FOUND SHOT

Southland Times, Issue 25310, 13 June 1935, Page 7

FOUND SHOT

CHIEF POLICE WITNESS THE DISGORGED ARM MYSTERY NO TRACE OF WEAPON (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) Sydney, June 12. Reginald Holmes, aged 34, one of Australia’s best-known boat-builders, who was to have been the principal witness for the police at the Coronial inquiry to-day into the shark and arm mystery, was found murdered early this moring in his car at Dare’s Point, near the city. Holmes was shot through the left lung and the chest. The position and nature of the wounds in the opinion of detectives definitely establish murder. The police believe Holmes was killed by someone who had been a passenger in his car. Spent cartridges were found in the car, but there was no trace of a revolver. On May 20 Holmes was the central figure in an extraordinary harbour chase. After the harbour incident Holmes spent several days in hospital under a police guard, but upon his discharge the guard was withdrawn. It is considered that the murder of Holmes will have an important bearing upon the police line of inquiry in the James Smith mystery. The police were unsuccessful yesterday in their final search of Cronulla Bay and Port Hacking for exhibits for the Coroner’s inquiry, although they had the assistance of the Navy and Air Force. Observers in two Air Force planes equipped with powerful binoculars, surveyed several square miles of water. A naval tug with divers on board moved after the planes, which dropped buoys whenever they saw anything in the sea which they thought might merit investigation, and naval divers descended in nearly every case.

After one of the most exciting chases that have ever taken place on Sydney Harbour a wounded man in a speed boat was overtaken by the water police on May 20. For more than four hours the fugitive had evaded his pursuers, and he was ultimately overhauled after he had made a sensational dash for the open sea. Tbe speed boat nearly rammed the police craft several times. The skill of the helmsman saved the boat, and doubtless prevented the occupants from being hurled into the water. The police were amazed at the dexerity with which the wounded man handled his boat. At one stage they had been so out-man-oeuvred that, despairing of boarding the fugitive craft, they decided to follow the runaway until his petrol Supplies had become exhausted. Ultimately a relative of the wounded man managed to jump on board the runaway and stop the engine. Detectives then brought the man back to Sydney. He was later taken to Sydney Hospital for treatment for a bullet wound in his head. While crossing the harbour near Fort Macquarie before 8 a.m. a boatman was startled to see a fast launch zig-zagging erratically towards him. A solitary figure was at the wheel, and his face and head were covered in blood. The boatman hurried over to Circular Quay and notified the police. In the meantime the water police had received a call from North Sydney stating that a man had shot himself and had then scrambled on board a launch and driven out into the harbour. POLICE INVESTIGATIONS GANGSTER TYPE OF CRIME. THREE bullet wounds. (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 9.35 p.m.) Sydney, June 12. Five detectives to-day were engaged on the mysterious shooting of Holmes. A medical examination disclosed three bullet wounds beneath the heart. A fourth bullet perforated Holmes’s new overcoat. There was no sign of a revolver. A door of the car was open. Detectives are of the opinion that Holmes was induced to drive his own car by another person with a view to a secret conversation at an extremely lonely spot on the waterfront and was there shot, in American gangster fashion, from the pocket. Two policemen patrolling the wharves discovered the body. Medical opinion is that death occurred three hours before. It is assumed that the murderer left the scene hurriedly and escaped towards the city, leaving the car door open and the headlights on. Fingerprints on the door are now being examined. No person living in the locality heard the shots which are believed to have been fired while suburban trains and trams were roaring across the Harbour bridge. The police are now following the theory that Holmes was murdered by someone who professed an interest in to-day’s inquest. EARLY ARREST EXPECTED. (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright.) (Rec. 11.35 p.m.) Sydney, June 12. The police expect the early arrest of Holmes’s murderer through a fingerprint clue, also a statement by Holmes himself three weeks ago when he asserted that an attempt was made to kill him about that time. SMITH INQUEST OPENS EVIDENCE OF WIDOW. A MYSTERIOUS MESSAGE. (United Press Assn.—Telegraph' Copyright.) (Rec. 10.25 p.m.) Sydney, June 12. Unprecedented interest was taken in to-day’s inquiry into the death of James Smith, aged 45, whose tattooed arm was disgorged by a captive shark in Coogee Aquariuiri, which eventually led to the victim’s identification. Mr Clive Evatt, counsel for Patrick Brady, who is charged with murdering Smith, submitted that the Coroner, had no jurisdiction until Smith’s body or a substantial part of it was available for a post-mortem examination. The Coroner, Mr E. Oram, overruled the objection. v Mrs Gladys Lilian Smith, of Gladesville, a suburb, gave evidence that she was the widow of James Smith, who at one time carried on an athletic club and later became a builder’s assistant. He worked for Reginald Holmes, boatbuilder, McMahon’s Point, between 1929 and 1933, then obtained a position on a boat called the Pathfinder, where he remained until February, 1934. Witness related how her husband became acquainted with two men introduced to her as Anderson, or Evans, and Watson. Anderson turned out to be Brady, the man now charged with murdering her husband. These men in 1934 wanted her husband to lend them money or mortgage his furniture. Witness refused to allow her husband to entertain the idea. Watson had brandished a revolver and said: “A. man ought to blow your inside out.” Mrs Smith said the last time she saw her husband was on April 11, a few days before he told her he was going to Cronulla to take out a launch party fishing. Mrs Smith added that she possessed her husband’s pocketbook entry in which it was revealed that Reginald Holmes owed her husband between £6O and £7O and, being

penniless after her husband’s disappearance, she requested Holmes to help her from the money believed to be owing. Holmes said how sorry he was at the tragic news of her husband’s death and handed her an envelope containing five single notes. Mrs Smith then told of a mysterious telephone message her neighbour received on April 15, a man’s voice saying that Mr Smith would return home on April 15. Afterwards there came a letter from an address in Queensland which contained cryptic phrases such as “betting” and “rich oil," which in witness’s opinion had a double meaning. Mrs Johanna Molloy, mother of the last witness, gave evidence that Smith * told her he was going to Cronulla fishing on April 8, and before he went he introduced her to a man named Anderson.

• Other evidence related to the capture of the shark off Coogee on April 18 and its violent behaviour at the aquarium prior to disgorging a well-preserved human tattooed arm, a decomposed rat and a bird. *

The inquest was adjourned until tomorrow.