The Lyell correspondent of the Inangahua Times says: — "The body of a man named Denis Quinlan was found about 4 p.m. on the 3rd, near the town, about 50 yards from the scene of the late attempt at suicide. He was last seen alive on the 28th January, about 10 pm, in company with Mrs Grammatica, There is no evidence yet to show how death occurred, or how the body came where it was found — viz, down the embankment, about 80ft below the road. The body is much decomposed." -Grey River Argus, 7/2/1883.
SUSPECTED MURDER NEAR LYELL.
Circumstances have recently come to the knowledge of the police which induce them to believe that a murder has been committed in the neighbourhood of the Lyell, the supposed victim being a miner named Denis Quinlan, whose death, is referred to in a paragraph published in another column. The information in the hands of the police up to the present — kindly placed at our disposal by the courtesy of Mr Inspector Emerson — will be best understood from the following telegrams received at head quarters here from Constable Keating, who is in charge of the Lyell station. The first telegram is dated Lyell, 30th January last, and runs as follows: —
"A miner named John Davidson attempted suicide by cutting his throat with a razor, about a half mile from the Lyell, oh the Buller road. Cause not known. The offender is in the lock-up attended by Dr Campbell; and is expected to recover." The next telegraph bearing on the case is dated from the Lyell 6th inst, and the following is a copy of it. "At four p.m. yesterday (Feb. 5), a miner named Denis Quinlan was found dead about 80 feet below the Buller road down a siding next the river, within 100 yards of Mrs Grammatica's house, and a half mile from the Lyell. He was last seen alive in company with Mrs Grammaticas, going in the direction of her house about ten p.m. on Sunday, 23th January last. The hat and coat are missing. The cause of death is not known, but it is rumored here that there has been foul play." ,
An inquest on the body was held at Lyell on Tuesday last, when it was fully identified as that of Denis Quinlan. The evidence of Davidson was taken when the enquiry was adjourned until Friday next; to give sufficient time to collect evidence. When the body was found, it was in a very decomposed state, the head was detached from the trunk and four of the ribs broken. It is suspected that the deceased met with foul play in or near Mrs Grammatica's house. The reason for this suspicion is that he was last seen alive at ten p.m. on 28th ult., at Grammatica's. The man Davidson stopped at Mrs Grammatica's on the night of the 28th ult., and two days afterwards he attempted suicide near the spot where the body was found. Constable Keating watched Mrs Grammatical house and found an axe, a flannel, a hat and come socks, which the woman said had been left at her house by Davidson, to be washed. Detective Quinn has been despatched to the scene of the supposed murder, and Mr Emerson leaves for the Lyell at once, when a full investigation will be made into this mysterious and suspicious death. -West Coast Times, 8/2/1883.
Considerable consternation was caused the other day at the Lyell when the decapitated body of Denis Quinlan was found a short distance from the township and not far from the main road leading to Westport. It is difficult to obtain very reliable information respecting the matter, but it appears that the man was last seen alive on the 28th ult. together with one John Davidson and a woman living near the place where the body was found. A most singular circumstance in connection with the affair is that Davidson was on the 29th found insensible on the road near the spot in question with his throat cut with a razor found close by. On being taken to the township and attended to it was found that the wound was not fatal, and the man was subsequently taken before Mr Revell, R.M., who committed him for trial for attempted suicide. This took place about three days before the body of Quinlan was found, the man in the meantime having been sent to Westport gaol.
An inquest on the body of Quinlan was opened yesterday and some evidence taken, but it was afterwards adjourned to afford the police time to investigate the matter. The Inspector of Police and a detective are on their way to the Lyell. -Nelson Evening Mail, 10/2/1883.
