CHLOROFORM CASE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12064, 20 July 1917, Page 6

CHLOROFORM CASE.

\ KINXAIRD AND MEACHEM. CHARGED. CLARENDON HOTEL MYSTERY

The case of alleged chloroforming at the Clarendon Hotel in the small hours of the morning of July <1 was before Mr W. H. Cooper, and Mr W. J. Neate, J.P., at the Magistrate's CoMrt to-day, when William Kinnaird, aged thirty, and Robert Irwin Meacblem, aged twenty-four, wore charged that, on July 5, at the Clarendon Hotel, Christchuroh, with intent to facilitate the commission of a crime, they had attempted! to cause Andrew Rollo Guild and Enid Guild to be affected by chloroform. Detective M'llveney conducted the prosecution, and .Air Cassidy appeared tor the accused.

Andrew Koilo Guild, farmer, of Temuka, said that on .July 3, in company with his wife, lie motored through to CliristchMrch, arriving about ~i P-m., and putting up at the Clarendon Hotel, occupying room 31. On the following day he was at the. Addingtor. yard,s most of the time. .His wife went to bed that night at about 10.40. Me walked back to the Square with a. iriend. and left him there a few minutes after eleven. lie went straight, upstairs on reaching ih 0 hotel, and his wife was (hen a.sleep, but woke. She was then quite normal. On retiring lio closed the dour, but did not lock it. He hung his clothes behind the door. His wile awakened him at. o.'io a.m., and he at once noticed a. very strong smell, which he put down to »hloroiorm. ilis wife was';i]>, very much oxcited and alarmed, and partly da-zed. lie lelt allected in the lungs. When lie sat up be noticed that th ( \ chloroform uas not- as strong as when iie was lying down, and on getting up he searched the clothes and found a large ha ndkerchiel soaked with a solution, which he regarded as chloroform. It was lying between the two pillows. H,> put, the handkerchief (produced) in a smali drawer of the chest, of drawers, hopuig to find what was on it. A few minutes past, i a.m. lit: handed it to the proprietor. He examined everything in tho room. Nothing was disarranged or missing, his money being untouched. Immediately after finding the handkerchief he heard a stop in the passaig|h and looked out.. Tho, niojit porter was calling somebody at a- door a Jew yards along tho. passage, lip had since been shown certain papers by the police which he recognised as having missed. 'J hey consisted of a weighbill, a. receipt from Heath and Co., a cablegram and a booklet on shipping problems. They had been in his inside coat pocket, lie had not seen 1 lie accused before.

To Mr Cassidy: His complete tf.ut was hanging on the door. Enid Guild, wife of the previous witness, said thai, she wont to bed about 10.30 on the Thursday night, leaving the light burning. Her husband came in about half a'.i hour later, and she awoke. After going to .sloop again, sin* awoke about o.JiO a.m., and, when she came to her senses she was .standing at the end of the hod, holding on to the. bed. She had a reeolleotion of awaking earlier and throwing ofT the clothes. She had a. feeling of being choked. She opened the window immediately, and then found that the door was opened. Hlie did not know what she said to her husband. Her husband found a. handkerchief. Sho smelt it and considered that. a. drug was on the hand!-* kerchief. Witness taStod chloroform all day. The feeling she had that morning was similar to t.be I col in 2; she bad alter she had been under chloroform. Witness slept nearer the door. The! handkerchief was found between tho witness and her husband. To Mr Cassidv: She lost no jewellery or money. The- Bench: Where was your jewellery? Witness: It was 011 tlio dressingtable. I)r Tliom:is Leslie Crooke said that he had heard Mi* and Mrs Guild s evidence, and the feeling described by them could only lie obtained by administering chloi'olorm. It was very unsafe to administer chloroform without an examination having been made of the patient. In answer to Mr Cassidv, witness said that persons just, waking up might find themselves out ol bod. .Miss T. Murphy, assistant clerk at tho Clarendon Hotel, said that she -was on duly when the accused came to tho hotel. One. of them gave lus name as J\ Wilson, and he asked for a pijivatie room and some, drinks. They "wenl an the smoking-room. At n.ir, they came to her and asked for supper. Wtness told Hiolll that as they were not guost.s thov could not get supper. I hey then said that they would stay lor the night. The accused said to witness, " We've just conic from tho States and we don't know the rules of the hotels i„ these parts." They then asked lor the, rooms. Witness asked them to sign the book. One M«r»o,l his mime as L Wilson and the other as Witness gave tliem two rooms, Nos 10 and 11 The accused then said .hat, thov would prefer a double room, and. then witness gave them room Nn. ■»(,. The accused then had supper m the coking-room. Witness s« t e ;c----cused next morning, v hen tIHA paid th Tnln?'lli"ras Soupw, licensee- of tlio Clmewlen' Hotel. tb»j. l.e reraeinbored the accused, who sta\ed at his hotel on July 4 under the names of "Wilson and (hvon. Witness saw the two of them at the hotel that night. Witness sa.v them having supper m a smoking room. TTo did not see them from 10 20 p.m. until tho next 11101 ning. Mr and Mrs Guild occupied room No 31 on tlio night of July -1. On the' morning of July G witness went to Guild's room and was there shown a handkerchief. Witness smelt it and defected a slight smell of chloroform. Ho did not smell anything 111 the room. Witness took' the handkerchief down to his office and later handed it to one of the detectives. _ Edward Charles Price, night porter at tho Clarendon Hotel, said that, he remembered seeing the accused in the hotel 011 the night of .luly *l. They remained there until 11 p.m. and then went out. They returned to the hotel at 3 a.m. in a taxi. Tho accused asked for drinks and witness served thorn. They then went to the smoking room and had more drinks. Quo of the accused pulled out a revolver and pointed it at the witness's stomach. They said. Would you like to carry this around with you," and witness replied, "No, I Avould not." Tho accused told witness that thov came from America and were selling motor-cars. The revolver was not loaded. Witimss showed the accused to their room about <1.30 a.m. 'Hie taller one of the accused, Wilson, left his overcoat 011 tho lounge. Witness took it up to the. accuseds' room. At f>.lo, Avhon witness wont to call the barman, he saw Owen outside tho accuseds.' room. When witness came back Mrs* Guild was standing 0111sido her door and showed him a handkerchief. Tho Jinndkorchiof smelt as if there,, was a drug on it. About an hour after witness took some tea, into the accuseds' room. They were then asleep. Witness wont in again a few minutes later and Wilson had drank his tea, hut Owen was still sleeping. ■ John Oakley, warehouse assistant, in tho employ of J. Wilton and Co., of Christchurch. On July 2, witness saw Kenniiard in the. shop. Ho asked for two ■ ounces of chloral, but as witness did not have any, ho bought some chloroform. The accused said that ho was a, student and that ho had olton

