A SENSATIONAL CASE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9155, 31 July 1908, Page 2

A SENSATIONAL CASE.

By FLORENCE WARDEN. Author of ,l The Lady in Black," "An Infamous Fiaml," "For Love of Jack," "A Teniblo l'V.ni'y," "Tlio House on the M us'i, " etc. e'c.

CHAPTER I. A COMPLICATED CASE.

It was in the criminal court in Liverpool that the case came on, and 'he room was crowded to suffocation, for a man was on trial for his life. But this fact alone would not have accounted for the brilliant appearance of the court, every available corner of which was filled with ladies who, although for the most part they had arrayed themselves in garments of sober colouring, yet brought with them an atmosphere of "smartness" and an aroma of frivolity which gave a piquancy and an added interest to ths scene. It was no common murderer, no unhappy labourer, arraigned for kicking to death a drunken wife, to gaze 01 whose features a fashionable boauty had travelled all the way from London, and an American heiress had hurried back from Paris. It was a "society case." The man o i trial waa known in the London clubs and in the London ballrooms. He was young, moreover, and if not exactly good-looking, was at least "interesting." And then he was "well-connected," which counts for so much in these cases. As he sat in court, with his eyes for the most part cast down, pale, nervous, effeminate-looking, there was only one opinion as to his guilt—among the ladies, at least. It was summed up in the words of a portly middle-aged woman, who occupied, not a seat in the court itself, but standing-room in the heart of the crushing, struggling crowd beyond the barriers. When she caught sight of the prisoner, she ejaculated in audible tones: "Why, he doesn't look as if he could hurt a fly!" Linley Dax, the prisoner, started at the sound of her loud voice, and then looked round at the woman, as it seemed, gratefully. She was right; he did not look as if he could hurt a fly, much less murder, in cold blood, a fellow man. The crime of which he was accused was in reality a more com plicated cue turn appeared in the indictment. For awhile this only set forth that Linley Dax, "did, on ths fifth day of September, 188--, wilfully and of malice aforethought, kill and murder one Henry Tucker Landon, by suffocating him with carbureted hydrogen gas, at Keith House, Widicombe," there w<ib hanging over the prisoner's heal a secondary charge of having set fire to Keith House on the same date, with intent to defraud two insurance companies. The known facts of the cass were that Mr and Mrs Dax, well-dressed, well-connected persons, of undoubted refinement, had taken Keith House at the end of the previous year; had brought with them some van-loads of furniture all the way from London, and that the prisoner had then sought to insure the furniture and contents of the house in different insurance offices for an aggregate sum of twenty thousand pounds. In this he had been only partly successful, having succeeded in obtain • ing two policies, in two different offices, for a sum of two thousand five hundred pounds each. The insurance was effected in the month of July. Immediatly after the fire and the alleged murder, Mr Dax had sent in his claim to the insurance offices; but their suspicious having been aroused by various circumstances, they disputed payment of the policies on the ground of fraud. In the meantime the charge of murder had been brought, and the affair of the insurance stood over, since the defence to the one charge would be, if proved, a satisfactory answer to the other. The defence was that, on the date of the alleged murder and the fiie, Linley Dax was in a state of health which made it impossible for him to leave his room without assistance. In support of this statement, the evidence of his doctor wa-j given. This gentleman, a man of the highest reputation, swore that he had seen Mr Dax on the morning of the day in question, and lia.l found him in a state of extrerru physical aid mental d i?r-ssion, so as to be, in the doctor's opinion, wholly incapable of the exertions attributed to him on that evening. Another witness for the defence, a servant in the employ of the prisoner, deposed that Mr Dax had remained in this room long after the outbreak of the fire, from inability to get down the stairs without aisistance.

For thu prosecution the witness chiefly relied upon was another servant named Joseph Turriff, who swore (hat he had seen his master on that very night cjme out of the room on the ground floor where the (ire had originated, and had afterward seen him go into the room occupied by Mr Landon. Thi." witness, fjrther alleged that Mr Landon had arrived from Loudon that c;ay; that he had gone to see Mr D:ix in the room of the latter, and that high words had puss id between them. He further stated, and in this he was comborato-l 'jy thi evidence of othsr servants, that Mr Landon, after dining by himself, hid retired to re jt in an intoxicated condition. 'This evidence, if it had been considered nutt<> trustworthy, w>ul I have go.io far toward estab ishing the guilt of cho accused; while tne evi chute of a house nail, who swore that she hdd seen Mr f)ac otit'si la the kitchen door late that night, turning on the gas at thj m.'tor alter it had bi.'Cn turned oT for the night, would h'lvj boin co'.r ljaiv3 as to t l ie rxict'T.ce of fraud on the prisoner's part. The weak point about this evidence, however Ity in the appearance, manner a-iil antecedents of the witness T.irn.v, and in his

acknowledged influence over the young housemaid. Turner was a young man with nervous manner and shifty eyes. He held to his story when under cross-examination, -but confessed to having been under notice of dismissal by his master, and also to having previously obtained a situation by means of a false recommendation, and the housemaid admitted lhat she was engaged to bo married to Turner. The evidence of both these witnesses, therefore, carried comparatively little weight, and would perhaps have been altogether discredited but for the corroboration which certain parts of it received from outside sources. Thus, fur instance, a workman who had been engaged in repapering a rcom on tho first floor deposed to having overheard enough of the alleged quarrel between the deceased man and Mr Dax to know that the former was demanding repayment of money lent to the latter-, whila another servant gave evidence to the effect that, the fire having besn extinguished before it reached the wing in which the guest-chambers were situated, ahe had found the door of Mr Landon's room locked, with no key in it. The inference was that Mr Dax h?d himself locked the deceased in his room and taken away the key. The above were the main outlines of the case against the prisoner and of the defence raised by his counsel. Among the most interested of the spectators was a youngish man, of a decidedly Jewish cast of countenance, who sat in ono of the galleries set apart'at the opening of the court for the grand jury. His attention appeared to be about equally divided between the prisoner on the one harid and a lady who sat at the lawyer's table on the other. At last, after a prolonged stare at the lady, the Jew, who was very well dressed and presented altogether a smart as well as prosperous appearance, turned to the man sitting Leside him and said: "That's his wife, isn't it?" The man addressed nodded. The Jew went on in some.surprise: "Where was she on the night of the fire 0 " The other man gave him an expressive look, and accompanied it by a slight wink. "She went away two days before, and they do say she took all the most valuable things in the house with her." "Silence in the court!" roared the usher, making more noise than anybody else. The Jew held "his tongue for a little while, but he was not satisfied. "Couldn't the prosecution have made it out conspiracy and put her on trial along with him?" The other man, who seemed to be I well-informed, shook his head.

"They're afraid. She's too goodlooking," answered he. At this point the cross-examina-tion of the last of the witnesses came to an end, and the summing-up speech for tho defence began. Then the man who sat by the side of the Jew noticed certain peculiarities in the manner of his neighbour, which did not fail to rouse his curiosi'.y. At every point in the speech which told heavily in the prisoner's favour the Jew's face fell, and his eyes showed plainly by their troubled expression that he was anxious and disquieted. Whenever, on the other hand, countel for the defence advanced a weak or flimsy argument, the countenance of the Jew grew brighter, and he seemed almost to chuckb with delight. (To be continued).