MAYOR MACKAY: MALEFACTOR

NZ Truth, Issue 761, 5 June 1920, Page 5

MAYOR MACKAY: MALEFACTOR

FEARENG EXPOSURE OF PUTRID PRACTICES SHOOTS RETURNED SOLDIER CRESSWELL Sensational Statement by the Victim MACKAY PLEADS GUILTY: SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS

Charles Evan Mackay, barrister and j Foiicitor of the Supreme Court of New i ' Zealand, and until recently Chief Mag- i istrate and Mayor of Wanganui, which , office he had held continuously and with . : distinction for twelve years, pleaded i gvrilty on Thursday to attempting to ; murder a returned soldier named Wai- i ter Darcy Cress-well, at. Wanganui, on •; May 15 last. The evidence which \ras • /adduced makes the case one of the . most sensational m the annals of the New Zealand courts. Indeed, it would be hard to imagine a more extraordin- : ary sequence of happenings. Charles .. Mackay, m his public business life, > •was a popular and successful man, < but there was another and hideous i side to his nature— a tfekyll as well as i a Hyde to his character, and Cress- i well, a returned soldier, unmasked the ■ debonair Mayor and discovered him to be another Oscar Wilde, morally < unclean; a pursuer of ] PERVERTED AND PUTRID { "PLEASURES." Cresswell, being a wholesome-minded young man, on making his discovery, < determined to force Mackay to resign from the Mayoralty, and Mackay, after pleading m vain ' with Cresswell, goaded into the desperation of a cornered rat, determined to make an end of his accuser. He induced Cresswell to call at his office, where he turned on the -unsuspecting man and fired a pistol point blank into . his breast, then, as the stricken man fell to the ground, Mackay, thinking him done for and dying, and seeing the end of his threatened m sight, coolly and callously placed the pistol m his apparently dying victim's hand. But Charles Mackay ' made one mistake. He tired his murderous bullet into the wrong side of Cresswell s body, and instead of finding its billet m Cresswell'sS heart, as Mackay undoubtedly Intended, the bullet entered into his right lung. Consequently, Mackay was greatly surprised when the dying man revived sufficient to point the pistol at his would-be murderer, hold him at bay, and attract help and attention. It is easy to imagine the sympathy which would have been extended to Mayor Mackay if his fiendish scheme had not miscarried and .Cresswell had been shot dead. Everyone would have regretted that the -'suicide" of Cresswell had happened at Mayor Mackay s office. One can even imagine his Worship attending his victim's funeral and weeping bitter tears of grief; for the man who could shoot a fellowbeing and then coolly put the weapon m his victim's hand, would go any length to .cover his guilt. Mr. Wyverh Wilson, S.M.. presided over 1 the proceedings. Mr. C. C. Hutton, Crown Prosecutor, prosecuted, and Mr. W. J. Treadwell appeared on* behalf of Mackay, who was said to have" pulled himself together and resigned himself to the inevitable. Nevertheless he looked a "very different man to the popular Mayor who had seen the loyal outbursts of WanganuiItes during the recent Royal visit. A • bte crowd of citizens waited a long time outside the' court for the doors to open, and fought and struggled for vantage points to hear the proceedings. A large number were perforce shut out as th,e building;.could not hold A THIRD OF THE CROWD. The first witness called was Dr. Herbert Hudson, medical superintendent, of Wanganui Hospital, who, after being sworn, said that he received Walter Darcy Cresswell into that institution. Cresswell was suffering from a bullet wound m the; right side of his i chest: it was about on the level with . the heart only on the opposite side. ! The wound' was obviously caused by a bullet which had not so far been located. It had probably penetrated right through the lungs. Cresswel'l was still m the hospital. It was not anticipated that his life v/as now any longer m danger, but he was not able to appear m court to give evidence. When first admitted, Cresswell was m a critical condition for some hours, but after the administration of restoratives he improved rapidly. Charles William Hendry, inspector of police, said that on the morning of May 26, he received information that accused wished to see him at the gaol. He later saw accused m the presence of. his legal adviser, Mr. Treadwell. The inspector produced before, accused the statement that had been made by Cresswell, and left accused and his solicitor for twenty minutes. On his return, Mackay said he had read the statement and endorsed it as follows: I have read this statement, and as far as It relates to my own act and deed, I admit the statement to be substantially true. , , . CRESSWELL'S STATEMENT read as follows: "I am a returned soldier, twentyfour years of age, and reside with my parents at Timaru, m the Sputh Island. 1 have done no work since I returned from the war. I came to Wanganui on Monday last, May 10, and met Mr. Mackay on that date. I | met- him at dinner at Chavannes' Hotel that night. I had gone there with my cousin at Mackay's invitation. Nothing abnormal occurred whife at dinner. I spoke to Mr. Mackay between the ' time I had dinner with him on Monday night and entering his office on Saturday morning, May 15. Mj cousin and myself went to the Haw era races on May 11, and returned to Wanganui . the following evening. I met Mr. Mackay. on the Thursday and asked him to come to dinner at the Rutland Hotel that night witli my cousin and myself. Mr. Mackay kept the appointment, but noth- ; .ng took place while we were at the hotel, and I had not said anything to Mr. Mackay that would offend him. On the Thursday evening Mr. Mackay invited me to go to the art gallery with him on the following afternoon. I accepted his. invitation as I wanted to know more about Mr. Mackay. On the Friday afternoon, about 4 p.m., I met Mr. Mackay at his office m Ridg-way-streot. We went to the Wanganui Club m St. Hill-street and had a cup of tea. From there we went to the ext gallery* Mr. Mackay' unlocked the door as he had the keys, and then we had a look through the building. When v/e left the art gallery we went back to. Mackay's office, and while there I discovered a # CERTAIN DISGUSTING FEATURE m Mr. Mackay's character., l purposely encouraged him to display the qualities m his nature which I expected. He also showed me several photographs of nude women. On making that discovery I told him I had lead him on on purpose to make sure of his dirty intentions, and I told him a.lijp v -amongst a lot of other candid tMd&s, that he must resign the May-, ojfety at once. He then pleaded for mercy; asked. me to think it over for the night and come and see him next morning and let him know my decision. I stayed at th* Rutland Hotel. on Friday night, and that night I decided he must resign the Mayoralty m a week's time. 1 called on him at i). 30 a.m. at his office! and the whole morning was spent by him m pleading Avith me, on account of his wife and fam-

