BURWOOD MURDER.

Grey River Argus, 22 June 1927, Page 5

BURWOOD MURDER.

FOREIGNER WANTED. But Missing Since Tragedy. (Per Press Assn.) CHRISTCHURCH, June 21. Detectives are seeking a labourer who is known to have been a friend of the murdered girl, and whcrhas been missing since the day of the tragedy. They are concentrating in the direction of learning the man’s whereabouts. He is of short, stocky build, and is a for eigner.

Mr Sydney Neate was the taxi-driver who called at the Hotel Federal on Tuesday morning last and picked up Miss Scarff and her two suit cases, it was learned as the result of inquiries on Saturday.

Deteceives have interviewed Neate and have secured a statement from him. He is not the taxi-driver who was detained at the Central Police Station from 2 p.m. until 10 p.m. on Thursday. “I went to the Hotel Federal at 10.30 a.m. on Tuesday,” Mr Neate told a reporter. “I went in response to a call and saw Miss Scarff there. I had never seen her previously. I placed her two suit cases in the cab, and Miss Scarff got in. She did not tell me where she wanted to go until she got into the cab. She whispered that she wanted to go to the Central Tram Shelter. “I drove her to the tram shelter and carried her luggage into the parcels office. She paid me, and I went away. I fancy she took the money from a purse which she carried in the attache case. I don’t remember any hand-bag other than the attache case. “I saw the girl again talking to a short, stockily-built man in the afternoon about 2.30 o’clock, near the Hotel Federal. That was the last I saw of her. I was driving back from the Bottle Lake Hospital on the following afternoon, however, when I saw a man running through the scrub near the scene of the tragedy. I think he was the man whom I had seen with Mis? Scarff on the previous day. He seemed to be in a hurry. He was not wearing an overcoat. He had an overcoat when I saw him with the girl on the 'Tuesday. I would know him again, T think, if I saw him.”

A Butwood grocer, Mr D. Baird, heard a car outside his place early last Wednesday morning. He saw it stop. It was closed, and light grey in colour. It returned in half an hour at a very fast speed. VICTIM’S MOVEMENTS. Wednesday, June 8. —Left her employment at Mrs Derisley Wood’s without stating her intention of doing so. Thursday, June 9.—Registered in the evening at the Hotel Federal under the name of “Miss Armstrong.” Friday. June 10.—Remained at the hotel during the morning. In the afternoon her mother called and endeavoured to persuade her to return home. Her mother had only just left her when, in response to a telephone call which she asked to be sent, a taximan called and was greeted by her with the words — “Oh, it’s you.” She conversed with this man for about twenty minutes in her room. Saturday, June 11. —Telephoned to her mother, and said—“We arc going North,” but ■would not explain what was meant by “We.” In the afternoon she was seen in the street and spoken to by a taxi-driver, to whom she told what she had already told her mother. Sunday, June 12—In the hotel most of the day. She went out after lunch, but soon returned, and remained in the hotel. Monday. June 13 —At the hotel. She was expected to leave on this day, having advised the management that she would do, but she altered this arrangement, and advised them that she would leave on the following day. She spent most of the day in her room. Tuesday, June 14. —At the hotel till after 10 a.m. About 10.30 a.m. a taxi-driver called, and at her instructions took her bags to the Tramway Shelter Parcels Office, she accompanying him. At 2.30 p.m. she was seen by the taxi-driver talking in the street near her hotel to a “ stockily-built man.” At about 5.45 n.m. she left the Federal Hotel, walking. She had settled her account, after having had to obtain money from some other person to do so. Her movements that night are unknown. Wednesday, June 15. —Body found shortly after 1 p.m. in the scrub at Burwood. A SILENT TRAGEDY. A remarkable feature of the case is the apparent silence with which the murder was committed. From about 9 a.m. on Wednesday last two linesmen : employed by the Waimairi County CounI cil were engaged in repairing lines in the vicinity. They were close enough to overlook the scene, and certainly close enough to have heard a cry had any been uttered. They neither heard nor saw anything to arouse their suspicions. The first intimation that they had that anything was amiss was when the motor cars conveying police and others began to arrive. Then, at the invitation of-the police, they went to

the spot and saw the body, with a view to stating whether they had seen the woman about earlier in the day. None of them, however, was able to recall having seen the murdered girl in the locality that morning. From Mrs 11. W. Mitchell, Majestic Mansions, St Clair, Dunedin, a letter was received at yesterday’s meeting of the Citizens’ Unemployment Committee suggesl ing that the unemployed should be put to work cutting down the scrub at Burwood, where the body was found. Then the vacant ground might be sold in sections, it was pointed out, and a township established, this doing away with the possibility of any further trouble at the place. The unexplained gaps in the mystery are being gradually narrowed. Some of her movements on the Tuesday night have been accounted for. Shortly after leaving the Federal Hotel on that night she visited, a friend of the family not far from her father’s home, and to this friend she explained her relationship with a married man, and stated that she Was greatly worried. Apparently her intention was to confide in her mother, but at the last moment her' I nerve failed her, and she returned to

the city. Miss Scarff’s bank book showed, that up to within a few days of her death she had £l7 on deposit, but the amount was withdrawn in sums of £1 and £3. That money is accounted for by her remarks to the friend of the Scarff family. It apparently did not go in the payment of an account. There appears to be no longer any doubt that it was not the intention of Miss Scarff to proceed North on Tuesday night by the ferry steamer. The fact that she took her luggage to the Tram Shelter indicates that she intend ed to go to some destination which could be reached by tram, or she desired to have her luggage placed where it could be very conveniently picked up by a motor car. It is believed that the girl was a frequent visitor to a house at New Brighton, and that she had on a number of occasions gone there in order to clean and tidy up the house. The question is—Where did she stay on the Tuesday night? A rumour was in circulation that Miss Scarff had arranged to join a motoring party towards the end of last week, the intention being to motor through to Nelson or Picton. This plan ( was cancelled through the illness of one of the persons who intended to make the trip, and it probably accounted for the prolongation of Miss Scarff’s stay at the Federal Hotel. She had evidently not intended to stay more than a couple of nights at the hotel, but the upsetting of the arrangements for the motor trip compelled a revision of her plans.