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ALLEGED “SUICIDE” NOTES CHARGE AGAINST CAPTAIN ' LANCASTER. MIAMI, May 6. Captain Lancaster, the English airman who has been charged with the murder of the pilot, Haden Clarke, says that he wrote Clarke’s “ suicide ” notes expecting him to revive sufficiently to sign them—“ thus saving us from being implicated in the charge of murder. But he died before he could help me,” Captain Lancaster said. “Of murder I am innocent. This arrest is a terrible shock, though I realise that there is a certain amount of circumstantial evidence against me.” He related how he had discovered Clarke dying and quickly wrote the notes, then tried to revive Clarke so that he could sign them. In view of this confession, the texts of the notes take a new significance. “The economic situation is such that I cannot go through with it. Comfort mother iu her sorrow. You have Bill. He is the whitest man I know.” This was addressed to Mrs Miller. The second note read: “ Bill, I can’t make the grade. Tell Chubbic of our talk. My advise is ' Never leave her again.’," It was the spelling of “ advise ” instead of “ advice ” that first made the police suspicious, then certain, that Clarke could not have written the note. Mr Hawthorne, the Public Prosecutor, asked the grand jury for a first degree murder indictment against Captain Lancaster, which was returned.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19320516.2.72
Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 21645, 16 May 1932, Page 8
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230SPELLING SLIP Otago Daily Times, Issue 21645, 16 May 1932, Page 8
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