THE GLENBROOK MYSTERY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XVII, Issue 4062, 8 December 1896, Page 3

THE GLENBROOK MYSTERY

(per press association— copyright.) Sydney, December 7. The inquest on Weller was adjourned till to-morrow. The medical examination disclosed a heavy revolver bullet flattened against the right side of the skull. It had entered just below the left ear and pierced the drain, i Death must have been instantaneous It had evidently been tired at short range The evidence m the extradition Court disclosed no new facts of importance, but clearly established Butler's connection with Preston and Weller, and the fact of his shipping at Newcastle for San Francisco. While at Newcastle he exhibited a quantity of jewellery believed to be Weller's. His luggage included a revolver and a plentiful supply of ammunition. The Court granted a warrant for the arrest of Butler for the murder of Preston and Weller. Detective Boche has left, a^med with the necessary papers to obtain Butler's extradition. Sydney, December 8. The chief witness m the Weller case is Peter Farrell, a tramp, to whom Butler gave a plan of bis camp, near where Weller. perished. This plan was given to enable Farrell to get articles of clothing and provisions, but Farrell, finding nothing of value, threw the plan away, and it was subsequently Pound by the police. Had the tramp picked up any of Weller's articles, and Preston's disappearance not been iiseovered, the man ran the risk of 3eing arrested as Weller's murderer, md that idea no doubt presented itself ;o Butler when he sent the man on the jrrand. The air is thick with rumours )f other men being missing.

Trouble is brewing for Clutha over the j licensing poll. The quest ion (says the North , Otago Times) will probably be raised whether it doea not start as a new district, or j whether the addition to the electorate does < not count as an increase of population. Again, the Act provides that a licensing : Committee, on a reduction vote being carried, : can reduce from five to twenty per cent. • There is one licensed house m Clutha, which has carried reduction, and it will be ' interesting to know how 20 per cent, of the house is to be taken away. The removal of a chimney and a lean-to might constitute a twentieth part a house, but a 20 per cent, reduction of one house is not to be surmounted m thia easy fashion. The second annual exhibition of the Ashburton Art Society will be held on Monday, i December 14. m Gates' School of Muaic, ( Saunders' Buildings. Pictures on loan for ■ this exhibition are sol cited from residents : who have any gfod thiDgs m their possession. Not only are good pictures always we'eome to the public as things of beauty, but they are eminently useful from \ an educational point of view to the many ' young painters we have m the town and district, and from whose easels it is expected a large number of contributions to the catalogue will be received.