ily, not to force him to resign. I, however, was quite determined that he should resign, even though he threatened to commit suicide. I did not believe that he had the courage to carry out his threat. At my suggestion and partly at my dictation, Mackay wrote a letter to my cousin, and I saw it posted on that Saturday morning. I did not believe Mackay when he said his wife was dependent on the £200 he got from his being Mayor. I was very anxious to be just and to do nothing cruel for his family's sake. After useless talking and long silence, he asked me to come round to tho club and try and reconsider my decision over a cup of tea. As I could not stand being In his office much longer and was very knocked up, I consented and we went round: Here he became very earnest about his decision to commit suicide and the absolute Impossibility of his resigning the Mayoralty. He told me he was SUFFERING .FROM A COMPLAINT which made it Impossible for him to control his passions, and said that his doctor could satisfy me m that' respect.. He rang up his doctor two or three times, but he was out Nothing more happened, and Mackay then pleaded with me to come to his office. 1 think I was very foolish not to have left him, but I was anxious to be quite just to him. I had promised to say nothing about what I had discovered if he would resign at the end of the week. I did not want to judge him, but I was determined he had no busiI took a more determined stand, beingvery tired, and threatened that if. he did not immediately "give me a letter promising to resign at the end of the week I would at once wire to my dad m Timaru to come up, as I felt It was TOO MUCH OF A " STRAIN on me alone. He seemed so terriblyupset that- 1 then extended the time for a fortnight. 'He implored " me for a month's time and spoke a lot about his wife and family, and I was quite firm about the fortnight. He then asked for a few minutes alone to clear his head or something of the sort and went into the ante-

