THE STIRLING SENSATION

Otago Witness, Issue 2840, 19 August 1908, Page 57

THE STIRLING SENSATION

- - m ~* CORNISH OlSr TRIAL. ~ There was_ a l*rge attendance of ihe general public at the Supreme CJourt yesterday afternoon, when Richard Cornish wae placed on trial on a charge of manslaughter arising out of the death of his .wife. His Honor Mr Justice Williams having taken his seat, the jury was _ empanelled as follows r— Alexander Grant (foreman), John Walter Oakland, George Allen, 'James Flint, Philip Cutliffe, Thomas Henry " JWhite, William * Joseph Henderson, William John Kennedy, Robert Telford, John - -Edgar, John Cameron M'Master, and John " Campbell. The accused was charged with that he did, -on the Ist day of May, 1908, unlawfully kill and slay one Catherine Elizabeth Cornish his wife,' and, in a steady voice, "he replied "Not guilty." Mr A. - C. Hanlon, with Mr B. S. Ir■win;" appeared fof the accused, and the - Crown Prosecutor (Mx J. F. M. Fraser) ' --opened _the~-ease. Mr Fraser said that the accused was a marine engineer, who • had lately held a _ •publican's license for the Stirling Hotel. - -He had been -a married-man.' Of late years, *" his wife- had given way to drink, had become a drunkard, - drinking-periodically to - great-excess.- . The crime with which' Cor ."•nish"* was chargd was "one of ' manslaughter. It was perhaps unnecessary for. him -t<r remind* the jury- 'that _any crime affecting "•the life of a human Tl being~ was a very - serious ojie. From time immemorial human life/ had been**" safeguarded for. the strorig'est possible reasons. " Human nature was frail, " - and - there was^ always • the rtemptatioh exist--ing:' somewhere to put people out of the -~~ irorld, and-- in some ''cases "this "temptation ~- would, become o. i reality were it not for • fear of^ after consequences. The house in ■which the" crime was. committed was a twoetoreyed building. On one side there were five rooms. . In ' the front was the commercial room, behind this the diningroom, and - behind that again a private ■ sitting-room and -the bedroom , -used by ~ ecciised and his wife. The rooms upstairs •did not extend . over, the private sitting--Toom'and bedroom-, which formed an outbuilding in % the nature of a leanto' to the anain' building. The house was a small one, and* the distance from 'the private sitting-room -to the kitchen was only some 15ft, and the distance from the private "bedroom to the kitchen was .only some 20ft. TKe private sitjtingroom and the bedroom opened on tb^ a passage. There was the usual furniture, in the bedroom, and in - the sitting room was- a couch. It .would '• , .be shown that the accused's wife sometimes drank very heavily. He would, in the accused's own -words, give them a- picture of the domestic life of Cornish and hia .' wife." "" We have not lived peacably together." _Mr Fraser then quoted state- r jnente made by - Cornish at -the- inquest. This, he 6aid, was a word picture drawn ' Jby " accused 'Tiimself. He would draw the jury's attention to the .sentence," "When ■ehe drank- we "quarrelled." Now, this ' -woman -had been prone to ""drink, and. her . environment aide^d and. abetted this w.eak-" ' mess. It was important to bear in mind - that her habits led to quarrels between her and her .husband. On the. night preceding her death she apparentlj 1 " drunk; or - at anyrate under -■ the influence" of liquor. , From , a certain witness he' would call the ' jury would learn that on that night deceased . had gone up to the bedroom of a - -boarder,- where ehe had mad© some eiily speech to him; whence she had been pulled "by someone unseen. .Then followed scuffling, which, curiously end most signcfi-.-•cantly, was alleged "to have- been only ftieard by one person. Deceased had retired • to rest 10 and 11 o'clock that night under the influence of drink. In the: house at the time "were a barman the girl Knox (aged 16)/ the cook (Bennett), accused," his wife, and a man who slept in the house. When a crime was committed it was the duty of the Crown not ■to choose only the. witnesses who were ,in a position to give direct evidence, but to bring to bear on the case the evidence •of all. persons who, even indirectly, might be able to throw some light upon it. The jury would have the opportunity of hearing what all the witnesses had to say There was a slight conflict of evidence as io whether or not deceased had been seen alive .the next morning. One witness (the oook) had been employed afi the Stirling •Hotel for some considerable* time. She 3iad a failing for drink, but during her engagement at the hotel until Mrs .Cornish's ,death she ha-d kept .this tendency in check, and had not given .way to the- vice icf drunkenness". The fact that" this woman .