A NEW ZEALAND BARRISTER CHARGED WITH MURDER.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1196, 26 June 1884, Page 3

A NEW ZEALAND BARRISTER CHARGED WITH MURDER.

The Auckland Herald's London correspondent writing under date May 9, says the sensation of the week haa been the arrest of Hugh Shortland, soo of Dr Shortland, of Auokland, upon the very serious charge of having murdered his wife either by poisoning her and then placing her body in a pond, or else by inflicting blows upon her head that led to her death, but the whole case is so peculiar and ao mysterious that I sead you a Jul! account of the affair as compiled bv the Western Morning New*, Plymouth, of May Bth, The London papers give sarne very extraordinary statements about the affair. The following is a full and connected account of this great mystery : A discovery of the mystery which surrounded ihe death of Mrs Hugh Shortland has been deepened by the discovery made yesterday morning of Shortland in. his hiding at Modbury, Qn Tuesday morning of last week Mrs Hugh Shortland was found drowned io an ornamental pond in the grounds of her father, v\ r „ Percy Dimes, of Qldstane, Blackton. On the following day an inquest was held by the Deputy Coroner, Mr T. Edmonds, of Talmans, and at the inquest Mr Dimes «tatt-d that Shortland wab on his way to Ne>v Zealand, and a leHer was produced purporting to have been posted by him at Brindisi. It was observed that there was no postmark on the envelope, but that was explained in the letter by a statement to the effect that the letter was enclosed in a packet to his solicitor at Plymouth, who forwarded it to B *ckt >n with this explanation and other statements, such as that Mr Shortland and his bride parted on affectionate tonus. Th" matter was allowed to pfiss, and the jury returned a verdict thnt tho deceased was found drowned, but thero was no evidence to pliqw how she came in the water. Nothing further transpired until yesterday morning. In an out of the way back buif.s at Modbury, there is a tannery belonging to Messrs Ashley a»d Jiifct, Now opposite there is a secluded cottage owned by them, and occupied by c)R3 of their workmen named Ryder, who subsequently informed the polioe that Shortland was staying at his place. Police Constable 7 )unsford apprehended Hugh Shortland at. ltyder's house at half-past nine yesterday on suspicion of having caused the death of his wife. It may be, perhaps, i-u su inhered that Mr Hugh. Shortland and Miss Laura Dimes were married clandestinely at the Registrar's office at Kiugsbridge on the Bth April. He is about twenty five, and she was twenty-two. She rod© into Kingsbridge unattended, except by a groom, and was married in her riding habit. The parents were much averse to the wedding, and she and her husband married to part, it was said, he to go to Mal'et's Hotel at ivy Bridge, and she to her Tether's house at Black^on, On 10th April, two days after the mairiage, it was said at the iuquest they had an affectionate; parting, on the understanding that business called Shortland to New Zealand. On the 10th

April, Ryder says, Mr Shortland came iuto hiding in his house at Mod bury, and not a svllable transpired respecting his whereabouts from that day until yesterday. He arrived there under cover of darkness iibout half-past ten at night, and although several people had been to Ryder's bouse in the interval no one seems to hive caught a glimpse of him, <md no suspicions of any kind seem to have been aroused. It is remembered now that when Mrs Ryder in a tradesman's shop in Mod bury heard ot the death of Mrs Shortland she seemed peculiarly horrified. She went immediately and bought a paper and carried it home to Shortland, who now seemed like a man shot. He appeared so 1 knocked down' that he hardly eat anything for days, nor had he, she says, hardly eaten anything since. Ryder waß himself away that day, and when he returnsd he was shown a notice of Mrs Short land's sad death by Luscombe, an innkeeper, of Modbury. Ryder expressed oouc; rn, and offered Lnscjmbe a penny if he would cut the paragraph out and give it to him. This Luscombe agreed to do, and Ryder went home with it to Shortland. Somewhat to his surprise, he found his son already there, in conbersation with Shortland, and Shortland, who was much affected, turned round to him and said, 'I know all about it.' 'Look here,' said Ryder, ' you'll have to get out of my house at once.' ' I could not possibly do it,' Shortland replied. ' Why, the police would have me up for murder,' and he protested against going with considerable warmth. Ryder strongly affirms, what of course in of immense importance to the issue, that Shetland never went outside his door from the time he entered it on the Dight of the 10th April.

There is considerable reluctance in Modbury to believe that Shoriland is in any way criminally concerned in the death of his wife. The marriage was evidently an unhappy one, and it is thought possible that it vas agreed Shortlnnd should go into hiding and should feign to be in New Zealand in order to see whether the lady's father would get reconciled to the step his daughter had taken. Following on this, of course, comes the theory that Mrs Shortland, having to bear the brunt of her parents' displeasure, and perhaps finding out that in marryiug such a man as Shortland she had made a grievous error, had put an end to her own troubles. Yet on the other hand it hai been pointed out that there is room for suspicion in the fact that on the day the poor young lady met her death the hurried home from a ride, and had her horse put up, changed her dress, and then went out again as if to meet someone. Hugh Rutherford Shortland is a member of a highly respectable family, established at Plymouth over fifty year-, he being the son of Dr Shortland, nephew of the late Counsellor Shortland, of Lipsom House. On Monday, April 28th, Mrs Shortland, who was still residing at her parents' house at Oldstone, went oat riding and returned early in the afternoon, and after removing her habit and changing ber dress she left the house for a walk accompanied by a collie dog, which was a frequent companion and which she was in the habit of taking to a pond in the grounds to wash. She did not return, but her absence seemed, to cause very little alarm to her relatives. Mrs Dimes stated she thought her daughter might have seen her husband and gone away with him, if, as she seemed to regard possible, he had deferred his journey. In the evening Mrs Dimes went to the pond, thinking Mr Shorthand might he walking about the grounds, Still she saw nothing of them, and there the matter rested for the time. Next morning Elizabeth Lucraft, the wife of a man in the employ of Mr Dimes, went to the pond and tound the body of Mrs Shortland standing upright in the water, with her hands in front of her body, which was about three feet from the bank, and the water just covering her head, The woman at once informed hey husband, and Mrs Dimes andLucraft, assisted by another man, moved the body from the water.