POLICE INQUIRY

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 220, 13 June 1936, Page 11

POLICE INQUIRY

Evidence of Women in Melbourne Case

PASSENGERS IN CAR By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright (Received June 12, 9.5 p.m ) Melbourne, June 12. At the continuation of the inquiry into the shooting of Superintendent Brophy and the authenticity of police statements connected with it, Mrs. Madeline Orr, widow and licensee of Tattersail’s Hotel, near the detective headquarters, gave evidence that she bad known the Brophy family for years and often visited them. Witness corroborated the story of the shooting, and during cross-examination by Mr L. Stretton, who is assisting the Royal Commissioner, said that the car lights were switched off while the car was parked at Royal Park. Mr. Stretton: Did it not seem a mysterious way for an old friend like Brophy to act? Witness: No. Mr. Stretton: What did you do—have a pleasant chat in the dark? Witness: We did not have time. It was only a matter of minutes when the bandits appeared. Mr. Stretton: You passed the police station after Brophy was injured. Why didn’t you give information? Witness: We were acting under Brophy’s instructions, which were to save us women. Brophy asked us to leave it to him. Mr. Stanley Lewis, who is appearing for the “Herald,” asked Mrs. Orr whether she treated Maher more as a friend than an employee, to which she replied: “He is merely an employee in my bar.” Mr. Lewis: You and Mrs. Phillips were in the back seat of the car, but when It stopped Mrs. Phillips changed places with Brophy. What was the reason ? “I Am Riddled With Bullets." Witness: “There was no particular reason.” Witness added that Brophy’s I last words were: "You leave this to ! me. 1 think they have got me. lam riddled with bullets.” Mrs. Elsie Phillips. Middle Park, gave similar evidence. She added that when the firing began Maher cried to her to boh down and pushed her head down. Mrs. Phillips added that she did not scream when she heard the shots fired, nor did Mrs. Orr. Mrs. Phillips’s husband then entered the witness box and declared that he was still on good terms with his wife and there had been no dissension as the result of the car incident. William Maher, who is a barman at Mrs. Orr’s hotel, detailed the conversation when Brophy asked for the use of Mrs. Orr’s car on the night, of Maj 22. Maher said that Mrs. Orr and Mrs. Phillips on the same evening wauled tc be driven to Clifton Hill, whereupon Maher told them that Brophy wanted the car. Mrs. Orr exclaimed: "Oh, dash it.” Maher then related the hap penings in Royal Park. Maher added that be had not reported the shooting to the police because he “was leaving everyiug to Brophy.” Altogether about 10 shots were fired, be said. Detective Examined. Detective W. R. Boulton, who was subjected to a searching cross-examina-tion as to why the police did not immediately make inquiries into the shooting, said that soon after the affair he saw Brophy in hospital, when Brophy told him bis wounds were accidental. Mr. Lewis: Was it not perfectly clear to you that Brophy had not been accidentally shot? Boulton: No. Mr. Lewis: You arc a detective and your powers of observation as a detective should have enabled you to decide whether it was accidental. Boulton: Brophy told me it was an accident. I believed him. Mr. Lewis: Was it the fact that Brophy was your superior officer that, prevented you making inquiries? Boulton: Inquiries have been made. The commission adjourned.