CITY POLICE COURT
WIFE MOLESTED.
William Henry Brauman was proceeded against by his wife who asked that he should be ordered to provide sureties to keep the peace on the ground that he had struck her and at other times threatened to harm her. — Mr A C Hanlon appeared for the complainant, who said that some time ago she took proceedings against her husband for a separation order. After an attempt to defend the action he finally entered into a deed of separation. Since that time her husband had molested her, following her about wherever she went. If she spoke to any male friends the defendant came along and ordered them to go away. He did not appear to be doing any work. On one occasion he struck her two severe blows on the side of the head. For a time after this she was afraid to go out because her husband had threatened on various occasions to take her life. — Evidence was also given by a daughter of the complainant. — The defendant, in giving evidence, denied the charges of his wife and stated that it was merely coincidence that he happened to go to the same places as his wife did. — The magistrate said that he accepted the wife’s story. She had reasonable grounds for asking for the protection of the court. Under the deed of separation the defendant had to treat his wife as if she were a single woman and refrain from interfering with her in any way. — The defendant: "That’s what I am doing”— His Worship: I don’t believe you. — The ease was adjourned sine die on condition that the defendant kept away from his wife. If he annoyed her the case could be brought up again and the defendant could be imprisoned. -Otago Daily Times, 29/6/1929.
TRAGEDY AT ST. CLAIR.
WOMAN SHOT THROUGH HEAD
TERRIBLE SEQUEL TO SEPARATION.
HUSBAND ALSO WOUNDED.
CONDITION NOT SERIOUS.
The St. Clair Esplanade, a little after 8 last evening was the scene of a terrible happening which was apparently intended by one of the parties to be a double tragedy. A woman named Dorothy Brauman, aged 35 years is alleged to have been shot dead by her husband, William Henry Brauman, who, it then seems, made an unsuccessful attempt to take his own life. He is suffering from a wound in the head, which so far from proving fatal, was reported by the Hospital authorities at a late hour last night to be not serious.
The tragedy was a comparatively simple occurrence, and although no definite information on the subject was available last night, it appears that the motive which drove Brauman to so terrible a deed was jealousy of a wife from whom he had been separated for a few months. The unfortunate woman was standing with her daughter, aged 14 years, talking to some friends at a practically deserted part of the Esplanade about a chain from the pathway leading to the Baths, when she was suddenly confronted by her husband.
There was no quarrel to precede the tragedy. Almost without a word Brauman drew a revolver and fired a shot, his wife falling dead from a mortal wound. The woman’s body fell from the embankment on to the rocks below. The unexpectedness of the occurrence took the horrified watchers by surprise, and they had scarcely realised the awful fate that had overtaken their friend before another shot broke the stillness of the night. They saw Brauman’s body swaying, while blood poured from a wound in his head.
The alarm was at once raised, and at 8.20 a call was put through by telephone to the Central Police Station. Sub-Inspector Cummings, who lives nearby at 17 Ings avenue, was hastily summoned and arrived on the scene of the tragedy shortly before the arrival of Detectives Hart, Jenvey and Kearton, and the police matron, who had been despatched from headquarters. But by this time there was nothing to be done save remove the grim evidences of the tragedy. An ambulance was soon at hand to take Brauman to the Hospital, and shortly afterwards a mortuary van was commissioned to remove the dead woman’s body to the morgue.
Brauman, who was 10 years older than his wife, came to Dunedin from Invercargill, and soon afterwards he and his wife separated. But, although the parties had been living apart for over a year, it is stated that Brauman was consumed by an intense jealousy of his wife - a jealousy which is said to have been quite unfounded. It appears that had been quarrels between the two on rare occasions during the past 12 months when they happened to meet. There are four children by the marriage, the eldest of whom is a youth of 19 and the youngest a boy of ten.
There are two daughters. The inquest on the body of Mrs. Brauman will be opened to-day. Otago Daily Times, 8/8/1929.
Poignant Letters To Wife of Alleged Murderer
THESE words, contained in a letter allegedly penned by a hand which shortly afterwards pressed the revolver-trigger that sent an attractive young wife and mother to a terrible death, may form an important link in the evidence upon which a jury has to decide whether or not William Henry Brauman is guilty of the murder of his wife at St. Clair Esplanade on August 7.
In the dock, the father, apparently unaffected in demeanor, but taking an intelligent interest in the proceedings. In the witness-box, in turn, his son and daughter, each giving evidence with astonishing coolness and selfcommand.
The law has staged the first act of the terrible sequel to the death of Annabell Dorothy Dean Brauman, whose husband, shortly after eight o'clock on the evening of' August 7, is alleged to have calmly walked up to h is wife as she was standing with her fifteen-years-old daughter and a young man on the St. Clair esplanade, and drawing a small .32 calibre revolver from his pocket, shot the woman through the head. Following the tragedy Brauman was admitted to the hospital suffering from a wound in his head. After some weeks of medical treatment, William Henry Brauman has now heard the evidence upon which he will be tried in the Supreme Court on a charge of having murdered his wife. Before a crowded police court the resumed inquest into the tragic death of Annabell Dorothy Dean Brauman (35) was heard conjointly with the charge of murder preferred against the dead woman's husband. Mr. J.R. Bartholomew, S.M., presided over the proceedings, and Chief-detective D. Cameron conducted the police evidence.
