MYSTERY MURDERS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20256, 16 March 1934, Page 8

MYSTERY MURDERS.

Wagga and Pilliga

Cases. INTENSE PUBLIC INTEREST. (Special to the “ Star.”) SYDNEY, March 6. The two most sensational murder cases .of the year have within the past week moved several steps further toward finality/ What is known as the Wagga ease—which concerns the fate oi Percy Smith, a travelling hawker and drover, whose dead body was found in the Murrumbidgee—has now passed the inquest stage, and the evidence seemed to the coroner so conclusive that he definitely charged Morey, the man already in custody, with the murder of Smith. Morey will stand his trial in due course at the next quarter sessions. In the meantime the people of New South Wales may congratulate themselves on the energy and assiduity with which the police have followed up their clues and the remarkable ingenuity and skill displayed by the detectives of the C.J.B. in tracking down the supposed perpetrator of the murder. Remarkable Circumstances. The coroner, in announcing his verdict, commented at length on the remarkable circumstances surrounding the case. The ‘’Star” has already described how the police obtained their first clue from the skin detached from the victim when found in the river, and how, with the help of the fingerprint impressions thus secured, they identified the dead man as Percy Smith. Then with this ghastly “dead hand” pointing the way, they followed up various detached clues to prove his association with Morey; and then with persevering industry they traced the movements of the two men and subsequently of Morey alone till they reached the end of their journey. The coroner pointed out that not one single statement made by the police had yet been effectively contradicted, and he • bestowed well-deserved praise upon the officials of the fingerprint branch of the C. 1.8., the officers responsible for the completion of the long and tortuous chain of circumstantial evidence, and the sergeant who, with remarkable ability and impartiality, presented the case for the police to the Court. The coroner said that the case was unique in his experience, and no doubt, as he suggested, the Wagga murder will be recorded in our judicial history as one of the most remarkable incidents in the annals of Australian, crime. Human Interest Drama. The other sensational episode to which I have referred—the Pilliga murder case—has not yet developed so fully. But if the statements already published by the police are to be taken literally the mystery is now solved, and the disclosures at the inquest this week I will reveal a drama of profound pathos and intense human interest. The woman, Susie Richards, who, it is alleged, has given to the police a written confesison of guilt, is recovering slowly from the effects of her desperate attempt at suicide, and the police have now arrested her husband, Henry Richards, as an accessoi’y on the ground that knowing his wife’s guilt he gave her shelter and assistance after the murder. The Richards had a cottage on Bugilbone station, close to the scene of the tragedy, and Nott had lived with them there for some time before he started business at Pilliga. There is nothing to be gained by conjecturing the character of the expected revelations, and the extraordinary nature of the case has stirred up public curiosity to a high pitch of intensity, and the outcome of the inquest is being eagerly awaited here.