MURDER SUGGESTED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17233, 12 April 1930, Page 12

MURDER SUGGESTED

PALMERSTON N. TRAGEDY EVIDENCE OF DOCTORS INQUIRY ft TILL PROCEEDING (Per Press Association.; PALMERSTON N.. In si night. Tlic if i'Ec-hm stances. surrounding the death of Walter Khhvin Price, a I milder, who was found dead from a gunslioi wound in the head, were further inquired into before the coroner, Mr. .7. L. Stout, 5.. M., this afternoon. Gilbert tfeiirge llancox, recalled, Stated that he heard a cry liefore 1 ■ o'clock on tlie rooming of 'March 5, and hist impression was that it had pro'errled and not followed the shot. The cry resembled a scream. The coroner: Why do yon conn 1 here now with a piece of evidence that liVay he concrete? Has someone else been talking to yon in the mean time.’ Have you discussed it with Mr. McGregor ? Witness: Yes. - The coroner: And now you have discussed it you remember the shriek ! ■ —-No, I remembered it on the Saturday following the event. Witness explained that he left Palmerston North at 0,.'1f) that morning and had not returned until Saturday. He did hot kn-ow that anything had happened until lie got off the train, and tie had difficulty in piecing together his recollections. “Somej body asked mo if I hoard the report. | gnd I couldn’t remf'fWber, but when ] I was told that I got out of bed and [ lidd £one to the window the facts , commenced to come back to me,” added witness. I Mr. McGregor said that it was due | to llancox for him to niake Ah explanation. * He had asked witness if lie had heard a shriek, and llancox had’ replied that he believed he could recollect it, but he would want time to recall actually what had happened I before' giving further evidence. ) The coroner: Perhaps you didn’t recognise that it might have been inij porfanf, but it certainly would liavo been better if you had told tlie police. THE INSURANCE POLICIES The district manager of the A.M.P. Insurance Society, Mr. C. W. Ennis', . stated that in December last year, | Price had effected two £IOOO policies I with liis company. The premiums for j these policies had not been paid, lint j deceased paid 8 per cent, on an arj rangement with the Hawke’s Bay Inj vestmeiit Co. Oh February 12, do- ( ceased had taken out a third £IOOO i policy, on which he had paid the proj miuni for a quarter. The total pay- ! meats the deceased would make on j rhe first two policies at the end of five; years would be approximately £l7O, j land the surrender value for the two i policies at the cud of five years would | iie about £35!). I Constable Compton stated that he had been called to the residence of thej .deceased at about 8.4;" on the morning of March 5. The boy John Price had been at the house and witness had a talk with him. the boy had re-' marked that he would not be going I back to school. . Witness, asked why, land thy boy rfplied: ‘‘Weil, you see, 1 j (tad’s'dead.” Witness'replied: ‘.‘.That won’t make any difference. You’ll need your, schooling later in life.”, i The boy had replied: .‘‘But you seo | I lie was well insured afid mum will got ! the money and I .won’t need to go back to school.” The boy’s demeanor | had been very quiet and calm during jthis conversation. Witness visited the room where tlie body was lying. Do-’ ■ ceased was lying on his back with his head underneath the fired. His head was in a pool of blood, but there was, ho sign of a struggle in the room, nor. of disorder in other parts of the house which witness liad inspected. SEARCH FOR THE GUN Another constable, Janies Haldane ■ ! Beaton, stated that he accompanied l 111 1 . King to Price’s residence about! 1 5.35 pin. oil March. 5. Witness had . llieii asked John Price how ninny ' guns there were in the house. Tlie !, boy liad replied that there was only one gun which was in the garage. . This weapon was dusty and had an !' empty cylinder in it. The doctor said . ■ that this gun would not cause the wound which liad killed the deceased. I Witness then conducted an examination of the room, and the fact that there was no weapon in the room suggested to him that there might, have been outside interference. Witness had examined the ground outj side tlie window, but had found no traces of an intruder. lie then fur- ; tlior examined the house, John Price being in his company the whole time. Witness then asked John Price if lie 1 had hidden a gun, but the boy replied that lie had heard no shot. Witness then rang up the Inspector of Police ■uid informed him that: no gun Could be found. I Between 5.2:7 a.m. and (5.40 p.ni., it ‘ would have been impossible for John ' Price to have communicated with the Wilsons or with anyone else. The doctor had told John Price' that his father had been shot. About 5.4;> p.ni, witness had asked tlie Iboy to produce 1 the sleeping suit lie had worn that night, and John Price had taken a suit of pyjamas from underneath his pillow. Just as witness had been about to examine them the boy said I that sometimes he bled at night bej cause he scratched himself. I Mr. McGregor at this stage asked h,permission to recall Dr. King. fn reply to Mr. McGregor the doctor stated that tlie wound in the mouth had first drawn his attention to the ’j fracture .of deceased’s skull. I Mr. McGregor: Gould deceased have given a Convulsive or spasmodic movement after the shot,.but before liis death?—He could. It is possible that t lie motor tracts might Have been stimulated by the shot by being severed. ;■* Mr. McGregor: Gould lie have cried ! out? —Tf I admit the statement I have already made, lie could have cried I (nit. BY. King then demonstrated to the cduri tlie position in which deceased had been lying, anil outlined the points as they supported his pre- , vious evidence. I HOMICIDAL THEORY Mr. McGregor theil called Dr. John Miller, Palmerston North, who stated that lie had read the evidence of Dr. King and tlie other medical practitioners. ‘‘The wound described by Dr. King,” said the doctor, “could quite well have been homicidal, being inflicted al close range while deceased was lying on his right, side on the floor with his head unsupported by the pillow.” He might lie asleep, or have just awakened immediately prior io being shot. After being shot, lie could have fallen over on his hack. The stimulus of the shock would be 1 sufficient lo raise a sudden spasm or coilvulsive movement, causing deceased to assume any position. It would