The inquiry as to the cause of death of Denis Quinlan, who is supposed to have been murdered near Lyell on the 29th instant, will be resumed next Monday, at Lyell. The remains of the deceased were interred in the Lyell Cemetery on Thursday, a large number of miners and other friends of the deceased following the corpse to the grave. Inspector Emerson passed through Kumara this afternoon on his way to Lyell to attend the inquest; meantime Detective Quinn and Constable Keating are collecting evidence. At the hearing of the charge against John Davidson for attempted suicide and who was found lying across the road at Lyell near to where the body of Quinlan had been thrown over an embankment, Mary Gramatica is reported to have said: “I know the accused, John Davidson; I have known him 10 or 11 years. He stopped at my house on the night of the 29th January. He left on the morning of the 30th, before I got up; I do not know at what time. He came back between 10 and 11 o’clock a.m. He had an axe with him. He had dinner at my house on that day. I left the house to go to Lyell after dinner, between 1 and 2 o’clock. I left the accused alone in the house. I told him if he left before my return to lock the door and put the key under the window. The accused and myself had no words on that day. In the morning I noticed that he appeared somewhat excited. On that day I met a man named Pasqual on my way into the Lyell. Accused had no drink on that day nor the night of the 29th at my house. He drank water out of a billy. He was not at my house for two or three weeks previously to the 29th January. I am not aware of him having had any words with any persons.” — Pasqual Franconi deposed to finding Davidson, lying full length upon the centre of the road, about a quarter-of-an-hour after he passed Mrs Gramatica close to town, about 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon. — Accused stated to the doctor and constable that it was himself who had inflicted the wound, and in reply to a question as to the motive he said, “Don’t ask me.” We understand that at the adjourned inquest at Lyell on Monday next on the cause of the death of Quinlan, John Davidson will be charged with the wilful murder of Denis Quinlan. -Kumara Times, 15/2/1883.
Files to hand from the West Coast give further particulars concerning the mysterious murder at the Lyell. It appears that the deceased, Denis Quinlivan, or “Denny Quinlan,” was a well-known and somewhat notorious character. He worked by himself as a “hatter" some eight miles from the Lyell township, and being of an erratic disposition, his absence from his accustomed haunts attracted no particular notice. He was last seen alive close to the house of a woman named Mary Gramatica, whom he occasionally visited. His headless and decomposed remains were found by a man named Patrick Carroll, whose attention was attracted by the unbearable stench arising from the body. It was a noticeable fact that horses showed disinclination to pass the place for some time before the discovery. A resident states that on a certain night previous to the discovery of the body he heard in the neighborhood of Mrs Gramatica’s dwelling, which is near the place where the body was found, terrible cries of anguish, and assuming that these proceeded from the deceased, this certainly strengthens the idea that murder was committed. John Davidson, at present awaiting trial on a charge of attempted suicide, is suspected, and certain other persons are also suspected, but there is no clue yet to warrant their arrest. The case is in the hands of Inspector Emerson and Detective Quinn. -NZ Times, 19/2/1883.
THE LYELL MURDER.
STARTLING DOUBLE CONFESSION.
[By Telegraph.] [united press association.] Lyell, This Day.
John Davidson last night confessed to complicity in the murder of Denis Quinlan here on the night of the 28th January last. A woman named Mary Gramatica is also in custody on the same charge. There is great excitement here in consequence of the disclosure.
The inquest reopens this morning. There are no further particulars at present. The Court has just opened, and the Coroner has announced an adjournment for half-an-hour, as Mary Gramatica is making a clear confession to the Inspector of Police, which is stated to be a little nearer the truth than that of Davidson's. -Evening Post, 20/2/1883.
THE LYELL MURDER.
THE PRISONERS' CONFESSIONS.
HORRIBLE STORY OF IMMORALITY AND CRIME.
[By Telegraph.] united press association.] Lyell, 20th February.
