THE MURDER OF MRS. CROWLEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6569, 6 December 1882, Page 5

THE MURDER OF MRS. CROWLEY.

THE INQUEST. — VERDICT OF WILFUL MUBDEB.

The inquisition into the death of Mrs, Ellen Crowley was fixed to take place at Whitford Park Farm, Turanga, yesterday morning. The prisoner Crowley, who stands charged with the murder of his wife, was brought out in a cab, escorted by two policemen. During the investigation he seemed the least interested person in the Court. His manner was that of listless indilference. Me seated himself ou the hob of the fireplace, and did not move for hours, or manifest the slightest comprehension of what was transpiring. Towards the close, apparently wearied of the sitting posture he had assumed, he stood up, and a pitiable object he seemed to be; His manner was vacant, his features pale, and set off by his dark scrubby whiskers, their pallor seemed greater. Mr. Hesketh repeatedly went to him, but was not apparently able to obtain any infor mation from him. The inquest was held at eleven oclock yesterday at the farm house, hitford I'ark, Turang-v (occupied by the manager, Mr. Fratcr) before Captain Kells, J. P., acting .oroner. Sergeant Gamble appeared on behalf of the polios and conducted the inquiry. A jury of fifteen had been called, but Mr. Isaac Wade was discharged from service, there being suiiicient without him and he objecting to be swiru in the usual manner, preferring to aflirm. The jurors were ; Alfred Tcbbut (foreman), Joseph Perkins. William Trice, William Lloyd, William Wills, George Kmhliim. Charles Kinblintj, .Robert Oliver, Francis Oliver, Charles Wade, Jair.es Cooncy, James Vutten, Frederick Willis, and Thomas Long. The coroner and jury having proceeded to view the body, a message arrived that the witnesses also had to see the body for the purposes of identification. It was a haid trial on the poor unfortunate daughter of the prisoner in custody and the stepdaughter of the murdered woman. From her appearance, she seened to have brooded greatly on her terrible position during the night. Her face and eyes were much swollen, and there was a depression of manner much more painfully manifested than on the previous day when she was interviewed by our reporter. She was attended to by her friend Mr. Davis. Mr. Edwin Hesketh (Hesketh and Richmond) appeared to watch the proceedings on behalf of the husband of the deceased, who was in custody on the charge of murdering his wife. The prisoner was in attendauee in the Court. The first witness called was Ellen Crowley, who stated : I am the daughter of Jainos Crowley, and the deceased Ellen Crowley was his wife. She was my father's second wife and my step-mother. We had been lately residing in the house where the body of deceased now lies, on Whitfoord Park, Mr. Nathan's farm. We had be«n living here about four years. 1 remember Sunday last, the Urd instant. I got out of bed about six o'clock aud prepared breakfast. Father and mother got up about seven o clock, when breakfast was ready. After breakfast we were all getting ready to go to church at Ilowick. Father and deceased remained in the kitchen about a quarter-ot-an-hour after breakfast, and then went into their own bedroom, where tliey remained about ten minutes aud went into the front room. X was then in the kitchen. X do not recollect whether I heard them talking except disputing about my going to church to Mowick with them. My father objected to my going and mother said I should go. My father said we would be too late to go to church, that is, mother and me. He give no other reason, lie said to mother, "She lias been telling too many tales lately since she came from Howick." She said she would com- , plain to the clergyman when she went to Ilowick that father would not let me go to church. Father went to the shelf aud took down a shirt, aud went to a cupboard in the kitchen and got a steam smoothing iron. The shirt was washed, but not starched or ironed. Father took it into the front room, and began to iron his shirt with the cold iron 011 the table, lather stood at the end of the tiblc next the bedroom, and mother stood near the front window, about two feet it-om liim. I saw him while ho was ironing tiie shirt when standing at the door of the kitchen leading into the front room. I reI mained at the door about five minutes, and then went back into the kitchen. I heard mother say to father, " Why don't you put on the shirt that is ironed but I do not believe he made any reply. I knew there was an ironed shirt in the house, because he wore a white shirt the last time he was in Auckland, and never wore it since. I do not remember after that hearing her say anything else, but 1 was in the kitchen when I heard father throw mother down, and I heard mother scream. and ran into the front room to see what was the matter. When I went in I saw mother stretched on the floor where she now lies, and 1 saw blood on her face. Father was htanding near her head, aud I saw him lift the smoothing iron to strike her. He hit her ou the face with it. I then ran up to Mr. Frator's in use, and made a statement to him. After I came into the front room, alter bearing father throw mother down, I did not hear mother make any noise. The i.roken box iron (produced) was that with which father struck mother. (The lid was broken oil', and the side burst out.) I recognise it by the rag on the handle, tied bv a string. It was not broken when he was ironing tiie shirt. By the f oremau : Is there any knowing whether the iron -was broken in committing | the deed or afterwards ? Sergeant Gamble said that would be for the jury to infer. The witness stated that it was not broken when her father was ironing the shirt, and it was found broken afterwards. lly Mr. Hesketh : I thought it a strange tiling tor father to go to the cupboard and take the iron, and that iB why I went to the door to si>e what he was going to do with it, am! during the five minutes I stood at the door I watched father iron the shirt, and I thought it strange, and wondered in my own mind what was the matter with father that he was doing so. He was ironing the front partof th«! shirt"and was apparently smoothing it out and doing it carefully. I had never seen him do the like before and when I was watching him iron the shirt with the cold iron I pitied him aud felt eonvinccd in my own mind there was something wrong with father. I recollect his sayino to mother after he ironed the shirt, " IXeriT's your iron ; you can put it away." The iron was then on the table. My mother did not touch it. Father had previous to this complained of a fall he had while working in the bush. He was hurt at the back of his neck by that fall and appeared to me to be suffering from it. I don't know of hu doing anything to get relief from it. The fall was about a week previous to last Kundav and from that time I have noticed that lather's manner was peculiar and strange and diiierciit to what it was before the fall. My mother remarked to me that my father's manner had become strange and she told father the week before this happeued that he was "oing mad. He put ou his best clothes to go°to work in after the fall, and wore them tor about a fortnight, before the 3rd instant, at work. His Sunday clothcs were different to his working clothes and were a blue cloth coat, a trey trousers and vest, and the day or working clothcs were moleskin trousers and coloured shirt. Mother spoke to him about wearing his Sunday clothes at work but he still continued weariug them at his work. 1 also noticcd that father was not 'eating anythiuir after the fall, and he appeared downhearted showing no inclination to speak to us. My mother told me that she feared something was uoming over him, aud that she would send for the police, aud I heard her say this to my lather about a week before last Sunday. My father and stepmother have led an uuhappy life ever since they married. They had quarrelled frequently, and I have seen violence used. I have seen them strike each other. About a month ago my mother threw a fork and a brick at father, but 1 don't remember ever having seen her do so before. I have seen father strike mother with his baud, but this was very nearly four years ago, when they were having words, but since then I have net seen father raise his hand to mother. On the morniug of the occurrence, after I returned to the kitchen from the door, when I saw father ironing the shirt; but I heard no quarrelling, or words, or struggle between them previous to hearing my mother fall. If there had been words between them I inuat have heard them in the kitchen. When 1 looked into the room before tha fall tha last Irwof mother she was standing at the door settling her necktie, preparing to go to church. The iron being laid on the table, and there being no quarrelling. I am satisfied it was a sudden act on the part of my fath«r

