MURDER IN DUNEDIN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3031, 4 May 1926, Page 2

MURDER IN DUNEDIN.

* —• MAN’S HEAD ALMOST CUT OFF. “1 DID THE RIGHT THING.” Dunedin, May 3. About 7 o’clock this morning Patrick John Jager accosted Constable Watkins at the South Dunedin Police Station, and it is alleged, said he had murdered his mate, Arthur Creagh, who lived with him in the same room in a private boardinghouse in Cargill Road. Sergeant Murray went to the house and found Creagh lying on the bed with his throat cut, the head being almost severed from the body.. Jager is alleged to have said: “I did the right thing. If I hadn’t killed him he would have killed me to-night. He’s after me for my money. There’s a gang watching me. I’m not worrying about it, as I did the right thing.” Both men had been mates since boyhood, and had worked together for about twenty years as machinists at Donaghy’s rope works. Both were about 40 years of age, and they were always considered the best of pals. It is stated that Jager has been behaving in a peculiar way lately, and he told the police that he had tried to drown himself yesterday. The theory is that the murdered man was first hit on the head with a bottle, as when the police arrived pieces of a broken, “blue peter” were found on the bed and the floor. Prior to giving himself up, Jager is stated to have thrown ninetythree pounds in notes into the front garden of the house adjoining. People in the house state that neither of the men drank to any extent. Jager is described as being somewhat miserly.

There were no signs of a struggle, indicating that when attacked with tho razor Creagh was either unconscious or asleep.

The inquest was formally opened in the afternoon and adjourned. Jager will appear before the Magistrate’s Court to-morrow on a charge of murder.