Medical Evidence
Messrs. C. J. L. White and C. M. Lloyd acted for the accused, while Mr. H. E. Barrowclough was present to watch the interests of two witnesses, William Mathew Brosnan and Jack Omand McMillan.
All eyes followed Brauman as he took his stand in the dock. He was dressed in a navy blue suit and heavy overcoat, and his right eye-socket was covered with a shade, he having lost an eye.
The evidence of Dr. William Evans, police surgeon, was first taken. The doctor related how, at about 8.30 on the evening of August 7, he was summoned to the St. Clair esplanade where he discovered the body of Mrs. Brauman lying face upwards on the rocks.
Life was then extinct and there was evidence of the woman having been shot through the head. Blood had been flowing from the ears, nostrils and mouth. Later, in a post-mortem examination, witness decided that death was due to shocks following skull and brain injuries received from a gunshot wound.
At 9.30 on the same evening, the doctor had examined accused at the public hospital. He had a small circular wound above the left eyebrow, and a second wound lower down on the left side of the neck. Brauman then appeared to be quite composed and rational, and while being examined allegedly remarked to the doctor: "The bullet went the wrong way."
Mr Lloyd: How many times since the examination in hospital have you seen Brauman?
Dr. Evans: I have seen him three times in gaol.
What has he complained of? — Pains in the loins and head; and the various neurasthenic symptoms I would expect in a man facing so serious a charge.
Leslie Raymond Simpson, solicitor, produced an agreement for separation between accused and his wife. Later, John Sutherland Sinclair, solicitor, was called to prove Brauman's signature to the document, under date May 20, 1929. Giving his age as 18 years and occupation salesman, Richmond Henry Brauman, the first member of the family to enter the witness-box, gave his evidence with remarkable composure. He stated that when, at the age of six, he was living with his parents at Nelson, there was frequent trouble between his father and mother.
'I AM DRIVEN TO DESPERATION' —
Startling Allegations of Jealous Obsession As Motive of Brauman Tragedy
HUSBAND FOR TRIAL ON CAPITAL CHARGE
(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Dunedin Representative)
"I am driven to desperation by a curse that hangs over me until my life is more than I can endure. Now that my plans are completed, I know in my own heart that I have been a faithful husband and sincere father...Better death than be dragged through the mire with evil tongues...I hope and trust that my children will seek a better influence so as they will grow up to be good-living, honorable citizens and I also hope that my actions will not bring any disgrace upon them. In concluding, my last love goes out to my children...Farewell."
Later, they moved to Invercargill where they lived for several years. About 18 months ago his mother left home and came to Dunedin, prior to which breach there had been frequent quarrels in the house both during day and night time. "At night the trouble was caused by father annoying mother. One night when mother was in my sister's room they quarrelled. Mother would not go into her own room because father was always annoying her.
"At half past ten that night, he ordered mother out of the house and she remained out until about three in the morning, when she came to my room. I saw father first thing the next morning, but he did not say anything, and I told him not to touch mother."
On two or three occasions, continued witness, his mother had left accused's room and gone to her daughter's room, and once accused had carried Mrs. Brauman back by force, despite the fact that the girl's bedroom door was barred with a chair.
Detective Cameron: Have you heard accused say anything in the nature of a threat to your mother? Brauman: Not directly to her, but to the family. — What has he said? — He said if mother did not return home, he would do for her.
When was that said? — On two or three occasions — just after mother left home, just over a year ago.
Do you remember any other remarks he has made? — He said he would swing for her.
Has he made any threats towards the whole family? Mr. White objected to the question, and Mr. Cameron acceded to the objection.
To a further line of questioning by the chief-detective, young Brauman replied that in Invercargill his father had borrowed a rifle and shot-gun for the purpose of shooting rabbits. He could not remember his father ever complaining about cats stealing his chickens, or a dog becoming a nuisance under the house.
He then went on to say that subsequent to his mother leaving the home in Invercargill, his sisters, Olive and Phyllis, followed to Dunedin at different dates. The father came to Dunedin in January of this year.
Mr. Cameron: Did he tell you why he came to Dunedin? — Witness: He said he wanted to watch my mother's movements, and to try to get her to return home.
And if she did not return home? — He would do for her.
In April this year young Brauman arrived in Dunedin and met his father, who asked him if he "knew anything about the case" (relating to pending separation proceedings). The son told his father that he was just up on a holiday, and knew nothing about such matters.
"He said that it did not matter whether he won the case or not, he had made up his mind — he would do for her;" continued young Brauman. The day of the tragedy, the son continued, he had seen his father passing along Princes Street at about 4.45 p.m. He was not then speaking to his father, but the latter appeared to be in good spirits, and was laughing with his male companion.
Richmond had never known of his father owning a revolver, nor had his father ever stated that he possessed one.
The son was then called to identify as being in his father's handwriting two letters which were handed in as exhibits.
One, allegedly written by Brauman to his wife after the parting, read:
Invercargill.
"My Dear Wife, — Once again I write to relieve my mind of the depression when I am apart from you. There was a long letter from Claude waiting for me when I returned home. I know that you are anxious know what caused the death of his only child; it was pneumonia and convulsions; they are both down and out over their loss.
"By the tone of Claude's letter, he says that his home seems strange; and that their joss has left it a pretty sad one. He was also sorry to know that you were still away; and hoped that everything would come right and that you would take a sincere view of the whole matter both for your own sake and the children's.
