SENSATIONAL STORY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 52, Issue 198, 3 June 1932, Page 3

SENSATIONAL STORY

HELD ON RAILWAY LINE. ■ ■ . \ WOMAN ACCUSES HUSBAND. (Per Press Association). WELLINGTON, June 2. Sensational allegations that a husband held his wife on the railway «line and allowed the engine to crush her leg, in order that he could collect-the accident insurance, is being made in two cases which commenced before Mr Justice Reed in the Supreme Court. Plaintiff is Elizabeth Ivy Johnson, who claims £260 froni the Commercial Union Assurance Co. and £SOO from the Australasian Temperance and General Mutual Life Assurance Society in respect to an accident policy taken out with these companies. Plaintiff's leg was crushed in an accident at the Ohau railway crossing in May, 1930. The insurance companies state they have paid out the money due xinder the policies to plaintiff's husband, and hold receipts allegedly signed by plaintiff. Plaintiff denies that she signed these receipts and alleges that they are forgeries. Mrs Johnson's story is that at the time of the accident she was not on good terms with her husband, who was going with woman. She alleges that he deliberately fouled the crossing with the intention of maiming, or killing, her and when, she found herself free of the car, her husband held her so that her leg was crunched. His Honor: Do you suggest that earlier in the year your husband had you insured against accident with the intention' of causing you to be injured some time later on? , Witness: I do, sir. Mrs Johnson, in evidence, said that On the night of May 6, 1930, she was driving in a car with her husband to their home at Raumati. As the car approached the Ohau crossing she saw a train coming, but it still was some distance away. The car slowed down and eventually stopped with the front wheels on the cattle-stop at the crossing. Witness had been watching the lights'of the train, but when the car stopped she turned to speak to her husband. Sho found she was alone in the car. It was very dark, and she could not see her husband anywhere.

Unable to Open Doors. She attempted to open the two front doors of the car, but the one on the left-hand side was damaged and could not be opened from the inside, and although she tried hard she could not get the door of the. driver's side to open, either. Climbing over the front seat into the back of the car, she tried the rear doors, but in spite of her efforts these also remained closed. She then saw her husband suddenly appear in front of the car and put his hands up.:' She then fainted in the back of the* car, and. the next thing she remembered was that she was lying on her right side in front of the car with her husband crouching above her. He had one hand head, blocking her ears and mouth, and holding her legs with the other. She tried to free herself, but found she was helpless. His Honor: Was the train coming on all the time? Witness: I couldn't say where the train was. At this time I was trying to remember what had happened.

"Leg Seemed to Crunch." There was then a slight bump and the car moved, witness added. The engine of the train hit the car, and then her left leg seemed to crunch. Counsel: Did you then realise the position ? Witness: Yes. I realised then that my husband put my leg under the train, and if the train had not pulled up where it did, both my legs would have been under it. Witness said that another car soon came along and she was conveyed to the hospital. Her husband accompanied her, and begged her not to tell the police, for the sake of their children. His Honor: Was there any inquiry into the matter? Counsel for Mrs Johnson: Not for twelve months afterwards, unfortunately. 4 Mrs Johnson continued her evidence, stating that, after she had been operated on for the injury to her leg, she told Dr. Hunter about the whole affair. to Cut Their Throats." Mrs Johnson said that after leaving Levin Hospital, xfeero her leg was amputated, she went' to a Wellington private hospital. She denied signing any insurance receipt. She left the hospital on Augsut 21, and on the second night she was at homo she slipped on her crutches and her husband said, "Why don't you stand on your legs?" Sho replied, "Because you took one off." Her husband then had a most peculiar look on her face, and she had to go into the bedroom where her mother and her daughter were. She locked the door, but her husband hammered on it and threatened to cut all their throats. On August 26 she loft home and she had not returned since/ On September 29 she was legally, separated from her husband. Mrs Johnson- said she first knew the insurance money had been drawn just before she left the hospital in August. She taxed her husband with the matter some time later, but he denied it. Prior to the legal separation there were several conferences at the office of Mr Johnson's solicitor. At the first conference nothing was said about the insurance money. His Honor: That's what I can't understand. Here you know your husband has appropriated or spent this money, £7OO or £BOO, and you say nothing about it, while you deal with comparatively small matters like beds and things. Why didn't you say something about it? Witness: I had other things to think about. In the course of further cross examination witness denied signing reCounsel for the T. and G. Company: According to you your husband is a

murderer, forger and wholesale liar? Witness: And according to him I am a lunatic. And yet when you left the Bowen Street Hospital you went back to this monster —Where else was I to go? My) children and my mother were there. After further evidence the case was adjourned till Monday.