BATTERED TO DEATH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 460, 29 December 1930, Page 10

BATTERED TO DEATH

MELBOURNE GIRL’S FATE SENSATIONAL MYSTERY. SEARCH FOR MURDERER. MELBOUNE, Dee. 3. If the murder of Mena Griffiths shocked Melbourne, then the murder of Miss Mary Dean must have done something more, for its brutality has been unequalled in the criminal history of the Commonwealth. With two such mysteries on its hands, the Victorian police force will be severely tested, with a prospect that the perpetrators unless they give themselves away will remain at large. Miss Dean, aged 25, was a school teacher, handsome and clever, but from facts that have since, been revealed it would appear that she had a liking for the Bohemian life. She counted among her friends a number of artists. She was of an independent type, and apparently quite accustomed to being out late at night alone. She is said to have had no fear. Therefore it has been suggested that the brute who battered her to death knew her habits. The police now hold the view that the crime was perpetrated by a man who was jealous of Miss Dean's association with Mr Colin Colahan, an artist, to whom she was engaged. Air Colahan. however, declared that the theory of jealousy was all nonsense. When Air Colahan called at the police headquarters the day following the murder, he said that he had known Miss Dean for about 15 months, and that they were engaged, although no public announcement of the fact had been made. He said that on the day of the murder Miss Dean was at her post as usual at the Opportunity School. On that night Miss Dean and Air Colahan joined a theatre party, which divided into three groups and visited different theatres. They reassembled afterwards and discussed the different shows, ami he. and Mr Norman Lewis went with Miss Dean to the Flinders Street railway station where they left her to catch a train. Two Telephone Conversations. From St. Hilda Aliss Dean presum ably caught the last train home. Al: Colahan informed the detectives that ho reached home at midnight. Immediately afterwards he received a telephone ring from Aliss Dean, who said that she wished to discuss with him her intention of leaving her position with the Education Department with, the idea of taking up journalism. She explained that she had not discussed the matter at the theatre, as she did not desire the others in the. party to be aware of her intentions. She rang off ami half an hour later again called Mr Colahan on the telephone. f l hey did not talk about anything in particular on the second occasion. The detectives set out to obtain definite information of the girl's movements between 11.30 on Thursday night ami one o’clock on Friday morning, thinking that this would go a long way toward solving the mystery ol her death. So far they have been unable to till the gap. and they have appealed to the general public to come forward with anv information they may have in regard io the girl. Despite the protest by Mr Colahan. the detectives in charge of the case persist in expressing the view that jealousy was behind the crime, jealousy and the desire for revenge’. They arc strengthened in this view by the' fact that they have been unable'to trace a man who is known to have been friendly with Aliss Dean during recent weeks. The detectives are anxious to learn something of Miss Dean’s movements while Air (’olanan was away in South Australia on a caravan tour, from which he returned about four weeks ago. They suspect that certain facts are being' withhold by people m a position to provide them, »nd when these arc obtained, they say the case may take an unexpected turn and the murder be cleared up. Great importance is attached to one statement that a man in fawn trousers was seen to be walking a short distance behind Afiss Dean on the night of the murder. Skull Fractured in Six Places. The detectives say they are convinced that Miss Dean was struck on the head with a motor-tyre lever, but this instrument has not been found. The sea is only a few hundred yards away from the scene of the crime, and it would make a. sale hiding place for such a weapon. The injuries to the girl’s head, revealed by post-mortem examination, gave an indication of the savage, manner in which she was attacked. Her skull was fractured in six places there was a deep scratch on her breast, and her body was covered with bruises. Air Perov Treason, a cartoonist, described Aliss Dean as a brilliant intellectual girl with great literary promise. “She possessed great vitality and charm.” he said. “She was particularly fond of hiking, was strong, and verv confident of her natural strength. Knowing the girl and the confidence which she had in herself, I do not think that had she been suddenly confronted with a man she would have screamed, or that, if she had screamed, her cry would have been very loud. “ATiss Dean was of the type, that would have said ‘What do you want?’ and if attacked would have put up a terrific fight without uttering a word. She was deeply interested in literary questions and was engaged in writing a novel. I do not know what the novel was about, although I knew Aliss Dean very well.’but she was the sort of girl who would make, light, of such work and not talk about it.”