THE PERRY TRAGEDY

Evening Star, Issue 15929, 8 October 1915, Page 7

THE PERRY TRAGEDY

INQUEST CONCLUDED. AIRS PERRY COMMITTED FOR TRIAL. (Pia Unitid Pubs* Association.! • AUCKLAND, October -7, The inquest concerning the death of John Thomas Perry, who was murdered at Ramararna on September 25. was concluded to-day. Gordon ADDowell, laborer, in reply to Air gejwyn Mays said he’ once lent Airs Perry 30s.

I think Airs Terry then sent you a note by the girl Mary, and you gave her the money?— Yes. When was that ?—I could hardly say. Was it when she said her husband had burnt some clothes?—No answer. The Coroner : What did she pay she wanted the money for ?—I really “could pot sav.

_ Was there anything about the clothes in the note?—No answer.

Coirio, now, you -are not so flow as that.—lt is only filling neighbors’ mouths. The Coronqr (reprovingly) : We are not concerned about neighbors’ mouths. You are in the witness hex, and sworn to speak the truth.

Witness .(interrupting) ; That’s what I’m doing. The Coroner : You are sworn to tell the whole truth. Perhaps you have overlooked that. How did you get to know about the burning of* the clothes?—l can’t tell you that. Have you forgotten ?—No. Very well, I must insist on your telling me. Hov; did you come to know?—No answer.

The Coroner (warmly) ; I can’t have you fooling with the Court in this way. Understand that we mean business, and that you have been playing with us long enough. Did Airs Terry tell you about the clothes or did some of the children tell well, it was in the note, if you want to know.

The Coroner (sternly) i Yes, I do want to know. Did the note state whose clothes he had burnt ?—The habv’s.

The present b»hy ?—Yea. Mr Mays : Are you quite certain? The Coroner ; Are you quite sure that the present baby was born then ?--Ht Mas not the living babv. Then it was Leonard!— Yes. Mr Mays ; Has Mrs Perry ever told vou that you are the father of Leonard ? No.

Did she say that her husband said so?— She sqid that neighbors had. You are quite sure that when you met on the night of September 21 it was not by appointment?—! am certain. I was taking a horse along the road, William Sutton, farmer, residing half a mile from Drury, testified that the previous witness was in his emplov on Friday, September 24, and for some weeks previously._ Q n the night of the 24th they slept in the same room, retiring about 10 o’clock, and rising about 6. Witness knew Airs Perry by sight, and twice within the past few weeks' he had seen her on the farm with AFDowell. That was in the day time. Alounted Constable Waugh, of Papakura, deposed that when he arrived at Perry’s in response to a telephone call he found Perry dead. Chief-detective Al‘Alahon gave details of his investigations, and produced pieces of skull which he had found in tho bed. The blouse in which Airs Perry slept was marked with Wood stains, but she accounted for that by stating that when she heard the explosion of the gun she put her arm over her husband’s face, and asked: “What’s the matter, dad?” Witness produced a statement which the widow had signed after it was read over to her. Regarding the suggestion that the gun had been fired through the window, witness would say that it was possible. He had made ‘a test by taking Die position occupied fav the “deceased While Detective-sergeant Hollis aimed an unloaded gun. When arrested on a charge of murder Mra Perry replied that she did not do it.

To Mr Prendorgast ; The accused gave her statement quite freely and in a connected manner.

Detective-sergeant Hollis stated that he arrived at the scene nf the tragedy at 930 on the morning of September 25. Mrs Perry seemed to be calm, but rather on the alert. When asked what part of the bed she slept in she replied in the centre, alongside her husband, with her ■back towards him and her child lyinrr 0 n her left arm. Witness remarked "that if she had been in bed at the time of the explosion her clothing would have been much more extensively marked, Mrs Perry did not reply when her attention was directed to some brain mutter on the pillow, where she was supposed to hav e bean lying. There was also a quantity of matter on the portion of the bed which the woman said she bad occupied. In the course of his investigations witness trained a gun from all the different angles permitted by the window sill, but irom none could such injuries as those sustained by the deceased have been inflicted. It was impossible to get a clear aim at the left centre of the head, where the charge entered the deceased. Witness searched inside and . outside the house for cartridges, hut found none. The Coroner returned the following verdict : —“ I find that John Thomas Perry was murdered by being shot through the head while lying in bed in his house at Ramarama. The evidence shows that the muzzle of the gun from which the shot was fired was held either against or within 2ft of the deceased’s forehead. The nature of the wound and angle at which the shot was evidently fired vender it most unlikely that the person who discharged the gun was at the time outside the room in which the deceased was lying- j The evidence shows that the deceased’s wife had for some considerable time past been improperly intimate with the witness M'Dowell, and had been, partly on that account, on bad terms with her husband, and had also spoken of leaving him. There is no suggestion that the deceased had any enemies. Mrs Perry was in the bedroom with the deceased at the time the shot was fired, and it would have been difficult for any other person to have left the room, which was filled with moonlight, after the shot had been fired without having been seen or heard by her. The gun, of which one barrel had been recently discharged, was found in the house. The evidence shows, so far as Mrs Pony is concerned, a combination of motive, opportunity, and means, and an absence of any evidence tending to implicate anybody else; but in fairness to her, in view ‘of the fact that she now stands charged with the murder nf the deceased, and in view also of the fact that the evidence is circumstantial and inferential. I do not propose to find definitely against her or to analvse the e.videncc in detail. It is sufficient* to justify her being committed for trial, and it is in the interests of justice that T should not make a definite finding, which might affect the minds of the jurv who will try her.” The accused was subsequently committed for trial.