A CURIOUS CASE.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2486, 25 March 1882, Page 3

A CURIOUS CASE.

A very curious oase, says the " Age" of the 17th, has been under investigation during the last two days, in the law o flic en, before the secretary of the department, Mr Harriman. A man named John Loughnan died in January, 1874. He was supposed to possess some means, and having been intimately associated with a constable named Martyn, he (Martyn) waß called upon, in April, 1874, to say what he knew of Loughnan's estate. In reply to queries put by the Curator of the Estates of Deceased Persons, Martyn said that Loughnan had died broken hearted and almost destitute, and that he (Martyn) took £5 ss, which ho found in a box belonging to deceased, to pay the dootor and to purchase candles and refreshments for the wake, deceased being a Catholic. He further averred that sooner than see his old comrade (deceased having been a constable) buried as a pauper, he had himself paid for the grave and the undertaker's charges, an outlay which he believed the sisters of deceased would refund to him, ho having heard that they were very well to do in Amenoa. When Martyn made this statement he had £9OO and a will in his possession left by deceased. He concealed the real facts from the ourator, and also from the person appointed to aot as executor under the will. The cura'or subsequently discovered that Martyn had the money, and be sent for him and questioned him again. When Martyn found that the curator knew all about the matter, ho made a full statement of the facts. For the part he then played he was discharged from the force. Ho now comes forward, howover„to have his reputation rehabilitated, and be restored to his former position as a constable, with the intention, it is believed, if restored, of retiring and claiming his allowance. He states that deceased authorised him to keep the money for and on behalf of his (deceased's) sisters, , and that if he had given the money up it i would have been maladministored. He has oalled a number of witnesses to prove that he did not conoeal the facto from them, they also being friends of deceased; that he told them he meant to keep the money for his sisters, and they urged him to do so. He (Martyn) also points to the f aot that he has given up the whole of the money, as a proof of his honesty and honorable intentions. It has been pointed out as against Martyn's version that he was liable to a prosecution for concealing the will, and that if the deceased had doubted the integrity of the administrator he had appointed he could have altered the appointment, as his death was not sudden. It has been further pointed out that whatever fears be (Martyn) might have had about the first administration of the estate by the trustee could not apply to the curator, to whom he might have confided his trust, and who might have been called in to supervise the administration. The oase has been handed over, with the evidence taken, to the law officers of the Grown.