SUSPECTED MURDER.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 233, 30 September 1907, Page 5

SUSPECTED MURDER.

AN OLD MAN SHOT. A MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR. MELBOURNE, September 20. What is apparently a case of murder was reported by Mounted Constable AJlis, of Kangaroo Fla-t, to-day. Yesterday an old-age pensioner named Henry Pohl, residing at Sunrise Gully, came to Kangaroo Flat, and informed AUis that another old-age pensioner named Joseph Wendell, living in the same locality, had not been seen since Saturday. The constable broke in the door of Wendell's mud hut, and found the dead body under same old bedding on the floor. A hempen cord about oft in length was found tightly fastened round the old man's neck and mouth. A post-mortem examination which took place this morning showed that strangulation was not the cause of death, for bullet marks could be seen on the right breast. One bullet was embedded beneath the skin at the back, and a portion of a second bullet was found between the thumb and the first finger of the left hand, the wrist of -which had been broken. There were marks of two more bullets on either arm. Apparently the cord had been wound round the neck and face after death had taken place. Constable Allis telegraphed to the coroner the result of the post-mortem, and ventured the opinion that Wendell had been wilfully murdered. About midday on Sunday Mrs. Elizabeth Jane Williams, a widow, who lives about 150 .yards from the hut, states that she heard Wendell in front of h: hut cutting wood. A little later there was a commotion, out of which she heard someone crying, "Let mc go, let mc go." Reports like .rifle shots followed, and then everything was quiet. Mrs. Williams thought. that bo.ys, who shoot in the locality, were responsible for the firing, and took no more notice of the matter. The police find it fiifßcuit to discover a motive for the murder. The deceased had nothing, so far as is known, beyond his 6/ per week pension money. However, he is said to have possessed rather a quarrelsome disposition, and ifs 'is stated that his life had at one time been threatened. Wendell was 70 years of age, and a native of Germany.