CROWDS CHEER VERDICT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 791, 11 October 1929, Page 1

CROWDS CHEER VERDICT

“Murder By Unknown Person”

AMAZING SCENE AT READING Suspect Carried Shoulder-High Australian and X.Z. Press Association Received 9 a.m. LONDON, Thursday. AT the Reading inquest, a verdict of murder by someone unknown was returned. The foreman of the jury announced that the evidence was too conflicting to permit of the jury’s definitely establishing guilt.

The verdict was cheered inside and outside the court. When Philip Yale Drew, the actor who was under suspicion, emerged he was most unconcerned. He was carried shoulder-high to his hotel. The jury was two and three-quarter hours considering its verdict. There were remarkable demonstrations in the crowded court, where Drew was acclaimed as a hero, and also in the streets, where a crowd of 4,000 accompanied him to his hotel and listened to a fervid speech from the balcony. “The One above” —here Drew almost broke down—“like myself, knows that I had nothing to do with this crime. From the bottom of my heart, and on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Lindo, I thank you.” Mr. Lindo is joint proprietor of “The Monster” Company, in which Drew, was acting. When Drew retired, Mrs. Lindo came to the front of the balcony and threw kisses to the crowd and thanked them in broken phrases until Drew returned and kissed her lips, amid cheers. Mr. and Mrs. Lindo say there is a possibility that Drew will make London appearances in “The Monster.” Drew says: “I don’t want a holiday. I would like to appear in “The Monster” tonight. When I do, I shall act as I have never done before.” A STRIKING FIGURE DREW DOMINATES TRAGEDY TO THE END MELODRAMATIC METHODS Australian and N.Z. Press Association Reed. 1.30 p.m. LONDON, Thursday. Drew’s leonine presence and appearance, and his melodramatic methods, dominated the Reading tragedy to the end. The coroner, summing up, detailed the testimony of the 60 witnesses, the greater number of whom were concerned with Drew’s whereabouts in the fatal 10 minutes. When the jury retired, Drew’s famous blue suit and other exhibits were taken to the retiring room, also a book entitled “A Day from London to Penzance,” which Oliver was reading when he was struck down. There was a hush'in the crowded court when the foreman began to read the verdict, but his closing words “Persons unknown,” resulted in an amazing scene, women rising and waving handkerchiefs, and men throwing their hats in the air and cheering, Drew was occupied in consoling Mrs. Lindo, who wept with relief on hearing the verdict. When Drew appeared with his counsel, Mr. Fearnley Whittingstall, in the streets, the ovation was repeated. A

crowd outside the court greeted the actor with cheers and a storm of handclapping, while Drew, surrounded by a dozen constables, made his way to his hotel. Finally he was shouldered, as the police had to fight a way for Drew and his party until they reached the hotel. Drew, on the balcony, threw kisses to the crowd below. At last, with outstretched hands, he signalled for silence, and said: “Just a moment. Before you go to your homes, I want to thank you for the prayers you sent up on my behalf, t shall never forget this demonstration, and the glorious sympathy you have extended.” Drew' concluded: “Moreover. I shall never forget the wonderful courtesy your glorious Press has unanimously accorded me. Good afternoon to you all.” Interviewed later, Drew' said: ‘I feel deeply that the system of the coroner’s inquiry is wrong. It is not exactly a third degree or a crucifixion. but it is a terrible ordeal. My conscience is satisfied absolutely. I have shirked nothing. What more could I do? “I sincerely trust that the man "who killed Oliver will be found sooner or later, not for my own personal satisfaction, but in the interests of justice, and also to confute the few doubting Thomases who may still exist. Any of those who have seen me go through the ordeal must realise that I held up my head from the first to last, and there was no reason why I should not.”

The people of England are mystified by a tragedy in which Alfred Oliver, aged GO. tobacconist, of Cross Street. Reading, was found bludgeoned to tlie point of death in his shop, on June 22. His wife left the house at G. 5 p.m.. and returned at 6.15 p.m. She found hen’ husband dying. For ' three months the inquiries made by the police failed to lead to an arrest, but at the inquest the other day a strange story was unfolded In the Coroner’s Court. Philip Yale Drew, an actor, aged 50, who was playing the part of a disguised detective in a play called “The Monster,” which was being staged at Reading at the time of the murder, sat and listened to a long succession of witnesses. They pointed to him as a man whom they had seen behaving strangely outside Oliver’s shop oil the evening of the crime. Other witnesses said Drew was late at the theatre that night, and that he afterward explained he had lost the trousers which he usually wore on the stage. A servant in a lodging-house said Drew asked for some benzoline to clean a jacket. He was excitable and nervy. Another witness, however, said he had seen a strange man other than Drew in the neighbourhood that night, and that he had made a statement to that effect to the police. Drew was cheered by big crowds as he went to the inquest.