"He says God above knows how sad we are now that she was taken, but we would never have left her. They also sent me a Christmas card and hope that I will come over soon as Mum is not too good and Alice has just gone under an operation; and to be laid up for some time.
"Doris is sick every day. I would have just liked to go over. I am afraid Mum is on the break-up and perhaps her wish to see me again won't be fulfilled. I had every intention of going over last Christmas.
"Little I thought and the promise you made me that you would settle down after you had had your trip that you would have come back and I make a break away, depriving me of all my intentions. My life has been a sad one too and I will be pleased when the Almighty power closes mine eyes in death, but until then I will try and keep on trying to win back one whom I cherish.
"I have always admired you as a wife, your capabilities and cleanliness in your home, which has caused my love for you to become so intense that only death can tear it asunder.
"I am sending you the fashion number that came, the ones that I marked with an X are those which I would admire you in best of all. I had a great day at the trots having met a horse-owner from Kurow, and he gave me the tip for each race with the result that I either had a first or second horse and sometimes both and ended up with £33/7/6 profit for the day.
"I was only wishing that I was taking you to your own home where we all love you and no one else will have you while I live.
"You appear to be working consistently and hard; you know that you could have a far easier time with me now that part of the family are able to do for themselves; if you could only make up your mind to do so, get the idea of gentlemen friends off your mind; they are no good to you; others have tried, it always ends in disaster eventually in many ways.
"What a lovely wife and mother you are if you could only settle down to solid facts. Aim at something more worthy; noble actions and good character defeat all evil minds and tongues. You need not be afraid to return to me; independent of what you say, you have been told things concerning me, for my whole heart, soul, body and mind are for ever wanting you.
"If you have been as I have been to you I am proud to say that you will do me all my life.
"If I was wanting to live a double life, ask yourself one question: Would I be writing and pleading with you to return to me? My dear wife, you'll find out ere long who is and who has been your faithful friend.
"I have no encouragement, but it is my one desire to set out and get a home together again, as I know that you, above all, need a home, together with the children. I intend to get busy right away in that direction, and hope to have a good comfortable home.
"You will by that time have had a fair understanding of what it means to be working for others and, above all, my faithfulness to you.
"My only aim in life is to give you an easier time, and make you happier and I have the health and strength to do it. I will smash down every barrier that rises between you and I at any cost, your future happiness depends on the making, and not the breaking.
"This is a long letter, written from the bottom of my heart after thoroughly taking a reasonable view of every thing and I don't wish for you to show my letters to everyone, as they are a personal matter concerning your own welfare and also the children. They are written by me and posted direct to you, if I wanted them to be made public, and everyone to know what is transpiring between you and me, I would certainly publish them through the newspapers, and besides the contents of my letters, strengthen my position and weaken yours.
"I have finished with poultry, but not you. I have lost my all, and have been deceived by an unfaithful wife, it is my intention to put a purpose to it all. Better death than be dragged through the mire by evil tongues.
"In the event of my failure as regards my getting my hands on my mother-in-law, I hope and trust that my children will seek a better influence, so that they will grow up to be good, honorable citizens, and I also hope that my actions will not bring any disgrace upon them, for they are young and innocent and not responsible.
"In concluding, my last love goes out to my children and sincere friend, and my last curse to my mother-in-law, Mrs. Jessie Walker. — Farewell."
Stepping into the box after her brother's lengthy evidence, Olive Dorothy Brauman, a smartly-dressed girl, alleged that her father used to threaten that he would shoot her mother, and had said that he would go up at Christmas time to shoot her. At that time there was a rifle in the house.
On August 6 (the day before the shooting) Miss Brauman said she was in domestic service not far from Cliff Road, St. Clair, in which locality her mother was engaged as housekeeper. On that day, the girl said, she saw from the window of the house where she was employed her father out on the road. He seemed to be studying a piece of paper in his hand and looking at the numbers of the houses. Olive immediately telephoned to her mother.
"On the following day," said the girl, "it was my day off, and from ten o'clock in the morning I was in my mother's company. That evening, at about 7.30, I met a young man named McMillan. His friend had a motorcar. Mother was then with me. We met just outside the house where mother was working.
"Mother and 1 went for a drive with McMillan and his friend. When we came back we stopped just at the foot of Cliff Road, near the esplanade. We alighted, and stood by the railings on the esplanade. The friend with the motor-car drove away. It was about ten minutes past eight.
Shortly afterwards, I saw my father, who brushed past me and went a few steps past where we were standing."
Mr. Cameron: When you alighted from the car, did the young men with you show any disrespect towards you or your mother?
Miss Brauman: No.
"After passing, my father turned round and walked back," continued the girl.
"He took hold of mother's arm and said: 'You're having a good time.' Then he took out the revolver and put it to her head and fired. I saw the flicker and screamed. Mother fell and rolled over the edge of the embankment. I ran over towards the house in Cliff Road, and after going a few paces heard another; shot.
"I informed Mr Holland; who met me at the door. Later, when the ambulance arrived I went down with Mr. Holland . . . I was afraid of being alone."
Mr. White (cross-examining): The whole trouble was your father's mad jealousy?
Miss Brauman: Yes.
He imagined that if your mother looked at a man she wanted to "carry on" with him? — Yes.
It became worse and worse? — Yes. To further interrogation, the girl replied that one night apparently her parents spent the evening together.
