INQUEST SENSATION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 155, 12 April 1930, Page 4

INQUEST SENSATION

PALMERSTON TRAGEDY. evidence by doctors. (Per Press Association.) PALMERSTON NORTH, April H. There was an unusual development at the resumption of the inquest concerning the death of Vi altei Edw in Price this morning. Immediately the Coroner (Mr btout, S.M.) took his seat, Mr McGregor, who was appearing for the relatives of deceased, intimated that he had had Dr. King’s evidence perused l>y two medical practitioners, wjjo, he said, entirely disagreed with the conclusions made. He anplied for leave to call them as witnesses in the afternoon and give a demonstration. The Coroner said that Air McGregor was entitled to call them, hut the pmcedure was extraordinary. Counsel suggested that Doctors King and AVill who examined the body should be recalled. The Coroner intimated that he would also like the other doctors recalled in that event. Air Alc-Gregor said that he proposed to call evidence by Doctors Aliller and Bffyd in the afternoon. The Coroner continued the. hearing of evidence bearing on the tragedy from neighbours. Appearance of Body.

Guy Brogden, a carpenter employed by Price, said that, on the day his employer was found dead, he was working on a job near deceased s house. He was informed by Nagel and John Price of his employer’s death. Describing the appearance of the body to the Coroner, when witness and others, with Dr. King, entered the room, Brogden said that the deceased appeared to he lying with both arms outstretched, but he could not swear to that. He could not say if there were signs of a struggle. He did not closely observe the room. The Coroner: Did anyone connected with the Price family approach you about this case ? Witness: No, only Air AlcGregor. I informed him that I had made a statement to the police. Witness said that lie had no conversation after the doctor’s departure concerning the cause of death. Question of Insurance. \

Senior-Detective Quirke: Has anything been said about how Airs Price would be left as a result of deceased’s death? Witness: Yes. John Price asked how she would he left. I replied that I thought lie need not worry. John Price said, “There is an insurance policy in there. I wonder if it is paid up.” Witness replied that he thought it would he. John Price asked him to go and look at it. Witness was reluctant. John Price said, “Oh, come on.” Witness went in. John Price obtained the paper, which proved to he a builder’s risk. That was all that occurred after the departure of the doctor. Position of Arms. Adolphe Ihle, who had worked for deceased, said that he was of a very quiet temperament, and even reserved. When witness was at the house on the morning when the body was found, John Price wrote out a list of the addresses of relatives and handed them to Brogden, .saying “All present. What about the insurance?” John Price did not appear to be upset. Later witness visited the deceased’s house and saw the body. The right arm was in an upwards direction, with the hand half closed. The left arm was straight out from the body, with the head over to the left. The body was lying on a blanket and a sheet. To Chief-Detective Quirke, witness said that deceased always used his right hand for sawing. His left arm had troubled him for a while after a motor accident. To the Coroner: Deceased had a little difficulty in lifting his left arm. Chief-Detective Quirke: AVhat was the temperament of deceased? Witness: He was quiet and easygoing. The Coroner: I suppose not the sort of man who would make such an enemy as would come and murder him in cold blood in his sleep? AVitness: No; not to my: knowledge. The Coroner: That seems to be the suggestion of John Price. Witness, to Air AlcGregor: Deceased, prior to the day of the tragedy, was joking as cheerfully as he always was. He appeared to have no worries and his manner was perfectly normal. AVitness knew no motive for deceased to commit suicide. Garage Door Open.

Leonard Charles Lee said that oil the morning of March o, when delivering milk to Price’s house, the garage door was open. There was a car there with a box projecting out of the back. He had never seen the car in the same position before. . George Innes McGregor, solicitor, said that he had acted for deceased for four or five years prior to his death, About October last deceased spoke of taking out a life insurance, one reason being the motor accident which he had had. A month later, the deceased told him to take out a policy for £2OOO. The matter arose from an incidental conversation. Witness advised Price to take out a policy. Witness now knew that deceased did not pay the premiums but merely 8 per cent interest on them amounting to £7 instead of the £B9 due. In .February last deceased took out a further £IOOO policy. Deceased’s affairs were not involved. The estimated value of the estate, not including- the life insurance, was something over £4OOO. His annual income was about £6OO. He was never pressed by a single creditor. Widow in Bad Health. Dr. Hunter Will said that Mrs Price, deceased’s wife, was in such a state of health that she could not appear before the Coroner to give evidence.

