SYDNEY SENSATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 March 1921, Page 7

SYDNEY SENSATION.

SHOOTING OF DR. TOZER. CORONER’S VERDICT—MURTiER. MRS. MORT ACCUSED. A verdict of murder against Mrs. Dorothy Mort has been returned by a Sydney coroner at the inquest in connection with the death of Dr. Claude John Tozer, who was found shot dead at Mrs. Mort’s home at Lindfield on December 21. Dressed wholly in black and heavily veiled Mrs- Mort appeared weak and ill at the inquest, and the officials placed a screen about her couch in the court. Throughout the proceedings -she was tended by a wardress. Constable Alfred Marsden, describing the scene of the tradegy, said he found the body of Dr. Tozer in a lounging position on a couch in the dining room. It bore a punctured, wound on the right temple, and a Colt automatic revolver was lying on his right thigh. It was near but not touching his right hand, the fingers of which were fully extended. Witness found a letter, signed “Claude,” and on a subsequent search found other letters. Two of these letters were as follows: Roseville, Friday. Dearest Lady,—There Is one virtue I possess —there may be others, which you and your sympathetic mind will reveal—and that virtue is never to break a promise, so here is the letter. To begin with, and to plagiarise the old Governor of North Carolina, "it is a long time between meetings,” but though the time drags slowly enough while waiting it seems to fly fast enough, and far too fast, when we do meet, which is funny, but true. The telegraphic messages have been duly received, and if continued will no doubt make me a firm believer in Conan Doyle’s spiritualistic theories. It is to be hoped that my messages as sent were received, and enabled you to get a little more sleep than usual— at any rate they were intended to comfort you, and in this way help you through the dreary nights. It only shows how temperaments differ—the more anxious I am the better I sleep, although apparently my subconscious self is busy at work trying to unravel some problem, for in the morning a new aspect seems to dawn on me. So I think I must be or have a receptive soul—that is, if a doctor can have a soul—another little item for you to discover.. There would certainly seem to be unfathomed depths in my make-up which no one has yet troubled to explore, so there is an adventure for you. Try and worry out what Is good in me besides sympathy and reverence, and if you have done nothing else you will then have something on the credit side when the Big Book is looked into at the end. Au revolr. Yours longingly. (Signed) Claude. Roseville, Friday. Dearest Little Lady,—l am in serious mood to-night, probably because lack of patients has given me plenty of time to think. Naturally the thoughts are of you—there is nothing else now to be interested in, except work, to conquer the hunger, but—and it is suet a big but—where is it all going to lead us, and when or how is it going to finish? It is, really, a very apparent problem, because it always brings you up against the same old answer of —nowhere. And then you try to think round •the stonewall and see .if there It any way of overcoming it, and I cannot see one, so tne only thing to do is to gather happiness while ye may and let things slide, which is admittedly dangerous, and, at the same time not very satisfactory. You know—or you should by now, Di—that I am never happier than when you are near me. Even the sight of you seems to comfort me, which is all very well for the present; but that platonic kind of existence cannot go on for ever. I never have believed in it. And there is the future, because as sure as the sun rises and sets one clay I will forget, and then there Is nothing between us and damnation except your purity and strength. Don’t 'blame me too much, Di., if my reserve goes to the wind some day. There is in every one of us some deep-seated fountain of emotion—call It passion if you lik<- Mine has never been tapped except by you. and some day the pressure will be too great .’or me, and who knows what I would s.'l or do? You have stirred me to such an extent. little lady, that you are now sitting metaphorically on a sleeping volcano, I am pretty resi'ained, I know, because I have tried to be for j Ars, but for you that restraint is very nearly (one. I cannot explain why. There is hardly one woman who has ever attracted me beXre, but they say you get it badly when you fail, and there is no explanation. So, lady fair.’-jt is better for us to take stock of things now, Ijefore I break out, and consider what is to be -done. At present I am content to glide on the river of bliss, but the small conscience sits on the bank and shows the danger signal. Still, nous verrons, for ihe moment every thing Is nothing, except another day gone and Tuesday is nearer. Tout mon amour. Claude. “I SHOT DR. TOZER.” Witness said that while he was on duty in Mrs. Mort’s ward at the Royal North Shore Hospital on January 6 she called him over. “J>id you ever shoot anyone?” she asked, and on witness replying in the negative, she added, “I did.” Witness cautioned her that her statements would be given in evidence against her, but she replied: ' - ‘T don’t mind. lam prepared to suffer -any punishment the law may inflict, y shot Dr- Tozer. He was sitting on the couch. I was standing behind, and •showing him a present T had bought for him in my left hand. I took the revolver from off the ledge behind me in my right hand and shot him in the back of the head. I then went round the end of the couch and shot him through t' l '-' side of the head. I then undid his vest < and shot him through the chest. I buttoned his vest up again. I don’t know what made me do it. It was awful; T wished I could die. I lay in his arms for two hours afterwards.”

