BODY IN SUITCASE

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 152, 30 June 1938, Page 11

BODY IN SUITCASE

MURDER

LOWER COURT HEARING BEGUN

ACCUSED'S WRITTEN ADMISSION

.. Mr. J.. H. Luxford, S.M., presided. l The case for the Crown was conducted by Mr; W. H. Cunningham, Crown ' Prosecutor at Wellington, with whom was associated Sub-Inspetcoi: J. CarIroll. : '

Mr, H. F. O'Leary, K.G., with him Mr; O. Fdster, appeared"forAiinstrong, who. when his name was callsd, walked quickly into ,the dock. He was told by the Magistrate that he could be seated. Edwin Norman Armstrong's dismem-

.... Vered body was found In a floating . - . suitcase near the Picton WharJ! on May ■ 'iT.Three day» later the'son Douglas Alexander Armstrongs was- arrested on *■ thfe Auckland' railway station after alighting from the Limited' exprpss, which had just arrived from VPellihg- , ton, and was charged with the murder of his father. He returned to Welling--1 . fori under police escort -the f allowing day and has been In custody ever since, ~ He has made a number of appearances in the Magistrate's Court in the inter-1 on each; occasion. 1 A number of exhibits, including a rifle, knives, clothing, a suitcase, the ; remains of another suitcase, mats, a tea tray, and a roll of matting, form part of the police case. Some of these to and identified by the second "witness called, William Aitken. Armstrong, brother of the accused. ',j» TKfe. Crown proposes to call 21 wit- ... nesses, and It is expected that the* i Lower Court hearing will' Occupy two' • days/ :/ • : - r. '-Before a : start was made with the evidence, Mr. O'Leary asked-that all witnesses be ordered to remain "out of court,- except the., medical witnesses and Sub-Inspector Carroll, whose presence he understood was necessary in ; the< conduct of the case for the ' Crown. ' •' The Magistrate-made this order. 1 .. Mr.. Cupningham did not give . tin 6t the Crown's case.' Ths story, lie' said, would unfold itself as the witnesses were called. .The, largest i evidence would be by Dr. - * Lynch, pathologist, who had prepared a report" of eleven typewritten pages. Mr. Cunhe'hAdsupplied Mr. ■ fO'Letty.. with~a copy and it was proposed that .Dr.-Lynch jshould «;ad ;Jhis i , report and that it should be put in as ] . parjt of his evidence. This procedure "i had been followed in another case . rvi where there was long medical evi-.. ~.;,denoe,*njl it would save a goo 4 deal _ of typing, v. .. . ; j, * v Geprge Abiel Warden, a dniughts- ; man, of Plimmerton, produced a pian • of the house and grounds at 20 Hmau , ... Road, HataitaL J EVIDENCE OF gON. "William* Aitken Armstrong, a student, " Of " Wellington, said that at the begin- ' ' nlng of May he was living at 20 Hinau : ri '*Road. His family had lived there ' for about live years. There were ' pfour "in the family—his father, mother, , 1 bJfbth'er, - who was the accused, and ■ .' " himself. -On Friday, May 6, witness ' '-. said he left home at about 8.1!> ajn., 1 1 his brother, having left at about 7 a.m. 1 His brother was.employed at. the Railway Workshops. When witness left he thought his father - was up and , about, though he had not been while , i- -' his brother was getting ready for work. Witness did not think his i brother-saw his father before lie left , . . for work. , *,• i That day, continued, the witness, he t did not go home for iunch, but ar- .< rived home about; 9.30 p.m.; and found j his mother there.' His brother was not < • there. His'brother was interested in j deer-stalking and he possessed knives j • which he kept at home, some :!n his f '' bedroom and some under the house. : The witness recognised the larger of •two knives produced in court. He. ( might have seen the smaller knife at ] some stage of its manufacture. His j brother alwayp made the knives,, His t brother , also possessed a . rifle which t the witness identified when it was c produced. It was usually kept, in his t brother's bedroom, which witness also r occupied. / ■ t , Before: witness went to Picton on . Monday, May 9, he continued, the . police visited the house, and clothing - was taken from the bedroom. • The witness identified his, brother's working; clothes and shoeS produced, j . >and' said that his brother wore them. _ when,he left home on May 6. On May 9 at Picton, continue J the . . witness, he saw a coat, waistcoat, and £ - trousers and a levy book, which were produced in court, and which he i identified as belonging to his father. j; "FEARED HIS FATHER.;' £ . Cross-examined by Mr. O'Leary the h witness, said. that his .father went to 1' Australia last year and was away" for ii about six months, returning about six 1' weeks before his death.. Aftec his t. father's return from Australia the bolt t . was never left in his brothers rifle. At times before his father left for Aus- £ tralia the bolt had been taken oat of a the rifle. His brother and himself took s it out-before the visit to Australia, o After the visit his brother took the; bolt . out, but the witness did not know at the time that it had been removed. ' The reason witness took the boll: out was because he feared hid father might . jise the rifle on the others in the fam- , . ilyj who were in fear of him up /to, the time of his death. The witness said his brother was continually making ®. knives and models and the like. Wit- ® ness knew he made knives for friends. J* Re-examined by Mr.. Cunningham S1 the witness said that the rifle bolt was J* sometimes put in his brother's overcoat * pocket when his brother took it out '•« and in a tin in the bedroom when wit- h ness removed it. He had never seen P 1 his father take up the rifle and point it y at anyone, but he had seen his father « examining the rifle more than 6nce, tt about four or five years ago. k MOTHER CALLED. 1 Mary Robb Armstrong, mother of al the accused, was the next witness. Be- rt foi-e she was sworn Mrs. Armstrong H looked over at her son in the dock L: and r there was an exchange of smiles se between them. She gave her evidence Li

