THE SEVERED HAND.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1446, 24 December 1885, Page 3

THE SEVERED HAND.

We take the following account from Tuesday's Press : " The man Elisha Godfrey, who found the severed band at. Taylor's Mistake, and brought it to the Police Station, was, with bis brother, arretted on Monday morning on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the Government Insurance De- ( partment, the Mutual Life Association of Australasia, and the Accident Insurance Company. It -vs ill be remembered that on the 11th of October last some clothes were found at Sumner on part of Mr Bell's baths, then in course of construction. The clothes were identified as those of Arthur Robert Howard, who was employed by the Government as a fitter at the Addington Workshops. It was stated that Howard had been in the habit of bathing at Sumner every Saturday afternoon, going down there for the purpose and returning to Christchurch by lhe 6 I p.m. coach. It was therefore concluded that in following hie usual custom, he had been drowned in the surf that was breaking on the beach that particular afternoon. The police made great efforts to recover the body by dragging the hay And the estuary, but found nothing. Later it was stated that Howard was seen by some workmen on the Saturday, not bathing, but walking about as if in hesitation, on account of the sea being rough. It was not said that anybody saw him bathing. On October 13th an advertisement appeared in the Press offering a reward of £SO ' for the recovery of the body or the first portion recognisable thereof,' and soon after it was rumored ' that the Insurance Companies had deferred payment of the claims on Howard's policies until they were in receipt of proofs that he was dead. His insurances were understood to be heavy. There was a policy of £IOOO in the New Zealand Government office, £IOOO in the Mutual Life Association of Australasia, and £4OO in the Accident Insurance Company. That was substantially the position of affairs in connection with the ' supposed drowning case at Sumner,' a week after it was first heard of, and it naturally ex- ) cited much comment in Ohristcburch and its suburbs, comment which of course j has nothing to do with this presentment | of facts " .

" Nothing more was heard of the affair until Wednesday lint, when a man named Godfrey brought to the Police Depdt at Ohristchurch a human l>afld, which he stored he had picked up >n the beach at Taylor's Mistake. Taj/or's Mistake, it may be well to explain far readers who do Dot know the Sumner coast, is a little sheltered inlet to the east of Sumner, with a curved sandy beach. The relic ia not a hand merely, but had been severed from the arm a few inches above the wrist, Lt vu remarkably well preserved, the Hkin being intact, except for a cut between the thumb and forefinger. There was a ring on the third finget made of gold in strap form, and marked with the initials <! A H." The hand was placed in spirits of wine, and the fluid acted on it with some energy, turning it nearly black and causing it to shrink somewhat by driving out the water in it. An unprofessional examiner of it on Saturday last expressed his opinion that it looked as soft and 88 white as a woman's hand and the question of the sex of its owner, if raised, might be difficult to sattlo as the bones of the lund of both sexes are alike. There was at first a difference of opinion as to the cause jjof severance, one opinion accusing some shark of having snapped it off, and the person aborementioned professing to see msrks of blows from some sharp instrument. Professor Hutton has made short work of the former theory by affirming that it is impossible for a shark to have bitten off a fragment like that. The ring was identified with one Mr Howard used te wear, and the cut with a chisel wound he once received. The hand is a left hand. Howard is siid to have been short of one or more digits in the right hand. The following day (Thursday) Dr Coward held an inquest into the cause of deith of Arthur Robert Howard, but it was adjourned till Monday, without the production of roach evidence. Yesterday rnorninw cime the arrests above refeired to, but they were not mcntioninl in the afternoon at th<- inquest, which w»* again adjourned, and for a longer period. Elisha Godfrey keeps a small g»n«r •) store in Chester street east, between Barbadoes street and the belt. His brother, whose name is Frederick, is cook at the Snnriyside Asylum, It is stated that fmt one and then the other was Mett'fied by some female witness, being picVsd out from a crowd of thirteen or fourteen men, but the needs of the polioe for secwy prevent an explanation of that part of the hindness being pub'ishad at present. No doubt there will be pome highly interesting evidence produced at the Regiden' Magistrate's Court, this morning. It may be mentioned, however, in partial anticipation, thai two jewellers—ilr Monson, of Me« Hrs Peterson ant Co., and Mr Smith, of Messrs Coatee arid Co. —have decl tred pisitively that the initials, " A. H.," huve been unmistakeab'y cut within the last, two or three weeks. The two prisoners nre men of middle age, «ay thirty-five or forty. They lave been liberated on bail, each in £250 himself, snd two sureties of £2OO each, making a . total sum of £650 bail for eaoh accused.

It may he added that then' \t> no foniiii--tion whatever for a Mini"" lai-lv in circulation that a body bud been soen flouting in the estuary by some bny.». The inquest, which was commv/ieed on the 16th, was resumed on Tuteday, but on the application ot Inspector Pander vi-ue again adjourned til! the Bth January at 11 a.m.

At the Resident Magistrate's Court Wednf>»dav, before R. Beetbam, R.M., J. V. Boss.'j.P., and It. Westenra, J.P., Jftsqs., Frederick Godfrey, Elisha Godfrey, and Jane Ann Howard were brought up oharged with conspiring to defraud the N.Z. Government Life Insurance Association, the Mutual Life Insurance Association of Australasia, and the Accident Association of New Zealand. Mr Holmes appeared for the Godfreys; Hr Hfcrmger, retained for Mrs Howard, was absent, but Mr Holmes represented him. VrlPender, who prosecuted, applied for a remand, and after a good deil of argument it it a b graated, bail being allowed, the two Godfreys in personal security of £250 each, and two sureties of £2OO each ; Mrs Howard in £IOO, and two sureties of £SO. lhe prisoners were bailed out at ones.