7

H.—33

There were two incised wounds behind the right angle of the jawbone, ran downwards and forwards through the muscles, and ended by striking against the spine : one of these completely divided the process of one of vertebrae. There was an incised wound behind the left ear fin. in length and fin. in depth : this was wound over mastoid process. An incised wound fin. in length and 2-Jin. deep, downwards and forwards, on the right side of the neck, dividing external jugular vein on the right side, and passing through soft part, and ended by striking against the spine. These were all about the neck. As to the trunk : beneath the left armpit were found six clean incised wounds and one angular wound, the angular wound evidently made by two thrusts of same instrument, one opening into the other. The wounds varied in length from -fin. to Jin., and from -|in. to 4Jin. in. depth. I measured the depth with a probe. There was a more or less contused wound on the left, just beneath the ribs, in the region of the stomach, about fin. in diameter. There were three incised wounds in the lower part of the chest on the left side, fin. in length by ljin. in depth; three incised wounds in the back, about -fin. in length and l&in. deep ; and two were If in. in depth. There wore other incised wounds on the arms and shoulders all of the same character. I have given you the appearance of the wounds on the outside. As to the wounds on the back, they ended -by striking against the spine. Having opened the chest, I found the left pleural cavity filled with blood and clots of lung-collapse, and I now found that the wounds previously described beneath the armpit had e'ntered the upper lobe of the left lung—six of them. The right pleural cavity contained blood and clots, and the apex of the lung had a small circular wound, which had evidently been made by a small pellet of shot, the position being in a direct line with a gunshot-wound. 32. I want to know about the wound in the heart ?—Any of the wounds in the jugular would cause death. I opened the pericardium, which contains the heart; it was full of blood and clots. On upper part on the left side there was an incised wound -Jin. in length ; a similar wound Jin. in length opened into the left auricle of the heart. The distance between the inner wound in the heart and the outer wound on the surface of the body which passed through the lung was sin. That wound corresponds with one of the six wounds under the armpit. I measured the depth with probe. As to the jagged wound on the back, it was on the back of the right shoulder, close to the spine and above the angle of the shoulder-blade ; that not incised was a ragged round hole, circumference If in. by 1-J-in. There were a large number of shot-wounds outside this hole. The shot had passed into the body. I traced that wound in the interior; it passed slightly upwards and outside to the right. One pellet I presumed had passed into the lung. As to the flesh that had been injured by the jagged wound, I took out the mass, put it in a piece of paper, and carried it home on the Saturday. This was on the Ist June—Saturday. I got the paper out of my bag. I brought the bag from home. The paper was in the bag when I left home on the morning of Saturday. I put it into the bag that morning. It was newspaper. I remember putting it in my bag. I got it from one of my rooms. Ido not know what paper it was. Ido not keep files of the paper. I do not preserve them. Ido not think I had had a New Zealand Times that morning. It is not my habit to have old papers. Sometimes half* a dozen. I have the Post and Press regularly. 33. As to the incised wounds on the body ?—They were all clean incised wounds, clean cut at both extremities. I mean that they were made by a double-edged instrument. The wounds on the surface of the body were about fin. on the surface. The wound on the pericardium fin., and on the heart Jin. That shows that the instrument with which the wounds were made tapered. The distance between the inner wound and outer was sin. ; therefore the instrument must have been at least sin. ; besides that, I have not made any allowance for distance through the clothing. Having regard to the wound severing the jawbone, the instrument must have been a very strong one. The mass I iook from the shot-wounds I took to my house and produced it at the inquest. I took it home again. I had not changed the wrapping. I took it home on Monday, 3rd June. I dissected it on 6th June. Before that I had not taken the shot out. On 6th June I opened the parcel. The whole of the wrapping did not come away. When the inside mass was taken from the body it consisted of particles of clothing, flesh, blood-clots, paper, and shot, the whole substance being saturated witlrblood. When put into the wrapping the blood, of course, gravitated to and wetted the wrapping on the part it was standing on. The whole of the paper came away clear, except a piece about the size of a shilling or half-a-crown remained on the mass. In order that the paper should not get confused I burned the piece that remained. I endeavoured to remove by soaking in water, and I believed had removed it all, but on reconsideration I think it is possible a small portion of the wrapper might have remained adherent to the mass. If it did remain it would have been only a very small portion of the paper I had removed from the wound ; if it did remain adherent it went with the remaining portion of the paper found in the mass and taken from the wound. Having removed the wrapper I dissected the mass. I separated from the mass blood, paper, particles of clothing, and shot. 34. What did you do with the paper and particles of clothing?—l cleaned them and dried them and put them in a box, and handed them to Mr, Tasker. There were two boxes. In the first box I took to Mr. Tasker was paper; there may have been shot. The whole of the paper found in the mass, and, possibly, part of the wrapper, I put into a box and took it to Mr. Tasker. I went first to Inspector Thompson. I did not deliver the box to him :he did not touch it. I went with him to Mr. Tasker and delivered it to Mr. Tasker. 35. Look at this box, do you find any memorandum of yours in that box ?—Yes; I find-a piece of paper with a written memorandum of mine on it. 36. Mr. Bunny.] When-slid you make that memorandum? —I made it on the 6th June. 37. Did you put that piece of paper with that writing on it into the box which you gave to Mr. Tasker, and was the piece of paper in it when you gave it to Mr. Tasker ? —Yes. 38. What else was in that box?—Merely the paper that I had teased from the substance extracted from the wound. 39. Did you.give more than one box to Mr. Tasker?—Not on the 6th June.