John Davidson made a statement yesterday as follows regarding the death of Denis Quinlan. He said: — "I, John Davidson, say as follows: — I was going to be married to Mrs. Gramatica in six or seven weeks from the time this affair happened. I came down here on the Sunday night, 28th January. I was all wet, and I took off my clothes and made a fire in Mrs. Gramatica's house, and hung up my clothes to dry, and before I turned in on the sofa I drank nearly half a bottle of brandy; then I unlocked the door and left a candle burning on the table, and never woke until next morning. I then got the bottle and emptied what was in it. I then lit my pipe and had a smoke. Then I heard Mrs. Gramatica singing out that she was dying for a drink. I said nothing, but looked round the place, but could find nothing. Then I proceeded to town. I went to Mrs. Williams' first, but she would not get up. I then went to Sloan's and got a bottle of brandy. Then I came back. While going home I picked up a bottle of brandy before I got to the fowlhouse, and when I went in Mrs. Gramatica started to tell me about leaving the door open. Sho wm getting up at the time. We had three or four drinks and a talk at the same time. I went to look for some matches to light my pipe, and the first thing I saw was my own shirt with blood on the sleeve of it. I asked Mrs. Gramatica what brought that there, or how it came. She told me that she had saved my life last night, for my brains would have been knocked out on the sofa. She said she was coming from town, and there was a gentleman who was coming with her, but that she did not want his company. I asked her if anyone had come home with her, and she said no, but that a man came after her, and had a billet of wood in his hand, and his hand was all over blood. He saw my shirt hanging up to dry, and wiped his hands upon it and the next thing he heard was me snoring hard. He wanted to know who was that. He then raised the billet of wood to hit me with it, and Mrs. Gramatica saw him in the act and knocked him down. He then went in a fit on the floor. She then ran and locked the doors and threw some water on him. She pulled me, but conld not awaken me. She then put him out the back door, and followed him down the road, and saw him and another man rolling him off the road. I asked her why she did not lay an information against him for killing the man. I said he must be dead, else he would never roll him off the road. I told her that I would lay an information. She then brought a bottle of brandy, put two good drinks in a mug or teacup, and told me not to be a fool, and not to interfere with what did not meddle with me. She next brought a Prayer Book or Bible, and put it on a chair, and went outside and brought in an axe in her hand, and made me swear that I would never mention it to man, woman, or child, living or dead, till I would see myself in danger, or the would knock my brains out with the axe which she held in her hand. I got the book and took the oath. I asked her then if any person saw this man coming with hor. She said, 'Yes. He left Rosa Boyle's with her, and that it was Denis Quinlan.' I then said, 'You will be hung as safe as hell.' She said, ' No, by G__; I never put hands on him, but wanted him to go back.' I then asked her who it was that killed him. She replied, 'She was coming along by Little Ben's, and he tried to take liberties with her; that Little Ben heard the row and came out, and she wanted Ben to come with her to get Quinlan away.' I asked her how she got in tow with Ben. She said, 'She saw him with watercress. He was getting so sweet on her that she could see it. Before the accident ocourred to me, the two men came along the road after her, and she was trying to get away from them, and she looked behind her, and saw Little Ben knocked down, and Quinlan pulling off his coat. She stood for a minute on the road a few yards away from them, and observed Quinlan fall, and said 'O, God!' She then ran as fast as she could until she got home, and when she came in she fainted on the floor. She had just come to a little before Ben came in. I again advised her to go and lay an information to the police, and she took the same book that I had sworn on, and she swore by the heavens and earth that she would never divulge a word; that she would suffer to be hung, drawn, and quartered before she would become an informer, and then she kissed the book, and told me to be a man, and not a coward. I said to her that I wished to Heaven I was dead before she told me about it. I said, I will be tried for this as well as you, as I was in the house and would never deny being there. I told her that everyone about the place knew that I used to go and stop there. She said, 'Be a man and not a lunatic' I have sent for you, Inspector Emerson, to give this evidence of my own free will, and have requested the presence of Mr. Detective Quinn as to the proof of my statement. (Signed) John Davidson."