The Coroner: Can you give us any indication when she will be able to come and give us information? Dr. Will: She is in a state of silence. The Coroner: The difficulty is that the son is in a state of silence, too. We want somebody to talk, Dr. Will said that Mrs Price had a rapidly beating ' heart, indicating worry* Ho could not say when she would be fit to appear. She was worried about her son being upset. “Must Know All.”

The Coroner: Her son upset. He has not shown it so far. We have suspicions that he knows more than what he has said. I do not suggest that lus statements are untrue. All that he has said may be true, but is it all. We don’t want this to become another Elsie Walker case. We want Airs Price to talk. I can adjourn the inquest until she is ready. Air AlcGregor: One of the son s uncles lias pleaded with him to tell all he knows. The Coroner: I think all he has told us is true, but is it all? The boy has nothing to worry about if he makes a

clean breast of things. AA r e cannot call Airs Price to-day. .. ~ . W. R. Kells, undertaker, said that he found deceased lying flat on Ins back the left arm resting on lps elbow and the hand outstretched in an upright position. The other arm was extended parallel to the body. After the body had been attended to at the morgue, the left arm was left stiff up in the air. Cry Resembled Scream. Gilbert George Hancox, who was recalled, following the evidence given at a previous hearing, stated that he heard a cry shortly before 1 o clock on the morning of Alarcli o, and Ins impression was that it had preceded and not followed the report. Ihe cry resembled a scream. The Coroner: Why do you come here now with a piece of evidence that may he concrete ? Has someone else been talking to you in the meantime? Have you discussed it with Air AlcGeorge. Witness: Yes. The Coroner: And now you have discussed it you remember the shriek?— No, I remembered it on Saturday following the event. , .. AVitness explained tliat lig lett Palmerston North at 6.30 that morning, •and had not returned until the Saturday. He did not know that anytfong had happened until lie got oft tlie train, and he had difficulty in pieciim together his recollection. Somebody asked me if I heard a report, and I couldn’t remember, hut when I was told that I had 'got out of bed and gone to the window', the facts commenced to come back to me, added witness. . , , Air AlcGregor said it was due to Hancox for him to make an explanation. He asked witness if lie heard a shriek, and Hancox replied that he believed he could recollect it, but would want time to recall actually what had happened before giving further evidence. The Coroner: Perhaps you didn t recognise that it might have been important, but it certainly would have been better if you had told the police. The district manager of the A.M.P.' Insurance Sovietv, C. AA . Ennis, stated that in December last year, Price had effected two £IOOO policies with Ins company. The premiums for these policies were not paid, hut deceased paid 8 per cent, by arrangement with the Hawke’s Bay Investment Comnany. On February 12, deceased had taken out a third £IOOO policy, on which he paid the premiums quarterly. The total payments deceased would make on the first two policies at the end of five years would he Approximately £l7O. The surrender value for the two policies at the end of five years would be about £3-50. Conversation With John Price.

