A KENTISH-TOWN CRIME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8306, 12 July 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

A KENTISH-TOWN CRIME.

A BARMAID SHOT DEAD. Between twelve and one o'clock on the afternoon of May -.'J Mr-. Verney, daughter of Mr. Collier, the landlord of the Victory Tavern, Clarence Hoiicl, Kentish-town, whom she assisted in the bar, was shot dead by Mr. Thomas Harditiu, builder, of Haverstock Hill. At half-past twelve o'clock Mr. Hardii,LT walked into the bar of the tavern, tin inquired for Mrs. Verney. She was sent for, and,on entering the bar, she told Harding that .■'he " wanted nothing more to do with him." Harding , asked her to walk out with him. She declined, and resented his attention, whereupon he remarked, " If you don't come out with me I will shoot you and myself too." She took no notice of his threat, and they walked together into the kitchen, below the bar. An altercation took place there, unci they both ascended the kitchen stair*. As. they reached the top stair, Harding put his left .inn round the woman's neck,and with the other hand drew from his pocket a five-chambered bull-dog revolver, which ho immediately levelled at her throat on the left .«ide and fired twice. Exclaiming, "Oh, my God !" Mrs. Verney fell to the floor, dead. Harding rushed from the bar, followed by Mrs. Collier. In the bar parlour he turned, raised the revolver in front of his head, and fired. Ho fell to the floor, but in a, few minute.-) he jumped up and rushed from the house. Dr. Beaton, 1J%5, Kentish-town Road,and the police were summoned, but they were too late to be of any service. .Mr. Beaton made a rapid examination of the victim. He found that there were two wounds, one on the left side of the neck, which he was able to follow for a considerable distance. The lower jaw on the right tide was* smashed, and her forefinger on the right hand was wounded, indicating that she had endeavoured to divert the aim of the revolver. The other wound was only an extensive gr;i/.;. Mrs. Collier made the following statement : — "Harding came here at twelve o'clock, and asked for Florence. .She came upstnjrs and told him the would have no thing more to do with him. He then said, 'I will shoot you and myself too.' They went into the kitchen together, and he asked her to go with him. He tried to prevent her coining upstairs. She, however, reached the top stair, when he put his hand behind him arid tired at her. She said, ' Oh, my Got , ,' and fell on the top .stair. Ho then rushed to the parlour and fired at himself and fell. 1 had followed him. He lay thero a short time in the parlour, and then went out. I sent for Dr. Beaton. My daughter was 25 years old, and was the wife of Mr. Walter Verney." She had, however, been separated from her husband. Mr. Harding is a married man, with four children. Ho was frequently at the Victory Tavern, and was well known to the residents in the neighbourhood, whom he had frequently served over the counter, and by his walking out with the deceased. An examination of the premises where Mrs. Verney was shot, reveals the fact that Harding emptied all the five chamber* of the revolver, three at the deceased and two at himself. After firing ho ran into the back garden, threw the weapon on the turf, and mounted a dwarf wall, which is surmounted by about four feet of lattice work. Through this it appeared he jumped, forcing a large aperture, and, running along the passage of the next house, ho jumped over the front wall into the Victoria Road, and ran off in the direction of the- canal bridge at Chalk Farm. He .seems then to have slackened his. pace, and to have walked to the Albanystreet police station, where he surrendered himself. Mrs. Elizabeth Collier, mother of the murdered girl, in an amended and detailed statement, said she and her daughter, Florence Verney, had known Harding for about 14 months. He told them that he was separated from his wife. Owing to a communication from Harding's brother, Mrs. Collier told him that she desired tho connection to cease. About that time she first saw the revolver in Hardiug's possession, and ho said if Florrie gave him up he had determined he would shoot her. About an hour before the murder he repeated his threat. Mrs. Annie Norton, of 36, Harm-wood-street, a charwoman, was the only eyewitness, and she states that she was in the kitchen at a quarter-past twelve, when the murdered woman went into the kitchen for a tankard. Harding followed her, and stood in tho back area, and afterwards, when sho went down to tho cellar, he stood at the top of the stairs, with one log across to prevent her coming up. He asked witness to go out, she declined, then three shots were fired, and Florrie fell back in her father's arms. The murderer then rushed into the parlour, twice unsuccessfully attempted to shoot himself, and finally gob away.