A WOMAN MURDERED

Otago Witness, Issue 2803, 4 December 1907, Page 32

A WOMAN MURDERED

SHOCKING DOMESTIC TRAGEDY. CONFESSION OF THE CRIME. PERTH, December 2. A shocking tragedy, which was perpetrated a week ago, has been brought to light. The victim was a woman named Clark, who had been living with a gardener named Moore at Belmont Park. Moore has confessed to the crime, and the manner in which he disposed of the body — by burying it 6ft deep in the kitchen of his house — was so complete that but for Moore's subsequent actions the crime might never have been sheeted home. The couple quarrelled frequently, and the story told to the neighbours was that the woman had cleared out. On the night of the murder the woman was heard to cry out "Oh, Jack! Oh. Jack!" The neighbours subsequently had suspicions, and informed the police. The latter, examining the kitchen, prodded the soft earth floor with a stick which Moore had sharpened for them, for the purpose. Moore accounted for the boxes of women's apparel in the room by stating that they were" left "by the previous housekeeper, a Mrs Pearson, whose whereabouts will also be investigated. The search with the pointed stick revealed nothing, because it was only 3ft long. On a second visit by Inspector Connell he found Moore restive, and unable to sleep, his stretcher being over the soft earth floor, on the spot where the body was subsequently found. When confronted by the inspector Moore confessed to the murder. He 6aid : "We had a row. I was sitting on a ■box reading the paper, when she came in and said 'Good-bye.' ,A few seconds afterwards she came back into the room with an axe, which had been hidden for some time previously, and made a swipe at me. I ducked and missed the blow, and then jumped up and punched her. Then I grabbed her by the throat and strangled her, and there she is. She is down there," pointing to the floor. I He had burned her boots and clothing, and buried the body naked, covering it j with lime: When exhumed the body was • found to be in a shocking state.