Mrs. Gramatica confessed as follows: — "I, Mary Gramatica, on the 28th January last was going home. I met Denis Quinlan, now deceased, at Rosy Boyle's. He asked me if I was going home soon. I said, 'Yes, I will be going very soon.' He asked me if anyone was going to see me home. I told him no. He said if I did not object he would see me and the child home. I thanked him and said I had no objection. The child was sleeping at Boyle's, and I said when she woke up I would go immediately. She did awaken, and I went directly. He came with me home. There was a light in the house, and a good fire on. I opened the door, which was not locked. I found John Davidson standing on the floor when I went in. I said, 'You are making yourself very comfortable.' He said, 'Why not?' Quinlan came in after me and sat on the sofa. I also sat down, beside him. He had a bottle of brandy with him, and asked for an empty glass. I said, 'I have no glasses, and gave him a small mug. He poured out some brandy for me, and I drank it. He helped Davidson to some and himself, then he put the bottle and mug on the table. He asked Davidson when he came down. Davidson said, 'Not long ago.' They were conversing together, but I did not pay much attention to what they were saying. Quinlan asked me to let them have another drink, which I did. They then began to talk rather cross to one another. Quinlan said, 'You are imposing on this woman. I have respect for her brother and for her, and I do not want to see it.' Davidson called him a liar, and said, 'Anyone that goes between that woman and me, I will do something to them.' Davidson called Quinlan a son of a b____, and Quinlan threw his coat off and stood up to hit Davidson, but he did not get time to hit him. Quinlan came back again and sat down on the sofa and showed me his hand, saying, 'Look here.' I screamed, and said to Davidson, 'Oh! see what you have done.' Quinlan was stabbed in the wrist, which bled very freely. He seemed not to say much then, and my little girl was screaming when she saw the blood. I got a bandage and bound his wrist up. He again asked me for brandy, and I gave it to him. Davidson said the best thing I could do was to take my child and go to bed. I took no notice of him. He again said, 'Tell the child to be quiet.' I asked Quinlan if his wrist was painful, and he replied, 'No;' but asked me to give him more brandy, which I did, and had some myself. Davidson helped himself to some. I then went to bed, the child being very cross. I left Davidson and Quinlan together, and they had no more words in my presence. I went to sleep, and did not wake till morning. I awoke pretty early. Davidson was sitting on my box beside my bed. I asked him what he was doing there. He replied, 'Nothing, but you had better have a drink,' and I said 'All right.' He gave it to me. I said, 'I must soon be getting up.' He said, 'You won't stir out of this room before 12 o clock to-night.' I looked at him and asked him what he meant. I saw the table up against my bedroom door, and asked him what he meant by putting it there. He said, 'To keep you and your child in your room.' He said 'If you stir from the room to-day, or let the child out, I won't say what the con sequences may be.' I then got very frightened of him, seeing what he had done to Quinlan' s wrist, so I turned to my child, and said no more to him, but stopped in bed. I don't know what he was doing about the house, as I could not get out to look, the door being barricaded. He then come into my bedroom and said he was going to the Lyell, and said, ' If I got up, or let the child get up, or opened the door to anyone that knocked, I would suffer for it.' I asked him, for God's sake, to remove the table from the door, and, if he did, I would not get up or go out. He said, 'If you promise me that, I will.' He then moved the table. I got out of bed immediately to see what was the matter, that he had closed me np like that. When he saw me get out, he pushed me back, and I got into bed as quickly as possible. He asked me if that was the way to keep my promise? He said he was going to the Lyell, if I wanted anything. I told him I wanted a bottle of vinegar and a bottle of salad oil. He went to the Lyell, and said he would not be half -an-honr away, and to remember what he had told me. As soon as he went away, I got up to see what was the matter outside. I saw something like a heap of blanket, half on the sofa and half on the floor. I taw two boots under the blankets, partly covered over. I said 'My God, that must be Quinlan !' I went back into my room then, and thought he might only be sleeping, but thought he was in a queer position, and tried to look out to see if I oould see him move, but I did not. I then began to dress myself, which took me a good while, feeling so frightened. Before I finished dressing, Davidson came back, and brought vinegar, oil, and brandy with him. I asked him what he had done. He said he took Quinlan's heart's blood, and I said, ' Yes, there he lies.' He told me to go back to my bed again, which I did, and stopped there with my child all day, and never got up till Tuesday ntorning, but I could not sleep. On the Monday night I heard Davidson drag something oat of the house from the back door, but I could not tell what direction he dragged it to, or what he had done with it. He oame back in about a quarter of an hour. He called me after daylight on the Tuesday morning, and said I could get up. He got a bag and put some blankets in it with the sofa cover, and changed his trousers. He got a pair belonging to Christy, a foreigner, and put them on, and put his own in a bag with the blankets. He took the bag with him, and said he would be back by 11 o'clock, which he was. He had a dagger, and threw it over the terrace in the morning, just at the back of my house. He then changed his shirt and flannel. There was blood on the flannel which he took off, and burnt it with a match. This is all I know about Quinlan and Davidson. This statement has been made of my own free will and without any questions being put to me. I requested Constable Keating to fetch in Inspector Emerson to take this statement, which is true. — (Signed) Mary Gramatica."
