FAMOUS TRIALS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 53, Issue 32403, 6 March 1944, Page 7

FAMOUS TRIALS

MR A. C. HANLON, K.C. SOME CASES RECALLED MURDER CHARGES DEFENDED i The recent death of Mr A. C. Hanlon, K.C., recalls many famous criminal trials in which he appeared as counsel for the defence. The first important case in which Mr Hanlon appeared for what was known in its day as the South Dunedin murder case, in which Dobson and Kufner, charged with murder, were finally convicted of manslaughter. Winton Baby Fann His next case of importance was that in which Minnie Dean was charged with the murder of infants, otherwise known as the Winton babyfarming’ case. This case was tried in Invercargill in 1895, before Mr Jus- • tice Williams. His Honour, in closing his charge to the jury, said that if they accepted the view presented by i counsel, that the killing of children • amounted to manslaughter only, it would be nothing short of a weakkneed compromise. The woman was | convicted and was subsequently hang- 1 ed. It was acknowledged at the time that she had been most ably and skilfully defended Mr Hanlon also appeared for John McKeown, in the Balfour murder case, as second counsel to Sir Robert Stout, at Invercargill in 1895. Subsequently he appeared for Stott (a halfcaste Australian aboriginal) and Bromley for the murder of a Chinese at Tapanui. In this case Mr Hanlon was able to show that the circumstantial evidence against the accused could be reconsrtucted in such a manner as to enable one to contend that the murder might have been committed by one of the Crown witnesses. Both the men were acquitted. Allanton Murder Mr Hanlon defended McSweeney in what was known as the Allanton murder case. This was a case in which a house in which McSweeney had been living was found to be on fire, and afterwards, a woman’s body was drawn from the fire and a carving fork was found penetrating the heart. Unfortunately for the Crown case, Mr Hanlon was able to show that the woman’s body had been drawn from the building over the place where the kitchen dresser had stood and up a bank down which it was allowed to fall into a drain, where the cutlery had also been drawn out with the body. It was argued therefore that the fork had entered the heart after death—a possibility that no doubt secured McSweeney’s acquittal. Later, Mr Hanlon was engaged in the Papakaio murder case, in which a schoolmaster had been shot in his bed while asleep. A man named Findlay was charged with the offence, and was tried in Dunedin before the late Mr Justice Cooper. Mr Hanlon also appeared for a Chinese -in Auckland for the Three Kings murder, the accused being convicted of manslaughter. Outstanding Case An outstanding case in which Mr Hanlon was engaged was the charge against Kerry, Mumford and Freke for casting away the overseas yacht Ariadne at the mouth of the Waitaki River. The case aroused great interest, not only in New Zealand, but in England,

where the yacht was heavily insured. The Crown relied upon a document signed by Kerry agreeing to give the captain a large sum of money if the ship was totally wrecked. Mr Hanlon suspected that as Kerry was not likely to put such a thing in writing the document was a forgery. He had a photograph made of the exhibit; it was enlarged and thrown on a limelight screen, when it could be seen that whereas the incriminating words had been added, the first portion of the document had been gone over with a pen and ink to make it the same colour as the added part. Prosecuting counsel then abandoned the document. Acquittal Secured Mr Hanlon addressed the jury, making perhaps the best speech he ever made in a criminal case. On all hands it was admitted that the defence would secure an acquittal, and this it did. The last murder case in which Mr Hanlon appeared was that in which Hardie was charged with the murder of a Chinese at Kyeburn. Hardie was convicted of manslaughter. It was a most difficult case to defend, and it was the general view at the time that the man could not escape a verdict of guilty.