THE SCENE OF THE TRAGEDY. Detective-Inspector Leary described the scene of the tragedy when he visited it. There was blood on Dr. Tozer’s hands, face, right sleeve and shoulder, and there was a large pool of blood on the sofa near his right side. Partly underneath his right arm was a bloodstained kimono. A torh-up photograph of Mrs. Mort, with writing on the back, was found in a waste-paper basket, also a visiting card. On December 23 witness interviewed Mrs. Mort at her residence, and she said she did not wish to make a statement. While witness was searening the room, Mrs. Mort said to him : “Have the police got two letters of mine, one addressed to Dr. Tozer’s mother and another to Mrs, Woodruff, of New Zealand, my mother?” Witness .said that he knevv that the police had some letters, and Mrs. Mort said. “Well don t po-?t those letters.”. Witness found two letters corresponding to her description. The letters were tendered as exhibits. Evidence was given by W. C. W. Cowles, gunsmith, of the purchase of the

automatic pistol, now in court, by a woman who called at his business premises on December 15, and Said she wanted' it as a present for her husband in India. At this stage Mrs. Mort collapsed, and W4 of ccurtj

MRS. MORT’S LETTERS. In the course of the letter to her mother, dated December 15, Mrs. Mort wrote : I feel ill again to-night, and have a feeling that I am going to cross to the other side soon. I am a real failure—doing things I am sorry for after. I cannot be. bappy in my own home. Everything is dust and ashes* in my mouth, and I live in a perpetual state of nerves. Should anything happen to me, darling, will you look after my darling children. They would be happier with you than with me, because lately I have not been able to give my whole heart to them, but I adore them all the same. Dr. Tozer was here this morning, and comes to-morrow morning. He swore to make me care for him as he cared for me, which he has done. I love and worship him to the exclusion of everything. He asked me to marry him> and later on get a divorce; but there were the children. I tried so hard to be strong and fine. He begged me so to be everything to him. For (months I held out, and then one day he just forgot everything, and now wo are eating our hearts out. Life is bitter hell, and I feel I cannot go on living. We love each other more and more. There was no going back oneo having crossed the Rubicon. To-day wo have agreed that we must not go on any longer. We say good-bye to-morrow, but will still meet as pals, which I don’t think possible. He said I was an angel, and how he ■ reverenced me. What an incentive I I have been In all his work and play. How he loved me! He looked ghastly, and is coming to-morrow to finally say good-bye. We know it is only right. He has been the jnost wonderful and perfect lover, but I cannot spare his life. May God forgive me. Good-bye, my precious unum. It is history repeating itself. I cannot help attracting men as this last year has proved, but I never thought or meant to be w’icked. —Your devoted daughter, Domi.

To Mrs. Tozer, mother of Dr. Tozer, Mys. Mort wrote :

Your son has loved me, and I think more perfectly and wonderfully than is permitted most people. He forgot, as his recent letter says he might, and we agreed to part. I have twice asked him to let me release him, but he would not have it. Without any word or warning, or even suggestion, he asked another girl to marry hiun, and tten tells me, and the worst of it is th at* ho loves me, too, but he feels things are hopeless between us. Had he told me first, and then asked this girl to be his wife, I would have at once given him his freedom. For five wonderful* months he has made me happy, begging me to trust him, as I implicitly did. I have been a most unhappy woman, and from our first meeting he loved me, and swore to make me care. The shock I cannot survive. There are more wardly things than taking one’s life, ?hd ...at Is treachery to a woman, a trusting woman. One of the last wonderful things he said to me—“ First I want your love, DI., then your soul, and, lastly, your body.” He suggested divorce, but neither of us could bear that, but he said he would wait for me, aqd was content to do so. He looks ghastly, and says bow unhappy he really is, but it is too late. —Diana Mort.

In the course of his evidence Mrs. Mort’s husband said that, in the face of recent events, he was satisfied that his wife was not rational. During the last five yeans she had very tragic experiences. A few years ago her father attacked his wife and son wi|h an axe and tried to cut his own throat. He was sent to Goulburn gaol as an insane patient, and a short time after he was allowed out. He went to New Zealand and committed suicide. That happened on December 9, 1919. From the Christmas of that year witness noticed that his wife suffered from fits of depression. During her father’s trial, she was the only available relative, and she had tn bear tlie brunt of it. She had a nervous breakdown while the trial was pendin* and another about three years ago. Mrs. Mort was in the habit of talking about her own death since the beginning of November last. Since November last witness said he was never sure whether he would find her alive or not. He had no idea whatever of any improper relations existing between his* wife and deceased.

Dr. Aubrey Palmer, Government Medical Officer, said he considered Mrs. Mort was certifiably insane. Her condition of insanity was consistent with her having been so for some considerable time. Dr. Stratford Sheldon gave corroborative evidence. Dr. James Adam Johnston Murray said that from her symptoms he suspected that Mrs. Mort had been taking some strong narcotic. DR. TQZER’S MOTHER. Beatrice Bertha Tozer, Dr. Tozer’s mother, gove evidence of a conversation she had with Mrs. Mort on December 22. She said to Mrs. Mort : “I have come here as you desired me,” and Mrs. Mort then said she wanted her to know the whole .truth of the matter. Mrs. Mort went on to say that two years before she met Dr. Tozer she had been desperately unhappy, and she loved the doctor immediately she saw him.' She had last year bought a revolver for a man going to Morocco, but bad not given him all the cartridges, an<t this year she bought another one, “and with those cartridges,” she added, “I killed the doctor.” Witness inquired : “How did you do it.” She said : “I went closely up to him and he immediately died ; he never suffered.” Witness said :• “If you loved him, why did you kill him?” She said, after hesitation : “We had talked it over together, and decided it was the only way out.” Witness asked her to tell her the truth, and she then said that the last time the doctor was there he told her he intended asking some girl to be his wife. It was too cruel, and she could not bear it, and determined if she cduld' not have ; him no other woman should. 5 Mrs. Tozer added that the first time ‘Dr. Tozer came back from seeing Mrs. Mort he said : “I don’t know why God made these neurotic women.” \ Evidence was given of the purchase of ffiudanum by Mrs. Mort early in December As\the last witness stepped.down from the box, Mrs. Mort was again brought into tile court. • Through her counsel sne intimated that she reserved her defence, and tWe coroner then returned a verdict of murder against her, committed her fow trial. Mrs.l Mort, again collapsed, and was carried| from the court.