AN OTAGO SENSATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 388, 23 May 1908, Page 3

AN OTAGO SENSATION.

Charge of Manslaughter. Dunedin, May 20. At, Balclutha tp-day, before Mr Renrick,, S.M., Richard Cornish, late licensee of the Stirling Hotel, was charged that he did, on May Ist, kill and slay Catherine Elizabeth Cornish, his wife. Mr Fraser appeared for the Crown, and Mr Hanlon for the defence. Elizabeth Bennett, employed as a cook at Stirling Hotel, on the date in question, said that on May Ist, in consequence ot something a girl named Knox said, she listened and heard thumping in Mrs Cornish’s bedroom. Witness formed the opinion that the noise was caused by Cornish dumping his wife up and down the room. The noise continued while she was dressing prior to going to the kitchen. As soon as witness started lighting the range, the thumping ceased. She then heard moaning from Mrs, Cornish’s room. The moaning started about 6.15 and continued to half-past eleven. After 11.30 everything was still. Accused came into the kitchen about 2.15. He had an enamel dish in his hand, and he got water from the tap in the , kitchen range. He said; “ Lizzie, I think the missus is dead.” He went into the bathroom with the basin. Witness went to the bedroom door. She saw deceased, and sent for a doctor. She asked Cornish to come and put deceased on the bed. She was lying on the floor of the bedroom, her feet being under the bed and her head towards the chest of drawers. Accused said ; “ I told her I would murder her, and I have done it.” Witness said, “ Keep your own counsel.” He was then wiping blood from deceased’s face with a sponge. When she told him to keep his own counsel, he replied : “Don’t leave me now, Lizzie. You are the only friend I have got.” Witness replied : “No, I will not.” Witness denied having taken the clothing off deceased’s body. Witness did not see any blood in the bedroom or passage. She did not clean up any blood, but the girl Knox did. She saw her cleaning it up in the sittingroom, which “ was just swamped with blood.”

Cross-examined: She had been going under the name of Bennett for the last six years. Her maiden name was Bennett Mahoney. She was married and divorced, and afterwards took the name of Bennett. She told the truth at the inquest held on Mrs Cornish. Mr Hanlon : Did you swear at the inquest that accused said to you, “ I told her I would murder her and I have done it ? ” Witness: I wasn’t asked that question. There are lots of things yet I,haven’t been, asked. Mr • Hanlon ; Were the other statements about thumping and moaning asked you at the inquest ? Witness: Yes.

Further cross-examined, witness said she did not say at the inquest that Cornish asked her not to leave him, and that she was the only friend he had, because she was not asked it. She did not go and make enquiry when she heard moaning, because it was not her business to interfere with any other part of the house but the kitchen. Cornish gave information to the police on Wednesday against her on suspicion of theft. Cornish made a search of her box and took out a wrapper and pin belonging to deceased. She took the wrapper to cut a pattern out of it; It was not a fact that Cornish discharged her. Witness had made no threats against accused.

Mr Hanlon: Didn’t you go to my office yesterday and ask for £l, saying if you- did not get it you would put the show away ? Witness: I did; but it was only a lark. I didn’t get it, so it is all right.

Dr. Burnett’s evidence was to the effect that there was a wound inches long on deceased’s head. The head and face presented a uniformly bruised appearance. There was a bruise on the brain, and injury on the right side of the scalp. In his opinion, the swelling on the face and the black eyes were due to injuries received within 24 hours before death. He thought the injury to the left side of the brain was possibly caused by a direct blow on the face, say with a fist. Witness thought the wound on the right temple had been caused by cont ict with a sharp edge. Death seemed to have been caused by compression of the brain, due particularly to an inquiry to the left side. It was not within the bounds of possibility that all the injuries could be caused by a single blow. He could not tell whether deceased had been struck on the head or had fallen on a hard substance.

Evidence was also given by Dr. Fitzgerald (Kaitangata). The Crown Prosecutor asked for a remand. He said the police had found another witness last night—a person who was believed to have spent the night of April 30th at the Stirling Hotel. The case was adjourned to Dunedin on Wednesday next, on the Understanding that accused should be remanded back to Balclutha on a suitable date.