EXTRAORDINARY MURDER TRIAL

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLV, Issue 11999, 12 February 1920, Page 5

EXTRAORDINARY MURDER TRIAL

United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. London, Feb 9. An extraordinary murder trial is proceeding at Edinburgh. A bluejacket named . James Wooley is charged with killing a German prisoner named Eversfceg aboard the battleship Resolution at Scapa Flow two days after the scuttling. Accused was subsequently arrested as a deserter. A seaman gave evidence that Wooley said he was going to kill a German. Witness thought he was joking, but he extracted a cartridge from Wooley’s rifle. Another seaman admitted that he knew 'a German prisoner had been killed, but he did not report the matter as he had no love for Germans. Wooley’s father, the first witness for the defence, said he lost two sons within a week in the Somme fighting. Accused was only sixteen when he joined the Navy. He was not the sort of boy to think of violence when in his proper senses. A comrade of IVooley gave evidence that Wooley was drunk. The jury, after an absence of twenty minutes, brought in a verdict of hot proven and accused was discharged.