Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

THE MURDER CASE.

Harrison's Evidence No Ohanoo of a Verdict. [By Telegraph,—Press Association,] Wellington, Friday evening. For the defence Mr Coates stated his intention of calling..one of the prisoners—Harrison, who of the two spoke the better English— to prove that the two men who were seen by some of the witnesses standing outside the hotel were not Dalton and Smith, but Harrison and Smith. Charle9 Harrison, one of the prisoners, a Russian Finn, swore 1 that on the night in question he was ialiilliston'a Hotel in company with John Dalton and the prisoner Smith. He bad known Dalton, who was an | old mate of his, for five years, About | two. years ago witness assisted Dalton ] with money on his coming out of the Wellington HospitaL Dalton and he ' were always good friends, and on the occasion of tbeir meeting at Elliston's 1 Hotel they talked about old times, 1 when they worked at the Upper H'utt. Something was said .by Dalton with 1 respect to wages, and it was arranged ' that witness aud Dalton should go to ' Palmerstori North to work together ! when he (Harrison) had finished the' ; job he was then on. Dalton, witness, , and Smith were drinking together, i Smith and Dalton left the hotel - together, and witne s remained there for some time afterwards. When he ; left he proceeded towards the town- ' ship, and there met Smith, who was , alone, Witness never saw DaUon i alive after he left Elliston's. When he met Smith that night on the road a dispute arose with respect to money matters, and whilst they were 1 wrangling the witness Power arrived . on the scene. Just then Smith I pushed witness off the footpath. : Smith and he rolled over two or three times on the rough metal. Smith had his coat on, whilst witness was ! without coat or waistooat. He wore , the grey shirt produced at the time, i The stones grazed his elbow and i thumb,. and. he, bled from both ■ scratches, and indeed had a 1 scar on his elbow still, As lie wore ; no braces or belt, his shirt worked ' up from the waist. When Power I came up witness asked him if he had i any money, and if lie would shout, i Power said he would about, and told Smith and witness to " come along J to Anderson's," The three men weut | on to tk,e verandah of the hotel, but , they could not get in, Power went to [ the back of the hotel, and witness i saw him no more. Witness then went i to the back door, but being unable to get in, he returned to the front and 1 called oat for Smith, whom he could ' seo nowhere, Witness then pro- ' ceeded on his way to his camp, which ! was live miles distant. On his way ' home witness knocked at Elliston's i Hotel and asked for a drink, and a ' man, who from the voice he took to 1 be Elliston, refused to let him in, as it J wnshte, After lie had walked a mile, , or a mile antla half, Smith overtook i him, and they both walked to their I camp, where they arrived at 2 a.m., > according to Smith's watch. As they 1 had no candle in their tent, witness ' went into the next tent, where he found a piece of candle, Ho called up a man named 11 Sam," who was asleep in the tent, and asked lii.u if "Sonny" (theTioss) was in, Sonny" George himself answered, Witness ! told George he had had a few dvinka [• with.a friend in tho township, and as there were enough band) on the job j |o -hnuld like to leave, as he wanted ' tostraight to Alfredton, which he could reach by 4 C c lock, wlieu he could get settled up with I Mr George, son. 'Xoung George [ asked him to stop for a day or _ two, i till the job waß finished. Witness then agreed to stop ajid finish up. ; Witness told young George on fhat i occasion that if he were settled up i with he would go down to Eketahuna I that day, Witness told " Sam" that he had got into a scrape with Smith? i "When he (Harrison) returned to his I own tent Smith oalled him a fool fqr ; wanting to ltave the job to join Dali ton, Witness asked" Sam" later in i the morning if he knew ft Wan named i John Dalton, and also told him he had met Dalton in the township the night before, and tliov had bad a few i drinks together. He also told" Sain" i that Dalton had offered to lend him some money, which ho had refused, because he had cash of his own; and further told " Sam" that he intended to go to Palmerston with Jack Dalton who piobably might come up to see him at the camp that day. He did not know tho spot where the deceased waafoppd, nor did ho see anyone or hear any voice after he left the hotel ontbe night in question, Tlio witness was snbjecled to a severe cross-examination, but his evidcnce-in-chief was not shaken, He said the reauon why he remained behind in tho hotel w)ien Dalton and Smith left, was that be was talking tp the landlord, He had arranged to go to the camp with Smith that night, and he left the hotel for the purpose of looking for Smith. Had only known the prisoner for two or three weeks prior io the J lth of February, Was not aware whether Smith had a knife with him on tho night in question, Mr Coates intimated tljat be did not intend to call any other evidence. Before addressing the jury Mr Coates asked His Honour if he considered there was any case to go to the jury. Was there sufficient evidence to criminate either or both of the prisoners'? His Honour enquired if the Crown Frcsecutor considered that both the prisoners were criminated, Mr Gully said that after hearing the last witness h 8 might take an alternative view of the guilt of the prisoners, His IJoflour, after consideration, said he did not if, was l|js duty to withdraw the'ease ifrom the jury! ' Mr Coates, in addressing the jury, laid stress upon'the evidence of Har- j rison, which had not been shaken in i cross-examination. It might appear i somewhat strange tLat fee baa c«m« 1 onlyOßfi pf the prisoners to give , [evidence, 'The a very easy one—viz,, that Sijth spoke very ( imperfect- English, arid if he were 1 called Jje oquld say epptjy what Har- ' rison hitcUbld them,* $e asked tho , jury to' consider «tor'motive the t prisoners could have fir tjw commit- £ tal-ofsuofa terrible Vj;,as" that j

