THE INQUEST.

Otago Witness, Issue 1479, 20 March 1880, Page 11

THE INQUEST.

The Coroner's inquest upon the bodies of James Murray Duwar, Elizabeth Mary Jane Dewar, and Elizabeth Lindsay Dewar, the victims of the Cumberland street murder, was begun at tbe Hospital Wednesday before the City Coroner (Di- Hocken). Mr Inspector Mallard was present on behalf of the police. The following gentlemen were sworn in as a jury :— James Steel Smith, Archibald Walker, John Otto, Robert Brown, Thomas John Goodman, Alexander Allan, George Waite Harrold, William Baskett, Alexander Durie, Charles Ziele, Grant Preston Farquhar, Charles Augustus Smyth, George Esther, and John Gray. The Coroner said : There are two more gentlemen summoned, and whose names have not been called. They are those of Messrs Blair and Blackadder. If these gentlemen have engagements I shall be glad to dispense with their services. Fourteen jurors will, I think, be enough. Mesßrß Blair and Blackadder then retired. The Coroner, addressing the jury, said : I need hardly tell you, gentlemen, that you are called together to inquire into the circumstances attending the deaths of James Dewar, his wife Elizabeth, and their child, Elizabeth Lindsay, which occurred early on Sunday morning last. From the evidence which will be laid before you, I think you will have no doubt that a most brutal murder has been committed on the parents. The little infant has, apparently, died from suffocation. It would appear that the murderer, who used an axe to deal the deathblows, tried to efface all traces of it by setting fire to the house, as a lighted candle waa found burning under the bed. I shall ask you, gentlemen, at thiß inquest to cover as much ground as you can, and to attend to the circumstances concerning this incendiarism, as well as to those attending the death of the deceased. Ido not purpose to-day to take more evidence than what will lead merely to the identification of the bodies, and then to adjourn till tomorrow at the City Police Court. Mr Watt has kindly placed this Court at my disposal. At the adjournment of the inquest this afternoon it will be well for you to go to the house and inspect it and the whole of the surroundings, which will enable you to understand the evidence which will be brought befere you. Mr Goodman was proposed as foreman or the jury, as was Mr Farquhar ; but the firstmentioned declined, saying that he preferred Mr Farquhar to act. The Coroner : We will now go to see the bodies, and I will point out to you the injuries received by each. On the jury returning, the following evidence was given:— Thomas Aitchison said : lam a shepherd on Hampden Downs Estate, belonging to Mr M'Gregor. The deceased Elizabeth Mary Jane Dewar was my daughter. That is her full and proper name. She was 24 years of age at the time of her death. She was a native of the Portland district, Victoria. She was a Presbyterian. She was married. I was at Hampden at the time of this occurrence, and know nothing whatever that would throw light upon it. My daughter lived with her husband in Cumberland street, Dunedin.

Mary Grant deposed : I live with my husband, George Grant, in Cumberland estreet, Dunedin, at the rear of and close to the house occupied by the deceased, James Murray Dewar. He waa my son. He wa9 29 years old at the time of his death. He was born in Glasgow. He was by occupation a butcher. By religious persuasion he wasa Presbyterian. The name of the infant was Elizabeth Lindaay Dewar. She was nine months old, and was born in Dunedin. I last saw my son alive between 3 and 4 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, when I was at their house. I saw my daughter in-law going in and out of her door afterwards that evening. My son was in my house about the time I havementioned. I had no special conversation with him. My son and his wife were on the best of terms. I know nothing whatever that would throw light on this matter. A little girl named Smith had tea with my son and daughter in-law. On Sunday morning, a few minutes before 7 o'clock, I was aroused by Mr Robb. When I got to the door of my son's house Mr Robb said, " Come in ; there's Bomething serious here." When I went in at the back door the first thing I saw was Lizzie lying across the passage, with her head at the front room door, and her feet in the bedroom. The house was full of smoke. My daughter-in-law was lying on her right tide, with her hands by her side. She had on her nightdress, and nothing else. I thought she was dead when I went in, but I found she was living. She waa covered with blood, which waa over her nightdress. When I turned her a little I saw the blood coming from beside the left ear. I spoke to her but got no answer. I called to the fireman for water, and getting some, put it on her head and some down her throat. She gave no sign of consciousne^, I put a pillow beneath her head ; 1 also went into the bedroom, which was full of smoke. The bed was burning away. A candlestick was on the floor under the centre of the bed. There was no candle in it. The candle had evidently burned down. The candlestick now produced is the one I saw. It belonged to the house. My daughter-in-law always kept candles in tbe house, but never used them except when ehe was going into the front room at night. They had a small night-lamp for use in the bedroom' The night-lamp was lying on the floor in front of the cheßt of drawers when I went in. I could not wy whether ft was broken, The big

keri'sene lamp, which was used in the kitchen, was standing in front of the basin-stand going in at the door. The globe of the lamp was broken, and the pieces of the glass were lying on the floor. The kerosene was in the lamp. The fireman was still throwing water on the floor, for the fire was still burning. My son was lying on his back in the bed, with his face slightly turned towards the window. He was quite dead. His right eye was black and Hv-ollen, and his brains protruding through a hole in his skull. His hands wera by his side, and to all appearance he had been quietly asleep. To my view there were no marks of a struggle. The pillow his head was on was all over blood. Tho bed-clothes were half-way up his che3t. The bed clothes at the back of the bsd were folded down as they would be by a person comiug out of bed. There was blood on my son's wife's pillow, and on the wall at her side. The blood-mark on the wall looked ns if a head had been rubbed against the wall. I noticed no blood on the floor. I did not sea any tumble'! appearance about the room. Their wearing clothes wera lying on the floor. I do not know that anyfchiug had been stolen. I believe all ber jewellery was found. Inspector Mallard: Everything has been found, as far as we know. Witness continued : I do not know whether tbe sitting-room window was opan. I know the axe iroduced. It was my son's. It was kept oulsidn in tbe coal-bunker, and sometimes lying outside. I saw the axe when I went into tho bedroom. It was standing at the head of the bed, against the partition. There v/as a chair there also. I know nothing whatever that would throw light on this occurrence. I Baw no one about, and heard no noise. It was a windy night. I saw no lights in their housa after 9 o'clock on Saturday night. A Mrs Renton has Bince told me that on Sunday nights they kept their back door open to let the milkman in in the morning. I did not know this myself. There was no quarrel be« tween the two families. I never had a quarrel with one of them in my life. I have seen many deaths, and I should judge my sop had been dead two hours. The child was lying on the bed at the back of the father. I thought it was alive when I picked it up, but it waa dead. It was quite supple. I got some warm water, and put its body iv it. There were no marks on the baby. The candlestick was under the front of the bed, in the centre. There were two flower pots kept in the sitting-room, on the sewing-machine. I never noticed that my son's wife put them outside. I never saw the white-handled dessert knife produced a little in the blade) before I was shown it by the constable on Sunday. It was not one of Lizzie's knives.

To a Juryman: I knew nothing of any quarrel between my son and any person, or between my daughter-in-law and anyone, - The Coroner intimated that this would be the whole of the evidence that day. He would like the jurymen to visit the house in which the occurrence took place, so that they might be familiar with its interior and surroundings. He apprehended that if the proceedings were to begin in the Police Court next day at 3 p.m., a good deal of the most important evidence might be got through by 6 o'clock, and after a short adjournment they might go on again in the evening. After some discussion as to the suitability of the hour, it was agreed to adjourn till to-aay, at 3 o'clock ; and the Jury then proceeded in a body to view the house.