AMAZING STORY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 309, 23 September 1908, Page 7

AMAZING STORY.

M A MAN WEARING BLUE GOGGLES." TRACEDY AT CHBISTCHURCH/ A' MYSTERIOUS POSTCARD. V {BT TELEGRAPH—PEESS ;-ASSOCIATION.) , Chrlstchurch, September 22; A case which for a time. had all the elements of a ! mysterious tragedy occupied a good deal of. public attention'tOKlay. Last -night, close on the mystic hour, a young man, who said that his namo was Charles Alfred .Bryenton, was found lying, ■ in Cranmer Square. suffering. intense agony from a bullet wound in his chest. He was • first, discovered."by Mr. Fi A. Hornibrook ■ aind'Mr. Norman;Baggs, .wjio were.cyclirig to their ■ homes in the vicinity ,of .tho Square, their attention being called • him by his shrill cries, for help,; • They at onco took •steps .'to summon the police, and a doctor, and in the meantime somo , residents of the Square, who had heeu disturbed'by the cryirig,' put,in an appearance ■ . '■ In the.viciiiitx of the occurrence there were found a : loaded 'five-chambered revolver, a packet; of- cartridges, and; a pair of bluetinted pince-nez. Ono chamber of the revolver had beeii discharged/ and three, other chambers 'had misfired. ' ; Bryenton, who is twenty-one years of age, fair, slightly built, and about 6 feet 5 inches high,"' was undoubtedly in great pain, but he conversed freely with the (bystanders. He had an amazing story to tell, and it was received .'with incredulity, from the be-, ginning. .. .. '■> /. / AN EXTRAORDINARY STATEMENT. Bryenton'Lwas in a' critical state, and he J . cried out at .'the slightest touch. He was re-' moved to the hospital in an ambulance, and attended there by Dr. Crooke. His condition was so serious that itwas decided to'take his "statement, though his story was so ittcredible that it was considered', unnecessary to ■ send for the coroner to take his depositions. The man was solemnly warned of his condition, and he then: made the following statement:—« . ■ ■ " . " I, Charles Alfred Bryenton, of Peter- •• borough ' Street, make the • following statement with the.foar of death before me,and no'hope ?of About >' 11 p.m. on .September 21 I had just come fronr the Theatre Royal. I left a friend there. ' He said he would meet m<f in ICranmer Square. Ido not know his name, nor do I know where he is staying. ' I'-was waiting for, .'him on tne seat in Cranmer Square when a'man with ' goggles on came from behind -the. tree. i; He ; said to me, 'Are you for anyone?'. I replied, •- ' yes. l '.. He 'asked . me if it was a lady friend ior a gentleman . frieiid. I said it was a' gentleman. He said, 'I am the friend,, and then' r he came up to me and' shot mo. He camo in-front and, shot me. i l do not-know what I did. I sang;out, But there was no one near me.-' For a / while :I; could not see him very plain, but. lie ,Had goggles on. I was in Cranmer Square on the seat as I just came from the. theatre.. I :i do not know-how the : sergeant of • Eolice got the revolver or cartridges. I j ave never had a revolver of my own. I ' know, what state I am in, and that I am likely "to die, but I take my oath that what I have said'is'" true. My friend and I had come from Cashmere, Hills on Sunday night, and r said, 'I,will meet you that way on 'Mouday night,! but he went . to takerivlady home, from the theatre. I do not )know the lady's name. I had an introduction to my friend, but I for- ' get-his . , ; . ' . ~ .DISCREDITED. This, statement .was signed by Bryenton, and-..witnessed by' Dr. Crooke, .Dr. Sca.niiell, and-police, officers. -Tin's is a very circum : stantiaL' statement,' but the : gravest doubt has.,been thrown on.it by, later developments in. tjie .-case. .The " goggles," ' which were found, near Bryeton, .are really pince-nez, with blue r tinted glass. Some -time Ugo Bryenton, was employed at the police station in the capacity of cook, and was observed that he used to wear similar glasses. As recently as, last Saturday and Monday Detective Ward say the man wearing blue-tifited pince-rfez. This is "rather a significant fact, and- :■ there .are "other circumstances equally significant. •

This morning Bryenton's brother called at /the detective .office, and handed over a postcard, (.enclosed! in an envelope, which had 'been posted in Ch'ristchurch yesterday afternoon. The envelope was/addressed to the brother, marked..'' Urgent," arid across two corners'.were- drawn thick black lines after thofashion of;a.mourning envelope. On one side of the postcard there was depicted 'in colours-a', vessel'lying* at anchor in a tran : quil harbour. -The little scone is entitled "At Rest." _ On' tho 'correspondence side there is an unsigned message to the effect that- by the time the postcard Was delivered the writer would be. dead, with a bullet . through his heart.. He : wished to be 'remembered to members of his family and various friends. -The messa_ge is-.written -all round the postcard, arid is rather rambling and incoherent! One- thing is obvious, however, that the i. writer, contemplated suicide by shooting. The writing, according to the statement of the receiver of, tho card, is in' Bryenton's hand.

DEFECTIVE REVOLVER. ■ Detective. H.' 'D;'; Kennedy, who has the case in ' hand, examined - tho - revolver this morning, and found "that 'lit;was defective. The pin which should • explode the cartridge when the hammer fell would' not - return to its proper position when'the hammer was cocked. The fact that there had been attempts to explode four cartridges, only one of , which proved successful, went'to show that the pin, not'being in its proper place on 'the first three occasions, did not strike the caps with ; sufficient! force to explode them, and ■ merely them. .On the fourth attempt the'detective thought' that the user of the revolver opened up tho, breech and placed the pin iri the proper position with his finger.' "With the pin working properly the revolver naturally exploded. The revolver is a secondhand one. • The fact that three misfires' took place' indicates' that tho alleged assailant must have spent some considerable time in front of Bryenton before he got the revolver to discharge. This, of course, is entirely inconsistent with Bryenton's own story. The detective visited a number of ironmongers' shops'this morning, -and found, that man answering to Bryenton's description visited Ashby, Bergh's yesterday, and asked the prico of cartridges with a special bullet. He did not know the size of ■ his revolver, but he was-told the price of the cartridges he wanted was six shillings-a hundred. The aanje man also visited Messrs. Lewis and Anderson's' 6hop and purchaed fifty,' 32 calibre. cartridges. Detective Kennedy visited the hospital this morning in the, hope that Bryenton should confess to shooting himself, but he denied that he had attempted ,to' take his own life, and firmly adhered to his original statement that lie had been fired at end wounded by a stranger. ATTEMPTED SUICIDE ADMITTED. However, the detective again saw Bryenton ■ this afternoon, and the latter then mado a statement to thj effect that ho had attempted suicide. Bryonton_ made the following statement to- Detective Kennedy which ho signed" 1 "I, Charles-Bryenton, admit that \the statement I made to a sergeant of police last night was not true. I shot myself because I was despondent. I sent the' postcard the detectivo showed-me to my ; brother, which showed him' my ■ intcn-' Won.' I make this- statement voluntarily," ' - . i. ■. It is understood that 'Bryenton--has -been greatly troubled over his financial affairs. B«* recently figured in Court proceedings, and' an order was mado against him for tho payment of a certain amount. Ho had got behind . in -his payments, and was being pressed to square up arrears. Dr. Crooke, house surgeon'at th'e ; hospital, states that tho man is still in a.,very critical condition. He is in too low a state to permit of an operation being performed to extract the bullet. Bryenton slept soundly during the afternoon,