CHARGE OF MURDER

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9461, 4 September 1889, Page 5

CHARGE OF MURDER

Press Association.—Ehctric Tehqraph.T-CopyrishU Melbourne, September 3. A CIVIL ENGINEER named Landell has been arrested for the murder of Sherlock, another engineer, who was found dead at Ringwood. Landell admits he accidentally shot him. A Melbourne contemporary says: " Joseph Wingrove, while shooting in the neighbourhood of Ringwood on the 21sb August, found the body of a man in the neighbourhood of Dandenong Creek, covered with bushes, with one foot protruding. He informed the police. The body was in an advanced stage of decomposition. An examination of the body disclosed a bullet wound in the head. !No weapon was found near, and there was no sign of a straggle. The body had evidently lain there about four months, and is thafc of a man about 50 years of age. lit the pockets were found two old letters addressed to 'Dear Sherlock,' and signed 'John William Randall.' The body has been identified as that of Peter James Sherlock. At the inquest, the medical evidence showed that there was a hole about three-quarters of an inch in diameter on the left cheek. It) might be a gunshot wound. Both jaws were fractured, the right side of the face was lacerated, and there were fractures on the vertex of the skull. All the teeth on the left side of the lower jaw were missing. The cause of death was fracture of the skull from a blow on the top of the head with a heavy instrument, such as the butt of a gun or a piece of wood. The fractures could not have been caused by a single blow. The injuries to the jaws were caused by a shot fired from a short distance, but not by a bullet. The deceased could have fired the shot, but he could nob have inflicted the other injuries.