THE ARMIDALE MURDER.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXV, Issue 13059, 29 April 1910, Page 5

THE ARMIDALE MURDER.

CASEY PLEADS GUILTY. His Sanity Questioned. Press association—Telegraph.—Copyright. Received April 29, 9.40 a.m. SYDNEY. April 29. Henry Casey, charged with the murder of Johannali Kelly at Armidale on December 13, 1908, persisted ; in pleading guilty against the advice of his counsel, and after the Judge had carefully explained the position to mm, Casey, after further consultation with his counsel, agreed to withdraw his plea. The Judge has postponed the trial to enable experts on sanity to examine the accused.

Hannah Kelly, who was a waitress at the Central Hotel, Armidale,. N.S.W., was brutally murdered. Early one morning a servant named O’Leary, at the same hotel was awakened, she declared, by a gurgling sound, and, looking across at the bed occupied by the girl Kelly, saw a man bending over the waitress using a knife. The man rushed to the window and escaped. .Kelly was dead with her throat cut from ear to ear. Subsequently the servant, O’Leary, was arrested on suspicion. At the inquest it transpired that she had first reported that Kelly had burst a blood-vessel, and afterwards told the story of a man escaping by the window. Blood was found on O’Leary’s petticoat, underclothing, and fingers. She accounted for this by saying she sat by the bed, holding the dying girl. Some portion’s of O’Leary’s clothes were'missing. The jury considered there was not sufficient evidence against O’Leary do detain her, and she was discharged. Casey subsequently gave himself up to the police, declaring that he had murdered the girl.