ARMSTRONG CHARGED WITH

The Magistrate's Court hearing of the charge against Douglas Alexander Armstrong, fitter and turner, aged 21, of murdering his. father, Edwin Norman Armstrong, at Wellington on May 6, was commenced this mornirg. . ' A good deal of public interest was taken in the case. At 8 a.m. a few people were waiting outside the court building; ■ At 9.30 some 100 people, many of them women, were standing behind the railing in (the section' of the court reserved for the public, and in the next half-hour the attendance increased greatly. When the hearing began—it was the Uiird case "to be called—there were about 200 people present and.the public accommodation was practically all occupied. S V " v Among the exhibit;! produced this morning was.a remarkable letter written by. the accused to his mother, admitting that he had killed his father. \

[Sitting down and a woman friend sa' behind her, Mrs. Armstrong's evidence was given in a .quiet,' wellspoken manner, and without any .hesitation..

Mrs.'Armstrong said she was a teacher and had been married to Ed-

win Norinaii Armstrong for' 22 years.

There were two sons of the marriage. Doiigias was the elder, having turned 21 Just recently. William, the other

son, was 19t Her late husband was 55 of age.- Latterly, said .tie witness, she had been employed at the Clyde Quay School. It was her custom to leave" home in the morning about 8.30.' On the . morning of May 6' Douglas was the first to leave the

house, lie left about 7 o'clock, it being, hecessary for him to get to work fairly early. When Douglas left her not out of bed. ■ William was the next to leave, before 8.30, and witness left about 8.30. At that time hejr husbanfl vcas still in. the. hpuse. Her husband had an appointment -at: 9 o'dlpclq with; sdmeon'e at. the. Labour Bureau., Witness did. not see' her husband alive- again.: - On May-15 she identified his body at the morgue.' r Mrs. Armstrong said that on May 6 she returned to the house about 3 p.i'n. It was tHe ,last day of the school,.term. No one was in the house when, she

returned and she> did not notice anything. unusual about the state of the .house. She saw that th|. carpet run-; iter in the hall'was wet, but she left' it until, the, next day, when; she put it out on the line to dry. Subsequently she replaced it. . ' ■ NOTE ON SIDEBOARD. , On her return to the house -on the Friday "afternoon she found a note on the sideboard in the breakfast-room. As. far as she could remember she crupapled ujp the note and put it in a wasterjpaper basket. The writing on the note was a scrawl but she wo.uld say 'it was that of her .son Dpuglas,' She could not t-eipeniber all that wfs in. the note. The v note began, "Good news. Gonie to, Auckland - with Dad for, work." The. next she heard, from Douglas was • dri 1 : Monday iriorninjg, when-she had from S-'r The , letter was produced and - wais identified "by Mrs. Armstrong, and was handed to Mr. .O'Leary. and t}ie . Magistrate to v There was a request in the letteri 'said Mre. 1 Ainnstrong, fpis; her .toxhoieet heri pori anafshe met him on the Monday about ll o'clock at the) railway station.- Witness remained with him until after I ;P.jn. • j

