LOOKER AND LANDLADY.

NZ Truth, Issue 340, 30 December 1911, Page 7

LOOKER AND LANDLADY.

The Latest from Cfrristcfcurch. "i v

'> -'Mrs McKeiKie's Statements.

Mrs MeKenzie, who was nearly murdered last week by her lodger, James Gibbons, at Sydenham is of French extraction, having been a Miss £L£ Ctfmp, a name well-known amongst •'th'e pioneers of the French settlement, at A'k&roa. sii O has four children. Her husband, Charlie McKerizie, is •j-bhc 1 well-known, foot-bailer,. I '' anil foi--■jjvard m ,th,a Albion team which appropriated the of 1910. Gibbons had "been boarding with the family for about two years. / Mrs MeKenzie states that on. Slon-;;4-ay they had' a visit from her . sister, "Mrs Weir, of Sprsydon, who was ac-V companied by her husband. At niidday the Weirs, Mrs. MeKenzie and a boarder were playing- c.ards, T^k'en.. IMcKenzie, and Gibbons' entered; GIBBONS SUGGESTED ; A;-.SIX ■■■ l " ; HANDER, 4 i but Mrs MeKenzie said; "No-; dinner is ready, and we'll have it." Gibbons, - who had been ;drmking heavily since- the : pneyj mis Tuesday, remarked, "You. don't.: want to play,-; "tton-' t ' you ? ' ' To which the _ woman replied, }'"M yo'ti ■' want. : aI. ■g&me.-.r'.yovj can have ' it," bxit dinner, is ready. Don't .'blame ,' .me; if^i^QsgioiKi. ""I; w.on't- .play." ..Gibbons' tlien. retired' to the wash-house^ and when Mrs '.McKensiie went 'out/to~"tliaf r buiiain-g; later to 1 ; filf a 43>ettle with water, he 'was sitting' on"'-~the''ecl£e" of?& bath;; ,his eyes. rolling., m a Ti'orrible way, "and lie' 'was. ' frothing at the mouth. He said nothing;; and "she made no renaavk, but werit' inside. Shortly, after she .saw ; ]iini go -round .-the front of _the house -to his -bed-, room. . She heard .him- leave his bedroom, go into her sleepffia'clfam-" •ber , reijfiain r ' there • a ■ minuto r .Qr two , -then go "bade to his.^iedrcibni. Some, time after three ■ o'clocfc. she went t0. : .. his room and asked, him "if »6' would have some ■■dinner, r Re ■- sai<V, "All right." She was; standing just inside the- door;"' rai'fl '#•'&■ A^asi':. sitting on. the «ide.:of-tbe bed. The"words were hai'dly out of his niouth when he made one leap and closed the door, then seizing her ' , HE THREW "HER ON • HER- • /.;»'.. .>-M BACK,' --■■;■'■.: •• ;«• ■ knelt on. her- chest, -and .sa3'ingv r " I'll, ; i do for you," pulled, a.xajzpr out of .his_ I pocket. She screamed and struggled, ! and m spite of her resistance, inflicted i a terrible wound m her throat. Any | ordinary woman would have fainted fwhenvhe produced the razor, but Mrs. MeKenzie fought desperately till her isister and brother- in -la% arrived and I pulled Gibbons off. The victim -then, i sought m the house next door, ' and was m Hen'sley's bedroom-;, : when j Gibbons re-appeared. .She tried, with- ' but success, to shut the door m his j'face. Ho pushed 1 it in,' : entered the "room, and 'putting' "his arm on-- her--1 shoulder, said, "Mrs. MeKenzie, will.you forgive me? " He was still- carry-., ing the razor, and she replied, ." Yes..; „ . but put that horrible thing lawajr." j { " Yoxi will say no more about it? " he I inquired. : L 'She* said, " No ; s but put .that away,! ■" as the. shaving implement j hovered atfoVe, .her. Gibbons was sud- j donly seized with; rage again,'' and. made ; a swipe dt .her'witli the ; razqt. Giilting j her chin. r He contiriued to' attack; and \ she received the injury .to her fingerin defending herse.lf... . „;.,.. - Hensley, Who is : a driye'r ;by occupation, here m a spoke., then ; Battye took a hanti; and they thrust tliib murderous person out of the" house. He again became assertive, and Battye: . ■ : ADMINISTERED THE"' "C6UP~^33E ;v .-- GRACE, jpne woman spectator •:• was under the impression that he used a lump .of wood, but others state that there was j nothing iii ' his closed fist, except the punch, the loss of which was mourned by one William Squires. One on the 'Lpoint " put Gibbons to sleep, and he hadn't recovered; from the shock when the police arrived. Battye> v. though lean, is wiry, and muscular from much navvying. and ought to ■ take, lessons with the object of qualify-ing as a '.' : white hope." . . ■ :. ; .. .; ■ .-;, i „-"■-;■ ■ Dr. Russell hao 1 the assistance of. '.Serg-eant Itemer-. m attending;^.tp- Mr^" MeKenzie,. who exhibited --, ..surprism*?.' .pluck and fortitude. . •. There, was,: o;f , course, danger, from; blood, poisoning, but at time of, writing the patipnt was i doing well,. ... „.,... • .- .- ■: . .;■ ! The razoiy which was of .keen. edge !«with. a white, bone handle,.^wf-s' fQjjrid: m the pocket of Gibbons when that" individual -was searched at the , ■.'s'ta^ion, both handle and blade Tjeing, Sfoiifea with bloody , .He behaved like a, niaS-T. man till, the handcuff s we? 4. rein<)ved', when : he spoke quite, ratioiiaUy./'- --■ NO MOTIVE SUGGESTED. '. ' Mrs. MeKenzie' can ;suggest- no,-. m,otive for the mad act. of Gibbons, whose "relations vrith. herself didn't- go. beyond mere friendship, such' as subsists'between landlady and boarder. c ""Wijen questioned very straightly, ., she-- was yers- emphatic .and cle^r .iiFpn- 'this ..point. '.-.■' . .. . ■„,.';.'