THE KINGSLAND CASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14853, 2 December 1911, Page 9

THE KINGSLAND CASE.

' SOME NEW EVIDENCE. _

- "■tfRS. HASSELL'S STATEMENT.

MADE TO A DETECTIVE

-' THE alleged ACCESSORIES.

. ''" Tm" trial of 3 am * s Edward O'Shaugh*"ne*sy. Charlotte Campbell., and Mary ."vHassell, charged with having been ncces- ■ series after the fact of the death of Elsie >v Alexandra Holland, was proceeded with la the Supremo Court yesterday. Mr. '•, Justice Chapman was on the bench. The '• ' Hon. J- A. Tide, K C., appeared as Crown .'! Prosecutor. Mr. 11. A. Singer as coun-:-*sel lor J. E. O'Shaughnessy ami Mrs. ,1 Campbell, and Mr. W. E. Hacketfc for . Mr?. Hassell. ,-•■,;«'•* Detective Sergeant P. T. McMahon "gave similar evidence to that given by him in tho lower Court in regard to tho •" statements made to him r.u the morning /of June Wth by the prisoners Campbell .-■and Hassell with regard to their movements on the previous day. which state- . ments, however, they refused to sign. . Dr. E. D. B Miteom described the re- • v suits of tho post-mortem examination . ''which he. together with Dr. S. A. Bull, had made on tho body of Elsie Holland .* on the afternoon of Juno 14th, at the ■ ';• morgue. sn- Ellen Duggan, who was living at Mrs. v , Sinlen's house, gave an account of the '■' conversation that took place between Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Hassell in terms sinii*"l lar to those need by Mrs. Sinlen on the previous day, but said she had for'gotlen some of the statements made. ■"Mrs. Campbell, she said, asked her not ', i to mention to -Mrs. Hassell that eho ■■'. (Mrs. Campbell) had told her that Mary ■? Hassell had put the tabloid on the dead or dying girls lips, and that the operation was "performed by Mrs. O'Shaugh- ; nessv. Tins witness admitted in crossi.■;",;•■ examination that she had been convicted of drunkenness . some throe years ago. - Dr. S. A. Bull corrobated the evidence ■:',-< given by Dr. Milsom. Mrs. "Minnie Whittingbam gavo evi- ; dence similar to that given by her when she was previously placed in the witness -> : box with reference to an illegal operation • " performed subsequently to the death of ■'■;...■■■;."'.::Miss Holland by Mrs. O'Shaughnessy. "Don't Lock Me Up." "; Detective Quarter-main gave evidence at $ length similar to that he had given at - the previous examinations, and then ho \ broke qui new ground. " Last Satur"dav night," he said, "I had occasion, < ■ f* in company with Sergeant. O'Grady, to visit a house kept by a Mrs. Ann Mac- ; .-'Cormack in New-street, Ponsonby. I Hound both tho accused females in the .house. Mrs. Campbell was very drunk, ' - and Mrs. Hassell was recovering from the 'effects of liquor. -O'Grady and I— entered the house without knocking, ;,,;•* "through, the front door, and met Mrs. Hassell in the passage. She at, once said $ "Don't lock me up, and I'll tell you all about it." The Red-haired Girl.- ?'•■ ;■ ~'; : ' v..'.- "*' . I then took her into another room, 'proceeded tho witness, and she then said : ■- . v to mo "It was the red-haired girl— (His ' Honor forbade the publication of the i name) 1 let in that night." She bad ■„ previously told .mo that this red-haired . *< woman had been turned out of that house " at midnight on the same night that Miss Holland died. I asked her who told her 2 to sav it was the deceased that she had - admitted that night, and she replied W Lottie," meaning Charlotte Camp Dell. '; I then called Sergeant O'Grady into the J£ T&om. but she didn't say quite the same V, in his presence; but in his > presence she . -"said* "I entered the house 'as I said I did and" I had missed the train. I went through the shop to O'Shaughnessy's * house. , She added that after she ■"had been there some _ time she '' heard a ring at ' the . " front door ' ' r bell. On opening it she saw a red- ■' headed girl with a big hamper standing ' • there. She asked Mrs. Hassell if Mrs. -* O'Shaughnessy was in, and told her she ■ . had come by arrangement. She said th»t .V. then she went out to the back and called ;... Mrs. O'Shaughnessy, and the red-haired 1 ,- , girl followed "her down along the passage. ' She could not say what room this girl '■'.-. went into, but shortly afterwards she ■ , heard moaning in a room which witness . ,'thought,' she said, was the room next the bathroom. Sho-also said the red-headed girl was slight in build.,

' * - " The Poison Tabloid. " Witness asked her who put the poison ' -in the woman's mouth, and she said she '*" believed it was clone by Dot Mrs. ; - Hartley, who is Mrs. O'Shaughnessy's ; - daughter. Mrs. Hassell • also said to witness, "You get Lottie in and tell her you are going to lock her up; she knows all •j about it, and is frightened. Witness said he could not do a thing like that, and then . Mrs. Hassell brought Mrs. Campbell in a.and said, "Now, Lottie, tell Mr. Quarter- '' main all about it." Mrs. Campbell said, it'-*.'" I' know nothing about it. I was ; ,'„ asleep." ' :■■•■■■■.* -"'.?"■, In answer to Mr. Singer, witness said : ( : .he had searched Miss Holland's hamper and found a bottle of tabloids, but they • ,/; were of a different class to those found ~ :in the room where Miss Holland died. i*;"' Witness said in reply to Mr. Haekett i' : that he did not go to the house in New- ' V" street because he expected to find the feV male prisoners there, nor did he know they '•.-•:;'<X*< were.there. But ho did know that they :-i'; : ]^ frequented the house. ~,*; *• Detective Cross-examined.

