A STRANGE CASE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 118, 12 February 1920, Page 6

A STRANGE CASE

POISON IN FOOD

ALLEGED ATTEMPT TO MURDER

YOUTH SENT FOR TRIAL

A charge'of .attempting to murder William Murphy and his son Jack, was preferred agn.inst 'a youth named Aubrey "Jbelll" alias Walter James Smith, before Mr: W. G Kiddell, S.M., at the, Magistrate's Court yesterday. Murphy, and his son follow tho occupation of and use certain deadly poisons 'in their work. The police allege ;that-tho Murphys befriended Ibcll and took him to their home, and that while the Murphy? were out of the house Ibell placed strychnine in'some condensed milk and arsenic in some meat.

" Chief Detective Ward conducted the ■prosecution nnd Mr. C. A. L, Treadwell represented the accused.

William Murphy, residing at. Jackson Street, Island Bay, said that he first met accused on January 8 on the liner Arawa, when lie was asked _bv friends to-take charge of accused until the latter ..found some, employment. Witness took accused home and provided him with accommodation in the son's room, Witness 'obtained employment for accused at an hotel, but accused expressed a desire for factory work. Witness kept rat poisons in a 'box, which was always locked. He had about lib. of strychnine, somo arsenic, three bottles of poisonous acid, and some pink powder to colour the poi- . son.'" Witness also kept a lot of personal clothing in the box. On the morning of January 22 witness and his son proceeded to work atid left accused in charge of ■ the house, with instructions to do some gardening; Witness returned home from the wharf about 1.30 p.m., and was later joined-by his son, who walked home wiih the dogs. On entering his house witness saw accused's portmanteau iying on the floor half open. He could see that it contained some of his articles. On looking round the house he found that the olace had been thoroughly ransacked. Witness drew his son's attention to the state of the house and the bov immediately raced off after accused. Tho dogs were slipped and joined in the chase, while witness rang up the police. .On returning he found his son and accused in the house, and 1 being unable ,to get any satisfaction from accused, witness and his ,son took accused to the police station. A little later they returned to their borne and prepared tea. The condensed milk, which was about to be used, was found to contain strychnine. The milk was all right in the morning. Witness had left a partly-cooked shoulder of mutton in a not, and after discovering the poison in.the milk he and his son examined tho uieat. The cold fat had been broken, and the meat was found to contain arsenic and some of the pink powder. The milk and the meat were taken to the police, who returned to make a further search. If accused had committed the act, witness could not give any reason why ho should have done so. Ho treated "accused just as ho did his ton— gave him money, took him to the pictures, and gave him tto best of. food. ■ To Mr.- Treadwell: It was quite easy to see that the food had been poisoned. It did not appear that there had been any careful attempt to poison the food. Witness denied that when' in a temper he had locked up the food. Neither his 1 son nor the accused had missed a meal. Witness admitted clouting accused cn the face when he discovered the state of the house. He did this because accused laughed when Murphy produced an empty revolver to frighten him. Mr. J. MacLaurin (Government Analyst) -said that the strychnine in the condensed milk represented 30 rer cint. Os the weight of the 'mixture—in other words, there was lloz. or 650 grains of Btrychnine in the milk. The fatal doso of strychnine was half to two grains. The meat contained 1.8 grammes of arsenious oxcide and the water 0.6 ginmmes. Tho total quantity of arsenious oxcide in the pot was about 46 grains. The fatal dose of this poison vas lot more than two grains, i ,

Jack Murphy, son of the complainant, corroborated' the evidence of his father.

Sergeant Cruick&hanks gave evidence as to arresting accused. Witness sa ; d accused had-made a statement admitting that ho put poison in the milk and the meat. He did this to prevent Murphy and 1 , his son from having anything to eat, because 'Murphy had previously locked the food up. After doing this he intended 'fo leave a note telling them of what lie had done, bait hs did rot havo time to do this as Murpity and i is son arrived."" lie admitted that Murphy had treated him well, and said that he had used an axe to break open tha box containing the poison and Murphy's personal effects.

Detective-Sergeant Scott, who interviewed the accused, said that accused asserted' lie had not intended to harm the Murphys,"but had merely wished to "do Murphy out of his food" in revenge for his action in locking the food awav fiom-his'son Jack after a family quarrel. Accused, further stated that he . had intended to'inform Murphy of wh.it r had done,"but ,when Murphy struck him he decided to say nothing. Tliis'concluded the rase for the police, and counsel submitted that his dient had not been guilty of any intention to murder Murphy and •'

..The Magistrate held that a prima facie 'case had been made out, and he committed accused to the Supreme Court for trial.

Accused pleaded guilty to a charge of theft of articles from a boardin:.;iiousc at Timaru, and was convicted Mid ordered to come up for sentence when called upon within. s;x months. A minor charge of .theft., from the Murphys was withdrawn.

Bail was not applied for,