HOTEL TRAGEDY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20374, 3 July 1934, Page 4

HOTEL TRAGEDY.

Coroner Comments on Evidence. “ TWO VERSION’S OF ONE THING.” It is unlikely that the inquest into the death of Donald Fraser, formerly licensee of the Racecourse Hotel, Riccarton, will be finished before to-mor-row. Seven witnesses had been heard when the Coroner’s Court rose yesterday afternoon, and twelve more were still to be called. The Court was crowded yesterday afternoon, and many of the public could not gain admission. When John Wilson, the hotel porter, had given his evidence yesterday the Coroner, Mr E. D. Mosley, remarked :j “ It is quite obvious that witness has given two versions of the one thing. • One is obviously incorrect and the other may be correct.” Chief-Detective W. 11. Dunlop, on j behalf of the police, continued his questioning of John Wilson yesterday, afternoon. The Chief-Detective (referring to a visit made to Fraser’s bedroom after! the tragedy): Did you see Higgs, Mrs, Fraser or Joyce interfere with the bedding?—Yes. I saw Mrs Fraser. j When was that?—When Mr Murphy! was there. She brushed and shoe. 1 ; j the pillow. ■When did you become aware of that fact?—Constable Murphy was there when she did it. I don't know it' Mr Higgs was. You remember being closely questioned about that bv the police? Yes. You stated: ‘‘ I never touched the bedding or interfered with the body in any way when I was in the room. I did not see Mrs Fraser or ' Joyce interfere with the bedding when they were in the room.'* Is that correct?—No: because Mrs Fraser shook ' the pillow in front of Mr Murphy and ' myself. I don’t think I was asked ' about the clothing. ! You were asked about the bedcloth- ; ing and you never mentioned that?— I No answer. Have you been discussing that as- ' pect?—No. Quite sure?—Certain. Position of French Windows. We had never heard about the 1 brandy fr&m you until to-day?—No. Why didn’t you tell us that?—l was never asked about that. Wilson, you were closely questioned on that. Would you not remember it better then than you would now? Yes. Why are }'ou so sure Mr Higgs was not in the room at the time?—l don't think he was. At the time you entered the room, , do you remember the position regarding the French windows?—The window leading to the balcony, one side of it, was open. If Mrs Fraser says they were both open you would be wrong?—My statement made to the police is right. One side was bolted back and the other was open

Did you notice the position of a seagrass chair in the room?—Yes, it was up near Fraser’s head. It was facing towards the body, I think.

After you had been in the room the second time, who was the first to arrive from the outside?—Coitstable Murphy. Did anyone go to the room with him?—l did; Higgs and Mrs Fraser also. Moving of Body. What happened when you went into the room on that occasion?—Mr Murphy had a look at the body and told Mrs Fraser that Fraser was dead. Did Murphy move the body?—Yes. I think there was someone else with him who helped him move the body. It was a police officer. They turned the body over trying to find if there was a gun under the arm. Do you remember Mrs Fraser saying anything about her being in bed when Fraser was shot?—No. Did she give any explanation as to what she “-thought had happened? She was quite hysterical and going on. From the time that Mrs Fraser called you until the time the police arrived was any person absent from the hotel?—No.

Did you ask Higgs if he had heard a gun go off?—l might have. When did you first know Fraser had died from a gunshot wound?—l did not know until Mr Murphy came in how he was shot. He might have been shot by a revolver or anything. Were you going on what Mrs Fraser told you when she woke you?—Yes. Did you ever know Fraser to possess a gun?—l had never seen one. On the morning that you first entered Fraser’s bedroom, you saw no sign of a gun?—-No. Pillows on the Bed. There is a reference here. You have told us you saw Mrs Fraser lift the pillow and brush it. In your statement to the police, when you were asked that question, you said. “Never at any time has Mrs Fraser said anything to me about the pillows on the bed.” Is that correct?—Yes. You made the following statement: * She has never said anything to me or asked me if I saw her brushing dust off or straightening up her pillow when in the room that morning. I remember when she was in the room with me she was touching things near the top of her side of the bed. I did not take any notice of what she was doing. I did not see her lift the pillow and brush it. I did not take any notice of what she was doing.”—The statement to the police will be the correct statement. “ It is Right.” The Coroner: Now you appreciate that the statement read to you now is the correct one? —Yes. It is right.

The chief-detective: How do you reconcile that statement with what you have just told us, that Mrs Fraser in the presence of Constable Murphy picked up her pillow and brushed it? I can’t see how I got confused. The Coroner: But the statement made by you to the police is correct? —Yes. The Chief-Detective: If the first is correct the one you told to-day is false?—l saw her near the top of the pillow. The Coroner: You know you’ve sworn to tell the truth, j don’t want you to say . what is false; you know the consequences. Anything you have said contradicting the first statement is not true?—Yes, sir. The Car Outside. Chief-Detective Dunlop: In your statement you say “ Mrs Fraser did not say’- anything about a car pulling j up outside the hotel. She did not say anything about Don getting up and goI ing downstairs to answer the doorbell after they had gone to bed.” Would ■ that be correct? Witness: Yes. Do you know of anyone with sufj ficient grudge against him to . . . .? j No, I do not. I And has there been anything in his : conduct to lead you to believe that he j was mental or of suicidal tendencies? — No, nothing that I know of. Did Mrs Fraser* discuss with you on i the morning of November 17 as to who 1 she thought was likely to have killed her husband?—No. Witness Cross-examined. To Mr Thomas, Wilson said he was in the room when Constable Murphy and Dr Hall were there. lie did net know that Constable Murphy closed one of the doors to the balcony. He did not know that Constable Murphy later tried to open the doer again, could not, put his boot to it and broke the latch. Wilson agreed the constable was very busy. lie remembered the arrival of the main body of police. The body had been moved or interfered with at that time, a seagrass; chair had been moved and the bed clcthes had been examined. Photographs taken early in the morning would hot show the room in exactly the same position as when witness saw it. Mrs Fraser went to the top cf the bed and brushed something on the pedestal and appeared to be* brushing on the pillow. It was when Constable Murphy was there. He did not, see her lift the pillows off the bed. The Coroner: How often were you in the room with Constable Murphy and Mrs Fraser?—Once. When Mr Thomas referred to a point in the depositions the Coroner said: “ It is quite obvious that witness has given two versions of the one thing. One is obviously incorrect and the other, I will put it this way, may be correct. However, I don’t want at this stage to comment on the evidence.” He added also that witness had given several versions of the one thing. The Court adjourned shortly before six o’clock.