: j nes,s to be Mayor. -Back at his office f room where the girl worked. He was j away a few minutes and then came \ back and said: 'Cresswell, give me a month and I will sign a letter straight away.' As I was getting very tired I -said, 'All right, I will give you a month from to-day,' and he came over to his table and wrote a letter promising to ■resign the Mayoralty a month from that date and put it m a long envelope. We then arranged that it^shoukl be addressed to me at the G.P.O. and registered, and 1 promised to let it be there till' the month was up, so he put it m his pocket and we walked towards the door, Mackay leading the way. Before reaching the door Mackay suddenly turned round, and I found that he had a revolver pointed at my chest. We were only a foot or two apart, and I think he said: 'This is for you,' but I am not positive. Then he FIRED ALMOST IMMEDIATELY, and before I could recover from my amazement I felt the bullet enter my right breast, and I fell down. He stood where he was and looked at me and then came over and thrust the revolver into my right hand. Immediately I got the revolver I rose to my feet and kept him covered. He lpoked very surprised and wild and then ran through another door and either locked it or held the handle against me. I did not wait but ran back into Mackay's office fronting Ridgway-street and threw a chair through the window to bring assistance, and then. I called but through the smashed window to some chaps m the street to come up. Then Mackay evidently hearing my calls for. help and thinking he could not escape, came back ' and asked me to shoot him. Then he rushed me and I kept the revolver pointed clear and pulled all the shots off, and the next thing I can remember I was running down the stairs and , telling someone, that Mackay had shot me. I heard Mackay say over the stairs that he had shot me by accident. I don't remember much more." Inspector Hen drey then produced photographs of Mackay's office, showing the broken window and the disorder of the room immediately after the affray. They also showed the marks of the bullets which Cresswell fired after Mackay had thrust the revolver into his hand. These bullets had penetrated the walls, a book and the edge of a table. Colin Westcott Cameron,- engineer, said that on May 13 last, at .1 p.m. he was m the vicinity of Mackay's office when he heard a shot fired m that place. Following the shot witness heard a crash and a chair came hurling through Mackay's office window and fell amidst broken glass down on the pavement. Witness looked up at the window and saw Cresswell, who sang out: "HELP, I HAVE BEEN SHOT." Witness looked again and saw two men who he now knew to be Mackay and Ci-esswell engaged m a struggle. Four or five' revolver shots then rang out from Mackay's room, and witness commenced to run up the stairs. At the landing at the top of the -stairs witness met Cresswell, who came reeling- out of the door of Mackay's office. Cresswell had a .small automatic pistol m his hand and said: "Mr. Mackay has shot me, get a car and take me to a doctor." Mackay then appeared behind Cresswell and said, "I have accidentally shot him m demonstrating an automatic revolver." Witness then lie!ped i Cressweil down the ' stairs,