Later.
John Davidson and Mary Gramatica have just been committed, on the Coroner's warrant, for the wilful murder of Denis Quinlan upon their own confession. -Evening Post, 21/2/1883.
We have received some particulars relative to the Lyell murder case not previously made public. The indications revealed at the discovery of the body of Denis Quinlan shows that a most deliberate attempt at getting rid of the body, and thus destroying all traces of the foul deed, was frustrated by a mere accident. It was the evident intention of the murderer or murderers to drop the body into an eddy of the Buller river, so that it might be washed away and no further traces discovered, but in the hurry and darkness the body was hurled down the bank about three yards above the eddy, and lodged in some brushwood, whence it would have been exceedingly difficult to disentangle it, and loosened from which it would have merely fallen on a shingly beach. It is surmised that contemplation of this dilemma led the man Davidson to attempt suicide just at the spot where the body was for a while concealed, he knowing that discovery must inevitably soon ensue. It is further said that a most deliberate attempt was made to prevent identification of the features of deceased, the head having been completely severed from the body, and afterwards either singed before the fire or put in boiling water, so that the hair, of which deceased had an abundance, both on scalp and face, should be completely removed. The impression at the Lyell is that neither of the confessions made by Davidson and the woman Mary Gramatica are true except in slight degree. Both are considered guilty, and their confessions are taken as mere attempts to implicate each one the other while concealing the actual circumstances of each one’s connection with the crime. -NZ Times, 22/2/1883.
SUPREME COURT.
CRIMINAL SITTINGS.
[Before his Honor Mr Justice Richmond.] YESTERDAY.
Wilful Murder.
John Davidson was arraigned on a charge of having wilfully murdered Dennis Quinlan at the Lyell.
The prisoner, on being called on to plead, pleaded "Not Guilty."
Mr Pitt said he appeared for the prisoner.
Mr Fell was for the Crown.
The Jury were then struck as follows: — Messrs Rout (foreman), J. Rothwell, W. Newth, J. Hall, J. W. Treacher, W. E. Brown, W. Remnant, F. Faulkner, R. Watson, T. Small, C. H. S. Ball, and R. Kenning. Messrs J. Kerr, T. Payne, J. Hamilton, and J. H. Harris were challenged by the Crown Prosecutor.
Mr Fell, in opening the case, said it was not necessary for him to say anything to the Jury in order to impress them with the grave responsibility which rested upon them in having to try the prisoner at the bar for murder, the most severe crime known to the law. He should make no apology for occupying their time, for in such a case time was not to be considered. The life of the prisoner was in their hands, and it behoved them in trying the case to bring to bear every particle of intellect with which they were endowed.
His Honor told the prisoner he might sit down.