Ito Btrike mother. I had no reason to think on this morning that any force or violence would be used. With the exception of the matter of ironing the shirt, -we were all preparing for church as usual. The three of us had breakfast together. My mother had never expressed to me a fear of harm coming unless she called in the police. I have not spoken to father since Sunday, the 3rd. At the time my father bought the white shirt referred to h« also bought a suit of black clothes, but he never wore them so far as I know. By the Foreman : He gave no reason for not wearing the ironed white shirt which was in the house. By the time the evidence of the first witness was read over it was 2.10 o'clock.

Nicol Milne Frater deposed : I am manager for Mr. Nathan of Whitefoord Park, and James Crowley wa3 working on the farm under me. On Sunday, the 3rd inst., I saw Mary Crowley, and, in consequence of a statement she made to me I went to their house. The front door w.is closed, and I went into the house by the back door, and saw the body of Mrs. Crowley lying on the floor, as seen by the jury. She was lying on her back between the table and the window, aud one side of her face was all battered in. I did not at that time see Crowley, and I went and called Mr. Hack and returned with him immediately, and when -we came back we saw Crowley at the little garden gate at the back of the house. I spoke to him, and asked him what he had been doing to his wife. He said, "We have been having a quarrel." I then asked him if he had killed her, and he said, " 1 don't know." I asked, "Is she dead ?" and he replied, "I believe she is." I then asked where she was, to which he answered that she was lying on the bed. I then said, " Have you lifted her on the bed, as she was lying on the floor when I saw her," and he said she was in the same place still. I told him I thought she was quite dead when I saw l-.er, and asked him what he had killed her with or hit her with (I can't exactly say which word I used), and he replied, "Itwas with an iron for ironing clothes." I told him I would have to go for the constable, and he said " Yes ; I'll give myself up, and they can do what they like with me." This conversation occurred in the paddock at the end of the heuse, and I then went for the constable.

