AMERICAN’S TRIAL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20836, 15 July 1942, Page 3

AMERICAN’S TRIAL

CHARGES OF" MURDER WOMEN IN MELBOURNE EVIDENCE OF SOLDIERS (9.30 a.m.) MELBOURNE, July 15. When the court-martial of Private Edward J. Leonski, an American soldier charged with murdering three women in Melbourne, was resumed to-day, an Australian private, who had been on guard duty near an American camp close to the city, said that on May 18 he saw an American soldier about 9 o’clock come from beneath a fence near some army trucks. The witness shone a torch on the man’s face and recognised him as an American. He was covered with mud. The judge-advocate, pointing to Leonski: Is that the man? The witness: Yes. The witness said the mud covering the man was yellow. The witness asked the American where he was going. He replied, asking where he could catch a tram, and said he had fallen over in a pool of mud going across the park. The witnesk also said that he had recognised the man later at a line-up. The defence counsel: Did this man appear to have been drinking? The witness: Yes. Smell of Whisky Evidence was next given by an American soldier who occupied the same tent as Leonski. The witness said he had been in camp with Leonski for about five weeks. When he went into the tent between 9 and 9.15 p.m. on May 18, Leonski was in bed asleep, apparently drunk. The witness smelt whisky. He did not notice Leonski’s clothes. An American officer said that on the morning of May 20 before Leonski’s arrest he saw khaki pants and a field jacket hanging on the line outside Leonski’s tent. Both were very wet as though they were recently washed. There were stains of yellow clay on the tent. The camp area had been wet for some time, but the mud was black. Charles Anthony Taylor, police analyst, said he took samples Of yellow clay near where the body of Miss Hosking was found. He went to an American camp near the city and examined various articles in a tent. On the tent was a patch of yellow clay. The yellow clay was similar to that near the scene of the murder. It was not similar to the mud from other areas of the camp. This concluded the evidence in the case of Miss'Hosking. The case of Mrs Thompson was then proceeded with. Wife of Constable Constable Leslie Thompson, of Bendigo, said the deceased was his wife. She had been living in Melbourne since November and was employed as a stenographer. He had visited Melbourne on duty on May 8 and saw his wife at 5.40 p.m. at the railway, station that evening when he returned by train to Bendigo. A nightwatchman gave evidence of finding Mrs. Thompson’s body early on the morning of May 9 on the steps of an apartment house in Spring street where she resided. Before finding the body, he found a woman’s handbag in a lane nearby. There was no money in the bag. Medical • evidence was given that death was due to pressure on each side of the neck, considerable force having been used, probably by hands. Senior-Detective Boyd said that seme clothing was recovered near the body. , , The hearing will be continued to-day.