THE SUSPECTION MURDER AT BLUESKIN BAY INQUEST ON THE BODY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 126, 11 April 1862, Page 4

THE SUSPECTION MURDER AT BLUESKIN BAY INQUEST ON THE BODY

An inquest on the body of John Cross, whose death, under suspicious circumstances, has already been reported in the DuiljJ Time*, was held yesterday, by the District ..Coroner, at the Court-house, Port Chalmers. John Morris Grey, the young man charged with being concerned iv the death of the deceased was present at the enquiry, in custody of the police. After the jury had been charged by the Coroner, who sfcvted fie law bearing upon the different degrees of homicide, the jury proceeded to take a view of the body where it lay, iv the shei adjoining the Tort Chalmers Hotel, and on their- return to the Courthouse the following witnesses were called : — Thomas Emerson, seaman, said he had lately been encaged as an oysterrnan at Blueskin Bay, and had a share in a fishing boat which he used there, alone with the deceased, John Cross. On Sunday evening last, the deceased and he, with Alfred Warren. Thomas Reynolds, and the man present in the court, who was a stranger to him, left Dickson s Half-Way House, on the Jihieskin Road, for tent on the opposite side of the bay. While they' were on their way the boat ■'ot aground. The deceased, along with the stranger, jumped out and tried to push her off, while those in the boat assisted them by shoving with the oars, but chey did not succeed. Immediately previous to this, a quarrel had arisen in the boat, and some words passed but no blows were exchanged. The words which uassecl, were between Iloynohlsand Gross, about the one taking the steor oar out of the other s hand. While they were quarrelling, ttrey, the stranger, lifted a bottle of whisky which they had in the boat, and was in the act of striking Cross when the witness took it from him. When this occurred, deceased said to (irev, "Never you interfere with m-ite3 when they quarrel," and tri'ey said he was sor.y if lie had done .anything wrong. Atter the boat a\ pea ed to be thoroughly "aground, Warren, Reynolds, and witness remained in it. The deceased1 and Grey proceeded'in

"""""" """" *" "' " !*«J«»»»«JiiMiiiw»iiiiiii J ai>gwßaaasM ihe direction of the shore, and shortly after they left, perhaps about a quarter of an hour, lie heard she deceased cry out, ■' Tommy Fixins, for iiod's sake come and save me; I am drowning. '* He called to him, and told him he ooidd not swim, so there was no use leaving the b-iat. . " Tommy Fixins '' was a nickramo of the witacss.ln • Victoria. By this time lie heard some one coming towards the boat, it proved to bu Grey, who came back wet all over, and without his cap. Witness asked him if he had been swimming, .and he replied that lie had been over head in the water, and hail lost his cap. Witness gave him some whisky out of the bottle, hud asked him, if he could swim, to go and save his mate. lirey said:he could swim, as he had escaped )>v swimming from the Young America, and, when lie welit - «>ver the side of the boat, witness lighted some matches' co let them see where it lay. Neither Grey nor the deceased ever returned, but, for about a quarter of an hour, he heard both deceased and Grey, calling out to each other, and deceased continued ■to call for help. Afterwards the sounds ceased, and those in the boat, thinking both of them had got ashore, lay down on a sail and a swag they had in the boat, and slept until she floated ■ in tiie morning. As soon as she floated, they steere.i Her to the beach, went ashore, and proceeded to Dick- . son's house to get breakfast They enquired it the " deceased lia-.l bsen there, and were told that he had not. They had two or three drinks, and started again to return on foot to their camp, taking half a tiottle of spirits with them. When on their way along the beach, witness called the attention of the Jthers to something lying on the sand, above lowwater mark. Ijefoie going to the spot, lie called the attention of two persons who were travelling along the road, and those parsons accompanied them to the object, when it turned out to be the body of the deceased. The body was lying with its face on the sand. One of the strangers turned the body over, «nd he saw that there were two cuts beneath the ;yes, and some blood about his face and on the front jf his trousers. He assisted to carry the body above ■ligh-water mark, and then proceeded to give" information to the police. He could not say'exactly, but • supposed'the body was found about 400 or oOOvaivls from where the boat had lain. He did not ti.ink ohere was not, at high water, more than a depth of /our feet in the space between the boat and she shore. Deceased was' a good swimmer, and was • accustomed^ to wade in much deeper water than therewwass s on the bank at the time he attempted to go ashore. To the best of witness's knowledge, deceased had not had more than three or four drinks during the day, and he was so sober as to persrade them to come away from the house, to carry i swag to the boat, and to steer her after they went • afloat. Grey had "shouted for them in the inn, ■ And had some drink from them in return, but he was lot drunk. He was the worse for liquor, but could .ralk down to the boat, and knew well enough what he was about.

By the Jury: When the boat grounded, he thought ;he tide would be about half-ebb. They did not see Jie body on their , way to the inn, as it was high water.'' When they returned it was about three in the ifteinoon, and was about dead low water. With five of them in her their boat would draw about a .bot of water. Ho could not say exactly, but he ohought there could not be more than eighteen inches of water where the deceased tried to get ashore.

By Inspector Welrlon: There was no quarrel between the deceased and Grey during- the day. lie jould not say whether they struck each other in the ooat or not, at the time the bottle was lifted. They night have struck each other without his seeing them, i'he deceased aud Grey had no words when leavin" tho boat. -.

