PUGILIST'S FATAL BLOW.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8836, 12 June 1907, Page 1

PUGILIST'S FATAL BLOW.

i A most sousaatioual tragedy was [ enacted iu tlio train which left j Epsom, a few miles to the south of i Loudon, after the races, a man named Robert Ohoat, a gas-worker, being killed as the result, it is alleged, of a blow struck by Pedlar Palmer, the well-known boxer. It was when the train readied Purley Station that the discovery of the tragedy was made. The door of a. carriage iu which 10 people were travelling was opened, and a man fell or was lifted out on to the platform. Ho was unconscious. Two passengers, one of whom proved to bo Pedlar Palmer, also'got out of the compartment. They were detained by Porter Hill and others. A doctor

| was at once called, and after a | cursory examination of the injured i man ho pronounced life to be ex--1 tiuot. The body was removed to a • waiting room. On the arrival of . the jaolico the two men who had I been detained were taken to Kenley j Police Station. Palmer was charged, f but the other man was released. A j passenger named Mr Squires, who i was in the next compartment, made i the following statement to the ! police—“At Tatteuham Corner ! Station an elderly man entered the i second-class carriage in which 19 \ persons wore travelling, and began ! jto sing. This annoyed the other I i passengers in the carriage. The man ' persisted in singing, and then I I hoard blows struck and tiro sound of I a thud. Lookiugfacross the compartj ment through A.ho throng of passengers, I saw a man in a semiprostrato condition, and remarked, ‘Why, you have killed him.’ Then Pedlar Palmer replied, ‘No, I have only shaken him.’ ” It was not until the following day that the deceased was identified. Pedlar Palmer was brought before the Croydon County Bench on the following day on a charge of murder, and remanded. Prisoner’s name was given on the charge-sheet as Thomas Palmer, described as a commission agent. The proceedings only lasted a very short time. The Court was crowded, and many people collected outside the police station, which is opposite the Court, to see prisoner walk across. The first witness was Prank Cramp, a middle-aged man, who said ho was a paperhauger. Witness said: I was in a train from Tadworth to Croydon at about half past 0 at night, in a third-class divided compartment. I was in the next compartment to prisoner. The Clerk: What did you sec or hear?—l did not see much; I saw a man get in and strike another man. What part of the journey was itV —Just before we got into Kiugswood tunnel I saw two blows struck. Who struck them? —The man in the dock. On what part of the body did lie strike him? —I could not say. Did you hear any words? —No. Witness saw or heard nothing more till they got to Purley station, when lie saw a dead man being taken out on to tire platform. Mr Clarke : You were not in the same compartment as the man who struck the blow?—No. Chief Inspector Jenkins, the next witness, said: About five minutes past eight I saw the dead body of a man lying in the waiting room on Purley "Station. Prisoner and another man, who has since been released, were in an adjoining room under detention. From what I was told, witness wont on, 1 had prisoner and the other man taken to Kenley Police Station. I afterwards went to the station and saw Palmer. I told him he was defined on suspicion of causing a man’s death, and that I should have to make further inquiries. Plmer said: “I did not strike him; I only shook the old man; he wanted to sing and dance.” At twenty minutes to one the next morning, after making inquiries, I charged prisoner'with murdering deceased. Ho said, ‘ ‘ Good God Almighty!”

Chief Inspector Fowler then asked for a remand, which was granted, and prisoner was removed from the dock.