SUPPOSED MURDER.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2577, 11 July 1882, Page 3

SUPPOSED MURDER.

[PBKSS ASSOCIATION TBIEGBAM.J OAMARU, July 10. The coroner’s inquest touching the death of Sarah Adams has commenced to-day at Peebles. Inspector Weldon oonduoted the enquiry, and Mr O’Meagher watched the proceedings on behalf of Alexander Beattie. Dogald Alien, the first witness, said be had never hoard of any quarrel between Beattie and the woman until the one that occurred about Barney Carroll. Beattie left a bag of men’s clothing here, and Mrs Beattie called and took them away. About a week afterwards Beattie called again, and left a son all bottle of solder, and a razor, and eaid Mrs Beattie had been cutting fowls’ necks with the razor which was a favorite of his, having brought it from Home. He asked witness to clean it. The razor was stained with blood. He had had the razor about three weeks rolled up in paper. He put it in a desk, and afterwards gave it to tho constable in the presence of Dr. Delautour, It was exactly in the same condition as when he received it. Beattie was at tho hotel on Sunday week, or a fortnight after the row with Barney Carroll, and stopped that night. He saw him before he went to bed, and saw him again about one o’clock, and afterwards at about two or halfpast two. He could not fix upon the date when Beattie was at the hotel. Witn ss had first heard of Mrs Beattie being missing about a month ago. He could not say positively whether it was before or after he heard Mrs Beattie was missing, but ha thought it was after he heard about it. He gave up the razor because either the constable or Dr. Delautour asked for it. The idea of giving it up to the police before that did not strike him. Both Carroll and Beattie stopped at tho hotel the Saturday night after the row took olaco. Carroll left on Sunday. Witness believed Beattie remained all Sunday, but he could not say that he stopped at the hotel that night. Tho witness was cross examined at some length, and John Warwood was called. He said that on a Friday, about a fortnight after the row took place between Beattie and Carroll, he was told that Mrs Beattie was missing. On Sunday, the 2nd inst., he discovered her body about nine o’clock in the morning. In going down the bank to cross the creek he saw a pair of boots sticking up in the creek, and went down to examine them. He then saw a email position of a woman’s skirt and a portion of an arm find a hand. Having made sure that there was a body there he left. All the body except a part of an arm, and a hand and a portion of the boots was covered by gravel. The body was not covered by water. The water was running round the body, except at the head. He saw a plaoejwhere there was a fall of gravel below the body. Above the body in the stream, the gravel was intermixed with grass. Ho gave information to the police, and assisted the constable to remove the body. Ho used a shovel to cut a waterway round the body to remove the shingle. Beattie had been at ihia house five or 'six times after the row and before the body was found, and in reply to a question by witness, said ho did not know where his wife was. In cross examination he said he could not say whether or not the body had been buried by hands, but was inclined to the belief that the gravel had been washed over it. There was a small waterfall at the head of the body, and this had caused the hole. Ho did not see a spade or shovel lying about. There might have been a hole there large enough for a person to drown before the gravel was placed. William Henry Soott, surveyor, deposed to making a plan of the spot where the body of the woman was found. He had examined the place where the gravel had fallen, and was of opinion that it might have been removed artificially with a

shovel or spade, and that it had been a natural landslip. His reason for thinking this was that if it had been undermined the bank would have fallen down in a lump, and that had not happened. It might have been washed down by a heavy flood of water, but he did not think this had happened, as the ground around was equally steep, and this was held by herbage. There would have been furrows, of which there was no appearance. A third way was that springs might have bean found behind it, and the ground was hold down, but the water would now have been oozing out. The outline generally at the upper edge looked as if a shovel or spade had been used, but he could not find any actual trace of this, Another reason for believing that it was done artificially was that there were footprints in tho position in which they would be left by a person using a spado. They were not fresh footmarks, as the moss was beginning to grow on them. If any gravel was placed near the body it would be washed off by a flood, probably leaving a deposit on the north side, but securing out where tho body was. Ho could not say whether the gravel had been artificially placed on tho body or not. His conclusion was that the cravol, or a portion of it, bad been taken from the soar. A fresh would have tended to uncover rather than cover the b.dy, especially towards where the head was lying. The evidence of Dr. Dalautour, who made the post-mortem examination, with refeiGhoe to blood marks on articles produced, was as follows :—The bruises could not have been on the body a fortnight before death, they must have been inflicted within a short time of death. Witness had tested tho iron chemically with Dr. Day's test, which gave tho reaction of blood, and microscopically found that there were one or two corpuscles similar to blood of mammals. Tho spots on the carving knife have tho same results las the iron bar. The blood on the razor gave the blood test chemically, and on microscopic examination witness found mammal’s blood, some striped muscular fibre, and woollen fibre. Tho blood from tho handle of tho razor gave tho chemical test, ,■ and also gave the absorption bands faintly in I the spectrum analysis, The position of these bands corresponded exactly with those in his (witness’) own blood. The blood on the chips from the floor of the hut gave the signs of mammal's blood. He also tested a piece from the inside of a large frieze Ulster coat which was found in the hut, some stains on which appeared to have been washed out, which gave the signs of mammal’s blood, as also did a sheet found. By the jury—Witness examined some fowl’s blood on a razor after some hours’ exposure, which gave signs of blood by the chemical teat and by tho spectrum analysis, but microscopically it showed the fowl’s blood quite distinct from the blood on the other razor. Ho examined the hair found on tho handkerchief. It resembled human hair, but he was not prepared to swear it was eo. He compared it with hair out from deceased’s head, and found them very similar. Ho examined some blood on a pair of moleakin trousers found there by Constable Livingstone, which gave all the reactions characteristic of mammal’s blood, but very faintly under the spectroscope. The spots on the trousers were all below the knee,There are twenty-five witnesses to b( 1 examined, and the inquiry will probably lasi 1 I for some days. Peebles is fourteen milei 1 from Oamaru,