ALLEGED ATTEMPT TO PROCURE MURDER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11534, 20 November 1900, Page 5

ALLEGED ATTEMPT TO PROCURE MURDER.

i THE CHARGE AGAINST HENRY V. ;:;;;:;. '•' •• ■■ STYCHE. ■ ' ' , [BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.] Christchurch, Monday. The case against Henry Vincent Styche, charged with having, on June 4, 1900, attempted to procure one Geoffrey Sherbourne Clayton, a medical practitioner, to murder one Elizabeth Styche, was commenced at the Supreme Court to-day. Mr. T.W. Stringer conducted the case for the Crown, and Messrs. T. J. Joynt and G. Harper appeared fo. the accused. Mr. Stringer, in opening the case for the prosecution, said the charge was preferred under section 169 of the Criminal Code, and the alleged attempt to procure murder was contained in certain type-written anonymous letters which had been addressed to Dr. Clayton from time to time through the post. The first letter was received on June 4, and in it the writer referred to a person continually sick and ailing, who had said she would just as soon die as remain in such a bad state of health. She had so far refused to see a doctor, and the writer of the letter said that if Dr. Clayton was called in to attend that person and she did not recover £200 in bank notes would be posted to him, say, three months after her death. If the doctor agreed to the proposal he was to insert in the Christchurch Press an advertisement as follows: " Wanted to buy a good dog cart, apply ' Medico,' Press office." That letter was handed over to the police, but no steps were taken in regard to inserting the advertisement, and on June 12 Dr. Clayton received a second type-written letter signed Unknown," as the first had been, in which the writer complained that the doctor. had not yet inserted an advertisement. A suggestion was made as to how the doctor should carry out the affair. The writer said, " Tell the woman she must go to bed for a week or two. You can then give her medicines that will not make her imSrove, and then call one evening and give er something that includes the power to send her to sleep for ever." That letter, said Mr. Stringer, Dr. Clayton also handed to the Inspector of Police, who had an advertisement inserted on June 16. A few days later Dr. Clayton received another undated type-written letter which contained some indication of the person aimed at, " a young woman living in a southeast suburb of Christchurch." Dr. Clayton, however, did not know then who was referred to, believing that the south-east suburb referred to the district in which he himself lived. Between J;he receipt of the first and third letters accused's wife had consulted Dr. Claytonj who some time after received a fourth anonymous document, a type-written post-card, in which the writer said : "I saw Mrs. Styche at Opawa the other day, and she was looking none too well." That document clearly pointed to Mrs. Styche, who was the only patient Dr. Clayton was attending at Opawa. Mr. Stringer then dealt with the evidence as to the authorship of these letters, stating that peculiarities in letters and in the machine which was in accused's office, led to the conclusion that accused was the writer of the letters. A peculiar coincidence was the fact that on the morning of August 4, the day after the interview had taken place between Dr. Clayton and accused as to the letters, his typewriter was severely damaged. Accused alleged that the injuries had been accidentally caused by a fall, but experts would tell them that in their opinion all the injuries could not have been accidentally caused.

Dr. Clayton was the first witness called, and he was cross-examined at some length by Mr. Jovnt. He said that as far as he could observe Mr. and Mrs. Stvche were an affectionate couple. Accused did not, however, betray anxiety over his wife's condition. He was rather phlegmatic. When he showed Styche the anonymous letters he watched him narrowly, and considered that his manner indicated agitation rather than indignation. F. P. Sapford, typewriter expert, stated that in his opinion the anonymous letters produced had been written by the machine now in Court, which had been taken from Mr. Rhodes' office where accused was employed. Witness detailed the peculiarities in the machine, all of which he said were present in the letters. He did not think it was possible that any other machine could produce the same combination of peculiarites. When seized by the police the machine was badly damaged, but he did not think all the injuries could have been caused by an accidental fall.

Chas. H. Gilby, teacher of typewriting, gave similiar evidence. The case will be continued at ton a.m. to-morrow.