whioh' the prosecution sought to attribute to, them.' Mr Coates went on to analyse the evidence, with a view to show that the three men seen by several of the witnesses during the quarrel ware not Dalton and the prisoners, but were tho witness Power and the prisoners. He pointed out that tho scene of the murder was saturated with blood. There were he said, pools of blood—here, there, and every where—and yet not a trace of blood was found on any of the olothing : worn by the accused, with lite exception of a small smear upon the qrey shirt worn by Harrison, This had boen accounted for by Harrison, who hud told the jury that he had cut his elbow and his thumb in struggling with Smith on the road metal. Not a trace of blood had been, found upon either blades or handles of the. knives found in the teut, These knives were not placed in concealment, but were lying about quite carelessly in the tent. In conclusion, Mr Coates maintained thai the oase had crumbled away to dust, and he confidently left to the jury the matter of the life or death of the prisoners, against whom, to say the very most, there was only a mere suspicion, Mr Gully addressed the jnrv on behalf of tho Grown, reviewing the ovidence with a.view to show that either one or the other, or possibly both of the prisoners were the actual murderer, or murderers. Looking at the evidence, he confessed that it [occurred to him that the aclual murderer or murderers had got into a quarrel with Dalton either for the purpose of robbing him or through choler while in liquor. In what to Englishmen would haye been only a harmless brawl, the prisoners, being foreigners, might have drawn a.knife, not possibly with the idea of murdering him, but only to disable him. In summing up Judge Richmond said it was either a case of murder or nothing, There wan strong suspicion against the two accused, but whether thfife was sufficient evidence to convict was for the jury to say,. He thought Harrison's evidence should ho taken for ivhat it was worth, .. The jury retired at 4.5 p.m. Shortly afterwards they returned to Court, when the foreman informed Ilii Hono".r that there was not the slightest chance of them agreeing upon a verdict, His Honour directed tliejury to reconsider the matter and Baid he would send for them at 10.p.m. to see whether they were still ol the same mind. , Tlio to Afrroe. - A Now Trial askod. ForWeMilnqton, Saturday, 9 a,m, ' The jury were unable to agree. They were looked up for the night, the foreman stating that there was no possibility of their arriving at a verdict. They will be discharged at nine o'clock this morning, when the Crown Prosecutor will probably ask for a new trial. Great interest is being taken in the case. The Court was densely crowded whon tho jury returned last night. Later. The jury in the Eketahuna murder case returned to Court this morning still unable to agree. Tliey were discharged, and a new trial ordered fur Tuesday,

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WDT18920312.2.8

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4061, 12 March 1892, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,654

THE MURDER CASE. Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4061, 12 March 1892, Page 2

THE MURDER CASE. Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4061, 12 March 1892, Page 2

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert