MURDER AND ARSON IN VICTORIA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1473, 27 February 1886, Page 2

MURDER AND ARSON IN VICTORIA.

At Wangaratta on January 29 the house ot a farmer named John PJum was burnt down. It was on a Friday evening, and the fire was discovered hr a passer-by, but there was no chance to "put a stop to it. In the ruins were after* wards found the remains of the fanner himself. At first there was not the slightest suspicion that the fire was the result of anything else than an accidents but whilst the inquest on Plum was ceeding, the local doctor mentioned to/ the sergeant of police that a Mrs Stevens had been seen at Plum’s place on the Thursday afternoon. The sergeant at-#' once got the inquest adjourned until he * could make further inquiries, for Mrs Stevens was a woman of indifferent repu* tation. She had been married three times—first to a publican named Hird, who died ; then to a farmer named"'?' Coutie, who died under circumstances ■ that made the neighbors hint at poison* ing ; and third to a publican named Stevens, who is siill alive, but who, after accusing hia wife of trying to poison him with arsenic, separated from her. Mrs Stevens had children by h r (Is husbanl, and one of her daughters was married to one of the sons of Pium. Mrs StevißS was living about Wunguratta, and WM OH

questionable morality. The sergeant had his suspicions aroused, and got a detective from the city to help him in the investigation of the case. Plum was an eccentric individual, crossgrained, and extremely ill-tempered and he worked himself into such passions that not only was there no living with him in peace and comfort, but his family had to get him put into a lunatic asylum several times. When he came out on the last occasion, his wife only lived with him a short time, and about three weeks before the fire she leit him and went to live with one of her sons, a farmer in the neighborhood. Plum stayed by himself in the house, and being such an eccentric character he was well-known throughout the district. lie kept his money always with him, and he had an aversion to banking it; and at the time of the fire he was known by his family to have had something like £3OO in the house. Close search was made for this in the ruins after the fire, but no trace of it could be found. Still the detective and the local police could for a time discover nothing to favor the theory that a crime had been committed. Mrs Stevens denied she had been at Plum’s, but as she was not likely to have been there for any good purpose little was thought of that. It was concluded that Plum must have been asleep when the fire occurred through some accident, and so met his death. The detetetive returned to the city. But the sergeant still had grave suspicions. He bad Plum’s stomach sent for analysis to the Government analyst, who, on February 5 wired to him to say that he had got traces of arsenic in it. Another search was made of Mrs Steven’s house, the result being the discovery of some arsenical soap and some white powders, together with several liquid poisons said to be used by Mrs Stevens in taxidermy, in which she did some work. But this, though it was suspicious, was far from conclusive until a motive could be discovered, There was the money Plum was known to have had yet to be found. The police set to work to make a thorough seach of Mrs Stevens’ house. They turned everything inside over and over again, searched everything outside as well. In the yard was a pile of wood. This had been searched twice, and a constable was going over it a third time when he came upon a bent p ? ece of wood with a hollow in It, and this piece of wood was so placed that the hollow was hidden. He put his hand into the hollow and pulled out Plum’s purse ! It was in a yeast tin, and in it was £2BO in notes and gold, and deposit receipts for £2160. The adjourned inquest was re*umed on February 11, The police kept their important find a close secret, and amid great sensation produced the purse at the inquest, and secured its identification by Plum’s wife. It was an old fashioned leather purse of peculiar construction, and Plum was proud of it and often showed it, so that many people knew it quite well. Mrs Stevens was completely staggered for a time by the production of the purse, hut she is said to have soon recovered herself and now treats the matter quite coo’ly. She has told all sorts of stories for her absence from home on Thursday night, for it is known she was away; but she refuses to admit that she was ever at Plum’s, though she has been confronted by a young man named Sheridan, who knew her well, and swears distinctly that he saw her there when he went to see him on the Thursday afternoon—that is, the afternoon before the fire—about the purchase of some bricky. Her stories to account for her wher abouts have all been investigated, and have proved to be untrue. The theory of the po’iee is that Mrs Stevens passed Thursday night in Plum's house, that on the Friday she took some means of poisoning him by giving him arsenic, that she then secured his money, and that she burned the house down to prevent the crime being discovered. It was ]ust after dusk when the fire occurred, so that she was able to get home unobserved, and as it happened, a thunderstorm with much lightning came on at the time and kept the people indoors. Keeping in view the whole of the circumstances — the evidence of Sheridan, who saw Mrs Stevens in Plum’s house, the web of falsehood she has spun to account for her absence from her own home, the discovery of arsenic in the stomach of the farmer and in Mrs Stevens’ possession, and the finding of the money concealed upon her premises—there is very strong presumptive evidence that the woman had been guilty of a coldblooded and cleverly-planed murder. — Otago Daily Times.