SENSATIONAL MURDER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18996, 18 April 1925, Page 2 (Supplement)

SENSATIONAL MURDER.

AN EX-SOLDIER'S CRIME. KILLS WIFE AND CHILDREN. STORY OF MISFORTUNE. DEATH SENTENCE FASSED. Canada has been stirred by tho caso o: John Buchanan Pirie, aged 44, ex-captair in tho Royal Air Force, with a militarj record going back 25 years, says the lor onto correspondent of the Herald, writing on March 2. Ho has been sentenced to b< hanged on March 24, for the murder, ir Ottawa, last September 30, of tho woman who was regarded as his wife, and theii two children, Kathleen, aged 7, and Joan, aged G. Petitions for clemency, signed l»v thousands of citizens, have been forwarded to the Minister for Justice, and, at the time of writing, the case was under the consideration of the Cabinet. There are said also to be petitions asking that the law bo allowed to take its course, lho pica for mercy is based on tho conviction that Pirie is the victim of mental disturbance, caused by his war services, and that he, therefore, should be. confined in an institution, rather than be made to pav the extreme penalty of death by execution. Piquancy is added to tho caso by claims that Pirie seems to have made that he is a nephew of the late Lord Pirie. He told friends that in view of his connections lie ought not to have to work, and, it is said, lie wrote letters on the subject to the late Lord Pirie, much to the latter's annoyance. The story was investigated by Scotland Yard oflicers, who reported it to be without foundation. Pirie being tho son of an Aberdeen labourer. Pirie's Life Kocord. Respecting Pirie's military record there is, however, plenty of evidence. He seenis to have run away from home when 19 years of age to join the army, and went to South Africa, where he was a member of Methuen's Horse. Later lie served 12 vears in India with the loth Hussars. There he suffered from malaria, enteric fever, and sunstroke, once lying unconscious for eight days from the latter malady. During the great war he eventually reached the Air I'orce and gained promotion to the rank of captain. Pirie crashed at Rrookland s Training Camp, suffering concussion, which kept him unconscious in hospital for more than a week. His partisans declare that his severe sunstroke and concussion are quite sufficient to account for abnormality, and particularly as both were sustained in the service of" his country, hanging will he an ironic ending to his career. Pirie's social relations also have been varied. He was married in 1907, at Arbrealh, to a Scottish lady, whose parents at first strongly opposed tho match. But while acting as flying investigator at Brooklands during the late war, there came into his life Miss Carrie irceland a girl of unusual attractiveness, whoso lifo came to a tragic end last September, Pirie and the girl fell deeply in love. But she and her parents had little idea that the dashing officer already had a wife, and, for that matter a son, now a youth of 17. Following his crash Pirie was demobilised and granted a pension of £B4 a year, which gave him acute dissatisfaction, and led to an acrimonious discussion with tho British War Office. Meeting of the Two Women. Ho and Miss Freeland then took up life as man and wife and took lodgings in a Bloomsbury boarding house. Stories are current of Pirie's eccentric conduct at that time. Ho had a number of uniforms and made it a practice to don a different one each evening and dine in various restaurants in London's west end, the supposed " Mrs. Pirie" remaining at home. While he spent money extravagently he was supporting his wife, who lived in Ipswich. She got little, and Miss Freeland had none to spare. In time Mrs. Pirie came to London to Investigate. There was a dramatic meeting between the two women. To his wife's reproaches the captain replied: — " Oh, yes, its perfectly true this woman is not my wife, but I cannot discuss my domestic affairs with you." After her discovery Mrs. Pirio went forth to earn her own living. She is now companion to the widow of a baronet, living in Buckinghamshire. Shortly afterwards, that is about three years ago, Pirio took his second love and 'their two infant dans' !"rs to Canada and made their home i:i Ottawa. At tho time of tho tragedy the family was living in rooms rented from Mrs. Edward Gorman. They were described as a happy, cheerful family, often in high spirits, though Pirie was continually distracted by his inability to get remunerative work. Self-Confessed Murder. On the morning of October 1 last, Pirie walked into the police station and remarked to the sergeant on duty:—"l have killed my wife and two children. I intended committing suicide when I realised what I iiad done, but—," and he prided with a gesture of despair. Detectives sent to the lions'- quickly verified the statement. Mrs. Gorman and the other inmates did not know that anything was wrong, but the victims were found in bed dead. " Mrs. Pirie" had a fractured skull. The little girls apparently had been suffocated. Mrs. Gorman said the couple had been most affectionate. They were three months behind with their rent, and though sfie had never bothered them about it, Pirie came to her almost every day to apologise and express the hope that he soon would have a cheque. " My wife," said Pirie, in prison, "was one in a thousand, and my children wore everything to me. Last night they said their prayers as they were taught to do every night. After that I don't know what happened. It's ail a blank to me now." The police found a memorandum in which Pine, in a lead pencil scrawl, gave an explanation of the tragedy. " I find it is too expensive to live," he wrote, " and too risky for my wife and family for mo to die and leave them unprotected,. and from knowledge of my fellow men, my apparent cruelty is kindness compared to leaving unprotected women to them. The reason for these crimes is ,1 ust that I have absolutely lost all hope, disabled as I am, a complete failure. " Slow Torture of Living Short." " After serving my country for 20 years, and getting disabled doing it, I find that I can no longer fight the apparently impossible, and rather than see my wife and children starving and absolutely lacking for the necessities of life, and allowing my children to grow up handicapped by my inability to clothe and feed them. I have decided to cut the slow torture of living short. IVly wife lias been absolutely splendid." Pirio also recounted his various efforts to work once as a salesman, again as ledgerkeeper at " starvation wages," and complained that a 374 dollars a year pension was a " pretty hard proposition." At his trial, Pirio pleaded not guilty "on forethought." The chief witness for the defence was Dr. Glidden, of the Board oi' Pension Commissioners, who produced Pirie's army record in detail. Enlisted 1900 in Edinburgh with the 33th Hussars. First stripe 3905, corporal 1908, sergeant 1909, reverted to corporal 1910, discharged on termination of engagement in 1912, after Jong service in South Africa and India. In the late war he enlisted with lloy a I Mounted Police in 1915. transferred to 'oth Battalion, Royal West Kents, apbrigade . (luarterniaster-serL'eant. May 1916. Was with 55th British Division, and made 2nd lieutenant with

