SEARCHING INQUIRY INTO FATE OF ELSIE WALKER CONTINUED

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6811, 15 January 1929, Page 6

SEARCHING INQUIRY INTO FATE OF ELSIE WALKER CONTINUED

Evidence of Relatives SHOWED NO RANCOUR AT COMING MARRIAGE % __ NO LOVE AFFAIR REVEALED Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Last Night. When the inquest concerning the death of the girl Elsie Walker was resumed to-day, William Alfred Bayly, a married.man, aged 22 years, who was in the. box. practically all Friday, was examined . .by . Mr.. E. H. Northcroft (counsel for the Bayly family!. Witness said that there was no truth in the suggestion of a detective that he had threatened his brother Trevor with a hiding if he said anything about hil visit home at the time of the girl’s disappearance. • He had never been on particularly friendly terms w r ith the girl. He had never heard , from her when away from home and had not seen her since her disappearance from Papamoa on October 1, nor had ho any knowledge of her leaving there. This concluded the evidence of this witness after fivo and a-half hours in the box.

Mrs. Constance Ivy Bayly (aunt of Elsie Walker) said that the girl’s position in the house was that of companion at 12s 6d per week. Mrs. Bayly’s evidence was linished just as the luncheon adjournment was taken. The principal feature of her testimony was the statement by- her four-year-old son Tom to her that he hud seen his cousin (Elsie Walker) drive a car.

Mrs. Bayly stated that on the Saturday beforo Elsio disappeared the girl had bumped her head on the billiard room window. “I looked at her head, but there was neither a cut nor a mark. Sho went about her work as usual. Elsie’s principal companions were Maoris. Witness had been asked by her father to take the girl and give her a better environment. “Too Young for Love Affairs.” Under cross-examination, witness said: “Elsie was younger than her years, almost as young as my son, Tom Bayly.” Although sho was 17 years, she was far too young for love affairs.” Witness had an interview with Detective Bickerdike when he came to discuss Elsie’s clothes. He brought a certain garment, but it was not the one produced in Court. The garment she inspected had no stains on it. Mr. Meredith (Crown Prosecutor): You don’t recognise these garments (indicating those sent to the bacteriologist) f Do you suggest that they were not Elsie's ? Witness: Yes. Mr. Meredith: Do you know that they were taken from the body ! Witness: I don’t think they were hers, although she had two pairs of fugi silk. The Coroner (Mr. F. K. Hunt); Did you handle every garment that tho police got ?—Yes. Then you say the garment shown you by Dqtectivo Bickerdike was not Elsie’s I—Yes.1 —Yes. Mr. Meredith: Then you suggest that sho procured another garment after leaving Papamoa I—Yes.1 —Yes. The Coroner (Mr. F. K. Hunt): There is nobody you can suggest who would be likely to cause more light to be thrown on the matter ? —No. Mr. Hunt: Well, if there is, you let mo know, for it is very unfortunate for you and your family. I'll cause auy inquiry to be made. Witness: Thank you, Mr. Hunt. The luncheon adjournment was then taken. Girl Apparently Angry. Audrey Bayly, a niece of the Bayly’s, who was staying with them at the timo of deceased’s disappearance, said she saw deceased in the kitchen just before eight o’clock on that night. Nothing had attracted the attention of witness whilo they were talking ic the billiard room. Next morning she was told Elsie had gone and was told to see if any money was missing from her bag. She found that seven pound notes and l}d had gone. Mr. Mowbray: Did you notice anything peculiar about Elsie Walker!— No, nothing except that she had a slight giggling habit, which I thought was natural to her. Mr. Hunt: Nobody, commented on the fact that Elsie was missing during the evening—No. Recalled, Mrs. Bayly said she was not decided that the first garment found on tho body she had recognised as belonging to Elsie Walker. The second was similar to a garment Elsie owned and shown by Detective Bickerdike, but was not in tho samo condition.

The Coroner: When Detective Bickerdiko showed you the garments at the house, did you say that 'they never came out of Elsie's things?—No, I said I did not recognise them. I questioned them. I said: “I don’t recognise that lace” but I said she might have got it unknown to me. Did you say to Detective Bickerdike: “No garments left tho house in that condition?”—No. Thomas Cligord Bavly, aged 11 years, another cousin of Elsie Walker, said she was not talking at all when they washed the dishes on tho night the girl disappeared. Elsie seemed to be angry that night and she was quieter than usual. “I Can Drive a Car.” Mrs. Dorothy Teague, of Papamoa, said the Baylys were neighbours .and she had kUown them for about 18 months. She had known Elsie Walker since she had lived at the Baylys. Witness had seen her at a neighbour’s about three weeks before she disappeared. Mr. Meredith: Was there any conversation about motor cars that afternoon ?-—Yes. Elsie Walker asked me

how I got there and I said I got a lift. Elsie grabbed me by the arm and said: “I can drive a car.” Did anybody else hear that remark? —I don’t think so, because she passed the remark very quietly and the others were a little distance away. I took it as quite, natural and did not ask any questions, because so many girls can drive these days. Father In Box. The father of the dead girl, Charles De Renzy Walker, said in August, 1927, ho made arrangements with Mrs. Bayly for Elsie to stay with her. He thought it would do the girl good if she went to his sister, for it was very quiet at his place. He had letters from Elsie and the tone of them was “quite all right.” The last letter witness received from his daughter was on September 5. It was a general letter and* in it she said that she would be home for Christmas. In the letter she said that Bill was going to be married. As far as ho know, there was no boy connected with Elsie's life. There was no trace or suggestion of Elsie corresponding with any boy friend as long as she had been with witness. She could not drive a car. There was no appearance of rancour about Bill Bayly’a marriage in the letter which Elsie wrote to witness. The inquiry at this stage was ad* journed till to-morrow.