THE TATURA TRAGEDY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12861, 9 May 1905, Page 6

THE TATURA TRAGEDY.

SUSPECTED MURDERER.

SEEN IN A TRAIN.

Sydney, May 3. There is a probability that the interest in the Tatura tragedy will be transferred from Victoria to Sydney. On Saturday evening a railway employee named Albert Ashworth informed the police that a man who stated that he was " the Tatura (which is identical with the Girgarree) murderer" had travelled with him in a train on the previous evening. A description of the person was furnished to the Redfern police by Ashwoith, and this is considered to correspond closely with that of the suspected man. The details of the shocking tragedy, which was discovered by the finding of a dismembered corpse in the irrigation channel at Girgarree East, are too fresh jn the public mind to be republished.

In the course of a statement to Sub-Inspec-tor Roche, Senior-constable Mickey and (Jonstable Maher, Ashworth said that on Friday he was a passenger from Berry to Sydney by the milk train'. In the next compartment, which was only separated from the other by a partition reaching hall-way to the roof of the train, wu the stranger, who also joined the train at Berry. The two men were the only passengers in these compartments. The man was considerably under the influence of liquor, and also had a plentiful supply of rum with him. The spirit was contained in four lemonade bottles, which were placed on the seat. The man had a swag and a billycan in his possession. He soon made himself objectionable to Ashworth, as he quickly commenced to talk in a most boastful fashion and continued to do so during the greater part of the journey. Offers to fight meeting with no response on the part of the railway employee, the individual said he would box anyone in Sydney for the sum of £50. Finding that no notice was being taken of what he was saying, the man loaned over the partition, and said, " You'll be surprised to know who I am. "Yes," replied Ashworth. " Well, 1 m the Tatura murderer," responded the stranger. He further stated that he was coming to Sydney in order to return to Melbourne. When asked where ho intended to live while in Sydney, he declined to answer. Before leaving Ashworth ho mentioned that recently he had done a considerable amount of riding in coaches. During the journey ho showed the railway official his ticket, which was a single one, issued at Berry for Sydney. Hurstville was reached about 11 o'clock on Friday evening, and the man then collected his belongings and alighted from the train. The way in which the police came to heaf of the affair was a remarkable one. Ashworth is a friend of Sub-Inspector Roche, whom he met on Saturday evening in company with Senior-Constable Hickey and Constable Maher. Several matters were discussed, and then Ashworth mentioned the incident in a casual manner to the officers. Sub-Inspector Roche asked if ho could furnish a description of the man. Ashworth then described th» man as l>eing about 38 years of age, sft lOin in height, and having a fair complexion, with moustache only. He was dressed in a blue coat and vest, with trousers similar to moleskin. The stranger had a blue handkerchief, with white spots, around his neck. He wore a brown soft felt hat, and carried a swag and billy can. Ashworth stated that he did not know that a man had been suspected of the murder, or he would have detained him. The police were so impressed with the description given that all stations were communicated with, and the men were instructed to keep a sharp look-out for the man. From the telegrams already published in the papers regarding the character of the person wanted for the murder of William Skinner, there would appear to be a great probability that, the man who on Friday described himself as the "Tatura murderer" is the individual for whom the Victorian police have been so actively searching. He lias been described as a boaster, and is said to be of a pugnacious disposition. Both these faults were strongly borne out by the man's conversation with Ashworth. The murder is believed to have been committed on the night of March 4, so that there was ample time for a person to have crossed the border and made bis way to Berry, and then come on by train to Sydney.