SECOND EDITION. MURDER MYSTERY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16371, 20 June 1927, Page 8

SECOND EDITION. MURDER MYSTERY

MANY CLUES FOLLOWED ■ (Per Press Association.) CIIRISTCTiII ROM, this clay. Mystery still surrounds the Bur wood murder. Many dues have been followed, but. not. one promises to give the desired result. There is reason to believe that while at the Federal Hotel the girl was not well supplied with money, and that she only paid her bill on Tuesday, after receiving assistance from .someone.

THEORIES OF THE CRIME EFFORT TO RECONSTRUCT IT

Many theories, says the Christchurch .Star, have been evolved on the,murder as a result of what Eric Mugfol’d ancl Alfred Huwtin saw. Each saw a man.

In the case of Mugford, the man seen was rushing away from the vicinity of the body in desperate, haste.

In the case of Hawtin a man was seen to break out of the scrub in Jubilee road, and then dash back again. His demeanor was such as -to give Hawtin the impression that he suffered from some mental derangement. The question which is exercising attention is: Was the man that Mugford saw the same man that Hawtin, saw? Mugford describes the man he saw as haying been dressed iri dark clothes. The man that klawtin saw was wearing pyjama trousers. One theory that presents itself is that the man whom Mugford saw, found, when he had progressed some distance through the scrub towards the Jubilee road side, that his trousers were covered with blood. It is possible that he was, wearing pyjama trousers under his street clothes. Finding it impossible to clean the stains from his trousers he discarded them, throwing them into the scrub and proceeding in his pyjama trousers. That theory, however, is shaken by the time factor. According to Mugford, he saw the fugitive some time after 1 o’clock. He placed the time at. about 1.30 p.m., but there is reason to suppose that it was earlier than that, as the Rev. C. A. Tobin, whom he informed of his discovery, and who then proceeded to the spot, plages the time of his own arrival there about p.m. Hawtin saw his man, dad in pyjama trousers, shortly after noon, or the best part of lialf-nn-hour before Mugford discovered the'tragedy. FIRST DISTURBANCE.

| If both saw t,he same man, what happened? Mr. Tobin’s observations, made with a good deal of care, were that the. dead woman had been'killed between one and two hours before lie saw her—that was some time subsequent .to 11.30 a.fn. Assuming that to be true, why did the, murderer leave the body lying in a position where anybody entering the scrub at that point would have been bound to find it? Such an action seems almost inexplicable when, by dragging the body only a few yards he could successfully pave hidden it from all but. chance discovery.

The fact, that the ground was sandy w T ould have made the covering of flie marks no very long or difficult task. The disturbance of the sand caused by this action would have attracted no attention, for cows frequently passed that way, and the sand was always more or less trodden about. The theory that the man was distraught to such an extent that he ignored all reasonable precau tions would perhaps provide an explanation; the alternative is that lie was dis-turbed—-that was not the first person to approach the scone. A RAP.II) FLIGHT.

| Did somebody approach the scene of the tragedy without actually discovering the crime prior to noon? If he did, he may have stumbled on the scene, w hen the' crime was but a few minutes old. Then what happened? The murderer. , surprised, and doubtless terrified by the danger of detection, turned and made headlong away from the scene in approximately the direction that Mugford saw a man take an hour afterwards. ' •Hawtin’s impression was that the man : was astonished at finding himself on a public highway—be seemed to have .stumbled on it without being aware of its existence. Was that man the man who, conceivably, had been disturbed by i some unknown person on the other side of the block of scrub a little while before? Assuming it, was, Jhe indications are that, lifter finding himself on. the road, the man returned ipfo the swab. I SECOND EFFORT TO HIDE BODY. 1 If it was the murderer, did he then decide to go back to the scene of the ' crime with the object pf endeavoring to 1 hide the body? If lie did, then lie would have arrived hack in time to he disturbed .by Mugford, having in the meantime i assumed his street .trousers. The theory * is not excluded by .the facts .as provided i by what Mugford and Hawtin saw and 'by the observations and Reductions of ) Mr. Tobin.

j It is given probability by the fact that, save i'or being disturbed, the murderer I could so easily have made some effort to hide the traces of the crime. Even allowing for the fact that the. woinan .was, . a fairly heavy woman and assuming that the rnivn yas not strong, .the distance that! the body would have had to be draggcjci was only a few yards. AMPLE OPPORTUNITY. 1 The scrub all round is so dense that it would not have been at all difficult to : have so placed.the body that it would fhave been ‘fairly secure against anything but an organised search. And if the traces could have been thus temporarily' obscured, there would probably not have been any organised search for a considerable time. The murderer would have been allowed ample opportunity to return under cover of darkness and hide more securely both the body and the traces of the crime. . Mugford’s discovery was made by pure change. Tut for the stampeding of his cows he would not have gone into that pgrt of the scrub, and if even an elementary attempt had been made before his arrival to hide the body, lbs attention was so directed towards the straying beasts lie was driving that he would pro-, bably not have noticed anything amiss.