Mackay following. On reaching the footpath Cresswell again said Mackay had shot him and added: "Give my love to .mother. I have discovered a scandal." Cresswell then lapsed into unconsciousness. Mackay repeated that he had accidentally shot Cresswell, and then the police arrived on the scene, and Mackay gave himself up, again asserting that it was an accident. _ . George Sinclair Cameron, rather of the last witness, generally corroborated his son's evidence. Sidney Sykes, employed by the Wanganui Harbor Board, who was also on the scene, picked up the automatic pistol (produced) later after Cresswell bad 'been removed m the ambulance. Witness went up to Mackay's office. Mackay was there and said: "I am just putting my papers away." Mackay took some papers off the table and locked them m his safe. Charles Lever White, traveller, also corroborated. Constable McMullen, sworn, said that when he arrived on the scene with Constable Wilson, Cresswell was lying on the pavement m Ridgway-street Mackay was' standing by. Mackay said, "I give myself up, constable. I shot him." Witness 'later went up to Mackay's room. Mackay was on the landing just outside the door. Witness said to him, "This is AN UNFORTUNATE OCCURRENCE.' Mackay walked into his private room ; and said, "i was showing the young man my revolver when it accidentally went off and shot him, lie then fell against the window and broke the glass." Witness asked Mackay how the chair got outside? He did not reply. Witness then took iVlackay to the police station. Constable David Wilson said that when .he arrived at Mackay's office, the latter said, "I shot him, Dave. < I give myself up.". As he said this Mackay handed witness the automatic pistol. Police-Sergeant Burke stated that Mackay had said to him, "Sergeant, I shot a young man through the chest and I believe he will die. While the Prince was here I was carrying an automatic revolver, and I was show-, ing it to the young man Cresswell and demonstrating with it when it accidentally went off and shot him." Witness replied, "There is abundant evidence that there was a serious disturbance m your office before the shots were heard." Mackay. said, "Who can give that evidence?" Witness replied, "A carrier from the stand across the street." Mackay said, "My God!" and did not speak further. Later, witness charged Mackay with attempting to murder young Cresswell. He replied, "I understand, sergeant." Witness then got Mackay's keys and searched his office. In the right hand drawer of his office table witness found five indecent photographs". Witness made a careful seo,rch for the resignation Cresswell had forced from Mackay, but could not find it. This concluded the evidence for the prosecution. Mr. Treadwell, for Maclcay, had no questions to ask any witness m cross-, examination, and as Cresswell's signed statement had been endorsed by Maclcay, it was not necessary to carry out the plan which had been arranged of adjourning the court to the hospital for tho purpose of cross-examining Cresswell. When questioned, Mackay saia he had nothing to say. When charged, he replied m a clear voice, "I plead guilty." He was remanded to the Supreme Court for nentence. Before he was taken away he shook hands with several friends and thanked the police officials for their fairness. f UP FOR SENTENCE. i Mackay was brought up for sentence before his Honor the Chief Justice, Sir Robert Stout, at the Wanganui Supreme Court on Friday morning-. ! Mr. Treadwell on his behalf said: j "Your Honor. accused, after very • careful consideration with myself and J my friend Mr. Mcßeth, decided that I the only honorable thing he could doj m the circumstances was to plead guilty. Your Honor will readily realise that' m advising- accused to plead guiity to such a serious charge, Mr. Mcßeth and myself assumed a heavy load of responsibility. I havo now, your Honor, two duties to perform. I have first of all to exonerate the young man ■ Cresswell from any blame what- ] soever, and say that no one can m any way reflect upon his character. The action he took must meet with the commendation of all . right-thinking men. The other duty I have to per- | form is to say what can be said m mitigation of the penalty your. Honor must impose on accused. The circumstances are most distressing. Accused is a man of considerable scholastic attainments, a member of an honorable profession, and until recently, he has occupied thre highest gift his fellow citizens can bestow. All these things HE HAS THROWN AWAY for some reason, and that reason, your Honor, I think is to be found. From inquiries we have made, sir, we find that for a number' of years accused has been suffering from homo sexual monomania. We have. gQne considerably into the matter with him and I think I. am justified m saying that it is heartrending to think or' the efforts that accused made to cure hirn»elf of the trouble with which he was afflicted. Re consulted doctors and metaphysicians, and I shall submit to your Honor reports from these gentlemen to bear out my story, but 1 do not think,- sir, I should read these documents out m public court. "There is no reason that those who attend a court out of curiosity to see a man placed m the' position of accused should have their evil or prurient desires acceded to. "I want, sir, to briefly refer to the immediate shooting. It is a common knowledge m Wanganui, your Honor, that during the past three or five months accused has been suffering from CONSIDERABLE MENTAL STRAIN, which I am convinced has to a considerable extent unhinged his mind. Only as late as the Friday before this unfortunate occurrence, took place, accused was in 'my office m a state of terrible agitation, on account of something which had appeared m one of the local papers. On top of this he must have been suffering from , the awful knowledge that he was threatened with exposure. It is not easy to imagine the mental state of a man placed m the position accused was m. One can only say, sir, that at the time the shooting took place that the man was for the time being absolutely unhinged and did not realise the seriousness of what he was doing. I think that is shown, sir, by the statement of Cresswell being-, that Mackay amazed him by the way. he suddenly turned and pressnted_ the pistbl as they were on their way to post the letter „of resignation that Mackay had acceded to and penned. Mackay at that moment was bereft of reason. He 1 endcaA'ored to take the life of a human being to cover up the exposure, and yet the whole of that exposure could have been avoided by accused follow-