Her mother may have been talking to men in the street and the father seen them. She could not remember any occasions at night time, but knew of afternoons when her mother had talked with men.
Jack Omand McMillan, aged 18 years, a warehouseman, stated that on August 7, with a friend he went to St. Clair to meet Mrs. Brauman and her daughter. The friend introduced him to the ladies for the first time.
After they had driven out to Tahuna Park and back in a friend's car, the four of them alighted on the footpath at the St. Clair esplanade. The friend then took the car away to a garage.
"Soon after, I saw a man go past. I did not see what he did because I was looking in the other direction. The next I saw of him was when he came back and stood in front of Mrs. Brauman, and said something to her about her having a good time. She remarked that it was no affair of his.
He then produced a revolver and fired. He presented it at her left ear and fired. It was a quick action. Mrs. Brauman moaned and fell over the rail, and Olive ran screaming up Cliff Road. I approached the man, but he told me to stand back, and he then turned the gun on himself. He reeled round a couple of times and then fell.
"I went forward and took the revolver from his hand and threw it away. I then went to see Mrs. Brauman, and seeing that she was dead, I went to a house on the corner and rang for the police and ambulance. I then went: back and picked up the revolver, which I afterwards dropped when the ambulance arrived."
Mr. White (cross-examining): You were brought info this quite innocently?
McMillan: Yes.
It was at your friend's suggestion that you went out? — Yes.
Was your friend married or single? — Married.
Was there some suggestion of a party? — Yes, I understood that I was going to a musical evening.
How long had your friend known Mrs. Brauman? I don't know...he was on equal terms with the woman and her daughter.
And you were to take care of the daughter? — Yes.
Was the idea of a drive just to fill in time? — I don't know.
Ashburn Holland, company manager, who, at the time of the tragedy, was residing at Mr. Bridgeman's house where Mrs. Brauman was then engaged as housekeeper, stated that he was in the smoke-room when he heard shots about 45 minutes after Mrs. Brauman and Olive had left the house. He related what happened shortly afterwards when Olive came rushing over to the house. After ringing .the police, Holland went over to the scene of the shooting, and there saw Brauman sitting on the footpath bleeding from a wound in the head.
"I had been staying at Bridgeman's house for about six weeks, and never, at any time, saw anything improper about Mrs. Brauman's conduct. The only visitors she had to my knowledge were her own children," he added.
Evidence of having responded to a call at 8.17 p.m. on the day of the occurrence, was given by Ambulance driver William Black. "I stood beside accused for some time," said the driver, "and he said to me: 'She ruined my life, she ruined my girl!'...Later, he said: 'Why don't you take me away?'"
Detective Kearton, who accompanied accused in the ambulance to the hospital, said that on the way, Brauman exclaimed: "What a — of a mother she was, ruining my girls; sixteen and seventeen. I wish I had her." He repeated it at least ten times.
Later, said the detective, accused remarked: "Oh, my lovely girls! What a mother she's been!"
That Brauman had borrowed a revolver from him about 12 months or two years ago, was told by David Wishard, employed as a gunsmith with Messrs. A. G. McCarthy, Invercargill.
An interesting phase of evidence was given by Constable I. Garnon, who had been on observation duty during Brauman's stay in the hospital. Accused, said the police officer, had been very talkative, despite the fact that witness had warned him not to speak until he had consulted a solicitor.
"On August 14, he said: 'How is my wife?' I replied 'I do not know.' He then said: 'What ward is she in?' I told him I did not know where she was."
According to the constable, Brauman further asked: "Is she very bad?" and "Where did I hit her?" The constable made no replies to these questions.
Brauman, continued the constable, then said: "I had no idea that I should see my wife at St. Clair that night. I went but there with the purpose of selling some bonds and throwing the revolver into the sea. I was afraid that I should get into trouble with it.
"After the car had stopped I saw my fifteen-years-old daughter get out. She was followed by a man and he commenced to hug and cuddle her. A few minutes later, I saw my wife and another man get out of the car. Their conduct was the same as my daughter's. I walked past them for a few yards, and then back again.
"I said to the man with my daughter: 'For God's sake don't' bring disgrace on my daughter. Everything then appeared to go black.
"I don't remember taking the revolver from my pocket. I was completely mad, and I remember no more until I came to my senses at the hospital. I had a terrible time with my wife, who was influenced by her mother to leave me.
"I have done my very best for her, but she prefers a gay life. About six months ago she was employed by people called Bacon who were connected with a motor-bus business at Mosgeil. On one occasion Mr. Bacon informed me that; my wife was carrying on with a single man. I later saw the man, who admitted he had been going about with my wife. Mr. Bacon knows the man and can tell you all about it.
"My wife and I would have been all right if my mother-in-law had kept out of things. I have my children's interests at heart, and do not want them brought up in a bad influence."
This conversation the constable had taken down in his note-book immediately afterwards.
On August 15, said Constable Garnon, accused made another statement, which he again memorised and entered in his book.
Brauman allegedly said: "About 13 months ago I obtained the loan of a revolver from a man named Wishard. I got it for the purpose of shooting cats that were stealing my fowls, and forgot to return it, and on coming to Dunedin I made a small box and put the revolver into it, and was going to post it to Wishard.
"It then struck me that it was illegal to send firearms through the post, so I put it on one side until the day of the accident at St. Clair. When I took the revolver out of the box it was with the intention of going on to the rocks at St. Clair and throwing it out to sea.
