SIMILARITY OF CASES.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5359, 3 December 1928, Page 4

SIMILARITY OF CASES.

EXTRAORDINARY ALLEGATIONS.

Sydney is still talking about the extraordinary parallel t© the recent Gow poisoning case, which, was vidqd recently by the arrest of a young man on a charge of murdering, his wife. In the Gow case it was claimed that Gow’s wife and' the young man had together been responsible for poisoning the old man sc. they could be marriejl after his death. And in the most rec.ent case., police allegations are that a man murdered his wife by slowly poisoning hen with arsenic, in order that he would be; able to marry a young woman with whom he lived while his wife was in the hospital, dying. The story was outlined 1 in court on Tuesday, when Allister Jenner Clark, aged 24 years, described as an agent, was charged with having mur.dered his wife, Ellen Mary Clark, on October 12. “The dead woman,” said the police prosecutor, “showed every symptom of slow arsenical poisoning.” Immediately the charge Bad been rejad out in court, counsel for accused applied for bail. He pointed out that his client had bee© in custody for. more than 24 hours, during, which he had had no opportunity of obtaining legal advice.

In opposing bail, the prosecutor said: “I would likej ,to place certain facts before the Bench- The accused was married in 1925, and soon afterwards a© order was made against him •for the maintenance of an illegitimate child. His wife, the decease J. was taken ill on July 10, suffering, fr.om supposed food poisoning. She was attended by a local medical man a,t Stanmcire, and when her, condition did not improve in 10 days, she was sent to the Coast Hospital. Hiqr health was bad, and she showed every symptoms of arsenical poisoning. On October. 12 she died, and Dr. McMasters, assistant medical superintendent of the Coast Hospital, not satisfied with the cause off her death, held a pcpt-mor,teih examination. “Portion of th© woman’s anatomy was forwarde to the Government analyst ; but, before the result of the analysis was known the body was buried. The accused often visited his wife in the hospital, .taking her fruit, cake, and chocolates. Her condition in hospital was sue,h that her hands were paralysed, and her husband used to feed the things he brought her directly into her mouth. On his visits to the hospital he was accompanied by a woman, with whom he lived while his wife wa£ in the institution. While he visited' his wife this woman used to wait outside. Eight days after his wife died in hospital accused was married to, the woman with whom he had been living. Two Government medical officers, when her body was exhumed, .held a post mortem, apd established that death was due to, slow arsenical poisoning.” On these facts the magistrate refused bail.