STORY OF THE CRIME.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 278, 21 November 1913, Page 4

STORY OF THE CRIME.

Xewe readied the Chrietchurch police on October 18 thai the wife of ifr J. A, Lilley, a resident of Mayfield. iid been found dead under circumstances pointinj ' to murder. Mrs Lilley left home on the previous night, presumably -to visit a neighbour. Her husband, ' who i= t farmer, was absent. When he rehirarf she was still away. Later, Mr Iffler became al-armed, and made a search. Hβ found his wife lying among i-oine six chains from the house, dead, w:*h t ghastly wound on her head. A siedgfr hammer was lying beside the body, aid it had evidently been used by the mnr> derer. The hammer with which lira Lulej •was murdered iris identified as bdoajf ! ing to Alfred Biddle, a blacksmith, aiS I was of a type usually u.:ed for beatinj I out ploughshares. Biddle had been ii the neighbourhood for the past fmr years, and was w«ll known to the fare ing community. He is about .29 yean of age. The police immediately made i* quiries about Bidfile's whereabout;, id discovered that his smithy was lockd ! up, and that he had not been seen ii ', he boaTdinghouse s'mce Wednceiij I evening at cix o'clock, when he rod* j away on hjs bicycle. A vigorous eeareli ! was at once instituted, special atteatios ', being paid to the course of the Hie& ; River, which passes within half a mile of M-ayfield township. Tracts of ti« missing man were' found in the jai&t of an almost impenetrable tang'e o! ■ high gorse in the r;v?r bed. about oae and a-half miles above Mayfield. It ?m plain that -he hsd attempted to comioii suicide, a bottle, "which had recently contained poison, being discovered. TbJ neck of the bottle had been broken oS and the contents swallowed. Tohwts had also been left about. Biddle **» arrested early next morning retnrniif in the direction of Mayfield. •?&-