THE BRISBANE MURDER

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 27, 1 February 1924, Page 7

THE BRISBANE MURDER

MRS. LAYDON'S EVIDENCE

UNFOUNDED JEALOUSY THS

MOTIVE.

(UNITED FUSS ASSOCIATION.—COPTRI9BT.)

BRISBANE, 31st January. According to the story told by Mrs. Laydon, her husband was a leturned soldier, and suffered from the effects of gas. He and Whitford were very friendly, and Whitford frequently visited their house to play cards. -Laydon al^o assisted Whitford in his election campaign. Then a breach came. Laydon accused his wife of certain relations between herself and WhitforU, which she denied. Quarrels followed, with, threats against Whitford. On the night of the tragedy heY husband asked her to accompany him to a; picture show. When Laydon saw Whitford and his wife entering the vestibule, he dragged his wife thither and accused Whitford of breaking up his home. Whitford smacked Laydon across the face, and then walked out. Laydon, still dragging his resisting wife, followed, and tired five shots with an automatic pistol at Whitford in the presence of the lat-ter-'s wife. Mrs. Laydon attributed the crime the madness of an unfounded jealousy. .

A previous. cable message stated that A. E. Whitford, formerly member for Burrum in ' the General Assembly, and who was defeated in 1922, was shot ; dead outside the Tivoli Theatre at Brisbane. .An eye-witness said that a man and a woman on one side of the road were engaged in an argument, when a man crossed the street and shot Whitford twice in the chest. -.He.then fired three more shots into the body as it lay prostrate on the ground, at the same time saying : "I think this will settle you." After shooting Whjtford, the man threw away his revolver and ran, but the police chased and captured him. - The man arrested is named James Laydon. The cause of the shooting is not disclosed, but when arrested Laydon made a remark which indicated that it was the outcome of a domestic matter. . s ■■ .