. v i "Now, isn't it a fact that someone sug*'gested to Mrs. Hassell that it she turned ,■}■:■'}*,s King's evidence things would be made '•■ ■■ light for bet'?" asked Mr. Hackett. y5 "Well," was tho reply, '"1 think you'd -'better ask the man who made tho sugges"T tion," to answer that question." V. How long ago is it since that suggestion r i# was made to her?l don't know. • ■•"' But didn't she expect from moment to :. - V moment to bo arrested?— I don't think «*' t so; but-she was frightened that she would ';';_;;%;' be arrested. ! ,■-", ■■// ■ "<■►*. But before she was taken into custody ■ was it explained to her that even then, " the case might be arranged if she would .jtell all she knew about it?l don't know %*' what you told her, of courc! (Laughter). ' , m '~- 'And what did she say first to you in *tlie house last Saturday night? said, ''■:* "Don't lock me up, and I'll tell \ou all ', about it."' .'-.".-■J Lock her up for what?—l don't know, but she expected to be arrested. But why? There was no man in the ;.. , house?—Oh, yes there was. 1 arrested a , . J; man and brought him away from there, J. and-he got three months for vagrancy. ! Mr. Tole: He's a medical man who has - fallen through his addiction to drink?— 7; .... Yes; that is so. f- Mr. Hackett: And Mrs. Hassell is very .'■,' v much addicted to drink, is she not?— Yes, , * very much. Sergeant o'Grady, who accompanied De,i tective Quartermain to New-street on . •*» Saturday night, corroborated his evidence ... as to what took place. i— Evidence for the Jury. " ;: " At. the conclusion of the caso for the ■' "> prosecution, Mr. Singer proceeded to argue ...that there was no case to go to the jury on the evidence called in support of the indictment which preferred that the acidised were accessories after the fact, inas- . ; much that they had "received, comforted, * or assisted any person" who was a party I to a criminal offence to their knowledgo 1 "in order to enable such a person to escape "' the law. ■;.. > " Mr. Hackett supported this argument » at some length. ",'./ The Crown Prosecutor, replying, con- , tended that an accessory after the fact was . one who, knowing a person to bo a felon so sheltered, shielded, or screened that person as to endeavour to enable that per- .( son to evade the "pursuit of justice." '*, His Honor held that the words of the - indictment drawn under the criminal code C .,,.,-, :S .... . . f ... . . . ._ ~,. ; ■-■„'• ■ ■ ' S'»i*K;:V'''' J; 'J: , ■ ' . '. , ~ . ..■■;■ sM&r^^7i'!:fe.v\V'-,;.-■■■•■■;. " ■■:■ . ' ' :-■

did not infer that an " accessory " meant a person who enabled one who had committed a felony to "physically escape" in tho sense of the running away of that escaped person. In his view, the words of tho code included as " accessories " such persons as might throw dust in tho eyes of the investigating authorities by making misleading statements to them. His Honor declined to take tho case from the jury, but intimated that he would note the objections raised by counsel for the defendants.

Messrs. Singer and Hackett addressed the Court on the evidence. The jury, in answer to His Honor (as the hour was'late) said they would prefer to hear the sumramg.up on tho following morning, and the case was accordingly adjourned until nine a.m. to-day.

MRS. O'SHAUGHNESSY'S CASE.

NEW TRIAL MOTION

When His Honor Mr. Justice Chapman took his seat upon the Bench at the Supreme Court yesterday morning, Mr. R. A. Singer asked permission to mention the case of Martha .Jane O'Shaughnessy. found guilty bust Wednesday evening, "of the manslaughter of Elsie Alexandra Holland. Mr. Singer said he wished to ask His Honor's leave to apply to the Court of Appeal for a new trial/on the ground that the verdict was against the weight of evidence. . ■ "

His Honor replied that he would take it that Mr. Singer had made the application. He could not say what the result would lie. but would merely noto that the application had been made. Mr. Singer's submission was that His Honor's directions to the jury were wrong in the following points:—

(1.) In directing the jury that they were entitled (if they found prisoner, though she was so skilled as to perform the operation alleged without death ensuing) to find prisoner guilty of manslaughter; and for not directing, as requested by counsel for accused, that if the prisoner cither knew or ought to have known that the operation was likely to cause death, they would have to return a. verdict of murder. (2.) In directing the jury that even if they found prisoner guilty of murder, the sentence of death would" not bo carried out.

A further submission was that the Judge was wrong in admitting in evidence: (1) the depositions of prisoner given before the City Coroner; and, (2) two letters found in the shop previously occupied by the prisoner's husband long after the prisoner and her husband were in custody. His Honor said he would take note of the objections, and consider whether he would submit them to the Court of Appeal.