CHANCE WHICH SOLVED YEAROLD MYSTERY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12258, 8 June 1914, Page 1

CHANCE WHICH SOLVED YEAROLD MYSTERY.

STUDENT 'ARRESTED FOR MURDER OF CHAUFFEUR. New- York, April 18. The police at Albany believe that they have solved :i year-old murder mystery by the arrest of a public-school student, Malcolm Gifferd, who has been training at Yale. In April of- last year a chauffeur named Chute was found dead by the -roadside between Troy iand Albany, with bullet wounds in the back of his head. No money or valuables were ! found on the body, and his driving license was missing. On the night of the murder, Gifferd, is 19 years of age and the son of a wealthy manufacturer, of Troy, arrived at midnight "at <i. friend's house with his clothing covered with mud. He explained that he had had a. fall, and went to bed. Nothing to connect him with the j crime was discovered until quite re» j cently, when a laborer who went to j the house to clear away snow found j under a loose shingle a. pocket-book j containing the license o'f the murdered { man. The spot where the book was [ found was within arm's reach of the I room in which Gifferd slept on the I .night of the crime. I

, Gifferd since his arrest has refused to answer 'questions except in monosyllables, but he denies that he is guilty. His companions declare that he was the first to rise on the morning after the crime and that he was very anxious to get newspapers containing an account of the murder.

It is now known that an unpleasant incident at his school had resulted in the stoppage of Gifferd's allowance. It is belived that he robbed the eha.nrfeur and intended to steal the car, but was prevented by the jamming of' the brakes.