asked for a remand. He said tiro police had found another witness ■ last night. A person who was believed to have spent the night of April 30th at tho Stirling Hotel. ... The c ase was adjourned until Wednesday next, on the understanding that tho accsued would be remanded back to Balclutha on a suitable date.