The Wife Deserter.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3508, 12 May 1890, Page 2

The Wife Deserter.

■ • . f Walter Clayton Browne appeared before the Resident - Magistrate's Court, Napier, on Thursday last, charged on remand from Wellington . with • wife dosortion. Accused pleaded not guilty. Mr Cresswell, who appeared for Mrs Browne, narrated tho ciroum« stances connected with Browno's elopement from Napier with a single woman, as already reported in our columns. He stated that after leaving Napier the eloping pair put up at an hotel in Wellington as Mr. and Mrs. Browne, and they had made arrangements to leave the colony for Australia by tho s.s. Jubilee. Mr Cresswell asked that heavy penalties should be imposed, as the young woman who went away with Browne accompanied him back as far as • Awatoto, and tbeoliances were that if the acoused got the « opportunity ho would go away with her to Sydney. . } Accused'a wife gave evidence. She stated that lie had frequently lllused her, and on one occasion tried to ', tear up her marriage certificate, but only' succeeded in getting part of it. She deposed to finding parts of letters addressed to the young woman with whom he went away.. She found them in the ropm formerly occupied by this young woman at her lodgings. The landlady told witness that the young woman had gono to Wellington in company with witness' husband, and tho parts of letters that were found revealed the plans of the pair to get out of the • Colony together,

The defendant, sworn, denied {haft: he intended seriously to leave liia "' wife unprovided 'for. fljs sudd'eij ; departure' was' {he result oj foolish, lipss. In cross-examination ho ad. nritted a limn with the young ' woman he went away with. She had come back with him from Wellington, but stopped at Awatoto. His Worship ajd he woiild M fl|j with, the easd very severely, The *■ offonoe of wife desertion was one, ho was sorry to say,'prevalent in this colony, and in this case the offender wasfortunately brought to justice! He would order the defendant to contribute tbe sum of £1 per week towarda ' the support of his wife'and ohild, and solicitor's fee £1 Is, audhe would ■further be imprisoned for 14 dayswift • hard lajip|\ Defendant would have to' ■; find one surely of |loO,at the e'jpiralion of'the term of imprisonment, thai ' he would comply with the order'of maintenance, •' in default of finding . surety to be imprisoned % fbuj mU ,'.:" ".*■"•"

A Fierce Struggle For LiteThe Sydney water police on Friday morning, April 25tb, on being ;v. informed tho body of a man was lying on the rocks on tho west side of Wooloornooloo Bay, at onco proceeded to the spot and found tho corpsojn the hollow of a rock. An examin- ;" ntion of tho body showed beyond ; . 1 doubt that tho man had been brutally 'v-4p inurdcroil, Tho head,'neck, aud arms 'as 6een at tho morguo presented a truly horrible appearance, the man having evidently battled hard for his life. He had used his left arm to ward off the blown of tho knifo of his assailant, as on the loft forearm wore two deep wounds and ono on tho ■ wrist. The right hand and arm had been moro hardly used, having received altogether fivo wounds, four on tho arm. All the fingers ou the baud were deeply scored on tho inside, aud tho thumb had beon almost severed «tho hand by a cut about two E3 in length, and completely dividing tho tendons and bloodvessels between it and the forefinger, as though tho murdered man seeing a knifo coming towards him hnd grasped it. Tho weapon had then probably lecu quickly drawn back by the murderer, thus inflicting tho wounds, There wore eight slabs on tbo face, and th«SQ 'also boro ovidence of ilie fon'rful struggle that must have taken .place. A wound under the right eye mmi one ovor tho left wore severe, but on either sido of the mouth were more severe—one going through the flesh and extending half-way to tho onK Tho other was a littlolongcr, but in this tho knifo bad not cut quito so deep, Weak from loss of blood, the 'murdered man was then probably knocked down and the assailant put tho fatal stroke to l»3 dastardly deed. The throat was cut from tbe wiudpiperonnd theright side ot the neck to tho vertebrae, Tho wound was about four inches deep, and thejngular vein was completely severed. In the afternoon Dr Eicbler made a posl mom tern examination. Death had taken place 12 or 14 hours previously, and was due to excessivo loss of blood. In heart not a drop of blood was found. Tbe man must havo died within fivo minutes after the wound in the neck was received, and the doctor is of opinion that it was inflicted with a strong, sharp-pointed knife. The wounds wero certainly not self-in-flicted. Scon after the discovery of the' vtftyi | Injectors Brcmner, Camfnin,i|nd Hyam, together with some polico'y examined the rocks about the bay, About 100 yards from where tbe body was found blood stains wero discovered. About this part of the Domain there are two walks, nearly 40 yards apart, ono being to tho chair and tho other to tho rocks, and between the two there is a steep rise. Following up the blood stains, the officers tracked them up the hill till tho lower path wis reached, and across the hill wero found twoalmostparallelmarkingsinthedust, No more blood was found till the top path had almost boen attained, aud hen two large pools of blood about our feet apart were discovered in the grass, which is of tho kind known as buffalo, being about 4in height, There were no signs of a Btruggle on the grass, but this could be accounted for by the fact that, unless the grass wer* kicked up, it would not affliear disturbed, owing to its elastic nature.. The theory of the police is «t after fatally stabbing his man i murderer let him lie on the grass till ho bled to death, When dead he was carried some distance, but finding him too heavy, the murderer caught hold of his victim by tho shoulders, and dragged him ] along, with his feet to the ground, This is supposed to to the cause of the parrallel marks on the path, Having been thrown into tho water he was carried by the flood tide further up the bay to tho spot whore he was found, The body of the nan ] has been identified as that of Dennis O'Connel, who was known to bo in possession of a fair amount of money. •