HEADLESS, LEGLESS BODY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 108, 10 May 1938, Page 7

HEADLESS, LEGLESS BODY

IDENTIFICATION PROBLEM BOY RECOGNISES CLOTHING BUT CORONER NOT SATISFIED ( Per Press Association. ) BLENHEIM, May 9. Ail the clothing removed by the police from the headless anu Icg- | less body found in a suitcase I under the Picton wharf on Satur- ' day was produced at the opening of an inquest this evening in the Picion Courthouse, and was posi--1 lively identified by William Aittcen Armstrong, aged 19, a student at Wellington, as belonging to his father, Edwin Norman > rmstrong, who has been missing from his h >me, at Hataitai. V ellingtou, sine < 8.30 on Friday morning. At the conclusion of the proceed* ings, which were formal, occupying 15 minutes, the coroner, Mr. E. J. Hill, Blenheim, indicated that the testimony was insufficient to satisfy him as to a definite indentification, but the police intimated tnat they had nothing further to offer in the meantime. William Armstrong, the younger son of the man who is believed to have been murdered, arrived from Wellington on the ferry steamer Tamahine this evening. Very few people attended the inquest, and, outside the police officers, the only spectators were a half dozen members ot the crew of the cargo liner Pakeha, two of whose number gave evidence regarding finding the suitcase on Saturday floating in the water between the ship and the wharf. In a prepared statement, which was read, Armstrong junior said that he la t saw his father <it 8.15 on Friday morning, when witness departed lor the city, leaving his parents together at home. He was quite definite that the brown suit he was shown by detectives was the one his father wore when dressed in his best clothes. After identifying each article produced, witness said he wouldn’t say definitely that the suitcase belonged to his father, but ho had one similar to it. Il is understood that this witness did not view the body. After evidence relating Io the finding and preliminary examination of the body had been presented. Inspector Lewin, who conducted the inquest on behalf of the police, said that was all the evidence he proposed to offer at this stage. The coroner remarked that he was not satisfied that evidence of identity was complete. Presumably the body was that of Edwin Norman Armstrong, but the evidence was not sufficient to fully establish identification. Inspector Lewin: You arc aware, of course, this is the best we can do at present. The body was minus the head and legs. The inquest was adjourned sine die. Apart from the inquest, the only move in the case this afternoon in this district was when Detective-Ser-geant Murray and Detective Hayhurst came to Blenheim from Picton and spent several hours here. It is as- : j sumed that they are making inquiries regarding whether a person unnamed was staying here, or had pass'd through since the discovery of lhe body. ( Detective-Sergeant Herron and Detective Thompson arrived from Christchurch this afternoon to assist the large force of detectives and police already on lhe scene. POLICE NET CLOSING DEFINITE ENQUIRIES MADE 1 DETECTIVES VISIT HATAITAI 1 i ARTICLES REMOVED FROM HO’ SE. I j [Per 51... AwoemUon. I WELLINGTON, May ». Though at the time of going tf ’ i press to-night no arrest had bees ' j made in the Picton suitcase murder there is every reason to believe tha' the police inquiry has narrowed dowr. in the last 24 hours. Extensive and painstaking inquiries were carried out all day by WellingJ ton detectives under Sub-Inspector J. Carroll. After several other avenues of information had been explored a I party of detectives from lhe central _ station went by car to 20 Hinau ? Street. Hataitai, where a complete in- -> vestigation of the house and grounds was made. When the detectives left, they took with them a large numbei of articles, including a large mattress, a wooden box, a pail, some small rolls of carpet, a wooden chair, and a quantity of smaller articles. All these *’ are now at the detective office. Asked to-night why the articles had been removed, the Commissioner of Police (Mr. D. J. Cummings) declined I to give any information on the sub- , ject. Mr. Cummings said that a thorough search had been made at II Picton wharf for the remaining por- (? tions of the body, the head and legs, and, assuming that they wer there, it was hoped the wash of the Tamahine, as she left the wharf, would cause the remains to rise to the surs face. Failing that, however, he had y given orders for dragging operations without delay. r Evidence of the exhaustive nature f l of the police inquiries in Wellington J is provided by the fact that to-night a man who turned out to be a visitor - from Auckland was interrogated by - detectives. He had no difficulty in proving his identity, and it transpired , that his resemblance to another person was the cause of his being quesa tioned. h It is understood that Mr. Arme strong’s younger son, William, who e travelled to Picton to identify the d clothing on the body, is to return to 11 Wellington by the Tamahine to-, morrow night. I- ■—