Constable Compton stated that he was called to the residence of deceased at about 8.15 on the morning of Alarcli 5. The boy, John Price, was at the house, and witness had a talk with him. The boy remarked that he would not be going hack to school. AAhtness asked why, and the hoy replied, “AVell, you see,’ dad’s dead.” AVitness replied, “That won’t make any difference. ‘■You’ll need your schooling later in life.” The boy replied, “But, you see, lie was well insured, and Alum will get the money and I won’t need to go back to school.” The hoy’s demeanour was very quiet and calm during this conversation. AVitness visited the room where the body was lying. Deceased was lying on his back with his head underneath the bed. His head was in a pool of blood, but there were no signs of a struggle in the room, nor of disorder in other parts of the house, which witness inspected. • ' Another constable, Janies Haldane Beaton, stated that he accompanied Dr King to Price’s residence about 5.35 p.m. on March 5. AVitnessf asked John Price how many guns there were in the house. The boy replied that there was only one gun, which was in the garage. This weapon was dusty, and had an empty cylinder in it. The doctor said that this gun would not cause the wound which had killed deceased. Witness then conducted an examination of the room, and the fact that there was no weapon in the room suggested to him that there might have been outside interference. AVitness examined the ground outside the window, hut found no traces of an intruder. He then further examined the house, John Price being in his company the whole time. AA’itness asked John Price if he had hidden the gun, hut the boy replied that he heard no shot. "Witness then rang up the Inspector of Police, and informed him that no gun could, he found. Between 5.25 a.m. and 6.40 p.m. it would have been impossible for John Price to communicate with the AVilson’s or with anyone else. The doctor told John Price that his father had been shot about 5.45 n.m. AA’itness asked the hoy to produce the sleeping suit that he had worn that night, and John Price took a suit of pyjamas from underneath his pillow. Just as witness was about to examine them the boy said that sometimes he hied at night, because he scratched himself. Demonstrations by Doctors. Air AlcGregor at this stage asked permission to recall Dr. King. Iu reply to Mr AlcGregor the doctor stated that the wound in the mouth had first drawn his attention to the fracture of deceased’s skull. Air AlcGregor: Could deceased have given a convulsive or spasmodic movement after the shot, but before his death? —He could. It is possible that the motor tracts might have been stimulated by the shot by being severed. Mr McGregor: Could he have cried out ? AVitness: If I admit the statement I have already made lie could have cried Dr. King then demonstrated to the Court the position in which deceased had been lying, and outlined the points as they supported his previous evidence. • Air McGregor then called John Aliller, surgeon, Palmerston North, who stated that he had read the evidence of Dr. King arid other medical practitioners. “The wound described by Dr. King,” said Dr. Aliller, “could quite well have been homicidal, being inflicted at close range while deceased was lying on liis right side on the floor with his head unsupported by the pillow.” He might he asleep or have just awakened prior to being shot. After being shot he could have fallen over on his hack. Tho stimulus of the shot would be, sufficient to cause a sudden spasm or convulsive movement causing deceased to assume any position. It would have been difficult for deceased to inflict the wound upon himself by lying upon his back on the floor. Other medical evidence presumes that he was shot lying on his back. A suicide places the gun muzzle in his mouth to steady the gun, to bring the trigger more within his reach, and to make sure lie won’t live after the shot.” “Circumstances Point tc Homicide.”

Air AlcGregor suggested that Dr. Miller should demonstrate the position upon which he based his theory. The Coroner: it is within the bounds of possibility that it was homicide, but the surrounding circumstances do not seem to point to it. AVitness: In my opinion the sur-

rounding circumstances point to homicide. , The Coroner: It was a very unusual crime, then. A man breaks into the house, finds deceased on the floor, and shoots him with no suggestion or a struggle. , AVitness: There would he no struggle if he was shot. The Coroner : I should be very sorry to hear ithat it was homicide, because there was only one other person in the house at the time. Detective Quirke: AVould you expect a man about to be murdered to iplaco a blanket and sheet beforehand on the floor? AVitness: No. The Coroner: Do you expect a man to.sleep with his head partly under the bed, without a mattress and pillow ? AA’itness: No. . , Detective Quirke: Have you any knowledge of powder discolourations from sporting guns? AA’itness: Very little. Dr. Aliller then demonstrated his theory of deceased’s death, while __ an interested assemblage looked on-. AA 7 hen Dr. Aliller went hack into the box he stated that he was purely concerned in proving that the act might have been homicide. The Coroner: Of course we grant it might have been homicide, but was it not more likely to be suicidal? AA’itness: That is really nothing to do with me. The Coroner: But it has a lot to do with me. ( AVitness: I am here purely to give expert evidence. The Coroner: I presume we can grant that it could be homicidal, but it is probabilities at which we have to look. To Mr Cooper, witness admitted' tliat he was supposing deceased to have been in a different position from that in which he was found. Had he been shot in the position in which he was found it would be difficult to proye homicide.

Dr. Miller's Theory Supported. Support for Dr. Aliller in his theory came from Dr. Robert James Boyd, who told the Court that in his opinion it would have been .about impossible for a man to commit suicide under the conditions indicated. On the other hand, the position assumed by Dr. Miller was possible. Detective Quirke: The head of deceased was under the bed, and the height of the bed was 13 inches. AVould it not be difficult for a man to shoot him in that position? AVitness: It would be difficult. ' Detective Quirke: Presuming your homicidal theory correct, why should the murderer pass Price’s body and lire in his mouth? AVitness: It is the best place to shoot him, isn’t it? Detective Quirke: Don’t you know, as a medical man, that the mouth is the best place for suicide? AVitness: I don’t know. With the further object of proving his point Detective Quirke produced a weighty tome, and to the amusement of the medical men present proceeded to quote medical authorities to the witness. Detective Quirke: Do you suggest that lie might have been shot away from the bed and. have fallen underneath it? AVitness: I don’t know how he was shot. 1 • _. Detective Quirke (smiling): Then you don’t know anything about it. At this stage the Court adjourned until 10 o’clock to-morrow.