CHARGEUF ATTEMPTING TO MURDER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2437, 28 November 1900, Page 31

CHARGEUF ATTEMPTING TO MURDER.

H. V. STYCHE FOUND GUILTY.

SENTENCE DEFERRED. CHRISTCHURCH, November 20. ' The case against Henry Vincent Stycho, charged with having, on or about June 4-, 1900, at Christchurch, attempted to procure Geoffrey Sherbourne Clayton to murder one Elizabeth Styche, his wife, was continued at the Supreme Court to-day. Charles 11. Gilby, teacher of typewriting, who had given evidence the previous day, was cross-examined at some length by counsel for the defence. He said he based his opinion, that the letters had been written by the machine now in court principally on the work it turned out. The Remington wa3 the machine most generally in use in Christchurch, but he could not say how many -were in the city. He had made two copies of the anonymous letters received by Dr Clayton, and had endeavoured to follow as closely as possible the original operator, but the impressions in his copies were quite different from those in the original letters. That was duo to one or two reasons. Either he had not struck in' quite the same way as the original operator, or else the ribbon of the machine had become worn in the meantime. James Peacock, clerk in Mr A. E. G. Rhodes's employ, .gave evidence as to hearing a cra^h in accused's room on the morning of August 4, and a few minutes alter being told by accvused that he had knocked the typewriter on to the floor. Witness identified a press copy of a letter, which had been sent to the Remirgton Typewriter Company, ordering the machine and requesting that the stroke above the figure 3 in the keyboard should be made perpendicular instead of sloping, ,as in a former machine. Inspector Ellison, gave evidence corroborating that of Dr Claytoo in regard to the letters. In executing the search warrant he found among accused's papers a joint insurance policy on the lives of accused and his wife for £500, taken out on April 11, 1893. This closed the case for the Crown. Mr Harper briefly opened the case for the defence, and referred to the evidence which 'VGuld be railed. The defence would call an expert, who had spent five years in typewriter factories in England, and this witness would tell them that it was impossible to say that these original letters, on which the whole question depended, had been written by any particular machine. Two other experts would be called — men who had had long experience as mechanical engineers. After referring to other points that would be brought out in evidence, oounsel said that no motive had been shown that would induce accused to write the letters, and upon the evidence brought forward by the Crown and in the light of that which would be given by the defence, there was no reason why the jury should say accused was the person who had written the letters.' Thomas Theodore Joy, a typewriter repairing expert, in the employ of the New Zealand Typewriter Company, was the first witness called for the defence. He said he had for nearly five jrears been engaged solely by, various typewriter companies in London, and claimed to have an intimate knowledge of many makes of machines. He said that he considered all the injuries the machine now in court had sustained might, possibly have been caused by a fall to the floor. He would not, from anything appearing in the original letters, swear that they had been written on a Remington, and he disagreed with Messrs Gilby and Sapsford in that respect. He had not been able to examine the original letters critically. The continuation of witness's examination was postponed till to-morrow, in order to enable him to go through the letters. Two other experts Avill also be called tomorrow. Seven witnesses were called to prove that the domestic relations of E>ccused and his wifo .had always bean haopy, and that they were an affectionate couple. Mr A. E. G. Rhodes, accused's emnloyer, said he_ had always reposed complete" confidence in accused, and that confidence had been justified. The charwoman who cleans out Mr Rliodes's offices stated that sjie had sometimes found £he back door leading into the buildiiißs unlocked, and the <rlass door loading to the suite of offices was frequently unlocked. Alexander Johnston, a carpenter, who was working at the offices in January and March la&t, stated that he had. never found the swing doors leading to Mr Rhodes's office upstairs locked when he went to work in the morning. At 3.45 p.m. the court adjourned till 10 a.m. to-morrow. - - - November 21. The case against Henry Vincent Styche, charged with haviner, on or about June 4, 1900. at Christchurch. attempted to procure Geoffrey Sherbourne Clayton to murder one Elizabeth Styche. his wife, was continued at Ihe Supreme Court to-day. Thomas T. Joy, typewriter expert, detailed the resuli of an examination he made on the previous afternoon of the original letters and copies made by Gilby. and described what he considered were variations. He was cross-examined at considerable length by Mr Stringer, and in the course of hi? examination struck a number of letters on Styche's typewriter in court. Ho admitted thot there was a resemblance between original letters and Gilby's copies, but did not consider that it was more so than that between any ordinary copies of toye-written matter. It was quite possible that 'I fall on to a chair before falling to the floor would produce all the damage suffered by the machine. Looking- at the letters be himself bad produced, there was nothing to indicate that they had been written on the machine in court rather than on any other machine. Herbert James Cunnington, mechanical engineer, said that he had seen the machine now in court about three months ago at the police station. He considered that most of the iniuries might have been caused by a fall. He had been shown the table in Mr Rhodes's office on which the machine had been kept, and thought it very likely indeed that the injuries might have been caused by a fall from that table. He had examined the original letters and copie3 with Joy. He had heard his evidence, and agreed entirely with him. He could not undertake to swear that the letters had been written on the machine now in court. To Mr Stringer: He was not a specialist in regard to typewriters. After having critically examined the letters, he would say it was probable that the machine in court had written the letters. There were marked peculiarities in the original letters, and that machino would produce some of them. From a mere perusal of the tetters, one would draw the conclusion that they had been written on a machine with a vertical stroke over " 3," but it was possible that it might have been done on another machine. Alfred Smith, mechanical and electrical engineer sadd it was quite possible- for all

