ALLEGED MANSLAUGHTER AT LYTTELTON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5701, 19 August 1886, Page 4

ALLEGED MANSLAUGHTER AT LYTTELTON.

Magisterial Investigation. COMMITTAL FOR TRIAL. The following', amongst other additional evidence, was given yesterday : — James Driscoll and George Madden, gabourers, were examined. Lillian Treleaven, eleven year 3 old, resided with her parents at Salt's Gully, five or *ix doors off Kelly's. Saw Kelly on last j Saturday week afternoon. He was banging his front door trying to get in. The middle door on the verandah. Mrs Kelly came out and threw him along the verandah. He fell down the steps. He fell backwards she thought. He got up and went up the steps again, and went round to the back of the house. Mra Kelly, -when Kelly fell down the steps, went back inside. Mrs Kelly pushed him along the verandah to the edge of the , steps. He fell sideways down the steps. Witness then went on home. Witness heard no words between Kelly and hiß wife before he fell. To Mr Joyce : Did not see Kelly hurt. It was a wet day. Witneßs told her mother about it, but she would not listen to her. Told her to hold her tongue. Witness was a few steps from Kelly's door. Think Kelly was sober. Mrs Kelly | when she pushed him remained at the door. The door is only about four feet from the steps. The steps are about seven feet high. To the police : Mrs Kelly only came just outside the door. Kelly staggered along sideways from the effects of the push, and then fell down the steps. Alice Treleaven, wife of Richard Treleaven, and resident in Salt's Gully : Remember one day hearing that Kelly was dead. Sent her daughter, that day, on a message to King's, the grocer ; it was about three o'clock when she came back. Her daughter would have to pass Kelly's going down town. To Mr Joyce : On Monday her little girl told her that on Saturday, as Bhe came home, she saw Mrs Kelly open the door and push Kelly along the verandah, and he fell down the steps. May have told her daughter to hold her tongue. Never had any quarrel with Mrs Kelly. Don't think they ever passed the time of day". Kate Kelly swore that she was the daughter of Mrs Kelly, the accused. Remembered Wednesday, the day her father died. He took ill on Saturday, about 11 o'clock. He was not very well on the Saturday, and he went to bed. The doctor wa3 sent for on Sunday. On Wednesday, morning, when he came home, he had breakfast. Before breakfast he Eaid he had fallen down the hold of the Blackwall, on to the beams. That day he did not go out after breakfast. He was indoors all day. He went out on Thursday morning. He seemed to look all right then. He was out twice on Friday. He was limping when he came up the road, but otherwise seemed all right. Witness thought he did not go out on Saturday morning. He was in the house when witness went out, and also when she came back. He went to bed at 11 o'clock on Saturday and never got up. He lay on the small cot underneath the window, the bed in which he usually slept. Witness went out again at five o'clock. Mother was at home all day on the Saturday. Did not know if her father came home between 2 and 3 p.m. and that her mother pushed him down the verandah. (Witness was cautioned, and repeated that she did not know.) Witness was at home working all that day cleaning up the back yard. To Mr Joyce : When she came home from Redpath's mother put him to bed. Witness saw him in bed two or three times. Gave him something to eat, but forget what it was. Father went to bed at 11 o'clock because his back was bad. To the Bench : Father was undressed when he went to bed on Saturday. Mother showed me his back. It was bruised. Mother said, " The man's nearly dead." When he came home he told mother to look at his back. Madden came to see father on Monday night. Ellen Hawkins, sworn : Lived with her parents in Salt's Gully, next door but one to Kelly's. On Saturday, before Kelly died, between three and four, she saw Kelly going home along the top road. He looked the worse for drink ; otherwise he seemed in good health. He went up the steps to his own door. Did not see him again. To Mr Joyce : Kelly was staggering from one side to another. Thomas Johnston, sworn, said he was a seaman, residing in Lyttelton. Saw Kelly on the Saturday before he died at the Postoffice corner, about half-past nine. Spoke to him, and be said he was all right. Have known him for twelve years. He seemed in his usual health. Never saw him again alive. Did not know anything about Kelly falling down the hold of the vessel when he saw him on the Saturday. Owen Higgins, labourer, residing in Lyttelton, lemembered August 7. Saw Kelly between 9 and 10 o'clock near the wharf, where the Blackwall was lying. He seemed all right. Rouel Schenkel, lumper, residing in Lyttelton: Remember Friday last, the date of the adjourned inquest on Kelly. Was in a friend's house in Selwyn terrace at about 9.30 p.m. Mrs Kelly was there. She asked if witness had heard anything about the inquest on Thomas Kelly. Witness said " Yes, that he had heard that they had brought in a verdict of manslaughter against her." She asked ■what he thonghfc of it. Witness said he , had nothing to say then, as he had nothing to do with it. She asked if witness had seen Kelly on the Satuiday before his death. Witness said " Yes ; that he had seen him in the afternoon." Mrs Kelly then contradicted him, and said that he had not been out since Friday. She said that it was on Friday they were paid at the Shipping Company's offices. Witness said it was on Saturday that they were paid, and that he had seen him on that day. Mrs Kelly then asked what he thought of the jury taking Lillie Treleaven's evidence at the inquest. Witness said they took the evidence of children of ten years of age. Afterwards witness said she did not throw her husband down the steps. She said she had had hot words with her husband, but that it had never come to blows. It was between 1 and 2 p.m. on Saturday, on Norwich Quay, that he saw Kelly. Did not speak to him. Noticed nothing unusual. She (Mrs Kelly) said the hot words betweenherself and her husband occurred between 2 and 8 p.m. To Mr Joyce : It was at Mrs Arthur's house that she saw Mrs Kelly at 9 o'clock on Friday evening. He had been there about two hours when Mrs Kelly came. Mrs Arthur's two daughters and Mrs Kelly's family were present. They all heard this talk, or might have heard it. Did not go there in connection with this case. Was talking to Mrs Kelly as a friend. Told the police what Mrs Kelly said, when O'Connor asked him on Saturday night. Walter Daniells said he was a labourer residing in Salt's Gully, next door to Kelly's. Have lived there since last March. Do not think they lived a happy life. Have heard occasional noises, such aa people quarrelling. They last quarrelled on the Friday before he died. Heard voices. Do not know what they quarrelled about. Saw Kelly about mid-day on Friday down on the wharf. He was the same as usual. Don't recollect seeing him on Saturday. Timothy O'Connor, constable at Lyttelton, sworn, Baid : Know the residence of Kelly, the deceased. The steps at Kelly's are very steep, about 10ft. The balcony is about 12ft from the ground. There ere two large stones at the bottom,

•which, form one step. The house is about 22ft x lift, and has two rooms. The i balcony is about 3ft wide, and haß one rail along it. From the bottom to the door at ; the top of the Bteps i 3 about Bft. , Kelly was always complaining about their quarrels. To the Bench : The width of the Bteps is about 2sft. Have not often seen Kelly drunk. Mr Joyce, at the conclusion of the evidence, said he could bring strong evidence to j>rove that Kelly died of the injuries received by him on board the hulk. The ease for the prosecution rested entirely on the .evidence of the girl Treleaven, and he would ask for an intimation as to the opinion of the Bench whether they thought a case had been made out for a jury or not. The ißench decided that sufficient evidence had been brought to enable them to decide that the case ought to go before a jury, who would decide as to the innocence or guilt of ithe accused. In answ-er to Mr Joyce, the Bench fixed bail, self in £100, and two sureties, .£SO each.