MURDER CASE REVIVED

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 210, 14 December 1910, Page 8

MURDER CASE REVIVED

CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION. NORWAY TAKES ACTION. On May 12,1908, a man named Bourke was found kicked to death in a shed in Westport. For the crime Hallinan (a Russian Finn), Anders Andersen (a Norwegian), and Connelly (brass boy), at that time employed on a .steamer in port were arrested, brought before, the magistrate, and committed for trial. The case aroused considerable interest on the coast, and particularly in Westport. The trial took place at Nelson before Judge Chapman. Connelly turned King's evidence, stating that Hallinan and Andersen had assisted him in murdering Bourke. The outcome of the trial (in which the charge was reduced from murder to manslaughter) was that Hallinan and Andersen were found guilty, and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment, and Connelly was released.

Confident that his clients were innocent, Mr. McDonald, as soon as the trial -was over, took out a warrant for the arrest of Connelly for .perjury, but the police refused to execute the warrant. The Minister for Justice was communicated with, and as the result of instructions from Wellington Connelly was arrested in Nelson, and underwent his trial at Westport. Some idea cam be gained of the interest and importance of the case when it is stated that the trial lasted for three weeks. Connelly was committed for trial, and some time later faced the charge at the Hokitika session of the Supreme Court. Mr. Justice Cooper, who presided, summed up in favour of the accused, but the jury brought in a verdict of guilty, and he was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. At 10 o'clock on the night oi his committal Connelly confessed in his cell that he alone was guilty of the murder of Bourke, and exonerated Hal'linan and Andersen from any complicity in the affair. STATEMENT BY THE NORWEGIAN VICE-CONSUL. ■ Mr. R. R. Whyte (the Vice-Consul for Norway), states that when Hallinan and Andersen, were released from the Hokrtika Gaol they were penniless. "It was on a Friday," says Mr. Whyte, "that Hallinan and Andersen were-dis-charged from the Sokitika Gaol. Knowing no one, they made their way to Westport, and came to see me. I was walking down the main streeet of the town with Andersen on the Sunday when he fell down in a fit. I had him carried to an adjacent boardinghouse, where he lingered on until the Wednesday, when he died in my arms. "Some months 'later I put in a claim: to the Government for £SOO (to cover; the expenses of Messrs. McDonald and: Herdman), and £IOOO to compensate the | parents of Andersen in Norway (his; death having been brought on by the strain and mental anguish suffered for! many weeks, whilst lying under the false charge of murder). The Govern, ment refusing to pay anything or recognise any claim, I got into communication with my Consul-General in Melbourne (Mr. Sigurd Bentzon), who wrote to the New Zealand Government, and, gaining no satisfaction, subsequently referred the whol* matter to the Norwegian Ambassador in London (through the Norwegian Government).

CLAIM NOT RECOGNISED. The Ambassador was informed in duo course that-the New Zealand Government refused to recognise the claim,-and no assurance was given that the British Government would press for a settlement of the claim. Mr. R. K. Whyte (Vice-Consul for Norway at Westport) received a further communication from Mr. Sigurd Bentzon, Consul-General at Melbourne, recently, which included the following passage:— "I iknow that foreign representatives in New Zealand ha-ve been advised by their respective Governments of the (Hallmon and Andersen) case, -nd what their respective Governments may expect from New Zealand if ever placed in a similar position as Norway." > As evidence of the sentiment of the people of Westport in regard to this matter, Mr. Whyte says that the citizens presented Mr. McDonald with a handsome gold watch and a set of law books, and subscribed towards the erection of a tombstone for Andersen—the finest monument in the Orowaiti Cemetery For his services in connection witn the affair, Mr. R. R. Whyte has been decorated by King Haakon with the Older of St. Olaf.-Welhngton Dominion.