"The last person I thought of meeting was my wife. I thought she was working at Anderson's Bay...Where did I hit my wife? Is she very crook?"
On August 20 Brauman allegedly asked the constable: "What shall I be charged with? I suppose they will charge me with attempted murder, attempted suicide and being unlawfully in possession of fire-arms, and in the end I shall get about seven years for it."
William Matthew Brosnan, indents agent, said that Mrs. Brauman answered his advertisement for a housekeeper. Subsequently, he interviewed and engaged her. That was in April of this year.
In May, said Brosnan, Brauman called on him and after a few inquiries remarked that if Brosnan engaged Mrs. Brauman he would shoot both of them.
"I asked him why he wanted to shoot me, and he said simply because she was going to work for me. He also made some reference to some domestic trouble of my own and that he did not want to make matters worse for me. He said that I was in the same fix as himself, and I told him that my wife went away with another man.
"I asked him if he thought another man was mixed up with his wife's separation, and he said 'no.' He then repeated that if she came to work for me he would shoot both of us. He said his wife was a very fascinating woman and that anything might happen. As a result of this interview I did not engage Mrs. Brauman. As he went away he said that he was fully determined to shoot her."
Mr. White: He was madly jealous, was he not?
Brosnan: I don't know about madly, but he was jealous.
Detective Arthur Jenvey gave details of arriving, with a police party on the scene of the tragic happening.
Examining accused's effects sometime later, Detective Jenvey discovered a letter which was signed "Farewell", and later identified as being written in Brauman's handwriting.
On August 21, continued the detective, he arrested accused and read out to him the charge of murder. On hearing the charge, Brauman allegedly exclaimed: "Did murder one?" and later stated that he did not remember.
This concluded the evidence, which occupied the whole day.
Mr. White rose to ask why other letters found in accused's possession had not been produced by the police. Counsel also wanted to know why a Mrs. Walker had not been called as a witness — "and this Thompson whoever he is?" said counsel.
Mr. Cameron said it remained with the defence to call its own witnesses.
Mr. Bartholomew then formally closed the inquest with the following verdict: "Mrs. Annabell Dorothy Dean Brauman died on, August 7, 1929, at St. Clair, the cause of death being due to shock following a comminuted fracture of the base of the skull and laceration of the brain, caused by a bullet from a revolver wilfully discharged at the said Mrs. Brauman by William Henry Brauman at St. Clair, on August 7, 1929."
Brauman was then committed for trial, and, looking weary, left the dock.
DEATH SENTENCE FOR BRAUMAN
Wife Slayer's Plea Of Insanity Rejected As Motive For Shooting
TRAGEDY INSPIRED BY JEALOUS RAGE
(From "N.Z. Truths" Special Dunedin Representative)
"I do not remember your honour — the murder."
This short weak sentence from the dry lips of the man standing in the prisoner's dock, was the last desperate card played by William Henry Brauman before the death sentence threw the dreaded shadow of the gallows across his last feeble ray of hope.
The next moment, his fate as the convicted murderer of his handsome young wife, Annabelle Dorothy Deans Brauman was sealed by a judge's solemn words when passing sentence of death.
In the waning twilight of August 7, while standing with her daughter and a young man on the St Clair esplanade, Annabell Dorothy Deans Brauman, vivacious, attractive and in the prime of life, was shot at close range by a violent husband, who was obsessed with a jealous rage.
The jury found Brauman guilty, but with a strong recommendation to mercy.
Well might he, in the seclusion of the condemned cell, reflect on the rage that obsessed him some months ago and drove him to pen the words..."May God forgive me...a debt is a debt and has to be paid, whether to God or fellow man...confession or Death, there's nothing else for it; it's got to be paid... "
DURING the course of a three days' trial, Brauman, wearing a large shade over the self-inflicted gunshot injury which deprived him of his left eye, sat, often yawning and apparently unaffected by any emotional feelings, in the dock of the Dunedin Supreme Court.
Lower court proceedings provided the public with a very comprehensive knowledge of the domestic circumstances which led up to the crime, and other particulars relating to the actual murder.
When the case came before judge and jury, additional oral and documentary evidence was brought forward. The calling of James Jelley as a witness enabled the Grown to clear up the element of mystery surrounding the identity of a man, mentioned in the lower court as "Thomson," who was Mrs Brauman's companion on the motor drive which ended with the shooting of the woman by her husband.
Another arresting feature of the trial was a combined farewell letter and will, written by the murderer many months before his murderous intentions were put into effect.
This document was unexpectedly unearthed by Miss Olive Brauman whilst on a recent visit to Invercargill. Mr. Justice Kennedy presided over the trial, Mr. F. B. Adams, Crown Prosecutor, conducted the case for the Crown while Mr. C. J. L. White, assisted by Mr. G. M. Lloyd, acted for Brauman.
There was a stir in court as Richmond Henry Brauman, the 19-years-old son of the accused, entered the witness box.
As far back as 13 years ago, when the family was living at Nelson, the son said he could remember that his father and mother did not get on well together there being frequent quarrels.
When Richmond was 6 years old, the Braumans moved to Invercargill, where they had lived until some time last year.
While at Invercargill, Mr. and Mrs. Brauman separated on two or three occasions, until, in May or June, 1929, Mrs. Brauman finally left home for good.
