"YOU KILLED HIM"

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 141, 15 June 1923, Page 4

"YOU KILLED HIM"

COLDSTREAM MURDER CHARGE

STARTLING STATEMENT BY

ACCUSED.

(BY TBLIGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.)

ASHBUBTON, 14th June.

The inquest, on' the body o£ James Henry Suring M'Kenzie, whom a youth named Albert Frederick Maxwell Kissel confesses to having murdered, was opened this afternoon. The manager of the Studholme Estate said that when Kissel arrived at the homestead after the tragedy' witness grabbed him by the arm, saying, " We want you." Kissel asked, "How is he?" Martin said, " You killed him." Kissel gave way to grief and collapsed to the ground. Witness said, "Be a. man," and he shook Kissel, who rayed, shrieked, and called out loudly. Witness then said, "If you are afraid of being hung, you need not be, for you are mad." Kissel said, " What does mad mean? Is it being out of your head?" Witness said, " Yes." i Kissel then quietened down. He admitted entering the homestead from a side door. He also said he ehot a girl that, night whom he had gone to school. with. Her name was Elsie Prestige. Kissel could not remember the place where he killed her. The inquest was adjourned sine die.. FURTHER DETAILS OF THE CRIME. M'Kenzie's room in the homestead is situated in the servants' wing, and is but simply furnished. A reporter who visited it to-day found evidences of the tragedy. One room in the homestead is a chapel, in which the folk of the district meet regularly. The dead man was the chapel organist, and;h'ii room was within a dozen paces of the chapel. Kissel's father -isv dead, but he has a stepfather, a married sister, and a brother aged twelve years. M'Kenzie obtained permission for Kissel to come to the estate fov his holidays, which were during harvest time. Later he worked for other settler*. Residents of the district state ho was not in the habit of drinking, and generally his demeanour was quite normal. There were times, however, when hs became hysterical, but this emotion was caused by laughter. The crime was discovered by the manager of the Coldstream Estate, Mr. Martin, a few minutes after noon. According to the story of those present at the time, Kissel" came to the manager and declared that he had committed the deed. The manager states that Kissel was in a painfully agitated state of mind, and it was distressing to see him crying. He was so distressed that he did not know his own name. He saidlie was Max, and asked someone nearby what his other name was. The' manager of the station say 6 that the old man had no friends, and made a will leaving .everything to Kissel, whom he liked. The will was unsigned. He had saved betwoen £200.and £300. A most extraordinary feature of the ease is that Kissel, according to his own statement to various people, undressed and went to bed, yet when Ke woke in tbs morning he found himself fully dressed with a gun alongside him. The first thing he did was to clean the gun, so he said. ' One of the Coldstream Estate employees told a reporter that lie asked Kissel why he was crying and raving. Kissel, who asked him what hi* name was, said that once he had been thrown from ahorse. ,

Mr. Oom-lsy, of Ashburton, who teaches ia the school at Coldstveam, stays at Mr. Little's house, and ia therefore well acquainted with the suspected man. He stated to-day that Kwel came out of his whare about midday and called to him. He was crying bitterly, and he asked. "Am 1 mad?" Gourley says he tried to cheer him up and asked what was troubling Mm. Kissel replied: "I shot M'Kenzie last night I had a terrible nightmare." He then walked limply to a «hed and leaned weanly again6t the wall, thoroughly distraught He also said that he had only two bullets m his box now, whereas Si? V6Te three the "igfc* before. The discovery of the crime by Mr. Martin was Followed within a few minutes by the appearance of Kissel in a. greatly distressed state. It is stated that Kissel had given his employer a week's notice on the evening _of the tragedy. Kissel's whare is a chain or more from the homestead. He entertained a couple of friends the previous evening, playing cards till 9.30 o clock.