PRICE INQUEST

Hokitika Guardian, 12 April 1930, Page 5

PRICE INQUEST

A SHRIEK HEARD

(By Telegraph—Press Association).

PAUIJCftSTOX N , April 11. I lie Price inquest was resumed. George Gilbert naucox, -Director' of the technical SctuioJ, recalled, said that before ho heard tha siiot fired on tbe night of Price’s death, he heard a shrielr.

Tlie Coroner: Why did you not tell the police? Witness: T was not certain, and was reluctant to say .[. heard it under the circumstances.

The Coroner: Will you deny that the cry was after the shot?

"Witness: Further evidence regarding the position of Price's arms at the morgue was given by R. b. Ro'oinson. C. \\. Ennis (district manager of the A.ALL*. Society i said the deceas ed effected two one thousand pound policies on December 18th, 11/29, and another on February 12th last, the premiums on £2OUO were not paid by the deceased.

Continuing, Ennis said the deceased only paid eight per cent oil the first premium, tlie amounts being guaranteed by an investment Company. Deceased paid the third premium himself.

Constable Compton said that- in conversation on the day of the tragedy, John Price remarked: “But you see he (referring to his father) is insured for a good amount! Alum will get the insurance. I won’t need to go back to school.” John Price was quite calm during the conversation, with no signs of distress, When witness saw deceased's body, the left arm was bent at the elbow, pointing upwards and outwards.

NEW DE V ELOPMEXTS

PALMERSTOX X., April 11. There were new developments in the jesumed inquest on the death of Walter Edwin Price this afternoon.

At the request of counsel for the Price family, two doctors advanced reasons why they considered suicide

unlikely and homicide possible and probable. Four of the five doctors who declared in favour of the suicide theory were present to hear this now evidence and a'unique scene was presented when all six medicos, one of 'whom stretched himself at length on the courthouse floor with a gun, engaged in a demonstration of how the wound could have been inflicted. There was a tense moment when the Coroner not only expressed the opinion that the son who had been alone with the father in the house on. the night of the tragedy had not told all ho knows, and also voiced the possibility that Mrs Price, who was unable to give evidence, owing to being in bed, might know something that she did not want to come to the court and tell.

Doctor J. Miller claimed that the wound described by Dr King eonlrl well have been homicidal, being indicted at close range while the deceased was lying on his right side on the floor with his head unsupported by the pillow-. He might be asleep or have just wakened immediately prior to being shot. - After being shot he could have fallen over on his back, it would have been difficult for the deceased to inflict the wound upon himself by lying on his back on die floor. A suicide, he said, places the gu.it muzzle in his mouth to steady the gun, to bring the trigger more within reach, and to make sure he won’t live after the shot.

Mr McGregor suggested that Dr Miller demonstrate the position upon which be based his theory. The Coroner: ‘‘lt is within the bounds of possibility that it pvas bom icide, but the surrounding circumstances do not «eem to point to it.

"Witness: In my opinion the .surrounding circumstances point to hom icide.

The Coroner: It was a very unusual crime, then. A maai breaks into the house, sees the deceased on the flooi. and shoots him with no suggestion of a struggle.

Witness: There would be no struggle if he was shot. The Coroner; I should be very sorry to hear that it was homicide, because there was only one other person in the house n.t the time. Dr Miller then demonstrated his theory of the deceased’s death, while an interested gallery looked on. When Dr Miller went back into the box, lie stated that he was ■ purely concerned in proving that the act might have been homicide.

The Coroner: Of course, we grant it might have been homicide; biri was it not more likelv to be suicide?

Witness; That is really nothing to do with me. The Coroner: But it has a lot to do with me.

Witness: I am here purely to give expert evidence.

The Coroner: T presume we can grant that it could be homicidal, but it is the, probabilities at which we have to look.

THEORY SUPPORTED

Support for Dr Miller in his theory came from l>r Robert James Boyd, who told the Court that, in his opinion, it would have been about impossible for the man to suicide under the conditions indicated. On the other hand, the position presumed by I)r Miller was possilble. A SCEPTICAL ’TEC. Detective Quirke; The head of the deceased was under the bed, and the height of the bed was thirteen indies. Would it not he difficult for a man to shoot him in that position. Witness: It would be difficult.

Detective Quirke: Presuming your homicidal theory is correct, why

should the murderer pass Price’s body and fire in his mouth? Witness': It is the best place to shoot him, isn’t it? Detective Quirke: Don’t you know, as a medical man, that the mouth is the best place for suicide? Witness: I don’t know. With the further object of provine; his point, Detective Quirke produced a weighty tome, and, to the amusement of the 1 doctors present, proceeded to quote medical authorities to witness. Detective Quirke: Do you suggest that he might have been shot away from the bed, and halve fallen underneath it ? Witness ■ I don’t know how he was shot. Detective Quirke (smiling) * Then you don’t know anything about it. At this stage ,the Court adjourned until 10 o'clock o-morrow.