The Thames Shooting Case.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIX, Issue XXII, 29 November 1902, Page 1395

The Thames Shooting Case.

Myra Taylor, the married woman •rreated on the charge of attempting to murder Michael Whelan at Thames on August 26 th, came np for trial at the Supreme Court on Thursday before Mr Justice Conolly and a Jury of twelve, of whom Mr C. Bartley was foreman. The Hon. J. A. Tole, Crown prosecutor, conducted the case. Prisoner was defended by Mr J. C. Martin, and pleaded not guilty. Mr Tole described the occurrence, in which Whelan was accosted one night by a. person dressed in male attire and wounded by a revolver. This person, he said, was afterwards found to be the accused, who was arrested, still in male attire, on board a steamer leaving for Auckland. She then admitted the crime, and said her intention was to commit suicide. Michael Whelan, the principal witness, said he had been intimately acquainted with the accused for some years past in various parts of the Thames district. In July last he quarrelled with the accused at Karangahake, when he told her he intended to get married. She replied, "All right, my boy; the day you marry is the day you die.” On the evening of the 26th of August he was about to enter his mother's house at Thames when a strange “man” approached him. The person’s manner startled him, and he caught him round the waist. As the person did not resist the embrace he released him and took him by the wrist, asking, “What’s your blooming game, old chap?” The person replied by drawing a revolver from beneath a mackintosh and shooting him in the head. He threw his assailant to the ground and struck him in the face, saying, "You’re a rotten cow, who ever you are.” The person seemed to be coneealing his face. Finding the bullet wound bleeding he attempted to get away, but his assailant chased him for about fifty yards. He then shouted to a friend named Miller, in whose company he went to the police station and afterwards to the hospital By Mr Martin: He had been intimate with the accused for a considerable period. Are you not the father of two of her children?—Not that I know of. You can't say that you are not?— How can I be the father of her children when she is a married woman? His Honor: Has she had two children during the time yon have been intimate with her? —Yes. By Mr Martin: He was aware that accused’s husband left for England with his child a month before the attempted murder. He could not say that Mrs Taylor’s last words to witness were, “Well, if you do many I shall destroy myself.” Accused had at times lent him money, but never as much as £3O. John Brooks Mason, hotelkeeper, of Thames, said accused put up at Ms hotel on the night of August 26, disguised as a man, and wearing a dark moustache. She carried a portmanteau, and was shown to a bedroom. She said she expected to be out late, and inquired how to gain admission after eleven o’clock. She

went out, and returned at 12.15 at night. In the morning she asked for the morning paper, which had not arrived. When the news of the tragedy reached him he reported the woman’s movements to the police. Constable Reid, of Thames, said he heard the firing of a shot at about 10.30 on the night of the occurrence, and heard Michael Whelan crying for help as he ran toward the police station. The side of his face was covered with blood. Dr. Aubin, in charge of the Thames Hospital, described the bullet wound, which was not dangerous. Sergeant Clarke said he received the accused in custody on the day after the shooting, and perrmitted her to assume female attire, which some friends brought her. Detective Miller, of Thames, said when he arrested the accused on the day following the occurrence, in the smoke room of the steamer Taniwha, at Paeroa, she gave the name of “Jack Lennox.” She attempted to take a bottle of laudanum from her breast-pocket, but he caught her by the wrist, and the bottle fell to the deck, some of the contents being spilt. She then said she wished to speak to him privately. They moved away, and she said: “You know me, don’t you?” He said: “I think you are Mrs Taylor.” She replied “Yes.” He said he would have to arrest her for attempting to murder Michael Whelan at Thames. She said: “You are not going to lock me up. Surely you can let me go?” When he took her from the steamer she said: “I. was mad to do such a thing. I think it must have gone off itself. I didn’t know it had touched him till I saw the blood.” Miller, continuing, said on the way to Thames accused said she meant to kill Whelan, and then kill herself. By Mr Martin: A steamer left Thames for Auckland on the night of August 26. at about 11.15 or 11.30. Accused accounted for th® laudanum by saying she was a bad sleeper. She said Whelan had driven her to do the deed, but she thought the revolver went oft accidentally, as she did not remember pulling the trigger. She said that if she had wished to shoot Whelan she could have done so at the house, and she had told Whelan that if he got married she would destroy herself. She had had no food for three days. Detective Maddern said the revolver, which he found under a seat of the steamer Taniwha, where Mrs Taylor said she had hidden it, was a four-chambered revolver. One cartridge had been discharged, and another had become jammed in the rifle. Mr Martin did not call witnesses in defence. The Crown Prosecutor intimated that he would not address the jury. Mr. Martin, addressing the jury, reminded them that the point they were asked to decide was whether the accused did actually attempt to commit murder. The statement that accused said, “The day you marry is the day you die,” was only supported by Whelan’s evidence, and he asked the jury whether he was a man on whose evidence they could rely. He also point-

ed to Whelan’* career of sexual interoouree with, the accused, and naked them not to convict her of anch ■ aerious crime on the evidence of a man of that character. He commented npon the accused’* leisurely movements after the shooting, as showing that the thought of having committed a serious crime was not then in her mind. In regard to Detective Miller’s evidence that accused said she intended to kill Whelan and then herself, this conversation was picked out of a long conversation given when accused was in a very agitated state, and must be taken with other statements, as for instance the remark that if she had wished to kill Whelan she could have done so at the time. The shot was fired while accused had her back to Whelan with her head resting on his shoulder, and her wrist in Whelan’s grasp. Whelan’s evidence itself showed that while he grasped her wrist the revolver went off. Was there any evidence to show that she pulled the trigger or that the revolver would have gone off at all if Whelan had not caught her by the wrist? Was it not more likely that her intention was to shoot herself? Whelan was a man whom she had loved, for whom she had lost home, and children, and husband. She was in his arms, her head was on his shoulder, and the facts were all consistent with her intention to shoot herself and not him. After the luncheon adjournment His Honor summed up. His Honor said the distressed s‘ate of the accused about the time of the shooting was evident. She had not only been deserted by this man, with whom she had been carrying on immoral conduct, but also by her own husband, on account, apparently, of this con-

duct. However, it did not appear that she wu in such a couditioa as to be irresponsible for her actions. There was no evidence of when she purchased the revolver, and no attempt had been made to explain why she carried in her luggage not female attire, but another suit of man's clothes. At the firing of the shot Whelan appeared to be standing directly behind the accused, holding her left wrist. Taking the revolver in her right hand she must have fired at random over her left shoulder, and His Honor considered this was inconsistent with an attempt at suicide. Whelan’s evidence had been properly commented upon in rather strong terms by counsel. He showed a carelessness in giving evidence, although he had been a party to the immoral conduct which led up to the a-t, and he should certainly not advise the jury to convict the accused on Whelan’s evidence. His Honor then referred to Detective Miller’s evidence, and to the accused's explanation that she thought the revolver must have gone off of itself, and did not know it had touched him till she saw the blood. Accused apparently had not attempted to conceal anything after her arrest. The Jury had to decide whether the accused fired the revolver intentionally, and whether she did so with the object of killing Whelan. They must consider that the accused moved about in disguise, and although her desertion by her husband and other circumstances might be likely to excite their sympathies, juries must not have sympathies, but decide on tne evidence. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and the accused was discharged.