VERDICT OF WILFUL MURDER.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1206, 12 April 1895, Page 32

VERDICT OF WILFUL MURDER.

The inquest concerning the death of the woman Annie Friend was resumed in the jury room of the Supreme Court at 10 o'clock on April sth, before Mr Ashcroft, Coroner, and a jury, of which Mr A. Veitch was foreman. Inspector Pender conducted the proceedings on behalf of the police, and Mr E. G-. Jellicoe appeared for Charles Nicholson, who was present in custody on the charge of wilfully murdering the deceased. . Constable Black, stationed at Thorndon, gave evidence that on Monday morning he went to the house occupied by deceased and Nicholson in Little Hawkestone street, and saw the woman lying on a trestle bed, covered by a blanket. He spoke to her several times, but received no answer. There were marks upon her face which looked like bruises. He afterwards arrested Nicholson, who said " I hav6 done nothing, she fell in the fireplace." Subsequently witness went back to the house, and found a quantity of clothing bearing blood stains, and on the following day again visited the house, in company with Detective Neill, and found, a number of other articles of clothing all more or less stained with blood. The paper on the walls of the bedroom showed blood stains to a considerable height, and a piece of oilcloth found in the bedroom near the fireplace also exhibited blood stains. The lookingglass and window curtains in the bedroom were in the same condition, as were also some boards off the bedroom floor.

George Barnes, express proprietor, who took the woman to the Hospital, deposed that Nicholson asked him if he would do so. He stated that she had fallen against the fireplace on Saturday and was insensible.

Harriet Burton, wife of William Burton, living in Little Hawkestone street, next door to the house occupied by Nicholson and Annie Friend, said that since the first week or two of their stay she had heard noises like thumping and the woman screaming. On Saturday morning last Nicholson came to the house apparently the worse for liquor. He could not get in at the back door, so ho broke it open and went inside. Then the deceased and he both came out into the yard, he holding her by the throat. She wa3 crying, and he then pulled her inside again and shut the door. About an hour afterwards witness heard screaming, and the woman said, " Charlie, leave me alone; don't hit me anymore/' The noise stopped then. Some time after 11 o'clock the same morning the woman came to witness's back door. Her apron and necktie were covered in blood. She had no hat on, and her face was bleeding on the right side. She made a complaint to witness, avlio advised her to go to the police station. She went away into the lane in front of the house, and Nicholson took her into the house. He had his arm round her waist. They were quiet for about an hour, and witness then heard her scream again, A butcher named Wheeler went to the front window and said : " You cur, you ought to be ashamed of yourself to beat a woman about so." Nicholson then came out and spoke about fighting Wheeler. She heard nothing else until some time during Sunday night, when she heard the woman groaning. On Monday morning she saw a doctor leave the house, and she asked Nicholson what was the matter with his wife. He said she had to go to the Hospital, and that she was in the bedroom.

Witness went into the bedroom along with him, and helped to dress her. She was unconscious and was breathing hard. While witness was putting a jacket on the woman Nicholson kissed her. He said i" You needn't give me away," and added that she was out on Saturday night and fell in the kitchen fire-place when she came home. To Mr Jellicoe: She had never seen the woman the worse for drink. She had seen her excitable, but bad attributed that to Nicholson knocking her about. They had frequent quarrels, but she could not say who cauaed the quarrels. Nothing happened on Saturday to warrant her interference, or to send for a policeman. She had heard so much of it.

Arthur Wheeler, butcher, deposed, that between 12 and 1 o'clock on Saturday he saw deceased, who had a mark oh the side of her forehead. Her right cheek was bruised and swollen, and her tie and apron were smothered in blood. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon he heard her calling out, and about 4.80 she was again crying in the front room. Witness went up to the window, and saw Nicholson holding the woman by the shoulder with one hand, and he hit her in the face with the other. She asked him to leave her alone, and witness called out to him, "Oh, you cur; if you don't leave that woman alone I'll give you in charge." Witness, then left. Alice. Dixon, wife of William Dixon, deposed that on Saturday morning last she saw Nicholson beating the woman Friend in their kitchen. She was standing in the corner, and Nicholson was in front punching her with his closed fists. Witness heard her head bump against the wall two or three times, and she said, " Oh, don't, don't hit me again." He struck her sezeral times on that occasion, and seemed to be hitting her very hard To Mr Jellicoe: She did not know whether accused struck the wall while he was hitting the woman. Clara Sullivan, wife of Thomas Sullivan, living in the same house as the previous witness, said that on Saturday morning she heard a fearful scream coming from Nicholson's house, and on looking out of the upstairs windowjshe saw Nicholson tuck up his shirt sleeves, take the woman by the hair and push her into a corner of the kitchen. She saw him strike her, and heard a terrible thump, and the woman said: " For God's sake don't hit me again." She saw several blows struck by the man, followed by bumps an:2 screams, and then the woman ran out of the kitchen door into the yard. She was smothered in blood, her face was bleeding, and she held her left hand up to her temple. In the afternoon she heard screaming in the house, and the woman kept on saying "For God's sake, don't." After a considerable time she came out again smotherad in blood. To Mr Jellicoe: She would swear the woman Was sober on Saturday morning. The woman could see witness looking on. She did not call upon her for assistance, and made no complaint to her. Witness did not in any way interfere. It wanted a man to interfere.