In answer to Mr. Cuniiingham, Mrs; Armstrong iaid Jhat her husband was very "sore" on Douglas, ,who resentid his father's treatment, of witness. Hfer and Douglas.were not on good speaking ■= terms, exchanging nothing more than common courtesy. That had been the position for. a year or two. Douglas wished that his father would go away so that they would be left in peace. She did'not think Douglas saw his father befdre he left home' on May 6. Mrs/Armstrong was next asked to identify a quantity of clothing arid other articles, including two certificates delating to her husband's qualifications as an accountant "BASELESS RUMOURS." Cross-examined by Mr. O'Leary "to clear up some baseless rumours" the witness said that- there was no question that ,the accused and his brother Were the children of her and the deceased. She was a spinster wheii she married the. deceased,' and she was now 49 years old. Her husband-was not pre-, vjously married. Since the tragedy she; had been living with friends, whose surname was Butcher. They had been more than kind to her. She knew, of talk of her association "with a butcher. vV'.--... ■; Her husband w l as an : accountant, continued the witness, and he had relinquished his; last position; in New Zealand in 1929 or 1930. Since then he had done no work for any length of time. He did only a few odd days, that could be counted on the fingers of one's hand. She kept him alp that time. .He went to Australia with money provided by her—£l3o. She jasked him to go because she could not stand the strain any longer. He was difficult to live with because of his mental outlook. The Understanding was that he was to stay in Australia and receive from her £10, a month for his keep, but he returned. She did not know he Was returning. Conditions were much worse after his return. He did not converse with the family in ordinary conversation, and there was no ordinary pleasant life in the home. She had no fear for her own safety, but ,she was concerned "for her sons! She had heard her husband threaten her sons and had seen him act violently towards them. Generally speaking her husband's apparent mental outlook was such that she expected; any time that his brain would snap arid the boys would be murdered.

At this stage ; Mr. O'Leary read Douglas's letter to his mother, a long' and well-composed letter, in which the son said that because of his treatment of the , family lie had killed his father. THE ACCUSED'S LETTER. The following is the full text of the accused's letter to his mother:— "May 8, 1938. "Dearest Mum,—ln this hour, the darkest in my young life, I must pen these few lines to you, perhaps the last ever. You must exeuse any emotional abruptness Of these lines, but, believe me, they are. outpourings of a terrible . stress which seems to consume my whole body with ague, for I have killed my father.,. To you alone can I turn for sympathy, for y6u, my mother, have guided me too long along the path of life to desert me now. I must trust you implicitly. Be brave, Alum, for my sake as well as yours. Accept this terrible news with fortitude. God knows I did it for you. He has brought tragedy alone into our lives, brooded over us like a pall, stealing all our happiness, retarding our being respected, and our social advancement. He had lost every vestige of manhood. Like a leech he sucked our vital reserves and made our home a morgue. Life was impossible.

I "To me It did not matter. I could (have gone away and left you all and lived happily. I am young, clever, and with the whole world before me. Yet I loved you so much in my queer, rigid way that the manhood which is so wholly my character forbade me to desert you. You were too tragic a figure, so helpless in the hand of Fate, had given too much of your life. And I know all the love which you could not give to him you lavished on me. Life has not treated you rightly. I had thought when we gave him all the money to go away that he would stop away and leave us to our own destiny. I had plans to compensate you for all you've suffered,- all you have endured for Bill and I, for those long, bitter years of our childhood, when that skunk dragged you. round the world, gave you no heme, brought only misery and broken friendship into your life, and, finally, having failed,' dragged us in that bitter mire of despondency and poverty from which your heroic efforts alone rescued us, and throughout sponged upon you in that detestable manner which has wrung your heart time and ,time again in frightful agony and yearning for the happiness that should have been your heritage. "And I yearn, oh, how I yearn for all this life , that they will perhaps take from me. I am a man, a man Who has lived his youth for a purpose and an ideal which drove me always. Only the lovely things in life did I desire, the sordid and harshness of life I lived only to contrast the future to give me the experience that would make me a man of the world. I relied fully, on my thoughts which I always kept beautiful whenever X felt the utter futility of life. J depended on my character to keep me above the mob, to prevent my soul being bogged in the mire of mediocrity. Women, I revered, I loved every beautiful one I. saw, placed them on a pedestal and yearned for them as something attainable only when I had proved myself. To gain their respect I gradually- developed my character and in me.l feel sure there are unplumbed depths of chivalry. "In that lovely dream place of my ! inner mind I had planned your future. ! I had meant to" let you work a while longer until I got a good job somewhere. Then, you could have gone : home to England, to the only place in the world' where you must have ; been really happy in your youth, ank . there to enable you to buy some nice 1 little cottage in the south of England ' modelled on that oft-quoted, oft-paint-- : ed, blissful solitude and quiet serene , that Is Cornwall, -Essex, and Devon. There you could have pottered and -■ lived your old age away from this tragic farce, perhaps, with Mrs. . Butcher for a companion. There , would have been our home. Both-Bill <