-was a dipsomaniac"" was admitted, but such as she" was, he would ask them to listen farefully to. her evidence. " It was- more than'-Vpossibie that' the truth might loom more "largely in "her evidence" than in that ri some of the others. The evidence of this witness pointed, directly to the guilt nl the accused. - However, just at present lie proposed to place her evidence' entirely •on one side. " Let them see what facts pointed to' the gailt of the accused outside her evidence. Some of the facts were most extraordinary. It had been suggested that snly one man was in existence who. knew !io\v and in .what manner this woman had ..lieci. That man was the "accused Corni=h. Xow, let them see what his own admission eaid. Let them see the contradictions that : ■appeared in his own tale. The crime had been discovered in the afternoon. Inquiries -•.vere made. It was suggested that the accused- had lain in bed that day until 2.30 p.m. Why li" had done so was not ea-s-y -*o surmise. He was not drunk. He was Fober on going to bed. and lie was -oheiwhen he awoke next- day. He had said --that his wife lay down on' the couch in the ~ ftittinotroom in a semi-drunken srupor. That ho wolce up at 10 a.m. the next rinv. ■when he went out and stumbled over -fh" dead body of hi*, wife. He would draw particular attention _: to rhfe statenmt oT accused's. " He told the constable when he arrived. that he 'got up at 10 a.m. Sunday •ca,m<; 3 and he again told the constable thar "he had got up ai 10 a.m.- Then the constable a-sked why. if he had found his iviff dead nt 10 a.ni.. he had not communicated with the police till- late iri ,he :aftorooon ? When these "facts -were before the accused, had he made any mistake, this would have been hi« - opportunity to have made an explanation : but instead of doing so Cor- , nish had said. "I don't know." Then, at■lie coroner's inquest he snid he had made a mistake, that his "watch had stopped, and it was 2.30 p.m.. and not-10 a.m., when he ; got up and found his wife. Here was a. very sharp contrast to Cornish's first state-

I ment. The reason seemed to be that he feaTed- that his first statement would notfit in with the medical evidence to the* effect that when the body was found life had only been extinct for about two hours. Mr Hanlon : Would it not be fair to tell \ the jury that this question of the time was J purely due to a mistake? j Mr Fraser : I shall refer to^ that at a • later period. | Mr Hanlon : My point is that Cornish I sent for a doctor at once. | Mr Fraser: You should put it in this I way : "He said he sent for a doctor." . | Mr Fraser then read Garnish's siate- < ment at the inquest as to finding, with j Lizzie, the cook, hie wife lying in the i passage. He %vent on to say that it was I perfectly clear that when deceased had j been struck down there must have been ■> a discharge' of blood more or less profuse. j Cornish had said he had found her lying 1 on the floor, and the place in which he . described as having"^ found h'eri was not • more than 12ft from where' Cornish said he ' had been sleeping. Yet he had been- in ; bed sober, without breakfast, without ', dinner, and yet heard no sound of her foil ,' or the clatter of the coal box. -Surely it ; would occur to them that Cornish at least ' must "have heard this sound. However, accused stated that he just awoke at 2.30 p.m., and _foun3 his .wii& lying dead in the place indicated. With- regard to that portion of ' his story* - relatihe to' having laid j his wife down drunks oh the couch rin the J sitting-room and covering her - with a rug, well, he. would say that a -woman retiring to rest under such conditions TOjuld awake in the morning parched.- ana that "she would geVup in search of liquid.* There was evidence to show iihat this was. what actually happened. 'Deceased had risen, dressed, gone to the bar (when the barman, then in the "bar, eaid he had not' seen her), had moved about the passages, when the . girl Knox was said to have been at work, and then back to her bedroom. Then she had been found dead at 10 a.m. according to one statement and at 2.30 p.m. according to a second statement by the same man. At 3.30 p.m. the doctor stated that' the woman had been dead for two hours. Therefor© she had died at about 1.30, about the busiest time "of the day iri an hotel. She was then lying- dying or dead, and there was not a living soul to say fhe Vvasthere. The girl - Knox - had,' curiously enough; called the cook (Bennett) "to assist her to clean up the sitting-room .that .morning, although this was not the cook's "work. This witness had said that Mrs Cornish,- living 1 or dead, was not in tho passage at 11 a.m. If Mrs Cornish was not there -at that time, where was she? Apparently- she could only have- been iv one irooTO', and - that was the of accused. If she yvos there, what was she doing till her dead body was found? Now, in dealing with this case they must deal with the facts fairly and squarely in a common-sense, way. The gdrl Knox, continued Mr Fraser, said she was in the habit of taking in a cup of tea, but she did not do at that morning. As to Ben-n-ett; she "was, a dipsomaniac, and was possibly such a witness tiKat -if .she stood alone his friend would be justified in laying great stress upon the- danger of trusting to her unsupported testimony, bVt did her evidence 'stand- alone? - B.ennett, though not ait the coroner's inquest, gave -facts in the lower court. - She said she sent** for accused, who said- they took the body of deceased straight from where it was lying in the passage to the bed he ihad just vacated. Bennett said accused' came into the kitchen a-bout 20 minutes past 2, and had an enamelled • dish in his hand. He said: ""Lizzie, I think the missus is dead," and- Bennett replied : "Oh God," and received permission to go 'and see. Mrs Cornish. Bennett went ,and looked at the woman, and came out and «sked accused to help her to put Mrs .Cornish on the b«d. t Mrs Cornish was then lying on th« floor, with her feet towards the bed. The mat she' was lying upon was bloodstained. Then when deceased was lifted ,on to fche bed accused said: "I said I would murder her. and I have done it." He was then wiping tho blood from, de.eeased's- face- with a sponge. Bennett- had said :." Don't lose your head. Keep your own counsel/- and Cornish replied: ''Don't leave me, Lizzie. You are tho only friend I hav-e got," and Bennett replied that she would not. Benngbt said the body was by the bedside, and that she did not take any clothes off it, but when the doctor came it had been stripped and pretty well all traces of blood removed, except a slight trace upon the head. The blood had "also been removed from the passage,- and Bennett said Knox had done this, but tihat statement Knox denied. Some little time after the murder, Bennett came under suspicion- of having stolen something, , and Cornish accused her of the theft, and it was suggested that the woman was now . speaking . from motives of revenge. . If accused had a suspicion that "this woman was -becoming dangerous h-e could not have devised a more skilful way of tying her tongue than In- acousinEC her. of some crime. The girl Knox heard nothing, but Bennett- said she heard thumping and long-sustained moaning. He (the Crown Prosecutor) thought it most improbable that the woman died at once when she w-as struck down. She probably lingered on for a little time. It might be most probable that she was struck down in the passage, because tQiere -were bloodstains on die lintels of tho door and on the floor, and there was evidence t.ha.t blood was wipsd up. but she was not left there. Ho supposed that what happened ' wa-> that accused- who was sober, did not intend . to _ kill this,, woman — probably nothing wa.? fnrrher from his thoughts,— but ovcrlcoke:"! vhe. fact that he was a man of except ional strength and miscalculated his strength, and was horror-stricken v/hv»n ho •dhrov-erec*" the result of hiviolencc. nnrl took the woman inrc ihe bedroom nni\ stayed ihcrc_ virb the evidence <ylhis sruilr until life-had .©bbed aw a\ . suirl '■' ptiil sta>ed on, wondering how lie woultl | ; extricato iiiin-c-if. Minutes became half- ! hours. aivl half-hours became hour.-., iint-il , iv: r-o.'ilipcc! iho matter could not b? con-" j ' prided any lonurev. and he made it public • 1 '.lie wom.ar. \\;is doad. -and toio tho cook, j ' A_rcu«e<J mot probaJilv n^v-er "iitenrlecl lo \ kill the vsoman. Fro'oihlv, almost rev- ■ 1 la r.lv. lie v.s« fo!!<l of si'e woina.ii and i ' never hnd trosned hey cvu-'lly. Bu* the*- ' ' f|iuirr«*U<»d, and sHo \va» drunk. Tf rV j i jury fc-5~*To;l the medii-vil testimony si 1.-"'1 .-"' j • could -not haro l?e?n killed "fiv a direc* , ! fall, but-bv viojpjtt imair' with 'nn'i -Mil-- J etaneo. A firt would r"o it. Th" jury i i hnd to find out v.-hrthcr. bcycid a" roa-on- j i able rloubt .-jcr-u-ed was guilrv jf li-svinp, ' i slain the woman. Xx. must not form any '-. absurd theories in the ra.ii'er. Lu l must ' ( judgo by the fact 5 ; pui before it. Wher« j f was the woman between 11 and half-past I t

