BAFFLING MURDER MYSTERY

Hokitika Guardian, 15 September 1931, Page 6

BAFFLING MURDER MYSTERY

THE BLAKEWAY CASE.

SUCCESSION OF MOTIVES

INVESTIGATED.

PALMERSTON N., September 10.

Though the best detective brains of the Dominion have been concentrated for the past ten days in a search for the murderer of Edwin John Blakeway,

the young ex-Christchurch racing cyclist, the solution of this many-sided

problem has not been brought appreci. ably nearer.

The detectives have worked successively on the motives of jealously, robbery and revenge.

Several months ago, it is stated that an acquaintance of the dead man received a letter which contained a, threat to kill Blakeway. It was. sent on w) Blake way, who, at the time, lived at Otaki. He is known to have shown the letter to at least two people in that town.

A fortnight prior to the fateful Sunday, August 23, Blakeway came to live at Palmerston. He shared a room with a fellow railway employee in a quiet home, and a few moments before leaving for Karere early on the evening of August 23 drew a roll of £2O in notes from a trousers pocket, w.ith a suggestion to his landlady that he should pay a week’s board and lodging. The latter said she- would be better suited if lie paid £3 the following week. He replaced the money, consisting of a £lO note and ten singles, and, a •.moment ,later, was on jli.is way to Karere to visit the household of Mr P. Meeiihan. The landlady and others positively affirm that he carried the money with him.

j FINDING OF THE BODY, j At 7.40 o’clock, next morning, Mr E. Leng-Ward, a mail carrier, found Blakeway’s dead body, lying face downwards on the roadside, .300 yards from Mr Meehan’s gate. The top overcoat button was undone, and a blood-smeared hand clutched a pair of j gloves. Blood had congealed at the nose and cal's. A constable, and a doctor told Mr Leng-Ward that death was probably due to a. bicycle fall foli lowing on heart failure or some such I natural cause. There was not the slightest mark or scratch on the polished bicycle, carefully placed -on the ground six yards away. The body was taken- to the morgue to wait the routine procedure. About noon Mr Meehan, who is a. well-known local sportsman, reported the finding of the empty cartridge shells beside the visiblv blood-stained road.

The post-mortem, which was not commenced until 3 p.m., definitely disclosed five bullet, wounds from a small calibre weapon. There were two bullet holes through the right hand, one through the corner of the right eve, one in the other forearm, and the fifth, considered to have been the fatal bullet, had penetrated the chest, high up, scorching the clothing. In the pockets, which were rimmed with blood, the sum of Is 9d was found. As a result of statements taken from those concerned, the police, late on Monday, became convinced that the murder was prompted by jealousy. A search at a certain place revealed a pea rifle and bullets.-. Ohrely examined at the station, one man furnished , .an. apparently watertight alibi as to hiss movements the previous evening. Another, check came when a test disclosed that the marking on the cartridge shells from the pea rifle differed materially from the markings on the shells fired from tlie murderer’s weapon. WARNINGS IGNORED.

Baffled, apparently, on the jealousy motive, the police renewed the inquire from the robbery angle, but are said to have abandoned it owing to lack of nositive proof that Blakeway carried his bank roll on his last bicycle ride. Factors which drew the revenge angle across the conflicting trial were: (a) The condition of the carefullv deposited bicycle and the ordered state of the dead man’s clothing, leading to the deduction that on being hailed from the roadside he recognised the voice. placed his bicycle down carefully* and walked towards his attacker. (b) The presence of five bullet wounds, one delivered close to the chest, indicating a determination to end life (a robber would have been content to disable his victim).

Nearhv ditches and drains were unsuccessfully searched three days after the finding of the bodv for a gun that may have been, discarded.

Governing all’ three motives is the factor that the crime was committed at the one point on the bv-road where shooting would be difficult to hear and wihere (there was a, fiaiiir amount of cover.

DID HE HAVE ENEMIES? Blakeway was the possessor of a likeable personality, and those who knew him best say it was “impossible for him to make enemies.” ...

Another fact that has recently been brought under the notice of the police is that at 10.30 o’clock on. Sunday evening, August 23, a local bank manager was motoring past the side road where the bodv was later found. He noticed a man jump from a motor-oar. parked on the roadside, and bold up both hands in the glare of the oncomer’s headlights. The bank manager, suspecting a hold-up ruse, kept hjs engine accelerator pressed down for the next two miles.

A strange man was directed to the Meehan home on Sunday afternoon. Ajiigust- 23. but- did not'enter the grounds. What connection,,if any, this may have with the tragedy is not known.