The Waipawa Murder Case.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 16, Issue 93, 2 December 1902, Page 5

The Waipawa Murder Case.

Napier, November 29. The trial of Thomas Frederick Moore and Mary Ann Mills on a charge of muidering Lottie Ancell at Waipawa on 30th October commenced m the Magistrate’s Court this morning. Deceased died suddenly in the shop cf the male accused, a chemist, and it is alleged that death was caused by something administered to procure abortion. Mills is Moore’s housekeeper. The evidence by the Crown stated that die young woman Anc-11, who was employed as book-keeper in the Clarendon Hotel, Napier, had left town with the intention of going to Wellington, but broke her journey at Waipawa, wh re she called at Moore’s shop, saying she was ill. Subsequently she was found dead in his dental surgery. The Crown’s case was that an illegal operation had been performed on the deceased, resulting in her sudden death. Under cross-exammation, a witness for the prosecution admitted that deceased had intimated to her that she had procured instruments from a chemist at Wellington which she had used in Napier, and that on the morning she left Napier she felt so unwell that she thought she would die. Medical evidence called by the Crown was to the effect that the appearance of the girl after the post mortem examination had been held was consistent with a certain kind of process followed in the performance of an illegal operation, The evidence had not concluded when the Court rose.