THE TROTTER MURDER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 234, 21 February 1913, Page 5

THE TROTTER MURDER.

THOMPSON ACQUITTED. A SCENE OF ENTHUSIASM. By Cable—Press Association —Copyright. Received 20, !).50 p.m. Melbourne, February 20. Chief Justice Madden, summing up, said that if the jury were satisfied that the finger-print on the window sill was Thompson's they were at liberty to convict him of murder. It appeared that accused was in the Post Oflice Hotel, which is in the neighborhood of the tragedy, until eleven, o'clock that night. Accused said that he then took a train t.) town. If so, one would have thought that he would have been able to call someone who saw him. The corroborating circumstances, though slight, were not without significance. The jury, after a four hours' retirement, returned with a verdict of "Not guilty." The crowd outside cheered the verdict, and escorted Thompson down the street, eheeringq.

CONTEMPT OF COURT. Received 21, 1.10 a.m. Melbourne, February 20. The editor of the Age lias been fined ■LIO, and the publisher .11, for contempt of court in connection with a paragraph 1 during the trial of Thompson, by stating that finger-prints could be faked and reproduced with a rubber stamp, and used to the detriment of a prisoner. A second paragraph stilted that the jury was the most befogged that ever sat in the court. Justice .Madden said that it was not good taste if it was not contempt, and accepted an apology.