Horse Transport, A.S.C. Joined Flying Corps as observer, July, 1016. and in December was invalided to England with rheumatism. After crash' was declared unfit in 1918, and appointed captain in the Administrative Force, R.A.F.. Demobilised November, 1919. Granted wound gratuity 250 dollars. In November, 1919, granted 70 per cent, pension, 1920 50 per cent., 1923 40 per cent. Medical testimony denied insanity, and diagnosed PiriG's case as nouraathniica or psycho-neurosis. The Sentence of Death. Tho jury returned a verdict of guilty, and Pirie, on being asked i-f he had anything to say, commented briefly and lucidlv on one bit of evidence which he resented, because it seemed to infer that he had told a lie. . Judge Logie then said: Well, .Line, this is a very painful duty. Ido not. propose to say anything. 1 do not think you may sustain yourself in the hope of clemency." Pirie: " I do not my Lord." Judge Logie: " Indeed, 1 do not know that von wish it." Pine: "I do not, my Lord." Judge Logie: "You can rest assured that the sentence of execution will not be carried out-until the Executive Council has fully satisfied themselves your case. I have no doubt of that." Pirie: " Neither have I, mv Lord." Judge Logie: "The sentence is that you will be taken from here to the place whence vou came and kept in closo confinement until March 24, 1925, and then taken to tho place of execution and hanged bv the neck until you are dead." Pirio: "Thank you my Lord."

Woman as Spiritual Adviser. When Pirie, in the death cell, was asked to name a spiritual adviser, he I selected Mrs. Mollio Ransom Sutton, a 3 graduate of the Royal Psychic College of London, and now a resident of Toronto. H She is said to be the first woman appointed spiritual adviser to a condemned man. Mrs. Sutton, who had been a nurse, knew Pirio in South Africa, where lie called frequently at her home, and her husband's in Bloemfontein. She firmly believes that Pirie's crime was the result, of a disordered brain. " You cannot teach a man from the age of 18, that it is his business to kill, embark him upon such a life, through a series of war, and then expect to call him a normal minded man," said Mrs. Sutton. According to Mrs. Sutton Pirie is greatly interested in Chambers' book, " The Life After Death." Later a second spiritual adviser, Lieut.Col. Rev R. H. Stacey, was appointed, and, in case of no reprieve, it will be Stacey who will attend him at the execution.

In England, particularly in Byfleet, Surrey, Pirie's crime has caused sensation. Miss Carrie Freeland was the daughter of Mr. Thomas Freeland, who carried on ' an old-established ironmongery business, under the name ol T. H. Freeland and Sons, in old llvfleet. She had a sister, Mrs. Daken, in Weybridge, with whom \ she corresponded, and a brother, Horace r Freeland, who now runs the I'ieel.ind , business. I ~