AFTER LONG YEARS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19831, 29 December 1927, Page 11

AFTER LONG YEARS.

ALLEGED MURDER IN 1913.

MAN ARRESTED LAST WEEK.

CHARGE AGAINST EX-SOLDIER.

A sensation was caused in Sydney last week by the arrest of a man—an ex-sol-dier who fought in the war—on a charge of committing a murder at La Perouse, a year before the outbreak of the great conflict, in which he served with a good record.

Fourteen years have elapsed, says a Sydney paper; the details of that La Perouse tragedy have been stored away in the musty files of unsolved crimes; its sensation forgotten in the holocaust of killing that broke all over the world a year later. And to-day William Beaton, who has lived those years to the full, stands charged with the murder of Charles John Stratton, aged 36, labourer, on the night of August 13, 1913, at La Perouse. A Redfern woman recently interviewed •the police, and subsequently several detectives made inquiries, with the result that Beaton was arrested.

The depositions from the Coroner's Court, stored away through the years, left the real life drama unfinished. The coroner's finding was that Stratton was murdered by some person unknown.' Early on the morning of August 18 Agnes Malone, an aboriginal woman, who has long been dead, discovered Stratton's body lying in the scrub near the cable station at La Perouse.

Dr. Sheldon. Govcrnent medical officer, stated at the inquest that Stratton was shot in the back, two inches from the spine. The bullet pierced one lung and a main artery. Death was almost instantaneous. The shot was not fired at close range, and Stratton might have been leaning forward at the time. Evidence was given that the murdered man was a "park tout," who worked about three days a week. Detectives worked night and day on the case. Then, after the inquest, interest was revived by an anonymous letter received at police headquarters. "He was shot by me," said the writer. "I did not mean to shoot him dead. I fired at hia legs. A mongrel like him is better dead. Shooting touts is no sin." The writer went on to say how the woman who was his companion was insulted by Stratton. who demanded £lO.

Beaton, now accused of murdering Stratton, has a goocj war record. He served in New Guinea and trance. A.fter the war he was married. He has two young children and a neat little war service cottage at Willoughby. About two vears ago his wife became an invalid, and he was- struggling to give her medical attention m a private hospital. When questioned on his arrest, Beaton admitted that he had fired a shot, but did not know that the bullet had hit a man until he read in the press about the discovery of the body. He later saw the anonymous letter in the press, and had consoled himself with the thought that he had not hit the man at all. According to the police, he stated that he had lost the small automatic revolver with which the shot was fired, or had had it stolen from him.