THE CONWAY CASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11602, 16 March 1901, Page 5

THE CONWAY CASE.

J 1 h (WW MS EVIDENCE 'AT THE INQUEST, - MRS. SMITH AND THE DECEASE^, : V IMPORTANT TESTIMONY. By Telegraph.—Press Association.— Sydney, March 15.. The Conway inquest was resumed to-day. Fletcher, chief steward of, the TaJune, da* posed that Mi's. Smith joined the Taluue ati Lyttelton. Before leaving Wellington she cm mo to him and said she was short of he* saloon passage money to Sydney by a pound, and asked if she could have a saloon passage by giving security over her luggage 'This was agreed to. She Mentioned: she had & draft for £50, which by mistake had bean; forwarded to Sydney.. On the night of February 19, witness saw Mrs. Smith going' forward about a-quarter past seven. ■ Sha was carrying something covered with a nap* kin. It appeared to be a plate with a glass on it. She said she was taking something for a friend. Witness then described the death of Conway. From certain remarks made by a passenger, he received the cap- ; tain's instructions to go and see a, lady passenger. He went and saw Mrs. Smith. .. He asked her if she knew Conway. She replied she had known, him slightly. Witness said . to her he had been told that Conway's wife : was aboard. She replied she did not know; . he was married. Witness then went back,' and on the captain's instructions saw Mrs., Smith again. Before Conway died he asked! • her if she knew anything about his people.i She replied she knew his sister, who lived; at Roslyn, Dunedin. Next day witness had another conversation with Mrs. Smith. She said that at one time she had given Conway, a garden to do up, as he had been out ot work, and was not well off. When witness told Mrs. Smith that Conway was dying, she said, " Poor fellow/' _ Tho day after they reached Sydney she said she had. v ; not been able to cash the draft* Witness explained that the non-payment of the bal- ' . ~ ance of the passage money had caused some annoyance. She said, " Wait a minute,'* <J j and brought him £2. Witness repeated the story Smith told him with reference to comI ing to Sydney to look, after the insurance money of the child Smart (which is given in a cable message from Melbourne, printed bo . low). She showed him a medal, and saw she had received it for saving the child's life. . Fanny McDonald, stewardess on the Ta< ' I lune, : gave evidence that when taking the ' order for lunch on February 19 Mrs. Smith asked, " What .sort of poison is strychnine?" Witness told her she did not know, l^lrs.. Smith then mentioned about taking a dog to Christchurch, when a chemist gave himl ' • something which caused him to drop off. , ;. in a minute or two.'- The same evening, at: •• half-past six, Mrs. Smith gave an order for: naif a pint of stout. She said she did not- • wish to take it then, but witness could bring it then. About half-past eight wit- 7 ; ness saw Mrs. Smith near the foot of thecompanionway, on the main deck. ■- She told witness she had been to the other end of the ship to see some ladies.. .She often : j spoke to two ladies who wero travelling steerage. Witness heard her tell the chiel steward she knew nothing about • Conway, only he helped her aboard with her boxes. She said afterwards that she knew his. ■' brother and sister slightly, and believed \ him to be a poor man coming to Sydney to seek work. Witness found a stout bottle; in the rack in Mrs. Smith's cabin, and'threw it out of the porthole when they reached -. Sydney. On several times witness had pro- ' •;* r> vided Mrs. Smith with stout. . On reaching Sydney witness and the other stewardess; ;;■ lent Mrs. ' Smith a pound each to pay the balance of her passage money. . She'left ~ . . a watch and chain as security. Mrs. Smith asked the way to the gas works, of which she said her uncle wasSShanager. On the"' ■ ■ following Saturday she repaid the borrowed - j money. • _ •• •- Walter Strachan, a greaser on the Ta-i lune, said, on the night of February 19 t hel ; saw Mrs. Smith pass the starboard alleys way, carrying what appeared to be a bottle 1 ; : under a napkin. He then saw her seated: 1 with Conway on the hatchway. She apt ' peared to hand him what she had been carry* • ing under the napkin. ■ Elizabeth Healey, housekeeper of a hotel in Sussex-street, Sydney, deposed that Mr?.* ;> Smith was a boarder at the hotel. In con-; versation she told witness she was looking; for a Mrs. Browne, who came over by the* same steamer. She was going to give Mrs.« Browne biscuits and fruit, but failed to sea her, so gave them to a Mr. Conway. On'' the night of March 1, the day the detectives' had been at the hotel, she asked witness) to sleep with her. She said she was 1 fright-' ened to sleep alone. During the night she' kept jumping up, saying there was' someone in the room. Some days before she wasarrested she told witness she had a bon at her aunt's, in Paddington, containing; two ladies' and one gentleman's gold watch,which cost £25. She asked witness to say nothing about the gentleman's watch. She also told witness she had sent £200 worth: of boots to her husband in New Zealand' l ' • out of £500 she got for saving a child's life.-r v: The day after Mrs. Smith viewed Conway's ; body she was reading a newspaper, when: , ' she exclaimed, " Good God, it is supposed to be a poisoning case. All I gave him was biscuits and plums." / ; , The inquest was adjourned to March 28* . v All the witnesses so far have described the ■ woman seen going forward • and sitting by Conway just before his fatal seizure as dressed in a brown mackintosh with a black sailor hat. - ■ " , " , Melbourne, March 15."Tj The Age states that while the Talune waa. here, Fletcher, tho chief steward, statedthat on the trip to Sydney, Mrs. Smith, inii conversation with him, related a • strange' 5 story setting forth the reasons for her visit ing Sydney. She said that some years ago; - she was instrumental in saving the life of aJ 1 child named Smart. To mark their grati-j :i tude the parents of the child insured its life in her favour for £500. Latterly she heard-j by letter that the child was dying, of con-( " r sumption, and she was proceeding to Sydney} , to claim the money from the insurance cokk > pany.