LANCASTER TRIAL

Hokitika Guardian, 5 August 1932, Page 5

LANCASTER TRIAL

MURDER CHARGE ' FURTHER EVIDENCE HEARD. 1 (United Press Association—By Electri Telegraph—Copyright.) MIAMI (Florida),, August 3. At the trial of the English airman Captain Lancaster, on the charge ol murdering Walter Haden Clarke, the American airman (who was engaged tn ■ Mrs Keith Miller), before Judge Atkj inson, the prosecutor called Mrs Millei as a witness. “Mrs Miller, do you know who killed Haden Clarke?” Mr Hawthorn (State Attorney) asked. “I am convinced lie killed himself,” she replied, adding that Clarke often talked of suicide, particularly when in a violent rage or depressed. She testified that Lancaster awakened her about two o’clock on the morning of April 21 and informed her that Clarke had been shot. She denied having heard the shot, and said that Lancaster made no attempt to offer an explanation. She went on to say that Lancaster hurried home from a. business trip to St, Louis after learning she and Clarke hnd become engaged;

“Mrs Miller, ere you engaged to Captain Lancaster;” Mr Hawthorn asked.

“You can’t be engaged to a person who is married,” Mrs Miller replied spiritedly. “I always intended to marry him for almost five years.”' “Were you infatuated with Clarke When Lancaster le't here on March 6th ?” Mr Hawthorn inquired. “No. I changed my mind later. I ' advised Bill by letter ■to St. Louis, so did Haden? We read each other’s letters before they were mailed,’’? Mrs Miller said adding that' Lancaster was sad upon his return from St. Louis because of the engagement. He told her that lie planned to kill himself in an aeroplane, so she would benefit from the insurance. Later, he learned that the insurance company had failed, and he abandoned the plan. A policeman, Earl Hudson, quoted Lancaster as having said on one occasion that Clarke was ill and that fact had been preying heavily on his mind.

"WISH WE COULD END IT ALL." MRS MILLER CONTINUES EVIDENCE. (Received this day a? 10.25 a.m.) MIAMI (Florida), August 4. Mrs Keith Miller testified to-day that she proposed suicide to Clarke only a few hours- before he was found fatally shot. She said that her suicide suggestion was made after Clarke told her of his conversation with Lancaster reft rinding the 'former’s proposed marriage. She quoted Clarke as having said: "I can't, stand it any longer, L am going crazy.” She ®aid that they agreed in a conversation earlier in the evening that it. Would be necessary to postpone the wedding until Clarke's divorce decree was final. Under examination by Mr Carson she described as highly cordial Lancaster’s attitude toward her and Clarke when the flier came hun*iedly from St. Louis on learning Clarke had succeeded him in her affections. Cross-examined regarding th e quarrel between the two men over her at the dinner table, Mr® Mil’er said: "After Bill went to his room he read his mail. Haden and I 'at downstairs talking. We were despondent about onr marringe plans and the whole situation. /The-1 I made .a foal suggestion. I said ‘I wish we could end it all.”’ She said that Lancaster and . Clarke, after . the dinner table quarrel the night before, had talked amicably through the evening.