THE TIMARU MURDER

Evening Star, Issue 17581, 9 February 1921, Page 10

THE TIMARU MURDER

After Mr Donnelly had opened the case for the Crown at Christchurch’criminal sittings yesterday the following evidence was given at the trial of Reginald Matthews alias E. Irving on the charge ot the murder ot Edward Wagstaffe John Ernest Piggott and Stanley Bruce Clifford put in photographs afid plans of the scene of the murder. Mary Helena Long and Madeline Reed, employed bv Mrs Raymond,- Park lane, Timaru, gave evidence as to being accosted by a man whom they subsequently identified as accused. Bv Ins actions they did not think he was ah there. Bessie Parr, wife of Rohwt Parr, an antrineer livincr at Elizabeth sheet, Timaru, stated that next door to her house was an old house, m which her father-in-law had lived. Since his death the house had been kept closed up. _ The back door was not locked. A quantity of furniture had been left in the house. The garden bad run wild, the hedges were high, and thJ grass was long. At about 6.50 p.m. on October 27 she went towards the house. While she was passing the bathroom she saw the figure of a man in it. The window was down, and witness lilted it. The man was heating some fish in an old wash basin, with a fire made of paper. The man said the town was full up for the occasion of show day, and he had sought accommodation there. Witness s husband came along and spoke to the man. On November 3, at the' Timaru Gaol, witness identified the accused as the man she had seen in the house. A Mrs Parr, whose pet name was “Holly,” kept house for her father-in-law before he died. Five post cards produced were in the handwriting of "Holly’s" husband, Roger Parr. Mr Donnelly stated that the post cards had ■been found in the possession of accused. Witness identified* three vases produced as having been in the house in question the spare room, nest to the bathroom. A chest of drawers in a room nearby had bed linen in it, she continued. Mr Thomas; The night you saw accused was the eve of Show Day? Yes. Robert Parr, husband of the previous witness, gave corroborative evidence. Constable James Smith said, in consequence of complaints about a man accosting women, he spoke to accused, who denied having followed up or frightened any women. Accused was asked to hear what the women had to say, but he “ cleared,” and disappeared in an empty section. Clifford Vincent Knapp, clerk in the Public Trust Office, living with Mr Wagetaffe, sen., and his family at Timaru, said that on October 27, at about 10.15 p.m., he arrived at the house. He stayed in the house until about 11 p.m. Clarence Wagstaffe and he slept in a. sleeping hut at, the rear of the house. Right against the boundary fence there was an aperture in the hut which they had made just prior to the night in question. When witness reached the hut Clarence Wagstaffe was in bed. Witness started to undress, and

his attention was attracted by the figure of a man by the house, about midway between the front and the rear of the house, in a crouching attitude. There were three windows on the side of the house. The man was at the window nearest the front of the house, facing towards the house. The window was in a bedroom occupied by one of the Misses Wagstaffe. She occupied it on the evening in question. The figure was moving about, facing the house. Witness spoke regarding the matter to Clarence Wagstaffe, who partially dressed himself. They went out of the hut, and to the left side of the house. Then they went to the front end of the side of the house, where they had seen the man. Deceased ran along to where the man was, and witness ran round the other side of the house on the embankment. At the end of the path he took he saw the figure of a man, followed by deceased. Witness made an effort to tackle the man, but he jumped down on top of him and knocked him down. Witness sprang to his feet and followed the man and deceased, who was following him closely. On reaching the side windows the man turned, and fired a shot towards deceased and witness. The bullet whizzed past witness’s head. The man then went on a few paces, and fired a few more shots in quick succession. Deceased was apparently hit by one of the bullets. He went a few paces, and fell on the concrete path. The man ran across the lawn at an angle, and jumped the fence. As the man had a fair start on witness, witness went through a gate. He saw the man in the middle of the road ahead of him. He followed him as far as the vacant section in Seaview terrace, and then came back, because he could hear deceased groaning. The man turned to the right into Sefton street. Witness found Wagstaffe lying where he had fallen. A doctor and the police arrived. Constable Palmer found a ■ parcel post receipt about where the second and third ihots were fired. On November 3 witness went to Timaru Gaol to see if he could identify the man who had shot Wagstaffe. He picked out a man who was not accused. He estimated the height of the murderer at about 6fb 6in. He was of a rather short build. A person on the front verandah would not be able to see what before deceased fell. There was no light in the front bedroom occupied by Miss Wagstaffe by which he had been crouching at the time that the shooting took place. Mr Thomas; Was the man shooting walking or running away? Was it done deliberately ? Witness: Deliberately. It was not just chance shooting—he turned round and aimed?—Yes. You heard him make some noise?—Yes; it seemed to be a gutteral foreign noise. Did yen notice him do aavibiug as he crossed Die lawn?—No. You did not see him fire on the lawn, as did?—No. Your view was uninterrupted?—Yes. And you cannot enlighten the Court as to tiie action Mr Wagstaffe referred to?— No. All the shots you describe were fired from the side of .the house where Wagstaffe could not see’—Yes. You thought the gutteral noise was one of surprise ?—Vm. It might have bees'; ivbs noise of an angry man ?—Ye*. The man you saw at ike police station was substantially smaller than accused?— Yes. It was a barman from a nearby hotel whom you picked?—Yes. The only similarity between him and accused is that they have broken noses? I made the choice only from his appearance from the rear. Mr Donnelly You said at the inquest that you could not identify the murderer —Yes. Henry Wagstaffe, father of the deceased, said that on the night in question he went outside to discover the meaning of noises he heard. He reached the end of the verandah just as his son was falling. Immediately he came out to the verandah he saw a man running across the lawn. The man got from 12ft to 15ft over the lawn, and then turned round, produced a revolver or pistol, and, he thought fired thrice. At any rate the weapon was lowered thrice. He did not remember if there was any report from the revolver. Witness caught his son in his arms and spoke to him, but got no reply. He went to a neighbor’s house and rang up a doctor, and, he thought, the police also. Both tbe police and the doctor arrived iii a very short time. Dr Gibson, of Timaru, who attended the deceased and made a post-mortem Examination, said the bullet had passed through the main vein at the root of the heart and gullet, and was lying embedded in the soft tissues to the right of the spine. Wagstaffe had died of hemorrhage as a result of gunshot wound. Witness extracted the bullet and handed it sealed to Inspector Hastie. The bullet had not encountered any bone, and was not misshaped. Witness was accompanied at the examination by Dr Begg, who also sealed the bottle. Constable Robert B. Palmer, of Timaru, said that about 11 p.m. he was> on duty in Stafford.street, and was called to Wagstaffe’s residence. Clarence Wagstaffe made a short statement which witness took down.- II was as follows;—

woke me up, and said someone was. trying to get into the house. We chased, and he shot mo." , Evidence as to the finding of the post I office receipts, cartridge cases, and theft 1 other articles mentioned by the Grown' , * Prosecutor in his itddress, and also the ■ arrest of the accused was" given by a i number of police officials before the Court adjourned for the day. i ■ —"—*