BURNED THE BODY
FI KN A ( E’S STATEM ENT TO THE POLICE! LONDON, January 19. The melodramatic idea of burning another man’s body and making it appeal to have been his own, was referred to in a statement made by Samuel James Furnace, thirty-nine, 1 builder, after his arrest for the murder, of a rent collector named Spatch ett. Furnace committed suicide in his cell, and at the inquest a statement was read in which Furnace said he had shown Spatchett a loaded service revolver which he kept in a drawer. As Spatchett was leaving the shed, the revolver went off and shot him. 4 T .then lost my head,” said Furnace in the statement, ‘‘and when 1 found that Spatchett was dead, I threw the revolver into the canal. I returned the next day and was struck by tiie idea of burning the body and and making out that it was mine. The idea seemed too terrible, but, as it was the only way out, I put the body in the office chair, poured oil and paint, over it and set it on fire.” The police stated that Furnace apparently had concealed a bottle of poison in his overcoat pocket.
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Bibliographic details
Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 32, 30 January 1933, Page 2
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201BURNED THE BODY Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 32, 30 January 1933, Page 2
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