2, In all probability she was in Cornish', bedroom. When the facts pointed beyon< all reasonable doubt to the guilt of ai accused person, he (the Crown Prosecutor suggested it was the jury's plain duty tc convict that accused person of tihe crim< with which he stood charged. A. E. Farquh'ar, J.P. at Stirling:, anc Sydney Ball Smith, dTaughtsman at thi survey office, gave formal evidence. Elizabeth Bennett, cook at the Stirling Hotel, said, though addicted to drink, sh< did not drink while at Cornish's hotel. Mr Cornish was a heavy drinker. The nigh before Mrs Cornish died - witness went U her room between 7 arid 8, and went t< sleep at 10 o'clock. * Witness heard Mii Cornish's voice tfeat night. Next mornins witness rose at 6 o'clock. Sllie heard) i voice downstairs. After, she went dowr she heard a thumping^ which continucc until she made a noise with the range The noise was in the direction of Cornish* room. A moaning started after that. This continued until 10, when there was an in termission. Then it was resumed,' anc continued until 11. Witness first saw ac cused about .20 minutes past 2. He cam< into the kitchen with an enamelled dish in his hand, and took some water from the range. He eaid he thought the missus was dead. Witness replied, " Oh, God, no! 1 , Can I see her?" He said' witne;< could, and she went to the bedroom whiU he ,went to the" bathroom. Deceased was lying- on the -mat by. the bedside," with hex feet towards the foot of the bed. ~ Witness could notTsay whether deceased was dressed. She ran to the door and told accused tc send for the doctor, and accused _ sent fot one. Witness then suggested ,putting Mrs Cornish into bed '"in case she" was riot dead, arid they laid the body on the bed. Accused had a sponge in his hand,, with which he wiped the face. He said:* "I told her, I would do it, and I murdered her. Witness replied: "Oh, I do wish I "had left last week." He said: "Don't leave me" now, Lizzie. You are the only friend I have got." Witness' then left the room. Witness did not take any of the clothes off deceased. She was aware that accused eaid she did, but at was not true. There were, clothes upon the body, but witness could not say what they were. The slt- | tii*g room looked to bo upside down, and there was blood all over the floor. Tho girl JKnox called witness's attention to this. The girl Knox cleaned up the blood on the floor. '^Witness knew thatf the ffirl-Knox denied this. At half-past 2 witness saw the coal scuttle upset in the passage, and witness gathejed up % lot of tb& coal. There was a skirt at the foot of the bed, whiciv witness "never found again. Witness showed Detective Hunt come clothes, whicn she took* off the bed" on the Monday. She never came across -any of the clothes Mrs Cornish was wearing. Witness "did not say all this at" the inquest, because- she was not asked. Witness was not speaking for revenge, but was speaking- the truth. To Mr Hanlon: Witness was divorced from her husband. Witness, told the truth at the inquest so far as she was asked. She could have told more had she been asked. She went to counsel's office knowing 'he was/ appearing for Cornish; and said she" was going to tell the truth. Hhe said 'she - wanted the loan of £1. She hadi said in the court below that if she did not gat the pound she would . " put the show away." She said that for a lark. She" had - - two drinks when ; ehe said that. In the lower court she said ehe had told the whole truth at the inquest. She did tell the truth at the inquest, but only what she was asked. .-She told the inspector of police of all these things after ■she gave evidence at the inquest. It was to the inspeotor, and not to the coroner that wibness had said that Cornish stated he had said he would murder deceased, and he <had done it." Witness heard the moanin*- all the' time, except at 10 ocloct. Cornish had told Taylor and her to stios to the one thin". • Mr Hanlon: This is the first time you have said that, although this is the third timo'vou have given "evidence. - Air Fras&r suggested- that the depositions taken at the coroner's inquest should be put in, and this was agreed to, so that tfae jury might see the variations. __ Further cross-examined, witness said, sue did not remember tellini? the pewon m charge when she rang up Constable Maishall that she wanted to tell Constable Maishall something about Cornish- »ne ran" the constable up to come and eearcli her boxes in consequence of an accusation made by Cornish as tc her having ta£en som-ethintr. It was true that witness had *aid at the inquest- that on. the Thursday Mrs Cornish was wiping blood fronv her nose, having knocked it against something, but witness did