the damago to the machine to be siiFdained by a- fall from a table. He could quite imagine the keyboard being damaged by striking a chair on the way to the floor. Accused, Henry Vincent Styche, then gave evidence. He said he was in no financial difficulties, and was now in a better position than when he was married in 1891. His wife had been delicate since their marriage, and as she had been getting weaker during the present year, she consulted Dr Clavton of her own accord. After referring to conversations with Dr Clayton, he detailed occurrences of October 5, on the evening of which day he called on Dr Clayton at the latter's request. Dr Clayton said : "It was not altogether about your wife that I wanted to talk to you. The fact is I'm rather short of money, and have been trying to raise £100, and I thought that' you, through your wealthy employers, might be able to help me." Witness said he himself had no money to lend, and asked what security the doctor had to offer. The doctor replied that he had practically none. After some further discussion as to a loan, Dr Clayton said that some kind friend had offered to give or lend him £200 for a very small favour — putting a patient out of the world. He explained that it could be very easily done. It simply meant the giving of a little extra morphia. Some more talk followed, and 4 Dr Clayton then said he had been much annoyed at receiving some anonymous letters, and he would hand them to witness in the order he had received them. Witness .read them mostly to himself, but the light was bad, and one part of one of the letters was indistinct, and he could not make it oub very well, and the doctor, noticing this, asked him to read it out aloud. When he handed over the letter-card .he said: "Now, don't you think this refera to Mrs Styche?" Witness replied that it was very suggestive. When speaking about the tetters, Dr Clayton said ho thought the. word " terrible ' indicated that women had written them. After having read the letter-card, witness said that whoever was the writer was a coward, using no pronoun He, however, thought the letters were a hoax, and told the doctor so. The doctor said the proposal was absurd: that job was worth more like £2000 than £200. Ke then asked if witness would go halves in getting in a detective, but witness replied that he thought it would be better to wait to see how things developed, and in that Dr Clayton agreed, and said he would show witness any further correspondence. The domestic relations between himself and his wife were the happiest that could be imagined. There had never been any friction between them, and he had always j^aid her every possible -attention. In 1893 he took out a joint life insurance policy for £500, the main, object being to provide some sum for his wife in case of his death. Of late years, since he had mastered the ma-~ ohine, he had never used the vertical stroke in mistake for the "3." He had never seen any of the original letters produced until he saw them at Dr Clayton's house, nor had he written any of them or any part of them. He had never found himself making such blunders as appeared-in the letters. He was not at the" office after business hour's, arid ht did not know, of his own knowledge, whether anyone could obtain access to the offices after business hours. He did not know until after his arrest that the folding doors had been found unlocked. The typewriter usuaTy stood at the end of the table," and in addition to the chair on which he sat there was another chair at the end of the table. He would swear that he had accidentally knocked the machine from the table to the floor, his coat sleeve catching in the machine as he was moving some books from the table to the counter at his back. In its fall the machine struck the chair by the table. He had not tampered with the machine in any way, and he could not say that he knew whether it had any characteristic defects. Mr Stringer asked no qxiestions. The coiirt then adjourned till next day. ' November 22. The^ hearing of the case against Henry Vincent Styche, charged with attempting to procure the murder of his wife, -was continued at the Supreme Court to-day, when counsel addressed the jury and his Honor summed up. Mr Joynt, addressing the jury on behalf of accused, spoke for an hour and a-quarter. Counsel laid stress on the position which accused had held, pointing out that for seven years past he had been the chief of the financial department of Mr -A. E. G. Rhodes's business, and that on his employer's recent visit to England he had appointed accused joint attorney, and also given him separate power of attorney. These things, counsel thought, spoke more and more emphatically in favour of Stydhe from the point of view of his honesty, trustfulness, ability, and "good conduct than anything else could have done. He contended that the whole of the evidence as to the capacity of accused, his honourable and straightforward conduct, and -the relations with his wife, gave the lie to the suggestion that accused had written the letters. Counsel then criticised the evidence' in detail. " " ' Mr Stringer, speaking on behalf of the Crown, said that counsel on the other side had not suggested that the letters had been written- as a hoax,' but that the only other theory open to the jury was that they had been written by some devilish-minded person with the object of inculpating accused. They must consider whether that theory was consistent with the facts. Whoever the person was he must have had a knowledge of accused's affairs. He must have been familiar with the typewriter, and he must either have had access to it, or been aware that accused had been in the habit of- using the machine that produced the results referred to. Such a thing was feasible, but it was for the jury to consider whether it was reasonable or probable. A hundred possibilities might be suggested. . His Honor, in summing up, said that it was not suggested that the letters were intended for a joke, because it was impossible to imagine that amyone would be guilty of such a particularly and idiotic thing. As to the suggesliorr^that the letters had been written with the object of injuring the accused — supposing that were so — there must have been an opportunity to use accused's typewriter for the purpose. The carpenter and the woman who cleaned out Mr Rhodes's offices had told them that on numerous occasions the doors of the offices were l&ft open, so that anyone had an opportunity of getting into the offices and iising the typewriter. If, again, the letters had been written to injure the accused that person must have had an intimate knowledge of the accused and his family affairs. The accused, however, had not to prove that he did not write the letters. It was for the Crown to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that he did write them. If the jury were confident that the letters had been produced by the machine, and that Styche had written them, there was no other verdict than that of guilty. But if they were not satisfied

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on either of those points they should acquit him. He asked them to put from their minds any rumour's that they might have heard, as they might be quite satisfied that had there been anything in them counsel for the prosecution would have placed before the jury the inquiries that had been made in that direction. The Jury retired at 1.12 p.m., and at 6.35 p.m. brought in a. verdict of guilty. Mr Joyut asked for an opportunity of applyiug for leave to take the case to the Court of Appeal on the ground that the verdict was against the weight of evidence. His Honor said that in order to give that opportunity he would defer passing sentence till 10 a.m. on Saturday.