THE PRICE MYSTERY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4439, 12 April 1930, Page 2

THE PRICE MYSTERY.

CORONER COMMENTS ON

WITNESSES. Tlio inquest on Waller Price, the builder who was found shot bill with no weapon beside him, was resumed ;il Palmerston North yesterday. Ouy Brogden, a carpenter employed by Price, said that on the day his employer was found dead lie was working' on a job near deceased's holism Tie was informed by Mr. Nagel and John Price of his employer’s death. Describing the appearance of Hie body when witness and others, with Dr. King, entered (lie room, Brogden said deceased appeared to lx* lying with both arms outstretched, but he would not swear to that. The Coroner: Did nynoiie connected with the Price family approach you about iliis ease? Witness: No; only Mr. Mctlregor. i informed him that 1 had made a statement to the police. Senior Detective Quirke: Was anything said about how Mrs. Price would be left as a result of deceased’s death? Witness: Yes. John Price asked how she would be left, and [ replied that I thought he need not worry. John Price said, “There is tin' insurance in there. ! wonder it it is paid up." Witness said that lie t bought il would be. John Price asked him to go and look at il, but witness was reluctant. John Price said, "Oil, come on," and witness went in. John Price obtained a pa|.ec which proved lo lie a builder's risk. That was nil Unit occurred after (lie departure of the doctor-. To Detective Quirke, witness said deceased alwavs used his right hand for sawing. Deceased was a quiet, easy going man. The tCoroiier: I suppose not the ■-ort of man who would make such an enemy as would commit murder on him m cold blood in his sleep?

Witness: No, not to my knowledge. The Coroner: That seems to In l lie suggestion of John Price.

Adolph tide, said when lie- was in the bouse on the morning the body w.-ls found John Price wrote out a list of addresses of relatives and handed I hem to Brogden, saying to all present, “What about the insurance ?“ John Price did not appear to he upset. Later witness visited deceased’s house and saw the body. The right, arm was in an upward direction with the band hall.’ closed and the left arm straight out from the body. Leonaril Charles Lee said flint on the morning of March nth, when delivering milk to Price’s house, I,lie garage door was open. There was a ear there with a Imx projecting oat of the back. He bad never

seen the i-;ir in the same position before.

(icorgo limes ,\l<•(trogur, solicitor, tendered evidence on deceased's aiVnirs which showed that lie was not liiiam-ially involved. Witness -.aid deceased had never been pressed by a single creditor. Dr. Hunter Will said that Mrs. I’l'iee, deceased's wife. was ill sileli a slate of heallh that she could not appear before the ('oroner to give evidence.

The Coroner: Can you give us any indication when she will lie able to come and give us information. Dr. Will: She is in a slate of si-

lence. The Coroner: Tile difficulty is that tile son is in a state of silence too. We want somebody to talk.

Dr. Will said Mrs. I‘riee bad a rapidly beating heart, indicating worry and lie could not say when she would be lit io appear. She was worried about her son being upset.

The Coroner: Her boy upset! Tillius not shown it so far. Wo have suspieioiis that he knows more than wliat lie lias said. I do not suggest ids statements are untrue. All that, he has said may be true, but is it all.' We don’t want this to become ■ mother Elsie Walker case. We want Airs. Price to talk. Can xve adjourn the impiesl until she is ready. ' ? Air. .McGregor: One of the son's uncles lias pleaded with him to tell all he knows. The Coroner: I think all he has t<>ld as is true, but is it all A The buy lias nothing 1,1 xvorry about if lie makes a clean breast of things. We cannot call All's. Price to-duv.

The under! inker, W. 11. Kells, said be found deceased lying Hat on his back, bis left arm vesting on the elbow, the band outstretched in an upright position and the other arm extended parallel to the body.

xfter the body bad been attended l" at the morgue, the left arm was left stiff up in the air.

Richard Simpson Robinson, a cabinetmaker gave corroborative ovi-

C.x rii Ennis, the district manager "I the A.AI.P. Insurance Society, staled that in December last Price bad taken mil: two £IOOO policies with the Society and another £IOOO policy on li'ebruary 12 last, and gave tile Court particulars of the policies. "I had a talk to the hoy about bis father’s health during the previous few weeks," said Constable Compton. “During the talk the hoy said he would, aoi he going back to school. I asked him why, and he said, 'You see, (Dad’s dead.’ I said. ‘That won’t make any difference. You'll need the schooling.’. Hut. he said, ‘You see, he xvas insured for a good amount. Alum ‘.will get the insurance and I won’t need to go hack to school.” Senior-Detective Quirke: What was his demeanour?

Witness: Very quiet and calm. Witness gave corroborative evidence to that of the undertaker in regard to the position of deceased’s arms.

(Constable James Haldane Beaton, said lie asked John Price to let him have a look at his pyjamas. “He took a suit from underneath his pillow and just as l started to examine it he said, ‘Oh, L sometimes scratch myself and it bleeds.’ I said, ‘What makes you do that?’ He said, ‘Pimples.’ I had a look at bis lace as there were some pimples on it.” "The wound described by Dr. King could quite well have been homicidal, being inllicted at; close range while deceased was lying on his right side, his head supported by a pillow,” stated Dr. John Miller. "He might have been asleep. After being shot he could have fallen over on his back. The stimulus of (he shook would be sufficient to cause a sudden spasm. It would have been difficult for deceased to indict the wound himself by lying mi bis back on the door. The medienl evidence assumes that deceased was shot while lying on his back. The suicide places the gun muzzle in his mouth for the foliowing reasons —to make sure he. won’t live after the shot-, to steady the gun, and to bring the trigger more into his reach. If the gun slipped out; of his month the trigger would be more inaccessible. "1 consider the surrounding circumstances point to homicide," added the witness.

"Il would he a very unusual crime," observed the Gorouer. • There was no sign of a struggle.” Witness: There would be no si niggle if lie was shot. The Coroner: L should be very ,-orry 10 bear Li was homicide, as w:ts only one other person in I lie house. The Coroner: There is another point you haven’t, considered, Dr. Alii ter: Would a man who comes to murder another withdraw half the charge from I lie cartridge?

Witness: “Is there evidence to show that.”

Defective Quirke: There is the evidence of an expert.

The Coroner: Do you suggest that a man came in and selected the most inexposed portion of his victim. his bead, to lire at? —"Not at

The Coroner: The wound eouicl have been homicidal, that; is granted. but in view of other ciremnlances, was it? Witness: That is realty nothing to do with me. 1 The Coroner: Bui it. has a lot lo do with me.

Witness: I’m only giving expert evidence.

Mr. Cooper: The whole of your assumption is that lie was lying 1 on bis rigid side? —"Yes, and asleep.” i be ICoroner: You see, you put him in a position he wasn’t found in. Dr. King’s theory is founded on the position in which he was I omul.

"My opinion is rliat it would be almost impossible for a matt to commit suicide in that position, and that Dr. Miller’s tlieorv of homi-

■ .1,- is possible," said Dr. Robert .iames Boyd, anoltier medical practitioner called by Mr. McGregor. Assuming your homicide theory is < orree.i, can you explain to me why .-. man should pass over a body to lire at a head ? —“Because it is the nest place to shoot him, isn’t it?”

Don't you know as a medical man that the mouth is the likely place tor a suicide to lire at?—“l don’t know how he was shot. L’m only suggesting how he might have been shot.”

Detective Quirke: Well, if you don't know how lie was shot, you don't know anything about it. At this stage the Court adjourned until to-day, the Coroner intimating that Drs. King and Wilson would then have an opportunity of attacking the theory of Drs. Miller a lid Bovd.