MURDER SUSPECT

Evening Star, Issue 22954, 11 May 1938, Page 13

MURDER SUSPECT

ARMSTRONG TAKEN TO WELLINGTON HANDCUFFED TO DETECTIVE I Per United Press Association.] AUCKLAND, May 10. Very few persons at the Auckland Railway Station to-night noticed the arrival of Douglas Armstrong and his police escort when he boarded the limited express in order to be brought before the Wellington Magistrate’s Court to-morrow. None of the other passengers in his carriage seemed to be aware of his identity, Armstrong was taken to the station in an ordinary touring car, and to avoid as much notice being taken of his arrival as possible he was driven round to the mail platform near the limited’s departure platform. Before being escorted to his seat on the train he was handcuffed to Acting Detective E. M. Grace, with Detective W. E. Turgis also in attendance, and little notice was taken of him as he walked composedly up the platform between the detectives. A light raincoat thrown over the handcuffs formed an effective concealment of Armstrong’s captivity, and he and Detective Grace merely seemed to be assisting each other to carry some luggage. The prisoner was wearing a collar and tie, this being the only difference from his appearance in the Magistrate’s Court in the afternoon. He had no personal luggage. Accused’s Appearance The accused remained in custody until the sitting of the Police Court in the afternoon. When arrested he had a sum of money in his possession, but no train or'steamer ticket was found in his pockets. He is a fine type of young man in appearance and of refined features, though his hands show signs of the trade he follows. It is understood that his hands were one of the means of identification when he was accosted by the detectives. An active watch for the man who was arrested had been maintained by the police unobstrusively. but none the less thoroughly. Detectives specially assigned to the difficult duty searched all the likely places in Auckland. The Union Steam Ship Company’s liner Awatea was subjected to a close inspection on Monday night before she sailed for Sydney in case the wanted man might be on board, and the police also kept a watch on passengers arriving by the air liners. The hotels and the railway station were not neglected, and no possible opportunity of locating the man if he was in Auckland was overlooked. Remand to Wellington This afternoon, when the accused appeared before Mr C. R. Orr Walker, S.M. in the Police Court, he was wearing a, blue serge suit, a blue and white striped shirt, and WPS .without a, .collar or tie.., Immediately he was placed in the dock he was charged with the murder of his father last Saturday, and on the application of Detective Sergeant McHugh, he was remanded to appear in the Magistrate’s Court at Wellington to-morrow at 10 a.m. The proceedings occupied just on 30 seconds, and the accused then turned and disappeared into the prisoners room to be returned to the police station in the motor car which had brought him to the court. The charge sheet gave Scotland as the country of the accused’s birth.