MURDERER'S BLUNDER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18553, 10 November 1923, Page 2 (Supplement)

MURDERER'S BLUNDER.

-...-.-■■ r.t&y. "'■-■■■ ■ ■*■■--• r.vV:.-.- ■\.<--,r".T<~ - . - ■ >■ 'Is ■>%/-' ■ ■■ ''--' ' CRIME TO GAIN FORTUNE.

CALCULATED PLAN UPSET.

CLOSED EYES OF HIS VICTIM.

; ■ Sir Charles Kingston tells how a detective upset, the-; elaborate \; plans ; of a cold-blooded v murderer. The miscreant stood to inherit;a, fortune by the death of a young man, and he set himself the task of assisting : nature to'' bring about the youth's decease. ; .>■ >~"■ A, He began by inducing him to gamble heavily, and when the younger man was bewailing his atrocious luck his companion spread the story abroad that his nephew was also a victim of an unhappy love affair. H Meanwhile, the. ■': criminal was studying . the: methods of I suicide and reading, books on the human anatomy. His particular object was to discover how to reproduce with a fidelity which would baffle official investigation a case of suicide by shooting through the heart. Apparently no detail escaped him, and among other matters he ascertained the angle at which the bullet would be firsd by a man in a recumbent position, the discoloration of the flesh by the proximity <Jf the weapon, and the final position of the corpse. ■ ; , ', ' The final moment came at last when the villain's plans' were fully matured, 'and he felt he could win a fortune by a single act. Everybody in the hotel had noticed j the depression of the young man, but to make assurance doubly sure his murderer induced his nephew to write a.. brief note , announcing his jlissatiefiction with life. I Within an hour of signing this statement he was found dead in his bedroom, a revolver lying on the floor near the bed, where it had evidently fallen from his lifeless fingers. The tragedy was. at ! once declared to be a case of suicide, the unfortunate man's notorious depression, heavy gambling losses, and rumoured unhappy love affair providing the motives, and the detective who was sent for as a mere formality was told so before he entered the room. And yet one glance was sufficient to convince him that it was not suicide but murder. ' «.«•.. ; «. "Has anyone touched, the body?" he asked. "I certainly haven't," said the manager, "and none of my staff would do so . if you offered them five pounds." "Then it's a clear case of murder," said the detective confidently. "The murderer overdid it when he closed the eyes of his victim." , ; » >, It was,a. blunder on the part of the criminal which eventually brought, him to the scaffold. He had failed to allow for the fact that a man who shoots himself through the heart must die with his eyes open, and before stealing from the room he had carefully closed the eyes of the dead man. : ■■ ■ • ..-"■.'; ■- ,'■. :; ■■