Dr Cahili deposed thkt when lie was called by Nicholson to see the woman he found her unconscious, and exhibiting symptoms showing she was suffering from an injury to the ' brain. The man was evidently suffering from the effects of a drinking-bout. The woman had two black eyes; The pupils were fixed, one contracted and the other dilated, and that combined, with stertorous breathing pointed to an injury to the brain. By -the order of the Coroner he made a, postmortem examination, and found marks of extensive bruises round both eyes; there were bruises on the upper parts of both arms—apparently finger marks, due to being roughly laid hold of. There were also bruises on another part of the body. He examined the interior of the skull ; there was a large blood clot on the outer surface of the brain. This caused compression, to which he attributed death. The clot ol blood was evidently due to the rupture of a vein or veins on the surface of the brain, and not of an artery. The injury, in all probability, had been caused either by a f all or a blow. He did not think a direct blow would have caused it unless it was very severe, but if the blow caused the head to strike against a hard surface, such as a wall, that would be sufficient to cause the injury. Unconsciousness would come on slowly in this case, as the vein ruptured was small and would bleed slowly. A fall on a flat surface would not have produced the symptoms he saw. He thought the injury was most likely caused by the head being hit against a wooden wall. To Mr Jellicoe: When he saw the woman alive he attributed the symptoms of brain trouble to either a blow or a fall. It wasimpossible to account for it otherwise, seeing there was no disease of the brain or the blood-vessels. The body did not appear to be that of i a habitual drinker. If she had staggered heavily against a wall it might haye caused the rupture of the vein. t'\" ■**•" Dr Harding, who was present at the postmortem examination, ascribed death to the rupture described by Dr Cahill, which he attributed to either a blow or a fall. The enquiry was resumed at 7 p.m., when Joseph Swindale, Government railway porter, deposed that on Saturday last he heard screams coming from Nicholson's house, and every time the woman screamed he heard a bumping sound. He subsequently saw the deceased and Nicholson in the yard, and heard Nicholson say: "You have cost me enough. I'll fix you up." Deceased was sober and Nicholson also' appeared to be sober. Frederick Raven, butcher, also heard a

scream coming from the direction of Nicholson's house on Saturday. Subsequently saw the deceased go up the lane towards Hawkestotte street, He heard Nicholson say he did not want to be spoken to by any people like them \ there was the law to punish him if he was not doing right to her. Albert Swindale* brother of a previous witness, deposed that between 1 and 2 p.m. on Saturday he saw Nicholson take hold of the woman and take her into the house, at the same time saying :,'■" Here, I've spent enough money oh you." Afterwards he heard screaming. Inspector Pender said a number of other witnesses could be called to corroborate the evidence already given, but he thought there was no necessity to call them. The Coijpner, replying to Mr Jellicoe, said it was not the practice to allow counsel to address the Court on behalf of the accused. The Coroner then proceeded to sum up the evidence, remarking that there was ample evidence of a series of assaults committed upon the woman by the accused, and they also had the evidence of their own eyes in the marks they had seen on the body of the deceased. It seemed singular that so many people heard these noises and did not interfere, but they knew there was a very strong feeling that an Englishman's house was his castle, and they did not like to attempt to enter the house unless there were very strong grounds. It appeared the woman was advised to go to the police, and did go, but why she did not get' protection he could not say—probably the police were used to her complaints. The Coroner then explained the law relating to murder. THE VERDICT. The jury then retired, and after 25 minutes' deliberation returned with a verdict of wilful murder against Charles Nicholson. The enquiry, which had lasted ten hours and a half, then terminated.

The charge against Charles Nicholson of the wilful murder of Annie Friend was heard before Mr Martin, . S.M., in the Magistrate's Court on Monday. The evidence given by the witnesses at the Coroner's inquest was read over to them, and accepted as the depositions in the case, thereby saving the necessity of another long investigation. The only new witness called was a cab proprietor named Thomas Patrick Lyons, who stated that on Monday, April Ist, accused came to him and told, him there was a woman who wanted to go to the Hospital, and said she had fallen downstairs. On the way to the house accused said: " You know I have been living with this woman; it makes it look very suspicious, as if I had been knocking her about," In the house accused

jDointed to the marks oh the woman's face — a black eye and a bruise across the bridge of the nose—and said, " This is where she fell." Witness told him he had better get an express, as she was too bad to be put-in a cab. Accused, for whom Mr Jellicoe appeared, reserved his defence, and was committed for trial at the next criminal sittings of the Supreme Court.