AUSTRALIAN NEWS. (Per R. M. S. Mariposa. ) The Caatlereagh-street Tragedy. BORSBOOM ACQUITTED OF THE CHARGE OF MURDER.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 220, 17 September 1887, Page 1

AUSTRALIAN NEWS. (Per R. M. S. Ma riposa. ) The Caatlereagh- street Tragedy.

BORSBOOM ACQUITTED OF THE CHARGE OF MURDER.

A klmakkable trial, which has excited a very great amount of interest in Sydney, lm.s been brought to a close in the acquittal of the accused, Henry Borsboom, who was charged with the murder of his wife on June Bth. The accused was the keeper of the Great Australian Coifee Palace, Castlereaghstreet, and lived there with hia wife, who was about 32 years of age. They had been mariied about 12 years, and had one child— a girl between three and four years of age. They did not appear to have lived very happily together for a month prior to the occurrence, and on the previous day they had had a quarrel, occasioned by the deceased finding a lady's glove in her husband's pocket. On this account the deceased threatened, in the presence of the accused and her little sister, to leave him and take a house of her own. She did packup a few things that day— whether with the serious intention of going away or merely for the purpose of frightening the prisoner does not appear. She, however, tlept at the Coffee Palace that night, and early on the following morning the tragedy took place. The firot person on the scene was Charles Henry Kershaw, a cook, m ho slept in a loom on the same iloor as the prisoner and the deceased, about 9 yards distant, and who heard the report of a firearm at about a quarter to 6. Shortly after•\\aids he heard a door being unlocked, and distinguished the sound of groans apparently proceeding from Borsboom, who at the same moment knocked at his door, and called out, " For God's sake come out, my wife has shot herself." Kershaw immediately jumped up and accompanied Borsboom back to his bedioom, where the deceased lay in a composed attitude, shot dead through the temple, and the bedclothes apparently in order. Others who lived in the house also enteiecl the room, and the policeand medical assistance were sent for. During the whole of this time the prisoner appeared greatly agitated — walking up and down, gesticulating and embracing the corpse — and when an inquest wa 5 -" instituted later on during the day he gave evidence of his wife having shot herself. He stated that two days previously he had bought a five-chambered bulldog revolver and 25 cartridges, and placed them in a drawer in his bedroom. On the tame afternoon he asked his wife why she had not been down to take the cash at dinner-time. She replied that she had had enough of taking cash, and did nob want to take any more, and further announced her intention of leaving him. This was a repetition of a threat she had made in the morning, and in consequence of which he had bought the revolver. He then produced tno weapon, and threatened to do away with his own life if she again left him. She replied, " I don't care ; I am going my own way,'' upon which he loaded each chamber of the levoher and replaced it in the drawer. He really meant what he said, as he could not livo without her. The following morning he rose at about 5 o'clock, and taking alighted candle with him went to call his man to go to the kitchen. The deceased was then in bed, but he could not see whether she was asleep or awake. The gas had been burning in the room all night and was alight when ho left the zoom. He was absent about fivo minutes, and on returning spoko to hi 3 wife, and she replied to him. He endeavoured to effect a reconciliation with her, but she refused, and on his asking what she intended to do, she said " You will see." He did not again address her, but remained quiet until 6 o'clock, when he left the room for a few minutes. On his return he saw his wife, still in bed, "with the revolver in her right hand. She raised herself slightly, saying, "You don't want to shoot yourself now," and before be could prevent her she 3hot herself. This, briefly, was Borsboom\s story ; but the police, from a variety of circumstances which they considered incriminating, arrested him, and during the remainder of the inquest, which lastedover several days, he appeared in custody on suspicion of having caused his wife's death. The action taken by the police was endorsed by the coroner's jury, who, at the termination of the inquiry, returned a verdict of v ilful mutdcr against him. The first witness examined was Charles Kin&pel, an ironmonger, from whom Borsboom purchased the revolver. His evidence was of an unimportant character, as the accused admitted having bought the weapon. Charles Henry Kershaw, the cook, whose name has already been mentioned, gave evidence as to his having gone into the bedroom with the prisoner and found the deceased lying in bed. Arthur Howlett,a youth employed by the deceased, was examined, and described how he also lushed into the room after hearing the report, and found the prisoner standing just inside the door. The latter was much agitated and cried, "Oh, my God ! my wife's shot herself." He then went up to the bed, threw his arms round the woman's neck, and called upon her to speak to him. Witness was unable to a wear whether the deceased's arms were outside the clothes or not. Frederick Edwards and William Amiot, lodgers ab the place, gave evidence as to their having heard the report and having heard the accused say that his wife had shot herself. All these witnesses were closely cross - examined by Mr Buchanan, with a view to establishing, in the prisoner's favour, the facts of his having been greatly agitated and of his having raised the alarm within a minute or so of the report of the revolver being heard. Alice Wade, a girl of 16, sister to the deceased, deposed to the deceased and her husband having lived happily together until a month prior to her sister's death, when the latter began to show symptoms of jealousy. They quarrelled pretty frequently, but never came to blows. She also detailed the circumstance of the glove and the deceased's threat to leave, and stated that when she (witness) went to bed at about 10.15 her sister appeared in the usual