By Mr. Hesketh : I have known Crowley for about six mouths, and at all times he has been a man of very few words. During the week preceding the 3rd I had noticed his manner and demeanour to be strange. He did not look well, and seemed very downhearted and depressed. I noticed that he did not seem at all well, and did not seem to do his work as he used to do. I had noticed this change all the preceding week. He was, when in his usual spirits, quiet, energetic, aud well-behaved. When 1 mat him at the gate, and spoke to him, he did not appear to me to realis# what he had done, and had I not kuown what had happened I should not have been struck with his demeanor, or thounht from his manner that anything extraordinary had occurred. I remember prisoner mentioning to me about a fortnight ago that he had a fall off a log, and said he had hurt the back of his neck or head. It was since that that I have noticed his strange manner.

Henry Hack deposed : I am a labourer employed oil Whitetoord Park farm, and know James Crowley, who was also employed on the farm. I also knew the deceased, his wife, aud where they lived. On Sunday, the 3rd iust., I accompanied Mr. Frater to their house, and saw Crowley outside the back door coming from the garden gate. I heard a conversation between hiin and Mr. Frater as detailed by the last witness. (The coroner read over this portion of Mr. Frater's evidence to the witness, and he said it was correct). After Mr. Frater went away I asked Crowley to open the door (meaning the back door). The door was fastened inside, and could not be opened from the outside, so he went in through the back window and opened the door, and asked me to come in. I just went to the door between the kitchen aud the front room aßd saw deceased lying on the floor. By a Juror : Crowley and I had been sent by Sir. Frater to carry posts out of the bush. There was a fallen tree across the creek, and deceased had succeeded in carrying one across this log, but ou trying again he fell into the creek and hurt the back of his head. Tliis was about ten days previous to the 3rd instant. By Mr. Hesketh : I called twice to him and got no answer, and found him in a sitting position. He complaincd that he had hurt his neck. I heard 110 more of it till the following Monday, when I asked him how lie was, and he said his neck was very painful (putting his hand at the same time at the back of his head), and said he was hardly able to move about. After that accident 1 noticed a change in his manner. He has been gradually failing ever since, and looked bad and sickly and his manner was also changed. He was more silent than usual, and would not converse as before. I and Mr. Frater and Mr. Trust have noticed this change in him since the accident, and as late as Saturday last we three advißed him to see the doctor, aud I offered to give him some Epsoin salts, if he came to my place. It was plain to be seen for a week before Sunday that the man was suffering. He complained of pains in the head and neck. On Sunday morning, when Crowley asked me to come into the house he stopped in the kitchen, aud he left me to do what I liked. When I first asked him to open the door, he tried to do so with a liay-fork, which had a broken liandlc, which I threw into the swamp. Ambrose Trust deposed : 1 am a settler in Turanga highway district, and know the prisoner. By Mr. Hesketh : I have known the prisoner between eight and nine years, and partly know on what terms he and his wife lived. I have known that they were quarrelling and led an unhappy life ever bince they came here. Latterly, during the last week, I have noticed a chauge in him. I came to work here eight days ago, and then I saw the chauge in him. It was a very marked change. I noticed it at once, and spoke of it. The changc was in his maimer as well as his looks. He did not Bcem to be as lively as he was before, or so communicative. He appeared depressed, and to have lost his spirits, lie was generally very communicative with me when we met, but ho was not so on this occasion. It appeared to me that the man's health was failing, and that he had suffered some shock. Ten days ago, when I first came to work, I advised him to see a doctor, aud this was repeated during the week, and again it was repeated last Saturday by Mr. Frater, Mr. Hack, and myself. On Saturday, at dinner time, I asked him to tell me what was the matter with him. He said he had a burning pain on the top of his head and down both sides of the back of his neck, and that his wife was leading him a fearful life, and had been for the last month, that he had no peace night or day. Dr. Charles Peuruddocke Fitzgerald, deposed : I am a duly qualified and registered medical practitioner, residing at Howiok. On the 3rd instant I was called to James Crowley's hous<; by Mr. Frater. I saw the body of Mrs. Crowley on the floor. There was one large wound on the right temple, a triangular wound lour inches wide and five inches long, deep into the base of the brain ; close to that, over the right eye, was another triangular wound, four inches wide and four inches deep, also into the base of the brain. The whole of the orbit of the right eye was gone, aud the forehead was Binashed to bits. The roof of the mouth, the upper jaws on both sides, and the teeth, were gone. The lower jaw was gone on both sides, and there was not a whole tooth in her head. All were smashed—powdered. The first wound would cause instaut death. The others were given after she was dead. She was completely pounded. By a Juror : An instrument like a smoothing iron could cause the wounds I have described. Thomas Page Gill deposed : I am a special constable, stationed at Howick. On Suuday, 3rd instant, in consequence of something I heard I came to \Yh tford Park. I saw the prisoner Crowley on that date at the schoolhouse, Turanga. He accompanied me back to the farm, and to Crowley's house. Crowley remained outside, and I went in with the doctor. I saw the body of Ellen Crowley on the floor, where it was seen by the jury today, covered with blood and wounds, ami blood over the floor. On the table I found the flat iron (produced) in fragments. The larger portions were on the table, but fragments were on the floor near the body. I arrested the prisoner, and charged him with murdering his wife. In answer to the charge, he said " She was nagging at me, and I could not help it." That was all he said. The iron was smeared with blood and hair. Serjeant Gamble deposed : On this date I made a search in the house of the prisoner, James Crowley. On the shelf described by the