Describing the unhappy state of affairs in the Invercargill home young Brauman said his father' was "always annoying mother."
This frequently happened at night, and he could recollect several occasions when his mother had left her husband's room and joined her two daughters in another sleeping apartment. On more than one occasion Brauman had taken his wife back to his own room by using force.
One night accused ordered his wife out of the house, and she was outside from 10.30 p.m. until about 3 a.m., when she took refuge in. her son's room. It was just after Mrs. Brauman left home and went to Dunedin that Richmond first heard his father threaten that he would "do for" the lad's mother. He had also heard his father say that he would "swing for her."
A few months before last Christmas, Brauman had reiterated these threats, and added that at Christmas time he would go up and shoot Mrs. Brauman.
Richmond had never seen his father with a revolver, but he knew of his having possessed a shot-gun, and a rifle, both of which were for rabbit-shooting.
The order in which each member of the family had followed, one after another, the mother's removal from Invercargill to Dunedin, was then given: After the two girls and the little boy had left the Invercargill home, Richmond and his father remained together for some time. Then, accused transferred to Dunedin about the end of January last, Richmond, following some weeks later.
On the day of the tragedy, witness had seen his father walking along Princes' Street with another man at about 4.45 Accused. then appeared to be in good spirits, and was laughing and talking with his companion.
In answer to Mr. White (cross-examining) young Brauman said that while the family was in Nelson, Mrs. Walker; the dead woman's mother, had lived with them. She also had lived with them in Invercargill, one occasion being for a short period after the two women returned from the Australian trip.
Mr. White: Did your father come to Dunedin on two or three occasions to try and get your mother to return to him? — Yes.
But she did not go? — No.
You told us in the lower court that your father's jealousy of your mother gradually became an obsession, is that right? — Yes.
And that if your mother went out at night he became suspicious of her? — Yes.
Olive Dorothy Brauman, 15 1/2 years old then gave evidence which was chiefly in corroboration of her brother's statements regarding the father's behavior in the home and his threats in respect of the mother.
Before Olive left Invercargill she had heard her father say that he would "fix her, and would fix-up all this and was going up at Christmas-time to shoot her" (meaning Mrs. Brauman). When she came to Dunedin the girl had not actually lived with her mother, but was often in her company, each being employed in a domestic capacity at different households.
The girl then related what happened one evening when, with her mother, sister, and two young men named Finney, she was on her way to the Empire Theatre. In the street Brauman came up to the group, and after some interference told the young men to "take their hook."
Accused then remarked that it was Mrs. Brauman he wanted to speak to, and told the girls to go on to the pictures. When the quartet came out from the show, Mr. and Mrs. Brauman were outside on the footpath. On two other occasions Brauman had accosted his wife when she was in the daughter's company.
The day before her mother's tragic death, Olive, who was then working at a home in Norfolk Road, noticed from a window, her father scrutinising the houses, in Cliffs Road, this being the locality in which her mother was engaged as a housekeeper. The girl rang up her mother, and later observed her father moving off down the road.
During the critical stage of her evidence, when she had to relate the details of the actual shooting on the St. Clair esplanade, Olive was permitted to be seated on a chair in front of the jury. Bravely and with commendable self-control, the unfortunate child recounted the terrible scene.
It was, she said, her day off duty, and from 10 o'clock in the morning she was in her mother's company. In the afternoon they visited witness's sister, Phyllis, who was a patient at the public hospital.
That evening at about 7:30, the girl and her mother met, by appointment two young men, one of whom had a car; This man was known to the ladies as "Thomson," the other man's name being McMillan.
After a drive in a car the party returned to St. Clair where all except the driver, "Thomson," vacated the vehicle and stood on the esplanade.
"We were just where we got out of the car and were waiting on the footpath, talking, when my father came along and walked past us a few paces.
"He then walked back, and swung round me and got hold of mother's arm, and said: 'You're having a good, time!' He then pulled out a revolver and put it to my mother's head and fired. Mother then fell over the embankment, and I ran towards Mr. Bridgeman's house. When I was halfway up the road to the house I heard another scream."
In reply to the Crown Prosecutor, the girl said there was no "hugging or cuddling" as the party disembarked from the car.
Mr. White: You know now that "Thomson" was not the other man's name? — Yes.
How long had you known him? — About two or three weeks; mother introduced him to me.
Of course, your father had complained to your mother about allowing you girls to go about with boys, hadn't he? — Yes.
You knew that your father was jealous of your mother and that it was becoming worse and worse? — Yes.
He used to imagine that if your mother looked at another man he wanted to carry on with her? — Yes.
In the lower court you told us that this jealousy was becoming worse and worse until it became an obsession with him? — Yes.
In further reply to questions by counsel, witness said that she knew her father blamed his mother-in-law for breaking up the home.
Phyllis Maude Brauman, aged seventeen years, corroborated her younger sister's of accused having on several occasions accosted the mother, in the presence of members of the family.
To Mr. Adams, Phyllis said that before leaving Invercargill she had heard her father say that her mother would be "under the sod as a Christmas-box for the grandmother."
Henry Thomas Shade, and his daughter, Eva Jane Shade, of Invercargill, testified to having handed over to Miss Olive Brauman a box which had been left in their possession by Brauman. This box contained a document written by Brauman prior to his leaving for Dunedin.