Mr Fell: Quinlan was a man beyond middle age of powerful build, and he and the prisoner were both acquainted with Mrs Gramatica, who lived in a hut of her own a little way from the Lyell. Davidson first made her acquaintance in November last, and became so intimate that he frequently slept at her house. She was the widow of an Italian, apparently a decent man, and her house, or hut, was situate on the right bank of the river a little below Lyell on the Westport road. The house was accessible from that road, and by a track through the river. It stood a few yards from the house of Mr Carrol, both houses being on the left of the road to Westport, and between the road and river. From the road the land falls very precipitously towards the river. The house was situate the other side of the Lyell Creek, which was crossed by a bridge, on the town side of which was the small cottage of Rose Boyle, a woman of indifferent character. Mrs Gramatica's house was a wooden one containing two rooms, a bedroom on the left in which Mrs Gramatica and her child of four years old slept, and in the other room was a sofa on which visitors slept. On the evening of Saturday, the 27th January last, Quinlan was at Mrs Gramatica's house. He left about 10 o'clock on Sunday, and in the evening he wai in the township, and he had a glass of beer with Mrs Gramatica at a public house there kept by Williams. They left, and afterwards he and Mrs Gramatica met at Rose Boyle's and stayed till after dark. Mrs Gramatica then went home, and Quinlan carried her child. On reaching the house they found the prisoner in Mrs Gramatica's house, and she said to him, "You are making yourself at home," and he replied "Why not?" The woman and Quinlan sat on the sofa and a drink was then proposed. At that time Davidson was sober. Ultimately words arose, and Quinlan took off his coat. The prisoner habitually carried a small dagger, which he may have used for the ordinary purposes for which knives are used, but when Quinlan went up to him he retreated, and said "Look here!" showing a wound in his arm. The woman got a rag and tied the arm up. Whether the sight of blood silenced them or not he could not say, but they appear to have sat down and had another drink. The child had been much frightened, and ultimately Davidson said "You had better take that child and go to bed." She asked how Quinlan's wrist was, and he said it was not painful. The woman must have been a good deal the worse for liquor, for she could not carry the child. She led it to the bedroom and sat down on the bed herself, and being overcome slept a half drunken sleep through the rest of the occurrences of that night, of which he could give them no direct information. The next they knew was that Wallis, a carpenter, living at Carroll's house, fifty yards away, was aroused in his sleep, about 1 in the morning, by a fearful noise at Gramatica's, as if people were quarrelling. He listened, and presently he heard a loud crash, and then all was quiet. The woman slept on till early morning, when she was aroused by Davidson, who was sitting on her bed. In reply to the question, What was he doing there? He said, Nothing, and asked her to have a drink — which appeared to be the general assuager — brandy first and water after. She said she must be getting up. She moved, and to her astonishment saw the table from the other room, up-ended against the doorway. She asked what was the matter, but he only told her he would tell her by and by. She pressed him to tell her, and he said she must no leave the room until he returned from the township. He was seen walking in a distracted state swinging his hat. He could not show what the prisoner went to town for on that occasion, except that he bought a bottle of oil and a bottle of vinegar. What he wanted with these things he could not say, unless they were a blind to get more brandy. In that house the woman, the dead body, and the child remained all day; the blinds were down, there was no fire, and no sign of life, and thus the woman passed that weary day. | When Davidson left she peeped through the doorway, and partly on the floor and partly on the sofa she saw a heap, with boots partially sticking out from the blankets, and she thought it was Quinlan. When Davidson came back she was up, and he accused her of having broken her promise not to move. She said "Who is that on the floor there?" He said it was Quinlan, and said, "I've taken his heart's blood, there he lies." On Monday morning Rose Boyle sent a bottle of brandy to Mrs Gramatica by a man named Hubbard who went to the house. Davidson went to the window, and when the man told his message, said "You can't get in; give it to me through the window." In the evening Davidson was seen outside the house, and some time at night Mrs Gramatica, who was still shut up, heard Davidson dragging something heavy, and she heard the body bumping over the floor. He was gone about a quarter of an hour. Before he went he asked her if she was asleep, and she made no reply. He busied himself, and when it first became daylight the next morning he told her she might get up. She then found the room cleaned up, the kettle on the fire, and a place by a sofa on the floor wet, and it had evidently been mopped up, and at his demand she swore she would hold her tongue, The blankets from the sofa were put in a bag, together with the sofa cover and his trousers, and he took the bag away. They had now got to the Tuesday morning, Davidson wore clothes belonging to a man named Christini that day, and which were left with Mrs Gramatica to wash. On the sleeve of his shirt there was blood, and on the front, and he tore the parts of the shirt off; and he also burned a portion of an antimacassar on which there was