Murder and Arson in Victoria.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5552, 25 February 1886, Page 4

Murder and Arson in Victoria.

REMARKABLE DISCOVERY BY THE POLICE. (Prom the Melbourne Correspondent of the OtaQO Daily Times). At TVangaratta, on Jan. 29, the house of a farmer, named John Plum, was burnt down. It was a Friday evening, and the fire was discovered by a passer-by, but there was no chance of putting a stop to it. In the ruins were afterwards, found the remains of the farmer himself. At first there was not the slightest suspicion that the fire was the result of anything else than accident; but while the inqueßt on Plum was proceeding, the local doctor mentioned to the sergeant of police that a Mrs Stevens had been seen at Plum's place on the Thursday afternoon. The sergeant at once got the inquest adjourned until he could make further inquiries, for Mrs Stevens was a woman of indifferent reputation. She had been married three times — first to a publican named Hird, who died ; then to a farmer named Coutio, who died under circum stances that caused the neighbours to hint at poisoning; and third to a publican named Stevens, who is still alive, but who, after accusing his wife of trying to poison him with arsenic, separated from her. Mrs Stevens had children by her first husband, and one of her daughters was married to one of the sous of Plum. Mrs Stevens was living about Wangaratta, and was of questionable morality. The sergeant had his suspicions aroused, and got a detective from the city to help him in the investigation of the case. Plum was an eccentric individual, crossj grained, and extremely ill-tempered, and ! he worked himself into such passions that j not only was there no living with him in ' peace and comfort, but his family h*d to | get him put into a lunatic asylum several j times. When he came out on the last i occasion his wife only lived with him a I short time, and about three weeks before ! the fire she left him and went to live with ' one of her sons, a farmer in the n?ighbour- ! hood. Plum stayed by himself in the , house, and being such an eccentric ; character he was well-known throughout the district. He kept his money always with him, as he had an aversion to banking it; and at the time of the fire he was known by his family to have

had something like .£3OO in the house. Close search was made for this in the ruins after the fire, but no trace of it could be found. Still the detective and the local police could for a time discover nothing to favour the theory that a crime had been committed. Mrs Stevens denied she had been at Plum's, but as she was not likely to iiave been there for any good purpose little was thought of that. It was concluded that Plum must have been asleep when the fire occurred through some accident, and so met his death. The detective returned to the city. But the sergeant still had grave suspicions. Ho had Plum's stomach, sent foi analysis to the Government analyst, who, on Feb. 5, wired to him to tay that he had got traces of arsenic in it. Another search was mado of Mrs Stevens' house, the result being the discovery of some arsenical soap and some white powders, together -wit! several liquid poisons said to be used bj Mrs Stevens in taxidermy, in which she did some work. But this, though it was suspicious, was far from conclusive, until a motive could be discovered. There was the money Plum wa3 known to have hac yet to be found. The police set tc work to make a thorough search of Mr; Stevens' house. They turned everything inside over and over again, and searehec everywhere outside as well. In the yarc was a pile of wood. This had been searehec twice, and a constable was going over it £ third time, when he came upon a beni piece of wood with a hollow in it, and this piece of wood was so placed that the hollo-w was hidden. He put his hand into th< hollow and pulled out Plum's purse! Ii was in a yeast tin, and in it was i>2Bo ii notes and gold, and deposit receipts foi .£2IOO. The adjourned inquest was resumed or Feb. 11. The police kept their importani find a close secret, and amid great sensa^ tion produced the purse at the inquest, anc secured its identification by Plum's wife It wa3 an old-fashioned leather purse oi peculiar construction, and Plum waa proud of it and often showed it, so that manj people knew it quite well. Mrs Stevens was completely staggered for a time by the production of the purse, but she is said tc have soon recovered herself, and now treats the matter quite coolly. She has told all sorts of stories to account for her absence from home on Thursday night, for it is known she was away ; but she refuses to admit that she was ever at Plum's, though she has been confronted by a young man named Sheridan, who knew hei well, and who swears distinctly that he saw her there when he went to speak tc Plum on the Thursday afternoon — that is, the afternoon before the fire — about the purchase of some bricks. Her stories to account for her whereabouts have all been investigated, and have proved to be untrue. The theory of the police is that Mrs Stevens passed Thursday night in Plum's house, that on the Friday she took some means of poisoning him by giving him araenic, that she then secured his money, and that she burned the house down to prevent the crime being discovered. It was just after dusk when the fire occurred, so that she was able to get home unobserved, and, as it happened, a thunderstorm with much lightning came on at the time and kept people indoors. Keeping in view the whole of the circumstances — the evidence of Sheridan, who saw Mrs Stevens jn Plum's house, the web of falsehood she has spun to account for her absence from her own home, the discovery of arsenic in the stomach of the farmer and iH Mrs Stevens* possession, and the finding of the money concealed upon her premises — there is very strong presumptive evidence that the woman has been guilty of a cold-blooded and cleverlyplanned murder.