YARRA MYSTERY

Northern Advocate, 19 April 1923, Page 5

YARRA MYSTERY

BERTHA COUGHLIN'S DEATH. DOUBLE MURDER CHARGE. AGAINST A NURSE. (Received 9.5 a.m.) MELBOURNE, This Day. The trial of Hannah Mitchell, charged with committing the Yarra murder, has commenced. The great public interest in the trial was evidenced by the large crowd waiting outside the Court, a few only of whom were admitted. Besides being charged with the murder of Bertha Coughlan an unexpected, second charge of murdering some person unknown was laid against Mitchell, who pleaded not guilty to both charges. In outlining the case the Crown Prosecutor said it was not suggested that the accused had murdered two women, but possibly the identity of the deceased as Bertha Coughlan would not be established. Evidence similar to that given in the Lower Court was then entered upon. —A. and N.Z. Startling disclosures were made at the Melbourne morgue, when the coroner (Dr. Cole) resumed his inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Bertha Coughlan, of Hinnomunje. Hannah Elizabeth Mitchell, charged with the murder of Bertha Coughlan, was present. The story of the death of a young woman in No. 4 Burnley Street, Richmond, on November 18 was related by Frank Bonfiglio, who described himself as a monumental mason. He said: "On November 18, 1922, Nurse Mitchell, whom I married in September, 1919, called to see me at a fruit shop in Richmond. I was at her house at 9.30 p.m., and in her bedroom she gave me a paper to read. In about twenty minutes she came back, saying that a girl had become ill, and asked me to help carry her to the bathroom. We went into the bedroom, where a girl was in a double bed. Mitchell told the girl to put her arms around my neck, and Milward, Mitchell, and I carried her into the bathroom. Mitchell directed Milward's son to bring the girl some brandy. The girl, who was not unconscious, mentioned her name, but I could not hear it. Mitchell, Milward, and I then carried the girl back to the bedroom, where Milward remained. Mitchell called to her daughter to go and keep Maggie (Milward) company. I then said to Mitchell, 'Why not call a doctor?' and she said, 'A doctor cannot' do any more than I did.' Soon afterwards I saw the girl stop breathing. I went to Mitchell's room ahd told her to come and see the girl. She said, 'I suppose she is dead.' She came into the room, and, looking at the girl, said, 'She is gone.' She covered her face with a sheet. She then locked the door of the room.',' Continuing his evidence Bonfiglio said:—Late the , following night, Mitchell, Milward'and I entered the bedroom where the body lay. The dead girl was wrapped in a blanket, fastened with safety pins. We took the body out of the room and put it into a motor car, which we had in the back yard. Margaret Mitchell and I took our seats in front, and Milward and Hannah Mitchell sat in the back seat,, We went to Coldstream and entered a paddock in a gully, at the bottom of which Mitchell and I laid the body. Mitehel took the blanket off, and covered the body with ferns. Hannah Mitchell said: "She will be eaten by animals in a few days, and nobody will know who she is if they find her." We came back to town, and reached Burnley Street at about 6 o'clock in the morning When we got back Mitchell said to her daughter: "What have you done with the clothes?" H?r daughter said: "I burnt tliem under the copper the night before"; and Mitchell replied, "Good girl." Under cross-examination Bonfiglio said lie had been convicted three or four times for assaulting Mitchell. He was divorced from her while in gaol. Liliam Mueller, married, of North Melbourne, said that in November, 1922, a young woman came to her house. She was not certain of the date. The woman handed witness a letter from Richard Thomas, who ask-; j ed her to take the bearer, who was in trouble and was a friend of Thomas Cook's, to Nurse Mitchell. On the day following the interview she met the girl with a man whom she now knew :is Cook. Witness went to Mitchell's house and saw the girl. Some days later she called again, and Nurse Mitchell told her that the girl had left for her home. Witness paid a further visit to the house, and asked about the girl. Mitchell then spoke about giving witness £5. "A woman who called herself Coughlan came to my house on November 17 or 18," said Mrs Emily Elizabeth Tucker, of Prahran, "and asked whether I could give her board and lodging| She seemed to be very worried and depressed. 1 asked her what was the matter, and she told me that she had been in a certain state of health for some time. On the morning of February 22," witness continued "Mrs Mitchell called to see me, and said that her solicitor had called upon me. I said that a clerk from his office had been. Mrs Mitchell wanted me to say that Bertha Coughlan had stopped with me. She said that I was making a mistake about the datej it was not November 18, but November 20, on which the girl called to see me. She offered me £&00 if I would stick to her and help her through. She said that two of them were going to put the blame' on her, but she would put the blame on them. She wanted to cause a doubt in the Coroner's mind, and so get out of the trouble." The accused was eventually committed for trial.