not- know a-gainst what. Witness never drew the sir! Knoxs attention to the moaning in Mrs C"ornish's.rooir, Although the floor was swamped With blood and a woman was moaning in the next room, witness did not think it neces•=ary to tell anyone about it.' She thoughtthey (Mr and Mrs Cornish) had been " rowinsj." To Mr Fraser : Cornish made the remark that they would hare- to stick to the same thinp after the doctor had left. Taylor, to whom the remark was made, replied: j "Oh, that will be all rteht. I will say I slept upstairs last night." Witness had every reason to believe that Taylor that night slept at the back of Mrs Cornish's room. She had spoken the truth in her evidence that day. Dr James Fitzgerald gave formal evidence as to having analysed the exhibits produced for hlcods tains. The Crov»-n Prosecutor : And you think rhev miijihi ba human bloodstain's? — Yes. "Mr Hanlon : O t pig's blcodstain.s?— Yes. Dr L-2.-!ic Burton Burnott. of Balclntha, save e\ideuce to having found the hodv of dootja^ccl at i?1:ont 3 p.m. on the cVife mentioned. The bee'v was warm, and had it b-»on k-Pttf rovred with blankets, as it was he =aw it. death wouV have occurred about rvro Tvoiit 1 * prevjowl*. Hs-cl it bsen m-rovorod fie-ith wouH havo taken place v. ifhin -n -hortpr period. There was o. s-rcpriT of Wood on th-p lower bed. fiber h and ; h'oo'l on ilv-hair. which was -loose. There ! ivp.- a w/jund ny inch ipil a- half long- ac-roS 1 ? ibo region of th" left temporal art-pry.. Boih eye= were black. The head p.ncl faco . tt'ere imfformjy e wol!en, -in-d r>raseD te/3 a ) lettered eppearanre. Tho body bore I PumjroLii hriii-~05 wlvr-h siilg'ht have "been .' fi.ii-.^(] ;.(- Tin earlier rime. A.cenE«d told I Inui rbat he and his wife had occupied , -■-•tjaratp i-oonrs far «c-me month*, and thai, > he t en'; (Bonne tt) had removed i"he c-ioth- \ inc. and v.a-Jied the -borlv. Ths rook was !>ot '>re s Pit wh°p Cornish irs-de this gta-te-iTJpnf. Tfirnr>=3 understood from both r?ornisli aril the «v»ok .hat 'lerea^rd had 'nllen over th^ coal scuttle anrl -had lain in :he passage. The cook lifted the runner [

s I and -showed him the coal dust. There was i a brown stain on the a-unner. Had it been n a bloodstain ,it had been cleaned up. Ac- ) cused. he thought, was apparently sober, i j 'but on returning in a quarter of an hour b I he found "him drunker than it was possible ' j for a man to get in tha£> time. Witness ] , suggested senddng for the police. "Next day q i witness made a post mortem. T.he blowhad mot been delivered at right angles to x j the skull. The amount of dear "fluid 1,1 escaping on the removal of the uppsr part % of the skull pointed to the brain having t been under pressure. The left forefront of 3 the brain was bruised, but there was no 5 .exterior sign. The brain was uniformly 3 swollen, but this had no connection with j the brain bruise. The facial injuries were I ' quite recent. The brain bruise . was prob- ! " ably due to a "blow inflicted on the front of 1 ' the face: A blow with a fist might have . caused it. The wound on fche temple had s severed an artery, and could have been 3 caused by a fall on to a sharp edge, such as . the architrave of a door. The cook in1 ' formed him that the facial injuries were - .apparent the day before death. Recently- ; swallowed blood showed that deceased had i been bleeding, and had swallowed blood » within two hours of her death. He would, 3 say that deceased died" within 12 hours after . receiving 3ier injuries, but it- might have 3 been very much less. The brain bruise j . could only have been due to a fall had 3 ; deceased been runnine very fast and tripped r heavily. It was difficult to see how she ' i - could have attained=thei.necessary speed -in i such a small 6paoe'as that passage afforded. > . As' on ordinary medical man dealing with : ■ ordinary probabilities, he- would think the i braan bruise^ had -been due to a blow. The , position in whioh Cornish said he found I j his wife would -account r for_ the- bleeding I "being, internal, but the presence of blood i -m the Kair and in the stomach - indicated i '-that. bleeding. must have occurred from the >! nose or mouth, or both, and tho position . ] in" which Cornish stated he found his wife i [ would not have cliecked that bleeding or ; 1 prevented it from becoming- external bleed- ; ! ing. ' I The Crown Prosecutor : This brings me * to cross-examination, and Ido not propose ! to go on to-nig>ht unless your Honor • pleases. ■ Witness : Allow me " to explain about f the _ .Mr Fraser:. Not to-night, doctor. The court then adjourned till 10.30 a.m. on the following day.