and. I had a haven from our' wandering. It was all a dream, a lovely, simple dream, that I could have accomplished. Fate, all supreme, more powerful than us puny mortals,, has ruled Perhaps, who knows, ;it-may all;turn out right in the end.--. "Alas, poor mortal clay you aim too high, , % •, : "Soon shall your dreams lie broken "Upon the sacrificial stone ' "Of that base goddess Fate "When so soon to life's fulfilment "You would have woken. "Forgiye the apology for poetry. It is just a chip off a riven heart. '

"So now I stand with the ruins of my life at my feet. Worse still, I have Brought down upon your head an awful calamity, the gravity and extent of which I am afraid to dwell upon. Yet now. do I need you more

than ever before. Steel' that heart of yoars, and fight for mei Grant, me your love,and your defence, your sympathy and your* pleading' for my life, a life which folly has brought so close

to disaster, a life with a soul, of true ateeVinto -which are tempered all~th'at* is;gp6dness';'in man. Lovingness, kipd« iessfvand understanding, chivalry, pnei steadfastness, which the quick rush of youth has somewhat liauddled and produced a J;ekyll.-

■ "Compose Yourself, mum, show Bill this letter. ; 'It is your duty to do do. That I shall be 'caught is inevitable, ! but while I am free I want to see you just to comfort you and to derive comfort; from you. Perhaps the terrible tragedy of -the case will outweigh the horror of the thing and some, day the even tenor of your life may be resumed. " . "■ , :

keep your spirits up, mum, <io not v try and hide your love, nothing can kill it. Tomorrow I shall wsiit at ! the ttiaih door of the. station at 11 o'tlock'in the morning. If ybu do not ■Comethen/ 1 -shall' wait there at 4 o'clock. I shan't be at the hotel. Although I am yours in distress, I am also yours lovingly. Douglas."

Ethel Maud Livermore, a widow, of

18 Hinau Road, said that a Mrs. Allender lived at No. 16 Hinau Road. Witness sometimes did housework for Mrs. Allender. On May 6 she went there about 8.20 a.m. and saw someone whom she supposed to be the accused coming home.. He was going towards the back door. It was some time between 9 o'clock -and 11 o'clock. She heard no noises, as of someone washing out the house at No. 20 during the morning. Mr. O'Leary had no questions. TAXI-DRIVER'S EVIDENCE. ' Charles Anthony Wilfred Wheeler, a taxi-driver, of Wellington, said that on Friday, May 6, at about 1.15 p.m., he tobk a car to Hinau Road after being instructed by the office of his company. He was .looking for No. 13, but could firid no such number. Then he noticed the accused standing on the footpath. Witness asked whether he had ordered a taxi, and the accused implied that he had. There were two bags with the accused.' When witness went to lift the bags he thought they were rather heavy and remarked upon it, to which the accused replied that he had some venison, having been out shooting during the week. The bags were put on the floor of the car at the back. The bags were fibre suitcases. The accused directed witness to the Tamahine, but first to the Union Steam Ship Company. Witness waited at the company's office, then drove to the Post Office and then to the Tamahine, There witness was unable to lift the, heavier suitcase. He noticed some blood on the, car mat, whereupon the accused apologised and witness let it go at that. The accused lifted the heavy suitcase out. Witness noticed nothing peculiar about him. He identified two car mats produced as his. At an identification parade a few days later, wit-, ness said, he identified the accused. ■ Mr. O'Leary 1 asked no questions.

