DETECTING CRIME

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 75, 26 September 1922, Page 2

DETECTING CRIME

A REMARKABLE.CAREER

RETIREMENT OF MR. J. A. M'GRATH.

Some highly, interesting particulars of the. career of Mr. J. A. M'Groth, Superintendent of the Otago and Southland Police Division, who is retiring from the service, are given by the "Di^nedin Star."' Mr. M'Grath joined the Armed Copstabulary at Wellington on 6th June, 1378, and was transferred to Taupo a few months .later. When the Te Whiti Native trouble broke but in Taranajci he was one of a detachment sent there' from- the Taupo' district, and he took ' part in the "bloodless victory" of Parihaka ih ( the following year. ARRESTED TE WHITI. j He was one of the party that entered the pa and arrested the two chiefs, T« Whiti and Tohu, and also Hiroki (who had long been wanted for murder). This Native was convicted and hanged. I ' Mr. M'Grath commenced civil polica 'duties in Wellington in 1882, and was transferred to the detective branch of the service in 1884. He remained tlier* until transferred to Auckland in 1887. ' He went to Dunedin in 1889, and after ten years' service there returned to Wellington as chief detective in 1899. H» was promoted to the rank of sub-inspec- . tor -m' 1909, and transferred to Christchurch. His appointment as inspector came in 1913, and he was transferred to Auckland. .Two years later he took charge of the Hawkes Bay .district. He was promoted to superintendent in 1919, when hej again returned to Dunedin to take charge of the Otago and Southland district. , . Mr. M'Grath's resignation has been accepted as from the 15th of next month. We,intends to settle in Wellington; as the members of his family are now all Imng in the North Island. "BABY-FARMING" MURDERS;^ • Mr. M'Grath, when stationed in Dunedui as a detective, had the handling of q?, •■? number of important cases, notably the Minnie.Dean murder case and the Dunedin Savings Bank robbery If there was one trial that aroused paramount public interest at the time it was the murdej^ase of 1895. Mrs. Dean had ' been suspected of baby-farming for a considerable time, and Detective M'Grath was the^nan who sheeted the crime home to her. It happened this way : Th* woman was seen to leave a train at Clarendon with a baby (which at the trial was proved to have been strangled); and to join the next train for Invercargill, carrying a large tin hat box and with no baby in her arms.' This was communicated by the constable at Mil-., ton to the Inspector of Police at Dun- . edin, and Detective M'Grath was instructed to trace the infant. It was discovered that the baby had been handed over to Mrs. Dean by its grandmother at Port Chalmers that day.- The latter ' was interviewed by the. detective, who took-her next day to Inrercargill, where he was joined by Detective Herbert (who in after years was well known in Dunedin as chief detective). The two officers proceeded to Mrs. Dean's house afc Winton, leaving the grandmother, of the child at the police station. On being interviewed, Mrs. Dean denied all know-. ledge 1 of the baby. The detectives then sent for the grandmother, who immediately identified Mrs. Dean as the person to whom she had given the baby. Mrs. Dean then said that she had given the, child to a woman who had commissioned her to find a good healthy biby. WHAT-THE DIGGERS FOUND. The suspicions of the two detectives were now thoroughly aroused,, and Detective M'Grath and the grandmother searched the house, with the result that some clothes were found ■ which' the latter identified as having been on tha » baby when she handed it over to Mrs. Dean, and which she herself had made. This was sufficient for Detective M-> Grath's purpose, and, despite the fact there was no evidence that the baby was dead, he arrested Mrs. Dean on a charge of murder, and brought her' to Dunedin. At the same time he arranged with Detective Herbert and a party of constables to dig up the ground at accused's place, with th« result that the body of the missing baby and the bodies of two: others were found buried ia the garden, 'At the trial of the accused. (who was ably defended by Mr. A. C. Hanlon) it transpired that she had purchased laudanum from a chemist at the Bluff, signing a v fictitious name, ! and documents were found ih v her house which enabled Dotective M'Grath to trace the parents of the other two babies (who had evidently been poisoned). A human skeleton was; also found buried in vthe ground. Accused was found guilty of murder,' and the death sentence was duly carried oui. , . At th» trial the presiding Judge congratulated the police on the way in which the case had been presented to the Court, and, in response to . the • solemn question as to whether she had anything to say ; why the. sentence of death should not be passed upon her, the prisoner simply replied : "-No, except that I wish to thank Detective M'Gratb for the kindness and fairness with which he has treated me." Only one other woman has suffered the extreme rigour of the law in Neis Zealand, and that was gome years before this trial. x . HELPING HAND TO THE FALLEN. The tribute of Mrs. Dean to the fairness of the man who brought her to the scaffold is only one of many When.' Mr. M'Grath was the prominent- subinspector, th« then president of the Wellington Law Society (now a judge of the Supreme Court) remarked:— "There never was a police-officer who was always so scrupulously fair as Mr. M'Grath. Many and many a time when an unfortunate person had come before the Court to ,be dealt with Sotv some breach of the law, and was not represented by. counsel,, the cfiief had informed him of circumstances in. the man's favour, so that he might have a chance. Because he had been fair those who watched him appreciated him. He had often been known to go silently—almost secretly—with some unfortunate with whom he had to deal in the execution of his duty and tak« him in hand and endeavour to help him on in life. The chief detective possessed a good heart. Those who had to do. with the courts saw phases 'of ljfe of .which the public knew nothing-futile outcasts and the flotsam and jetsam,of society— and it"was' good for them to know,that th«y had. at the head of the detective . force one who had taken a deep interest in his work, and who, in addition to the faithful performance of his arduous duties as guardian of the public, had given a h-olping hand to' many an unfortunate who. had thought that he had not a friend in the world."This (remarks the Dunedin "Stair") is an eulogy- that truly describes a kindly and considerate officer, who, wherever stationed, also gained the admiration and respect of his men^ the Bench, the Bar, and the citizens generally,