By the Jury : He (witness) was too drunk to go out into the water on a dark night to save a man who .vas sober and could swim. On hearing the cries he Lskecl the prisoner who could swim to go.

By the prisoner: Witness had no quarrel or angTy .vonis with the deceased in the accommodation house, irin its neighbourhood. Prisoner did comeback to the mat, after leaving' it for the first time. He did not :ee prisoner drop hia cap overboard. There were two :ombs and a sheath-knife fouud in the boat, but witless could not say how they came there. Did not !cnow*they were the property of the prisoner.

Thomas Reynolds, seaman, Port Chalmers, examined by Insi>ector Weldon, g-ave evidence similar to ohat of the previous witness. The party had had Irihk in the accommodation house, but were suffi■iently sober to know what they were doing, and to walk :i mile and a haif to the boat. There was no alercation among them on shore. When the boat was 'hoved off deceased asked the accused where he was roing, and he answered tiiat lie wanted to go to V'ourig's, as his blankets were there, and it would-■-ave him the trouble of going round the bay. After they had made sail deceased came aft, and said " give me "that oar; I'll steer the boat myself;" and witness • aye the oar to him: when he continued to steer- the ioat.'until she got aground. Witness and deceased iiad some words together when that happened and while they were speaking the prisoner lifted the bottlo .is if to strike, but last witness took it out of his haiid. Did not.recollect if the prisoner said anything-. Afterwards deceased and witness ended their quarrel, md shook hands. About five minutes after the de;eased and prisoner left the boat, heard the deceased :ry out for help, as he was drowning, and he continued to call out for about ten minutes, when the prisoner returned to the boat. When he came to the watthefirstwitnessaskedhimifhecouUlswim. Hesaid iie could, and Emerson then asked him to take a Irink out of the bottle, and go and save his mate, as lone in the boat could swim. After the prisoner left ;he boat, the same cries continued, and some other loises which they could not understand. This lasted tbout a quarter of an hour, when the noises ceased, io far. as they could hear. He did not think he heard nore than one voice, and that was the voice of tho leccased. His impression was that both had got ishore. The cries were not such as those that would proceed from a man who was being ill-used. It was ibout half-tide at the time, and there is not more tLan Si or 4 teet of water at the time of high water bet ••sen ihe boat and the point, of the shore where ! lelecased went. The deceased, he supposed, »1 ill tiie direction of the shore they had left, and t\.a notly was found in that direction. Though the water was 'hallow, the mud along the shore is soft and deep. When discovered there was a quantity of blood on the leceased's face, and on the ground were the face was 1 ying. There were footprints on the uind between tho body and the bank where the boat had gone {■ground.

By the Jury : When the deceased left the boat, the loom of the land was easily distinguishable. When the prisoner came back to the boat he was walking, but iiad been over head in water, and not knowing where .the deceased had {rot, and not being swimmers, they Vere afraid to trust themselves out of the boat.

By the Coroner: When tin prisoner lifted the ijottle, the deceased did not strike him, but he said to him, " I have a good mind to throw you overboard. You should not interfere when mates are quarrelling/ and the accused said he was sorry if he had done wrong. Dr. JVeis n, who was npxt called, stated that he had examined the body of the deceased. The body was on its back, with the arms partially fo'ded across the chest, and the hands and teeth clenched. There were marks of blood on the face and neck, abrasions of the skin, .small spots over the front part of the neck, and slight extravasation of blcod round the neck and on the right chuck. There were a'so two wounds on the face, o.ie under each 63-0, dividing the under eye-lid and the integuments tint cover the cheek-bone. The wound under the left eye was about an inch and a quarter long, and a quarter of an inch deep ; that on the right side was about an inch long and merely divided the cuticle. The edcrcs of the cartilages of the ears were denuded of curticle and deroded. Below both cars, on thestcrno-inastoid process, were two circular abrasions of the skin, about half an inch in diameter. Both eye-halls slightly protruded, the left especially so. Tlie skull \v,ii not fractured in any part. The dura mater and veulicle* of the brain were healthy, and the latter contained the usual amount of scrum. The base of the brain wa-< also healthy. On opening the thorax ho found both lungs distended, and full of sero-mucous fluid. lie examined the trachea. The cartilages showed no marks of violence, but its cavity was filled with frothy mucih, tinged with blood. ' From the !ips similar mucus escaped. The heart was healthy. The jugulars and carotids on both sides were entire, and indicated no marks of violenc. The cause of death was asphyxia. By the Coroner: The cuts under the eye were caused by a blunt instrument, certainly not by a sharp one. There were no marks on the prominent part of the face, as would likely have happened had a man been washed over an oyster bed, and the marks under the eye could not easily have been caused by shells, or while the body was on the ground. The death, in his.opinion, was the result of suffocation in water.

By Inspector Weldon : The wounds under the eye ho believed to have been caused before death, but lie did not think they could have been so hy a razor, unless it was very blunt, neither were they Sufficient to cause death. Shown a razor found on the prisoner, he did not think the wounds could have been caused by it, unless it were used shut. Without examining them by the microscope, he could not say that the marks on the handle were marks of blood.

At this stage of the evidence, the inquest was'adjourned until six o'clock, the jury having already sat for five hours.

The report of the concluding proceedings did not reach us to the time of our going to press, but it was considered probable that a verdict of accidental death would be recorded, the evidence not tending to connect the accused with tlie death of.the deceased.