blood. The dagger he threw into the bush from the back of the house. On Tuesday Davidson went to his mate. Mr Fell then related what occurred, but, as this is stated in the evidence already given, it is unnecessary to give this portion of his remarks. Mr Fell referred to the finding of the prisoner with his throat cut, his committal for trial on a charge of attempted suicide on the 2nd February, and referred to the circumstance that where the prisoner cut his throat was on the road just above where the body of Quinlan was found. When the prisoner was asked why he cut his throat he said, "Oh, don't ask me." On one occasion he sent for Mrs Gramatica and told her something was to be done at once or the body would smell, and then there would be a terrible to-do. At the end of the week she observed a horrible smell, and on the following morning Carroll attracted by it found the body. He said that had the body not lodged on the ledge where it was found, it must have gone hundreds of feet down to the river, and either have been carried away at once or have gone at the first fresh. He then referred to the finding of the body, and the marks of the stabs, &c, as mentioned in the doctor's evidence given below. He commented on the fact that the upper part of the body was in the state of putrefaction — a writhing mass of maggots, while the lower part was perfectly recognisable, and said some corrosive matter might have been used or the upper part of the body plunged into boiling water, but he said unless this state of the body was occasioned by natural means, there was only one on earth who could tell how it happened. He said that since the prisoners had been in Nelson at the Gaol, they might and did exchange communications. The prisoner had been in the habit of writing a mass of letters to his fellow prisoner, and these he should tender in evidence, and when they (the Jury) compared these with the evidence he should produce, no doubt could be left that the prisoner was the man who committed this foul crime. Mrs Gramatica was committed for trial by the Resident Magistrate on very similar evidence to that brought against the prisoner Davidson, but they would see there was no sort of case against her. She afterwards did acts which rendered her liable to be charged as an accessory after the fact, but whether she did so under threats or fear one could not tell. If she atoned for that and told the truth now, she would be doing what in her lay to make up for having failed in her duty (whatever the risk) to have exposed the murder at the time.
He then called
Frederick Carroll deposed: I live on the Westport road near the Lyell township, and about half a mile from the township round by the bridge. I am a speculator, and was a publican. My house is close by Mrs Gramatica's, and between the road and the Buller river. My house is 50 paces from hers, and my garden fence comes up to her house. Mrs Gramatica lives in her house with her little girl, about 4 years old. The child plays about, and has done with my children. I remember Monday morning, 29th January. I left my house about half past nine on that morning. On passing Mrs Gramatica's I noticed the blinds down, there was no smoke, and no one about. I had been about before, but I had not noticed anyone about at Mrs Gramatica's. I noticed these things as something peculiar, for I was in the habit of seeing them about. I was away nearly all day, and returned between 5 and 6 o'clock. On passing the house then it was in the same condition as in the morning, blinds down, no smoke, and no one about. I had passed the house about 11 o'clock on the previous night, I then heard voices in the house. It was dark, and there was a misty rain. I knew Dennis Quinlan, and I knew the prisoner, whom I had seen at Gramatica's on the Wednesday and Thursday previous to the murder, and on other occasions frequently. On this Monday I was in my garden, about 25 feet from Mrs Gramatica's house, at between 6 and 7 o'clock in the evening. I saw a man come out at the back of Mrs Gramatica's. He went to the further corner and returned. I cannot say who it was; I only noticed the hat, which was a large Yankey hat. On Monday, the 5th February, I was returning home from the Lyell about, one o'clock. I came over the bridge — you can ford the river and go up the sideling— I always go by the bridge. I smelt a very bad smell close to Gramatica's place. I stopped when I got the smell very strong. I looked round and could see nothing for a bit. I went back and lost the smell, when I returned and got the smell again. I said whatever it is, it is here. I moved a pace or two, and saw the scrub broken down the sideling. I looked down and saw something grey below. There was a bench or terrace about 3 feet down on which two people might stand. I got on it, but could not see what the grey object was. I reckoned the object was about 30 feet below. I could have scrambled down, but did not. I went home and had something to eat, and spoke to my wife. I went back to Lyell and told the constable; that was just after two o'clock. I returned with the constable. He went down to look, and told me it was a body, and he went back to the Lyell for the doctor. I afterwards saw the body lying on the road; it was Dennis Quinlan's. I last saw Quinlan on Sunday, the 28th January, coming out of Gramatica's house, and at the Commercial Hotel. He had a black coat and vest, tweed trousers, straw hat, and white shirt with pleated front. The clothes on the body were the same, except that the coat and hat were gone. I noticed the skull; it was not attached to the body, and they brought it up after the body. There was neither flesh nor hair on the skull, but I recognised it by the broken nose as Quinlan's skull.
