MURDER!

NZ Truth, Issue 88, 23 February 1907, Page 5

MURDER!

THE ABEL SMITH-STREET TRAGEDY. Claude Paget Committed for Trial. Poor, Pretty Pearl was Proved Pore.

The preliminary hearing ol the charge of murdering, l/7-year-old Eleanor Pearl Aiup oh February 12 last preferred against . Claude Paget, was held at the S.M.s /Court last Mon-' day, with , the . result that Paget .reserved his defence and was commuted for trial to the next criminal ,sitr tings of the Supreme Court. . To get a glimpse of the murderer a large number of. idle spectators thronged the rear, of .the Court, and Paget no' doubt divined .their ( purpose, as he sat with' hii. hack towards them, a position he maintained right throughout the day, excepting , when he Was obliged to stand up, to- be charged or to leave the dock at the luncheon adjournment and at the conclusion of the hearing.'Paget is ari under-sized indiyi-. dual and seemed/to feel his position very keenly. Never- once did he ! raise: his eyes to take stock of. any witness and once only did he speak, and that was when he told Magistrate McArthur' that he refused to signtois. tiaffie^ to th#vgtatement _ that lie roser--' ved his defence. Me persisted m his refusal, notwithstanding the Magistrate's proifest 1 that he bad certain duties to periform. Paget probably declined to '*sign his name on Mr Wilford's ajdvicev* because it was through the 1 comparison of Paget 's signature on the police property sheet to a letter found m the deceased girl's, room and signed '/ClaW , that the Grown proved tp:e latter, .through a handwriting expert, to be m the writing of the accused. This letter was m a FAINT PENCIL SCRAWL' and was as follows ■:'. i ■',/., ( Berainjphore, Arl-W. Dear Pearl ... , - Will you meet me at the top of Cuba-street totnight at. half-past seven Without fail you know where I mean Veitch and Allans as .it may be the last time I can't stand it any lcn«*#r or could, you come Out to mothers for tea I. have .partly, made up my mind to g0,, 0n Saturday. With love from , your, broken-hearted boy.. '.-•■ .:'.-', • .; v ...CLAUDE... P.S. Dear Pearl give Olive a note do meat mci love. • ; ■' The above, • * letter //''• .was new, having been found subsequent to the inquest) 1 3-he!' story : M .--.the. ;i.:Unfor'turiaW '• 'girl's' 'terribi^^eridiis c briefly that fot some -time prior to February 12 she had; been ori friendly terms with Paget , who seemed' to have been very "gone" on her, and sonic. time before Christmas hatf asked her father for his cbnsenjt to his engagement with, his daughter.! This the father declined to : give, saying he thought Pearl, whP was riot then 17 years old, her birthday being on' January 30, was/ too young ; though this, the father thought, was no reason why their friendship could not continue. Certain rumors appear to have been flying about m connection with the , unfortunate girl and the accused, but Mr Wilford silenced the .slander, it ns to 4>c,hppe(|y/ on Monday when lie ascertained tiom t>i. Henry, who had performed a postmortem examination on the, victim of the tragedy, there was nothing to suggest that she Was not a virgin. On the night of February 11, Paget Was' at the girl's residence, 92 Abel-Smith-stireet and was apparently uri- ' der the influence, of liquor. In a conversation with tha mother, he deplpr^ed that Pearl seemed to have , giyeri him the cold-shoulder, and while com.plaining, a cook engaged at the place told him nat to be a fool and if the girl did not care for him What, was the use of goirig after . her, upon which the accused bid .that he could not take things like that; and that if' she did not. care for him why did she not say so" Straight out. Mrs Axup then adyised . him- to fly about with other girls, which brought ftom the accused the assertion that if her daughter was false to him that was no reason why he should be false to her. He gave out that, he was going to 'Frisco the next morning ahd wa* advised to go home as a sleep would do him good.- Thereupon he asserted that he would think the ' following day of what 4 had been said to him that night and took his departure. He was at the house early the next morning and from his statement to Sergeant McKay after the tragedy hd' did not go home but had slept.irtthe garden of Axup's f house. ''."'■ THE STORY OF THE TRAGEDY on the morning <jf the 12' th is wellknown. Early m the moaning Paget was discovered m the kitchen by the cook and, the girl's another. Soon after the victim appeared on the scene and went into the dining-room, followed by her "lover." Ifnmediately afterwards three shots were heard and an alarmed mother rushed into the room and fell over her daughter, who was lying at full length on the floor and the accused was lying at right angles to her. This was some time before seven b'^clbek. Medical aid was at onbe Summoned,- but before eight o'clock the girl died. There was nothing' wrong' with Pa-get : the doctors describing him as suffering front shock. .A bullet had pierced the girl's brain, another had shattered a window blind and a third had enterr ed the floor near where Paget had fallen. In the endeavqr to probe the bullet that had gone' through, the floor the police had used a knife, with the result that they had entire-* lv obliterated the course taken 'by the Millet. It Was proved that on the Monday, February llth, Passet BOUGHT A CHEAP REVOLVER and cartridges from a Willis-street store and gave it out that he Was purchasing it for a friend who was p;oing with him to Australia, wheire the revolver would be useful to shoot kariearoos and wallabies m the wilds of Woolloomoolloo and on the heights of Ultimo. An expert gunsmith testified that the, bullets found m Paget 's possession and three found m the revolver were of the same calibre. The bullet that was found embedded m the e-irl's brain weiehed only 65* grains, whereas the weight of the other bullets was 80 rrrains ; but the gunsmith said a bullet j coming into con- '. \ tact with a hard bony substance would deteriorate m weight. ; _