CHARGE OF MANSLAUGHTER

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 128, 21 May 1908, Page 3

CHARGE OF MANSLAUGHTER

Hi* STIRUXG SEXSATIOX. '. THE COOK L\ THE BOX. A TERRIBLE BTOKY. SEARCHING CROSS EXAMINATION*. Per Press Association. Duucdiu, Last Xigbt. At Balclutha to-day, before Sir. Kerri(k, SAL, Richard Corni-h, late licensee ol the Stirling Hotel, was charged that he did on Ist May kill and slay Catherine '.Elizabeth Cornish, his wife. Mr. Fruei appeared for the Crown, and Mr Hanlon for the defence.

Elizabeth Bennett, employed as cock at the Stirling Hotel ou the date in question, said that on May Ist. in consequence of something the girl Knox said, she listened and heard thumping in Mrs. Cornish's bedroom. Witness

formed the opinion that the nuise was caused by Cornish dumping his wife up and down the room. The noise continued while she was dressing prior to her going to the kitchen. .i» Soon as witness started lighting the range the thumping ceased. She then heard moan, ing from Mrs. Cornish's room. The moaning started about 0.15 and continued to half-past eleven. After 11.30 everything was atill. Accused came into the kitchen about a quarter past two. He had an enamel dish in his hand. He got water from the tap in the kitchen raige. He said: "Lizzie, 1 think the •sswus is dead.'' He went into the bathroom with the basin. Witney went to the bedroom door. She saw deceased and sent for the doctor. She asked Cornish to come and put deceased on the bed. She was lying on the lloor ol the bedroom, her feet being under the bed and her head towards a chest of drawers. Accused said: "1 told her • I would murder her. I have done it.'' Witness said: "Keep your own counsel." He was then wiping the blood from deceased's face with a sponge. When she told him to keep his own counsel, he replied: "Don't leave me now, Lizzie: you are the only friend I have got." Witness replied: "No; I will not." Witness denied having taken the clothing off deceased's body. Witness did not -ee any blood in the bedroom or the passage. She did not clean up anv blood. but the girl Knox did. She saw her (cleaning it up in the sitting room, Which was "jnst swamped with blood." Cross-examined: She had been going under the name of Bennett for the last six years. Her maiden name was Elizabeth Bennett Mahoney. She was married and divorced, and afterwards i.n.k the name of Bennett. she told the troth at the inquest held on Mrs. torn iih's death.

Mr. Hanlon: Did yuii swear at the inquest that accused said to you: "I told her I would murder her anil 1 nave done it?"

Witness: I wasn't a-kcd tliat <|ii<— tion. There are lots of thing- yet I haven't been asked.

Mr. Hanlon: Were the other statements about thumping and moaning asked you at the impiest? Witness: Yes.

Farther cross-examined, witnc-, -aid she did not say at the int|iie-t that Cornish asked her not to leave him and that she was the only friend he had, because she was not to go and make enquiry when she heard moaning, because it was not her business to interfere with any other part of the house but the kitchen. Cornish gave information to the police on Wednesday against her on suspicion of theft. Cornish made a search of her box and took out a wrapper and pin belonging to deceased. Bhe took a wrapper to cut a pattern oat of it. Tt was not a fact that Cornish discharged her. Witnc~s had made no threats against accused. Mr. Hanlon: Didn't you gij to my office yesterday and ask for £l, saying if you did not get it you would put the show away? Witness: I did, but it was only "a lark." 1 didn't get it, »o it is alright.

MEDICAL EVIDENCE. Evidence was given by Dr. Burnett, of Balclutha, to the effect that there was a wound an inch and a-half long mi deceased's head. The head and face presented an uniformly bruised appearanec. There was a bruise on the brain on the right »ide of the scalp. In his opinion the swelling on the face and the black eye* were due to injuries received within twenty-four hours- before death. He thought the injure to the left side of the brain was possibly caused by a direct blow on the face, say. with <t fist. Witness thought the wound on the right temple had been caused by contact with a sharp edge. There was about loz or 2oz of blood .in the stomach. This, he thought, had been swallowed just before death. -Death seemed to have l>ecn caused by compression of the brain, due particularly to the injury to the left side. It was not within the -bounds of possibility that all the injuries could have been caused by a aingle Wow. He could not tell whether defeased Jlad been struck on the head or had fallen on a hard substance.

Eridenee was also given by Dr. Fitzgerald (Kaitangata). '. REMAND GRANTED. Tbe Crown Prosecutor »*ked for a remand. He said .the police had found another witness last night, a person who was believed to have spent the night of .April '3oth at the Stirling-, Hotel.

I%e case was adjourned to Dunedin till Wednesday next, on the understanding that accused be remanded back tn Baldutha on a suitable date.