Stuart Haydn McDonald, a clerk, of. 1 Wellington, said that he was on duty at the passenger counter of the Union Steam Ship, Company's office on the afternoon .of May 6 between 1.15 p.m. and 1.45 p.m. In that time he issued to a man who came in' one ticket for the i Tamahine in the name of D. Armstrong. On May 10 he identified the accused at a parade at the police station. No questions were asked by Mr. O'Leary.

Constable William John Harper, of jficton, said that at 11.30 a.m. on Saturday, May 7, he- went to the PiCton Wharf arid underneath it saw a suitcase. With assistance he got it, on to the wharf and found a human hand projecting from it. He had it conveyed to the morgue. He identified the suitcase and the rope which was tied round it, these articles being produced in court. He was present at the morgue when Senior-Sergeant, Dinnie and Detective-Sergeants McLennan and Murray arrived from Wellington. Detective-Sergeant McLennan opened the case, in which was a man's body minus the head and legs. On Tuesday, May'lo, continued the witness, he was '

present at the Picton morgue when Dr. Lynch examined the body. On Thursday, May 12, at 3 p.m., he was present at Picton Wharf when a diver brought to the surface a suitcase which contained the head and two legs of a man, some clothing, and a pair of shoes. He identified the articles produced. On Saturday, May 14, he brought the remains to Wellington. The point where the first suitcase was found was immediately behind where the stern of the Tamahine lay in her usual berthing place. The witness was not cross-examined. Te Kanawa Wineera, a diver, of Porirua, said that on May 12 he searched the sea-bottom around the Picton Wharf and found a suitcase at the seaward end of the wharf. It was resting on the bottom in about 35 feet of water. The police took the suitcase when it was hauled up. No questions were asked. Detective-Sergeant William McLennan, of Wellington, said that on the afternoon of May 7 he went to Picton with - Detective-Sergeant Murray and Senior-Sergeant Dinnie. At the morgue they examined the suitcase and body. There were several knife cuts on the coat in which the body was dressed, in the vicinity of the chest and neck. There were knife cuts on the shirt and singlet on the body in the vicinity of the left side of the chest. Witness removed the clothing from the body, and found an unemployment levy book in a coat pocket in the name of E. Armstrong. In the waistcoat pockets he found "a Wellington tramway concession ticket and a medical prescription for E. Armstrong. There were a handkerchief, money, and a key in the trousers pockets.

The witness was not cross-examined. . Giving evidence when the Court resumed after the luncheon adjournment,- Jack Leonard Astill; salesman, of Wellington, said he knew the accused and in the past two years 'had spent a lot of time in his company. Armstrong was fond of deer stalking and witness had been with him on several expeditions. Witness saw Armstrong on the Saturday night prior to May 6 and he saw the accused about 1.30 p.m. on Saturday, May 7. Armstrong called round to witness's place, and "said that he had just returned by plane from Blenheim. Armstrong did not say what he had been , doing in Blenheim. He said he had gone to Picton by the Tamahine. Armstrong stayed at witness's place for tea after they had gone for a drive around the bays; During the afternoon they called at Dominion Motors, where Armstrong's car was being repaired. At tea there was an evening newspaper. \There was a report in the paper, of a suitcase having been found at Picton. 'In a' joking fashion witness asked, Armstrong what he was doing over there and said to Armstrong that "they" would be checking up on all the people who went over and returned by the Tamahine. The accused did not say anything. With a friend who had been with them in the afternoon witness and Armstrong went to • a dance in the Assembly Hall, Brougham Street after tea. They were all dancing during the : evening. 'Witness last saw the accused at the dance at i 1.55 p.m. When his friend returned later to take him home in a car Armstrong Had gone. To Mr. O'Leary, witness said that on "the Saturday he knew nothing of the tragedy that had happened. His friend, Parker, and witness had previously .arranged to go to the dance.

It was Parker's birthday. Witness said he did not think it would have been difficult for Armstrong to excuse himself from going to the dance. 'i'he position simply was that Armstrong was with them and he was asked to /go along. Arthur Merwood Parker, motor-car assembler, of Wellington, corroborated Astill's.evidence as to the car ride, the attendance at t the dance, and. Armstrong's statement that he. had been across'io Picton and. had flown back by plane. - .(Proceeding.).^