condition, but complained of headache. In answer to Mr Buchanan she said that the accused always treated the deceased tenderly, and appeared much cut up by her death. Senior-Constable Dier deposed to his having found the accused stooping beside the bed, dressed only in a shirt, with his left hand under the nightdress on deceased's chest. The left arm of deceased was resting by her side and the right arm was bent over the chest. Borsboom seemed very excited and said she had shot herself, assigning jealousy as the motive. The accused also related to the constable the circumstances connected \\ ith his purchase of the revolver and his wife's alleged suicide, as detailed in his statement before the coroner. Witness asked where the revon er was, and the prisoner said he had not seen it. Witness then found it on the floor, and after examining it, laid it doi\ n on a child's cot whilo he made an entry in his note-book. Borsboom then caught hold of the revolver, and witness took it away from him. The accused afterwards kissed the deceased's face, and witness then removed him from the room. Inspector Anderson repeated the evidence he had given at the inquest Dr. Sinclair deposed to having found tho deceased lying on her back at tho left sido of the bed* covered as far as the chest with the bed clothes. He further described the sun ound ings and the w omul as he did before tho Coroner's Cum t, and again related the oxpoumenhs he had n\i\do with the revolver, with a -\ie\Y to ascertaining whether the wound could have been &elf-iu-ilicted. In his opinion the shot had been tired within an inch or two of the skin, or moro probably the barrel was against the head. He thought that with the trigger cocked the deceased could lwe shot herself, but uncocked it would have been difficult, owing to the position of tho arm retarding the action ol the muscles. On this point tho witness underwent a severe cross-ex-amination at the hands of Mr Buchanan, during which he admitted that had she pulled the trigger w ith her thumb instead of the forefinger, a^ he had assumed in his experiments, she could have easily fired the weapon in the required position. Dr. Scot Skhvin<£ gave evidence corroboratheof that ot Dr. Sinclair. He was cross-examined at some length by Mr Buchanan a^> to the probabilities or otherwise, under the circumstances, of the deceased having committed suicide. He agreed with Dr. Sinclair that it would have been quite possible for her to have lired the fatal snot. He w a-, not, however, of opinion that under those circumstances the right arm of the deceased would have fallen across the breast as it was tound, but by the side of the body. William M. Hamlet, Government analyst, repeated generally tho testimony which he had given at the Coroner's Court respecting his analysis of an oily substance, mixed with gunpowder, with which the hand of the deceased was smeared. He also described a hole scorched in the dressinggown, which had been used as a quilt, and which the Crown assumed to have been made by the bullet. Witness further described the sheet of the bed, which was stained as if the revolver had been wiped on it after firing. He detailed a number of experiments which he had made with a view to ascertaining whether a similar hole to the one in the dressing gown would be produced by a revolver bullet. He expressed the opinion that the revolver had been cleaned since last fired when it came into his possession. This closed the case for the Crown. The accused, on being asked whether he had anything to say in his defence, rose in the dock and in broken English addressed a few words to the jury. He said that his evidence before the Coroner and the statements contained in his affidavit which had been put in evidence were all true, and that he was perfectly innocent of the terrible crime with which he was charged. He had lost all that was dear to him through the death of his wife. Ho was standing before his Maker (at this point the piisoner seemed overcome with emotion, but was understood to say that were he really guilty he could not stand before the jury, but would have put an end to himself). For the defence, Henry William Pryce gave evidence to seeing Borsboom holding up his hands and exclaiming, "My wife's shot herself." Witness replied " Oh, my God ; no ! where?" Borsboom answered "Here," and witness then followed him through tho smoking-room into the bedroom. The first thing that caught his eye was a spark of fire on the coverlet towards the right-hand side of the bed. (This spark as described by the witness would, if his evidence be accepted as true, account for the hole which the Crown assumed had been made by the bullet. ) A number of witnesses were called for the purpose of showing that the accused was always affectionately disposed towards his wife,and that she had on more occasionsthan one threatened to do away with herself. It was shown that w hen they were living in New Zealand three or four years ago she had exhibited jealousy without any apparent cause, and had been seen with a bottle of poison in her pocket, with which she said she intended to commit suicide, as she was sick of her life. It was at this time that the accused saved her and their child's lives at the risk of his own from a fire, by carrying them across a narrow parapet out of the ilames. On tho day before her death sho had gono to see an old friend named Mrs Cotfey, and seemed in very low spirits. She related some gossip she said she had heard about her husband having frequented balls and parties during her absence in England, and Mrs CofFey told her to take no notice of what people said, bub to thank heaven for giving her such a goud husband. The same advice was given her by a Mr and Mrs Isaacs, who were at the house the same night and who endeavoured to act the part of mediators, without success as far ag she was concerned. There were six or seven of these witnesses, all of most respectable appearance, and some of whom had voluntarily come up from New Zealand to give testimony in favour of the prisoner. They were all agreed that he was a most devoted and patient husband, and that deceased was of a morbidly jealous frame of mind.

After the addresses of counsel, the jury retired to consider their vorcKct at 3 o'clock, and as they had nob arrived at a decision at 7 o'clock they were locked up until 9 o'clock. At 9 o'clock His Honor returned* and the jury were called into Court. The foreman then stated that they had not agreed upon a verdict, and that they wore not likely to agree upon a verdict. They were then locked up until 9 o'clock on the following morning, when they returned a verdict of not guilty. The Sydney " Telegraph s> adds : " The three days of terrible suspense caused a gradual chango in Borsboom's appearance, and he grew move- care-worn and anxiouslooking on each clay, although his manner was extremely quiet. When the jury entered the Court on Satm day morning his expression of eagevaoss was positively painful to witness, and on the utterance of the glad but solGinn words "Not Guilty" tho reaction wa& too great for him, and he sank back on his seat sobbing painfully. Ho was immediately roloasod from tho dock — instead of travorsing the underground passage to the gaol which ho had troddon so many times- — and joined hi 3 friends in the precincts of the Court, they crowding around him with hearty congratulations."