first witness (Mary Crowley) I found a white ehirtunironed, and with spots of blood on it, evidently the shirt prisoner had been ironing. In the bedroom in a box I found four shirts, including a white one, which had apparently never been worn. I am aware prisoner has a quantity of furniture and clothing in his house. He has £102 7s lOd in the Auckland Savings Bank. A sum of £31 lis 3d 'is to tho credit of the deceased in the same bank, and a sum of ±2 lis 7d in cash was in the house. This was all the evidence. The Coroner said it was unnecessary for him to make many remarks, nor was he lawyer enough to deal with the case. They knew, no doubt, the difference between murder and manslaughter. He belived that if a man in a sudden passion killed another it was manslaughter, as distinct from premeditated murder. They had heard the evidence, and had paid great attention to it, and they would now consider their verdict.

Mr. Hesketh, addressing the jury, said : — Gentlemen, I have no wish to underrate the importance of an investigation such as that we have now held, but I have no desire, at this late hour of the eveninc, to occupy your time for more than a few minutes. Suppose this man had been charged, not, we will say, with manslaughter, but suppose you were inquiring into the cause of death, in the eveut of his having taken his own life, and the same evidence was produced to you as that which you have just heard, I cannot doubt but that your verdict would be that the act was caused through temporary insanity. It is impossible to conceive, from what we saw to-day, that this deed was other than the effect of insanity. All the evidence points in that direction. All who have been working with Crowley, or netieed him, have noticed the change iu his manner, his spirits and his health, since the injury which he sustained through the fall referred to by Mr. Hack and the other witnesses, and so noticeable was this change, that Mr. Frater, Mr. Hack, and Mr Trust urged on him to see a.doctor. It is evident that up to Saturday there was no feigning in his manner, up to the time he disclosed his feelings to Mr. Trust. Then, was there anything after to show that he was feigning insanity? Mr. Frater asked hiin the question, where is your wife, and showing that he was labouring under a delusiou, he said then Bhe was on the bed, aud when Mr. Frater asked him whether he had placed her on the bed as when he saw her she was on the floor, he replied that he supposed she was there still. It was evident there must have been no quarrelling, and that Crowley had been seized by some irresistible impulse which arose in his mind, and which blinded him to the consequences of the act he was perpetrating. What difference, then, did it make whether that impulse led him to take his own life or that of his wife ? Had it been his own life he had taken, the verdict must have been temporary insanity, and why not a similar verdict in this case when it was the life of his wife he took under the same conditions of mind '!

The jury, after a deliberation of about half an hour, brought in a verdict of "Wilful Murder." Several jurors stated to the coroner that they believed the act was committed while Crowley was labouring under temporary insanity. The Coroner explained that that was not a question with which this jury had to deal. It was a question for the Supreme Court. The verdict was then recorded and the jury discharged. INTERVIEW BETWEKN THE PRISONER AND HIS DAUGHTER. The prisoner had an interview with his daughter on the verandah of the farm house after the evidence closed, but what transpired between them is not knowu. Neither seemed communicative. It is known, however, that Crowley made an order authorising Mr. Davis to dispose of his effects for the benefit of his daughter, and the £2 17s found in the house was also handed to him for her immediate necessities. The remains of the murdered woman were buried in the afternoon at the Howick cemetery, the Rev. Father Riordan, of Panmure, officiating at the grave. At the termination of the inquest the prisoner was brought to town in the same vehicle in which he was taken out in the morning. He had dinner and tea at Mrs. Lundon's hotel, Howick, which he seemed to 1 enjoy, but during the whole time he was in the room he did not make a single remark.