SHOOTING MYSTERY

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 June 1936, Page 7

SHOOTING MYSTERY

WOMEN IN THE CAR

COUNSEL’S QUESTIONS

[BY CABLE PRESS ASSN. COPYRIGHT.]

MELBOURNE, June 12.

At the police inquiry Mrs. Madeline Orr, widow, licensee of Tattersail’s Hotel, near the detective headquarters, gave evidence to-day. She said that she had known the Brophy family for years. She often visited them. Witness corroborated the story of the shooting.

During cross-examination by Mi Streeton, witness said that the ca: lights were switched off while the ca was parked at Royal Park.

Mr. Streeton: Did it not seem a mysterious way for an old friend like Superintendent Brophy to act?

Witness: No. Mr. Streeton: What did you do? Did you have a pleasant chat in the dark? . Witness: We did not have time. It was only a matter of minutes when the bandits appeared. Mr. Streeton: You passed the police station atfer Superintendent Brophy was injured. Why didn’t you give information ? Witness: We were acting under Superintendent Brophy’s instructions, which were to save us women. Superintendent Brophy asked us to leave it to him.

Mr. Stanley Lewis, who is appearing for the Melbourne "Herald,” asked Mrs. Orr whether she treated Maher, who drove the motor car, more as a friend than as an employee, to which she replied: “He is merely an employee in my bar.” Mr. Lewis: You and Mrs. Phillips were in the back seat of the car, but when it stopped Mrs. Phillips changed Places with Superintendent Brophy What was the reason?

Witness: There was no particular reason.

Witness added that Superintendent Brophy’s last words were: “You leave this to me! I think they have got me! lam riddled with bullets!” Mrs. Elsie Phillips, of Middle Park, gave similar evidence to Mrs. Orr. She added that when the firing began. Maher cried to her to bob down, and he pushed her head down. Mrs. Phillips added that she did not scream when she heard shots fired. Nor did Mrs. Orr scream.

Mrs. Phillips’s husband then entered the witness box. He declared that he was still on good terms with his wife, and there was no dissension as the result of the car accident. William Maher, who is barman at Mrs. Orr’s hotel, detailed his conversation with Superintendent Brophy. The latter asked for the use of. Mrs. Orr’g car on the night of May 22. Maher said that Mrs. Orr and Mrs. Phillips, on the same evening, wanted to be driven to Clifton Hill. Thereupon he (Maher) told them that Superintendent Brophy wanted the car. “Oh, dash it!” they said. Maher then related the happenings in Royal Park. Maher added that he had not reported the shooting to the police, because he “was leaving everything to Brophy.” Altogether about ten shots were fired, he said. Detective vV. R. R. Boulton, who was subjected to a searching crossexamination as to why the police did not immediately make inquiries into the shooting, said that soon after the affair, he saw Brophy in the hospital, when Brophy told him the wounds were accidental. Mr. Lewis asked: Was it not perfectly clear to you that Brophy had not been accidentally shot? Detective Boulton: No.

Mr. Lewis: You are a detective and your powers of observation as a detective should have enabled you to decide whether it was accidental. Boulton: Brophy told me it was an accident. I believed him. Mr. Lewis: Was it the fact that Brophy is your superior officer prevented you making inquiries? Boulton: Inquiries have been made. The hearing was adjourned.