got a lot of it from Wilton's Wellington house. Witness produced the docket showing the particulars of the sale. Witness picked the accused at the Police Station.

Alexander Augustus Bickerton, Government annlj'st, said that on July 6, ho received the Initio (produced) containing a drug, from Detective Eade. The bottle contained five grams of chloroform. Witness identified a handkerchief produced as one lie had been shown, but he could not detect any smell of chloroform on it.

Edward Baies, taxi driver, said that he remombercd tho night of Ji:ly 4. Witness picked up thc*_ accused, Ivinniard, who was wiltb another man. Kinniard told witness to drive him and his mate until witness was told to stop. The taller man took a revolver out of his pocket- and showed it to the witness. Tliey asked him if lie would like a drink, but witness declined. Tho car broke down after driving for half-an-hour, and they had to walk back to town. Witness left the accused at the Clarendon Hotel, about 3.30 a.m. The licensed called on witness about 2.30 p.m. that day and told him that there had been trouble at tho Clarendon, and probably the police would make inquiries. They asked him to be good enough not .to say anything about tho revolver.

William S. Nieholls said that he was in the Clarendon Hotel on the night of July 1. He saw the two accused there, and he had a conversation with them. They told him th-r>t they were touring the country, and asked him if he was a resident. Witness replied that lie was. and they asked him t-o have some supper with them. Witness went- along and had a smoke and a few "nips" with the accused. He did not leave a, coat, at the hotel that night. Both the accused were sober.

Detective Abbott, stationed, at, Christchurch, said that on July o, in consequence of a report, he interviewed Mr Souper, ol tho Clarendon Hotel, and witness was given the handkerchief. Witness than saw Mr and Mrs Guild. From wha.r. ho was told Detective Hade and witness interviewed tho accused, who had just left tho hotel. The. accused wore taken to the detective office. Witness soarched the accused's room, and in the wardrobe he found some papers (produced). Tho accused denied any knowledge of the papers. \\ itness also found an overcoat in the room. Kinniard told witness that the coat, had been given to liiin by a man who he had supper with. \\ itness then went back to tho detective office, and searched the accused. Detoetiive Kado and witness then went, to Hath Street, where (lie accused had rented a room. The accused said thait they had not given any name. The accused were then allowed to go pending further inquiries. Later on in the day, Detective .Kado and witness made a further search at, it lie Cladonron Hotel. In the gent- s lavatory witness saw Detective La do take a pistol and a bottle of chloroform Irom tho cistern. At seven o clock that night Detective Eade and witness went to Hath Street aul brought the accused to the detective office. Afc the office, witness told Kinniard that he had obtained evidence to connect hi in with the affair that happened at the Clarendon Hotel that morning. Witness asked him if ho had anything to say, and he replied that all he, knew about the case he had told him that morning. In the presence of the two accused, Detective Eade read a statement. In the statemot, Meaclom said that he was a labouror and lived at Auckland. Ho arrived in Christchureli on July I, and stayed at the Federal Coffee Palace. Later ho obtained a room iu Bath Street., On Wednesday, July 4, he and bis mate, William O'Connor, went to the Clarendon and got a room there. At night they went, for a joy ride in a taxi. They did not get back" to the hotel until 3.30 a.m. After having drinks, the two of them went to bed. W r hen he woke he found a_ bottle of chloroform and a revolver under O'Connor's pillow, and went and threw them in the cistern. O'Connor was I hen asleep. Kinniard in his statement said that he was a seaman, and came to town with Meaclem. After arriving back from the joy ride, he asked the porter where one of the witnesses slept, and tho porter pointed to the room opposite the one he was staying in. lie went in the room and saw a man sleeping in tho bed. He, then threw the handkerchief, which had chloroform on it, on the pillow and ran out of the room and then went to bed.

Continuing his evidence, Detective, Abbott said that after the statement had been read over to the accused, they said, "We suppose that, wo will get seven years for this. What- will wo be charged with?" Witness tokl them what, they would he charged with. The accused were then locked up. Detective Fade also gave evidence.

This concluded the case for the prosecution.

The accused reserved their defence and pleaded not guilty. They were committed to the Supreme Court for trial. Mr Cassidy asked for hail, as the accused could not get out. of New Zealand owing to the* War Regulations.

The Bench stated that it was a very serious charge. Mr Cassidy said that, the accused con I* 1 report' at the Police Station every night. Act ing - Chief - Detective M'llveney strongly opposed bail, as tin 1 accused bad no occupations. Mr Oassidv said that the Bench had no right to keep the accused in for four weeks before their trial. The Bench decided to refuse bail.