HAUNTED BY TERROR OF MURDER MENACE

NZ Truth, Issue 1080, 12 August 1926, Page 5

HAUNTED BY TERROR OF MURDER MENACE

: str^^^M^^^y&i^i§;^nfe. Dilv<| Jager To :51ay.,Hjs^> -S^feLop^M^; MS/|Utile Suicide Mempt " THLRL 15 ALWAYS SOMEONE WATCHING ME WHEREVER I GO!" 1 . '• ' ■' . ■-..,■■. •■•■• v . - ; : . ■ . ■■ ■ .-■■■

If. (From "Truth's" Special Dunedin . ; < : ; . C WHEN Patrick John J: Jagesr ''■ killed .his ; lif e-longf. friend, -Arthur Greagh, he . was insane. This was vv the verdict of the jury a]| tHe trial of Jager at the Dunedin Supreme Court last week.

I WITHOUT retiring they acquitted hinv on the grounds that at© the time of the ci^me he was^ insane 1 ancf did not realize the physical nature or quality of his act.- .

TAGER and Creagh had been friendsC ** for years, and it was on Creagh's suggestion that Jager went to live with him -'at. the Railway Hotel, South Dunedin. - They both worked together and were exceedingly happy m each other's company. '

OR some time Jager; had been saying money. He had been prompted tc this step by hif sister and shad about £3pp v in'thV'bank. Subsequently this money became an obsession with him. He became suspicious that people were

after him and his money, that a gang of men were watching him, spying over him and trying to find out where r he hid his money.. . I

In fact, he became so. afraid that he carried; his wages for the past * six months (amounting to *i£93) about with him. ♦• Unfortunately, this served to increase his delusion. His apprehension became incensed and then to his clogii ged reason came the belief that Creagh was the chief spy— Creagh, the man who slept m his room, and who was I planning to find out Avhere he hid his money and then the gang would swoop down and murder him. ' WITH BOTTLE AND RAZOR ) So he decided to end it all. , Either he had to end it or they would end him, he thought. 1 ..■• / After a futile attempt at suicide on May 2 he woke the following morning and m a moment of madness struck Creagh with a bottle over the temple. Creagh moaned and: ; , gasped. The glitter of steel ther/ attracted * Jager. On the .washstand lay. his razor, which he seized and <with : one fierce slash practically severed Creagh's head from his body. Practically every word of this story had been told ■ to the doctors who examined Jager. It practically amounted to an eye-witness's view of lager's » life for some months leading up to- the very scene of the tragedy, which occurred about G. 40 a.m. on- May S. About 7 o'clock Jager called at the police station and confessed to y the murder. . At first his story was not credited. Later the police visited the- hotel. On a single bed Creagh lay with his head almost severed. A blood-stained razor lay on the floor m a pool of blood. • Further features of the tragedy revealed that m the second drawer ol the duchesse was found a suit, neatly • folded but soaking and covered witn white beach sand, which was also m the pockets. , it was m this suit that Jager had tried to di-bwrr himself at Lawyer's * Head on the day prior to the murder. The strange workings of a demented mind wpre revealed when the' doctort i gave evidence of the story Jager had told them and how he had come to kitJ I (Greagh,

y : — __ _ __ — . — To Dr. William Evans, who had seen him on the morning he had given h/im.selt' up at: the police 'station, Jager had, said: VI have been .worried- by fellows watching .'and slinging off at me. "Creagh used to sing every night: 'What I will do when you are gone!' arid he said several times: 'I'll be jake-a-100 soon, plenty of money and clothes.' ■' "I" have been hearing voices for the past fortnight. They have kept me awaked There is ;always someone watching me "wherever I go." Jager had then recounted how he felt that .he must end. everything. The gang was after him and his money. He had tried to end himself by i going to Lawyer's Head, where he had filled his pockets with stones

i — — ■ — — ■ ~~ and had thrown himself into the. water, but he was washed ashore. "Last night" (the night before the tragedy), said Jager, "Creagh lay awake with his eyelids closed. He was trying to see where my money was, like the rest of them. 1 knew he was awake as he made no noise. 1 could not sleep for worry of it.' ALLEGED MURDER THREAT On the fateful morning Jager said he got up about 6.40 a.m. Creagh was making out that he was asleep. So he decided to put an end to it, and picking up a bottle smashed it over Creagh's head. The latter had called out and moaned Jager then picked up his razor which was lying on the washstand nearby, and cut Creagh's throat. ; .- "The worry forced me to do it. lam certain I would have been done for myself if 1 had not taken action. I guarantee' if 1 had gone m| ' (1 j llll( j M ,||| M , m ,i M ,iriiiiiiimMiuimuiiiiiiiiiimmiiiiMiiimiiiiiiiiimiiiiiuiiiimiiiiiiiiiiimr

I._ ; ■ ' to the hotel to-night ! would have been murdered." Jager > had further said:- "Bijly Deuehress told me on Friday nigh". <•■ • that Tommy Wilson was going to murder me. I said: 'Surely he is not .. going to take that course?' and 'he said: 'Yes, he will murder you the first time he sees you.' 1 "i see nothing- else but the rope; Ido not think life is worth living ,?; with the worry I have gond through this last month." This concluded the remarkable stor>•Jager told Dr. Evans, who held . that he was insane through the delusion of persecution — of! being robbed, and watched and thinking he heard voices. A TERRIBLE NIGHTMARE It seems probable that some . of the ■.., remarks Jager alleged were made against him may have occurred, but m his lowf state of mentality he had misconstriied them. :: .. • To Lawyer Hanlon (for Jager), Dr. Evans said he believed the accused was incapable of realizing ■ at the time the ;nature ofthe crimts ' he was" actually committing. His Honor: "He would understand he was cutting a man's throat?" Dr. Evans: "Well, I. don't think he The filial ptfase-whs described by Dr. St. Leger H. Grih.bon, medical superintendent . of Seacliff Mental Hospital, who stated that',' Jager had been. /.under ■ his observation Ibince his admission on .' May 16.; ' V . " ■'• [ '"Jager wa's emotional ' and agitated," said Dr. Gribbon. "That condition became more marked until, recently he attempted to V strangle himself." Dr. Gribbon held that Jager was suffering from chronic .systematized delusional: insanity^ ■ . \ .•■ . • ■:■."■; He* had so come under the'influence of the delusion of persecution and of being robbed and spied upon that he. felt life was not worth living. ..'. : Jager did not remember the actual crime, but supposed he must have done it when he saw Creagh. lying there and saw the blood on . his own hands. Jager had never got beyond the third standard. . ' v•; .. .'-. QUESTIONS FOR JURY > / ;; His Honor- submitted two. questions (.0 the jury: ' ' 1: "Do the jury find that accused was* insane when he killed Arthur Creagh?" , 2: "Do the jury declare that accused should be acquitted on 'account of his insanity?" " Without retiring from the box the jury 'answered > both questions' m the affirmative. Throughout the . whole trial. Jager, who was allowed to be seated, appeared to take no interest m the proceedOccasionally he raised his head, but his sunken features and narrow eyes conveyed nothing and sometimes' his head would slowly fall forward. . His Honor 'ordered Jager to be kept m strict custody in'tlie mental hospital at Seacliff until the pleasure of the Minister, of. Justice is known. . ,