Remarkable in its composition, this letter was the chief exhibit handed in by the Crown Prosecutor. It, read:
"My Dear Friends...I write to you to relieve my soul of a terrible burden by informing you that I cannot continue to tolerate this life of misery. Yet in reading, remember that I have been unduly interfered with practically all of my married life through the cursed interference of my mother-in-law In influencing and having prejudiced my wife against me, with the result that I have lost heart, being provoked to desperation and now I feel it impossible to give of my best.
"My home has been broken up on several occasions, and has thrown a slur against me and my children, who have to suffer in many ways until I can bear it no longer, and that therein, through this link of pen and paper, I stretch my hand out to you across the gulf of death. Though I am dead yet I am with you in this hour as you read.
"My sufferings, physical and mental, are more than I can bear, and when such small arrangements as I have made for the future well-being of my children are completed, it is my intention to put a period to them. May God forgive me if I do wrong. In the contents of this letter you will find sufficient to prove it. I write this in my right mind, being driven to make confession by the fact that my remorse for my intended crime has become intolerable.
''You may publish this letter to the world if you wish, since by the time it reaches you I shall be dead. Forgive me this. I am an innocent man driven to desperation and the bitterness of it endureth yet.
"As I lay in my bed at night, restless and sleepless, thinking of the past and the future, as a result of that bad, wicked woman, who has done every miserable, deceiving, contemptible thing to rob me of my wife and happiness. The home comforts, together with my wife and children that I have longed for, have been torn asunder, crushed with a sense of worldly ruin, of hopeless poverty, of a future absolutely without prospects, I am determined to take: from her for all time what she has determined to take from me (my wife), a life which I cherished.
"I fully intended to take her life, also, but on second consideration death would be too good for such a curse of a woman. I fully realise that she, for the rest of her life, must live to be tortured indirectly by her own actions that she has shown towards me.
"A debt is a debt and has got to be paid, whether it is owed to God or a fellow-man. Confession or death. There's nothing else for it, no other relief from torture, its got to be done, even after all these years.
"This should act as a warning to interfering mothers-in-law, also to people employing married women who leave their home and children without sufficient cause to do so.
"As regards my children, I hope and trust in the authorities to see that some kind and genuine mothers will take care of them and keep them as near to each other's company as possible.
"It is my dying wish that my mother-in-law shall not have access to them or anything to do with any arrangements concerning them in the future. I am proud of them all, and want them to grow up to be good men and women.
"I wish to give my watch and chain, etc., and white-handled pocket-knife to my youngest son, any other belongings to be realised on and divided equally amongst my four children.
"As regards my wife, I hope and trust that she will receive a decent burial. As for myself, do what you think fit with my body. The only favor I ask of you is that, if in spite of my confession of guilt the world should regard my actions as those of an innocent man driven insane with torture and grief. Kindest wishes to all relatives and friends. Farewell."
This letter, strangely enough, is worded in much the same vein as another "farewell" message which was found in Brauman's effects after the tragedy and previously published in "Truth."
Considerable interest was displayed in the evidence given by James Jelley, the man hitherto referred to as "Thomson," the driver of the car on the fatal night.
Jelley, who was not called as a witness in the lower court, gave his occupation as that of a storeman, residing at Tainui.
He said he had been introduced to the late Mrs. Brauman and the girl Olive, but could not say where they got the 'Thomson' from.
He first met Mrs. Brauman only about 10 days before the tragedy. It had been arranged for him to attend a musical evening on August 7, at which Mrs. Brauman and Olive and "other guests" were to be present. The party was to be held at the home where Mrs. Brauman was employed.
Mr. White: Was the report in the lower court the first you had heard of the name , "Thomson"? — No. It was in my statement to the police.
So that all this about you being introduced to the girl Brauman as "Thomson" is not true? — I didn't take much notice at the time.
Did Mrs. Brauman know you as Thomson? — I don't know.
Do you seriously expect the jury to believe that Mrs. Brauman did not know your name? — I don't know, I'm sure.
To further questions, Jelley said, he was introduced to Mrs. Brauman by a male friend of hers, but as the engine of the car was running at the time of the meeting, he did not "catch the name."
Only on one previous occasion had Jelley given the Brauman ladies a lift in his car. It was in return for this favor that they suggested he should attend a musical evening. He had been told that she was married.
Speaking of occasions when he had conducted conversations on the telephone with Mrs. Brauman, Jelley said that the woman rang him to tell him about the party. He had spoken to her on the telephone only twice previously.
Lengthy evidence was given as to Brauman's conduct prior to the tragedy by witnesses whose evidence, similar to that given in the lower court, has already been published in "N.Z. Truth."
In a brief opening address for the defence, Mr. Lloyd intimated that the plea for the prisoner would be one of insanity. In pursuance of this theory, counsel placed before the jury the evidence of only one witness, that of Dr. Stuart Alexander Moore, whose occupancy of the witness-box lasted for just on three hours.
Stating that for over 20 years he had made a special study of abnormal psychology, cases of nervousness and delusions, and suicidal and homicidal cases, Dr. Moore commenced one of the longest and most remarkable medical testimonies ever heard in the Dunedin Supreme Court. He had, he said, studied Brauman's case from every available source of information, including several personal interviews. His conclusion was that the prisoner was insane.
In the doctor's opinion Brauman was certifiable before the tragedy. This he attributed to the man's broodings over the persecutions by his mother-in-law and the alleged immorality of his mother-in-law and of his wife.