have been difficult for deceased to inflict, the wound upon himself by lying upon his back on the floor. The other medical evidence presumes that he was shot lying on his back. “A suicide places a gun muzzle in the mouth to steady the gun and to bring the trigger more within his reach and to make sure he won’t live after Hie shot,” he added. Mr. McGregor Suggested that Dr. Miller should demonstrate the position upon which he based his theory. Tlie coroner: It is within the bounds of possibility that it was homicide, but the surrounding circumstances do not seem to point to it. ■Witness: In my opinion the surrounding circumstances point to homicide. The coroner: It was a very unusual crime? —There would he no struggle it he was shot. The coroner: 1 should be very sorry to hoar that it was homicide, because there was only one oilier person in the house at the time. Detective Quirko: Would yon expect a man about to be murdered to place a blanket and sheet beforehand on the floor?—Witness: No. Tlii* coroner: Do von expect a man lo sleep with his head partly under a bed without a mattress and pillow?— Witness: No. Detective Quirko: Have von any knowledge of powder discoloration.-*, from sporting guns?—Witness: Very little. EXPERT EVIDENCE Dr. Miller then demonstrated his theory of deceased’s death, while an interested gallery looked on. Dr. Miller went back into the box and stated that he was purely concerned in proving that the act might have been homicide. The coroner: Of course, we grant it might have been homicide, but was it, not more likely to be suicide? Witness: That has really nothing to do with me. The coroner: But it lias a lot to do with mo. Witness: t am here purely to give expert evidence. The coroner: I presume wo can grant that it could be homicidal but it is the probabilities at which we have to look. To Mr. Cooper the witness admitted that, ho was supposing the deceased to have been in a different position from that in which he was found. Had lie been shot in the position in which lie was found if would be difficult to prove homicide. Support for Dr. Miller in his theory came from Dr. Robert James Boyd, who told the court that, in his opinion, if would have been about impossible for a man to commit suicide under the Conditions indicated. On the oilier hand, the position presumed by Dr. Millet 1 was possible. Detective Quirko: The head of deceased was under the bed and' the height of the bed was Hi in. Would it not be difficult for a man -to shoot him in that position? Witness: It would be difficult. Detective Quirko: Presuming your homicidal theory is correct, vvliy should Iho murderer pass Price’s body and fire in his mouth? —Tt is the best place to shoot him, isn’t it?. Detective Quirko: Don't you know a.s a medical man that the mouth is the best place for a suicide?—l don’t knpw. With the further object of proving his point, Detective Quirko produced a weighty tome and to the amusement of tin* "doctors present, proceeded to quote medical authorities to witness. Detective Quirko: Do you suggest that lie might have been shot away from tlie bed and have fallen underneath it? —Witness: I don’t know how lie was shot. Detective Quirko (smilingly): Then you don’t know anything about it. At this stage the court adjourned.