A REVIVED SENSATION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12423, 12 February 1901, Page 5

A REVIVED SENSATION.

AN OCCURRENCE OF SIX YEARS AGO. FURTHER PROCEEDINGS PROBABLE. [From Our Correspondent.] TIMARU, Feb. 11. The Police are instituting fresh inquiries into the death of a man supposed to be named John Sullivan, who was found dead on the road near Waitaki in- January, 1895. Jeremiah McCarthy, who was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for incest last week, was arrested on the charge of murdering Sullivan, but the case was very weak, and Mr Justice Demi is ton advised the Grand Jury to throw out the bill, which they did. The police will give i\t> information, but it is presumed ihafc additional evidence has been discovered.

It is probable that further proceedings will be taken in re*peot to the above case. Those whose memory carries them back six years . wil recollect, t perhaps, that on Jan. 12, 1895, a man named Thomas Sullivan was found dead at Waibao. The body showed that the injuries) could not have been self-inflicted, and at the inquest, held at Waimate on Jaa. 15. the evidence gave rise to suspicions of foul play. The inquest was adjourned to Jan. 21, to give the police time to make inquiries. The inquest was resumed by the Coroner, Major Keddell, at Waimate en Jan. 21, and continued over two days. . Witnesses gave evidence to the effect that the deceased was known as Thomas Sullivan, and 'he was understood to have come from Seacliff.

A summary of the evidence is as fol-lows-.—On Jan. 6, Mrs Smart, of Waitaki North, had given a man a meal and a pannikin. James Henderson, of Waitaki North, a hotclkeeper, said he was at his •hotel on Jan. 6. This witness also saw deceased on Jan. 9, going southward. James Falconer, of Waitaki South, gave the deceased' a shakedown in his stable on Jan. 9 or 10. The 'daughter of the man who found The body (John Davis) said that she saw the deceased lying- on the roadside o.n • Jan. 11, fronii 9 a.m. till 11 a.m., and saw his dead body on Jan. 12 on the road, about half a mile from where she had seen him the previous day. This girl's brother bore out his sister's story, adding that he had seen the. man lying first on tho north side of the road, and later on on the south hide. This was en thft day the man was found dead. The report of the inquest, as given in the " Lyttcltoni Times" on Jan. 23, fays that—" Johanna M'Carthy deposed to the deceased conning to her father's place on Thursday, Jan. 10, and knocking at the doors for admission, and her father ordering him: away ; also, to LearJng erics during the night. Two of the snns of M'Carthy and his? wife gave corroborative evidence. Detective Livingstone gave evidence as to measuring the distances between the places where the deceased was seen during the Friday and Saturday. Drvßarolay stated that the man could not possibly have moved himself the distances with the injuries he had received, Inspector Broha.m stated that, since the opening- of the inquiry, the police had received word that the man whom the deceased was supposed to be had turned tip alivo in Ashburton. The Coroner summed up the evidence, and directed the attention, of the jury to. the fact that the deceased had been traced to the house of M'Carthy in sound condition ; also, that he had threatened M'Carthy's life. The jury retired, and after about an hour returned a verdict " That the deceased met his death through, injuries inflicted) by some person or persons unknown,' and arider, censuring Jeremiah M'Carthy for not informing the police of the man's condition, or otherwise assisting him." The police were not by any means satisfied with this as an end to the case, and M'Oartihy was proceeded against for murder. The theory of the police was that the deceased was wilfully run over by the wheels of a trap while lying on the road ; that his legs were .injured in this .way, and 'that lie died 'from his injuria-:, and exposure, and want of .proper treatment. I)r Barclay attributed death to ihe injuries and exposure and neglect. ■ , M'Carthy was committed for trial, ■out the".Sbi'pendiarv Magistrate considered the evidence very weak, thoneh he though* the case had better go before a. ,iury. When it before the Grand Jury that body returned "no bill," and M'Carthy was discharged.