"The nucleus of his emotional life," said Dr. Moore, "seemed to be his relation to his mother-in-law, not to his wife. Everything seems to be subsidiary to that. Some of his statements regarding his mother-in-law are very highly improbable. For instance, he states that she, was constantly suggesting that his wife should have men friends and he should have women friends. "His mother-in-law, he had said, did not believe in one man being tied to one woman; or one woman being tied to one man."
This assertion, in the doctor's opinion, was highly improbable.
The doctor maintained that accused appeared to be a jealous and persecuted man, with an "abnormal emotional attitude, the centre of which was his mother-in-law."
"The openness with which he advertised his intentions was an invitation to others to prevent him doing it. It opened a way of escape from his conflict, and the open way in which the deed was enacted seems to me to indicate that in the absence of some final stimulus; his impulse, which was like a cocked gun, would not go off.
"Logically, if we take his attitude, and if killing were going to be permitted at all, it was his mother-in-law he should have killed. She was the arch-persecutor. She it was who was responsible for his wife's degradation. She it was who was going to deprive him of all his happiness — the wife he loved."
Dr Moore was subjected to a most rigorous cross-examination at the hands of the Crown Prosecutor.
On several occasions, either counsel or the judges drew attention to conspicuous contradictions in the medical man's stated opinions and theories regarding the crime.
By the court's permission the Crown was enabled to call five medical witnesses in rebuttal of the evidence for the defence. They were: Doctors Kenneth Ross, William Marshall McDonald, James Hunter (Seacliff Asylum), H. Martin (also Seacliff), and William Evans (recalled).
A feature of the case was the lengthy summing-up by His Honor, which, after the addresses of counsel, occupied 2 hours, 35 minutes.
The jury retired at 8.17 p.m., and before a closely-crowded court, lined in again at 9.37.
Brauman, who, during the whole of the trial, displayed nothing beyond an attitude of tolerant indifference to the process of justice, was pale, but erect and steady, when the foreman of the jury faced His Honor, with the verdict: "We find the prisoner guilty of murder." We cannot put forward, too strongly a recommendation of mercy on the grounds of the medical evidence of mental abnormality."
Asked if, before sentence was passed, he had anything to say, Brauman looked straight at the judge, and in a clear, quiet voice, declared: "I don't remember, Your Honor, the murder."
There was a moment's silence while the judge adjusted the black cap, and then came His Honor's steady recital: "Prisoner, you are found guilty of murder. It is my duty to pass sentence upon you. The sentence of the court is that you be taken to the place of execution and there hanged by the neck until you are dead."
The tension was broken only by the sound of Brauman, condemned wife-murderer, clambering down the steps to the cell wherein he must abide in confinement until Justice has asserted her claim — a life for a life.
Brauman's counsel, Mr. White, on Monday forwarded to the Executive Council a petition praying for the reprieve of the death sentence, based on the jury's recommendation and the medical evidence generally. -NZ Truth, 7/11/1929.
REPRIEVED MURDERER.
REMOVAL TO AUCKLAND.
QUESTION OF SANITY.
CONFLICTING EVIDENCE.
(By Telegraph. — Own Correspondent.) DUNEDIN, this day. William Henry Brauman, the St. Clair murderer, has been kept in Dunedin gaol, but the commuting of his death sentence to imprisonment for life will cause him to be moved promptly to the more secure prison at Mount Eden.
Charged with the murder of his wife, Annabell Dorothy Deans Brauman, on the St. Clair Esplanade on the night of August 7, Brauman was found guilty in the Supreme Court on October 31 and sentenced to death by Mr. Justice Kennedy. In returning the verdict of guilty the jury added: "We cannot lay before your Honor too strong a recommendation to mercy, on the grounds of the medical testimony of mental abnormality."
Before the death sentence was passed Brauman said, "I don't remember, your Honor, about the murder."
The sole medical witness for the defence gave evidence at the long trial that Brauman was paranoiac and suffered from amnesia. Accused, he said, was not capable of realising the nature and quality of his act. He considered that Brauman was certifiable for admission to the mental hospital before the commission of his crime, as he was abnormally jealous.
Although abnormality was admitted, none of the five doctors called by the Crown was prepared to swear that Brauman did not know the nature and quality of his act. With one exception, the testimony was that Brauman was not insane in the legal or medical sense. The one exception was Dr. Kenneth Ross. -Auckland Star, 13/11/1929.
Local and General
By decision of the Executive Council, William Henry Brauman's name is added to the list of those who have escaped the hangman's noose (comments a Dunedin paper). News of the commuting of his sentence was carried to Brauman in his cell in Dunedin gaol by his counsel. Characteristic of the man is his indisposition to talk, and even when the news was given to him he said little, except that he was pleased. Later he remarked that he had an idea he would be released in 15 years, and if he were allowed he would then go to Australia. He had made arrangements for the disposal of certain of his possessions and the handing of some money to his youngest son, the one member of the family who was not called to give evidence at the trial. Brauman has been taken to Mount Eden gaol (Auckland). -Nelson evening Mail, 19/11/1929.
DEATHS
BRAUMAN. On June 26, 1948, at Dunedin, William Henry Brauman, 177 King Edward street; in his sixty-second year. Private cremation. — Hope and Kinaston, funeral directors. -Otago Daily Times, 28/6/1948.
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