GOLDFIELDS TRAGEDY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19372, 6 July 1926, Page 15

GOLDFIELDS TRAGEDY.

THE MURDERED DETECTIVES.

"EXHIBITS" AT THE INQUEST. EARTH AND CONGEALED BLOOD. A buzz of excitement went round the Coroner's Court at Kalgoorlie last Wednesday when Mr. A. C. Haynes, counsel for William Coulter and Phillip Treffene, elicited by dint of persistent cross-exam-ination references to the statements alleged to have been made by Evan Clarke touching tho deaths of Inspector Walsh and Sergeant Pitman, whose bodies were , found in Miller's shaft. Coulter, Treffene and Clarke are all J charged with tho murder of Walsh, and Mr. Haynes appeared for the two former, j while Clarke, who again sat apart from tho other two accused, was represented by Mr. R. F. Cook. Warden J. Geary and a jury of three heard the procedings, and Mr. H. Parker conducted the presentation of evidence.

Detective-Sergeant Manning stated that Evan Clarke made two statements, tho second being made on the day of Coulter'B arrest, June' 10. He also said that on the strength of information supplied by Clarke he and other detectives found near the Boulder racecourse some earth and congealed blood, which Clarke said had been put there by Coulter after it had been removed from the bush in his (Clarke's) Overland car. Witness detailed a further list of the articles found at the scene of the gold treatment plant. Witness found tho pieco of paper beneath a bush near the plant. On it was written this address: "Boulder City. Cornwall Hotel, W.A." Under another bush they found a pieco of brown paper with the word "O'Connor" written on it. Bushes had been cut and stacked on one side of the plant, as though to screen it from the road. About 50 paces from the plant thero was a spot from which earth had beon removed. Foot Tracks Near the Plant. Concerning the foot tracks near ihe plant, witness said that these tracks had been obliterated at a spot only a few paces from the plant behind a bush. It was evident from tho length of the strides that the man had been running. Tho bush was about 50 paces from the plant. The foot tracks finished in the scrub, where he subsequently found a thick felt wad from a shotgun cartridge. He also found that some honeysuckle twigs had been broken and were dangling. There were many pellet marks on these twigs, as though a charge of shot had gono through a tree 10ft. high. Following the line of the shot witness found tracks, the nature of which suggested that somebody had been staggering, and had then wheeled round and fallen. This was the spot from which the earth had been removed. There wero other tracks, showing that somebody had run about a dozen strides from the plant to a spot to the right of a big honeysuckle bush. Two used gun cartridges were found on the way between the plant and the place where the earth had been removed.

Turning to his observations around Miller's shaft, where the bodies were found, witness said that he first saw motor tracks in that vicinity on May 12. Mr. Parker: Were they made by a car now known to be Evan Clarke's ? Witness: They were Dunlop tracks, similar to the tracks near the plant. The car had approached to within 15 paces of the shaft on the road. On the same day witness found some cart-wheel tracks quite close to Miller's shaft, and traced them to their source. He discovered that a horse. and cart had been used by a woman in collecting saltbush tops. On May 18 witness, while still pursuing the cart tracks, found at a spot 300 paces south of the shaft motor tracks similar to those found near the plant. The car had gone to the shaft from the direction of the Coolgardie road, and had turned on the road The four tyres produced from Evan Clarke's car would make tracks similar to those seen near the plant and shaft. Clarke's Written Statements. On Sund&y, June 6, witness went to the Cornwall Hotel. Boulder, at 6.15 a.m. In the storeroom he found a double-barrelled shotgun. Clarke told witness that the gun belonged to Treffene. There was rich gold bearing ore in the hotel. On June 12 witness and other police officers went with Evan Clarke to a road off Burt Street, Boulder, at a spot near the western end of the Boulder Racecourse. There he found two separate lots of earth, seven paces apart. The earth, said witness, was under separate bushes, and it was different from the surrounding soil. There were pieces of shrub mixed up with it, which were also foreign to the surroundings, and there were also stones apparently covered with blood, which were likewise foreign to the locality About 300 yds. along the road witness turned 97 paces in from the road, and found two petrol tins. In one of them was some earth and congealed blood, while the second tin also contained similar material, besides a bit of saltbush foreign to the locality. To. Mj Haynes: Clarke had previously promised to show where the exhibits could be found Further cross-examined, witness said Clarke had made two written statements. It was in consequence of the statement made on June 10 and other information that Coulter was arrested. Mr. Havnes: Would Coulter have been arrested if the statement had not been made ? Witness: I can't say that. Witness further told Mr. Haynes that Clarke did not say much when he accompanied witness to the racecourse. He told witness that Cot Iter put the blood and earth there, and had brought the Stuff in his (Clarke's) car. At this stage the inquest was adjourned.