THE CHRISTCHURCH SENSATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11808, 10 August 1900, Page 5

THE CHRISTCHURCH SENSATION.

H. V. STYCHE COMMITTED FOR

TRIAL.

(Pee United Pbess Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, August 9. The hearing of the charge against Harry Vincent Styche of having, about June 4, attempted to procure Dr Olayton to murder one . Mrs Elizabeth Styche, was opened 'at the Police Court this morning before Messrs Lawrence J. Thompson and W. Langdown, justices. Mr Stringer appeared for the Crown, and Mr Joynt for the accused. • ■■ The case the prosecution sought to establish was outlined by Mr Stringer, Grown Prosecutor. He said that on June 5 Dr Olayton received a type-written letter signed "Un-* known." Tho writer said the doctor might be called in to attend to a woman who was continually ailing off and on, and continued: "If you are called in to attend this woman, and she doesn't recover, I will pay you two. hundred pounds. Bear in mind, you will never know who I am, so you will not be ablo to get me into trouble over this, if you wish to, and it is not likely that I will ever peach, on you, as if I did I should get myself into trouble as well. So you quite understand that you have only to play your cards well and be able to give a certificate of death, to make £200 your own; and if the woman, diea I will post you the money in bank notes, but not before she has been dead, say, three months, as I .shall have to sell some of ihy property to raise that sum. But I will be true to my word, and do it, and you must be true to yours, or have nothing to do with. it. I might tell you that the woman has no children dependent on her. Of course I make myself secure, so will not give you a chance of finch ing out who I am by writing to me, so i£ you are ready to make £200 easily put an advertisement in the Press as follows: .'Wanted to buy, good dog-cart.—Apply Medico, Press Office.' You will be. able to call at the Press office and get the replies without any fear of detection, or you can leave them there uncalled for. I will give you weeks to think; this matter over, so if you agree put the advertisement in the paper either on Saturday, June 9, or on June 16 or June 23. If it ia not in any of these Saturdays I will conclude that you do not wish to easily make £200.'' Dr Olayton.showed the letter to the police, who were inclined to regard the affair as a hoax. On June 12 Dr Clayton received a second letter, also signed " Unknown." Part of this was as follows:—"'I did not see your. advertisement in Saturday's Press, rind I hop© you are not lacking in pluck enough to make £200 easily; so I will look in tlie Press every 'day between now and Saturday, June 23, for it, so don't be afraid. I will be true to my. word, and pay up if the event happens; You may never get such an easy chance of making £200, and with no risk whatever. I know that woman's husband thinks she will not receyer from her present illness, so he would not think that anything-was wrong when it happens. I have had a little experience in nursing, and my idea of how you should act is to tell the woman she must go to bed for a week or two. You can then give her medicine that will not make her improve, and then call one evening" and give her something that includes the power to send, her to sleep. foi ever. ' You • may, of course, know a better way than this, but in any case you may rely on me for secrecy for life and to be true i to my word." Dr Clayton also handed this letter' to the police, and on June 16 an advertisement was inserted as suggested. On. June 18 Dr Clayton received a letter signed by Styche himself > saying that he had a horse for sale, and.stating that Mrs Styche was far from well, and would probably see him (Dr Olayton) on the following morning. A third anonymous letter contained the following:—''I might tell you that I have taken the greatest precautions to prevent being found out, and if you showed all my letters to the woman and her husband they would not have the slightest idea who I am. You will be surprised when I tell you that some two monthsjigo I bought , an old typewriter, and have practised on it' daily to enable me to write to you without being discovered by my handwriting, and the very paper I am writing on should convince, you that I have left no stone unturned/ to obtain safety. If you have taken a splicitor into your confidence in the matter', I may as well tell you that I consider myself too/smart for any^ of them, and defy them to trace me or my whereabouts. Under all the'circumstances, I must ask you to take no notice of my previous letters, as I wish to withdraw them; that all I wish to tell you is this: There is a young woman that has been married several years, and who lives in a southeast suburb Oi Christchureh, that may po's-. sibly be consulting you about her health, or, for all I know, she may have already done so. If she does, and she recovers,1 all well and good; but if she does not recover,.someone will ■send you £200.—1 am, for ever and' ever, to all, Unknown." Finally,l a letter-' card, also signed "Unknown," indicated to Dr' Clayton that Mrs Styche was referred to, since she was the only patient the doctor was attending in Opawa. On August 3Dr Clayton had a conversation regarding the letters with Styche, who, on reading the,, letter-card, said it must refer to Mrs Styche. Styche. asked if he could take the letters away and put them for safety under lock and key in his safe, but the doctor refused, suggesting,' though, that the accused might make copies of them on his typewriter. The anonymous' letters, counsel for the prosecution explained,had all been written on a typewriter. On Saturday morning, August 4-, the clay following the conversation with the doctor, an accident was alleged to have happened.to the. -accused's typewriter. One of the clerks in the office hoard a crash, and on going into the room was told by Styche that his sleeve had caught in the machine and it had fallen to the floor. That same afternoon the police had executed a search warrant at. the office, ;and an expert who had accompanied them said that the machine could not have received all its injuries by an accidental fall. Dr Clayton gave evidence of the letters that he had received from time to time, and that Mrs Styche was the only patient that he had. in the district referred to in the letters. He spoke to accused, and asked . him who he thought the letters referred to,' and he said to Mrs Styche. Accused asked" for the letters, as ho had a safe where they could, be securely kept. Witness said that he could not part with such dangerous documents, and suggested that accused should type them from his dictation; but this, however, was not done. Ha asked accused if the best thing to do would be to call in a detective, but accused counselled delay; and these letters the doctor handed to the police. H. A. Jackson deposed to tho letters produced having gone through the Christchureh Post Office or pillar-boxes. F. B. Sapsford, mechanician and an expert in typewriters, said that he had examined the broken typewriter in the office in whicli Styche worked, and he did not think that a fall would account for the whole of the injuries. The machine was an old Remington, with certain peculiarities, which were all present in the anonymous letters produced. In his opinion it was impossible for any other machine to produce that combination of characteristics. Charles Horace Gilby, teacher of typewriting, v,as of opinion that all the letters were written on the machine in court. He thought it an absolute impossibility that there oould • be two machines with exactly the same defects throughout. Accused reserved his defence, and was committed fo.' trial. Bail was allowed, accusecf in £^00 and two sureties of £bOO each.