THE LATE CASE OF MANSLAUGHTER IN CHRISTCHURCH.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXXII, Issue 54, 3 July 1873, Page 4

THE LATE CASE OF MANSLAUGHTER IN CHRISTCHURCH.

Our telegrams from Christchurch last week mentioned the death of a Mr. S. B. Stiffe, under suspicious circumstances, and the subsequent committal of Mrs. Mary Ann Eliott, alias Miss Herberte, Mr. and Mrs. Hill, and Dr. Parker, on the Coroner's warrant, for manslaughter. The evidence given by the Inspector of Police at the inquest, held on the 23rd and 21th ultimo, ' furnishes the particulars of Mr. Stiffe's death. Inspector Peuder, from information he had received, went to the residence of Mrs. Eiiott, where he found the body of Mr. Stifle on a mattrass in tho corner of a room, covered with blankets. Mrs. Eliott endeavoured to prevent the officer inspecting the body, but the latter saw enough to confirm his suspicions that tho deceased had not died in a natural way. There was a bruise on the left temple, which Mrs. Eliott accounted for by sayiug, that the deceased had fallen down in a fit and died. She said he had been staying with her for the last bix weeks, that she had a child by" him, to whom Stiffe had left £500 by will. The Inspector left a constable in charge of the "body, and went to the residence of a man ' named Hill, who with his wife had been present when Stiffe died. The statement made by tho Hills was, that deceased had been suffering from delirium tremens, and got so violent that it required the uuited efforts of the three to master him. In a struggle between the deceased and Hill they both fell to the ground, the former striking his head on the fender, which caused • the wound on the temple. The legs and arms of the deceased were then secured with a rope, when, after some violent struggling, it became evident he was dying. Mrs. Eiiott then hastened to cut the rope, and sent for Dr. Parker, but before that gentleman arrived Mr. Stiffe was dead. Mrs. Eliott then entreated the Hills to say nothing about the manner of the death, as she did not want the matter known to the police. After an hour's deliberation the jury returned a verdict that John Parker, Mary Ann Eliott, Charles Hill, and Mary llill, did feloniously and unlawfully kill and slay Sydney .Burrowes Stiffe.