THE AUBURN MURDER.

Star (Christchurch), 6 February 1903, Page 2

THE AUBURN MURDER.

HOW SUSPICION WAS AROUSED. As already stated in the cable messages frdm Sydney, an important development has taken place in connection with the murder of Constable Long at Auburn. On Jan. 22 a suspect was arrested. The house where he lived was surrounded, and he was captured while endeavouring to get away with his boots in his hand. He • left a loaded revolver on his dressing-table. The following d&y a groom at Auburn was questioned, and on the following morning he was taken to the police station for the purpose of identifying the suspect. The groom, however, failed to identify the matt. Later on the detectives again questioned the groom, and in consequence of certain statements he made 'he was taken into custody and charged with being an accomplice of the man who committed the iriurder. The suspect previously arrested was then charged with with the murder of Constable Long. Accused gave their names as Digby Grand, alias Newbold, alias Stephens, alias Ward, twenty-two, bootmaker, a native of Victoria, and John Thomas Woolford, twenty-seven, a butcher, who at the time of tho tragedy was employed as groom at the Royal Hdtel, Auburn. The manner in which the- burglary of the liojel arid the fearful crime that followed *ere carried out pointed to the possession of a gdod deal of local knowledge on the part of the perpetrators, and the attention of the detectives was concentrated to the scene df the tragedy. On the day following the murder the remains df the victim were taken from St Joseph's Hospital morgue and interred in thfe Rookwbod Cemetery. As the cortege was passing the Royal Hdtel, Auburn, John Thomas Woolford j the groom of the hotel, formed one of the large concourse of witnesses?. Although he did not know it lie was being closely watched. He was seen to be deeply agitated, and as the coffin slowly passed his eriidtiori was so great that- he nearly cdllapsed, but pulling himself together by a great effort he rushed td one of the outhouses at the back of the hctei and locked himself in. It happened that a domestic servant was in an outhouse adjoining, and she heard Woolford burst into sobs and then cry bitterly; " My God, what shall I do? Shall I tell all? My God. what shall I do?"' The servant who had unwittingly become possessed of the man's secret lef b the nuthouse soon after, and confided it to another woman, and in time the proprietor of the hotel, Mr Trnntweir, was informed. At the first opportunity Mr Trafatweir taxed Woolford about what had been heard, but lie stoutly denied everything. Next day the licensee again crossquestioned him closely about- his strange utterances on Tuesday afternoon, with the result that Woolford told him, "in the greatest confidence.'' he suspected two men who visited the hotel on Boxing Day. He implored Mr Trnntweir not to mention it to anyone, as his (Woolford's) life would not be worth living. Pressed for further information, the groom stated that he knew the men to be two criminals, one frdm Queensland m and the other from Victoria, and they were " wanted " in their respective State?. The detectives obtained from Woolford on Saturday the sensational admission that Grand and his companion liad visited life hotel previous to the murder, and that he had in a weak moment given them a. soap impression of the key of the safe of the hotel. The police have arrested a third man, named .Albert Yeomaiis, twenty-four, a horse trainer, resident at Annandale.