Cross examined by Mr Pitt: Quinlan was a very powerful man. From what I know of him he was very respectable, I saw him coming out of Mrs Gramatica's about half past nine on the morning of Sunday, the 28th January. I did not speak to him. He went towards the Lyell Creek bridge. I reckon there were from four to six people at Mrs Gramatica's on Sunday night. I heard men's voices, and Mrs Gramatica's among them. From my house I have often heard voices in Mrs Gramatica's. When I noticed the opening in the scrub it was a very narrow one, just as if a man or something small had slipped down the passage. There was a tree across this opening about half way down. It was lying across this track, and was about 10 inches through. There was about two feet under the tree; it was sufficient for a person to get under. The little platform I spoke of is like a step from the road, about three feet down. I saw Quinlan in the Lyell on the 27th January. On Monday, the 29th, I left between 9 and 10 o'clock in the morning, and returned between 5 and 6 in the evening. Whilst I was at home there was no smoke coming from Gramatica's. I first saw Davidson about four months before. I do not know that there was any intimacy between the prisoner and Quinlan. I could not say what reputation Mrs Gramatica's house had. People used to meet there and drink, and she used to drink herself.
Re-examined by Mr Fell: After the body was removed I went down to the spot; there were two trees across the track. I believe the lower one was about 5 inches through.
John Snodgrass deposed: I am a surveyor. The plan produced was prepared by me, and is correct. On it are shown the several places mentioned. Mr Carroll's house is 149 feet 6 inches from Mrs Gramatica's. Quinlan's body was found 232 feet from Mrs Gramatica's home. The body was found 165 feet from where Davidson attempted suicide. It is 63 chains from Famer's hotel to where the body was found. Near where the body was found it is very precipitous between the road and the river. The little plan of Mrs Gramatica's house is correct; there are two rooms, with a doorway between, but no door. The point shown me as where Quinlan's body was found was on a little ledge 26 feet 9 inches below the road in perpendicular height. A small tree about 8 inches thick lay across the track, and about 2 feet 6 inches above it. The body was 18 feet 4 inches below the tree and 32 feet 8 inches below the road. The river was 124 feet below the road. The river was not at the foot of the precipice. Had the body not lodged on the ledge, it would hare gone on to a beach beside the river, which was about five or six feet above the water.
Cross-examined by Mr Fell: There is no traffic on the river, or very rarely. Had the body gone on to the beach, I should say it would have been seen from the track. If a man fell off the road near that tree, there was room for him to slide underneath the tree. I think if a man had fallen off the road, he would have remained on the small ledge underneath the road, but if he had passed that, he would have gone to where the body was found. I made the survey on the 12th of February.
James Campbell deposed: I am a Doctor of Medicine, and am a duly qualified medical practitioner practising at the Lyell. I am deaf through having received a wound in the Franco-Prussian War. I was attached to the Geneva Convention, the Red Cross Society. I was in the hospital three months before Saarbruck, and in the field at Gravelotte, and have had much experience in wounds. I was sent to Paris after being wounded, and was shut up there. I have had a large experience with wounds. I saw the body of Dennis Quinlan on the 5th February last. It was lying about 30ft below the road, and I went down within a few yards of it. The body was in a half reclining position leaning to the left. It was a headless trunk, and I did not see the head at that time. A volunteer went down and put a rope around the feet of the body, which was completely dragged up under the log. I made a casual examination when the body was brought on to the road, and it was then carried to the Lyell. The head was brought up immediately after the body. One hand and the larger bone of the lower arm, as well as some of the vertebra were missing. I afterwards made a post mortem examination. I made a careful examination of the skull, it being detached. It was perfectly clean, bare, destitute of hair, flesh, or animal attachment, and no brain, the inside being equally clean. Nine front teeth were missing, but I attached little importance to that, as they might have fallen out with exposure. There was an old contusion over the right eye, and one under the left. There had also been a very severe fracture of the nasal bone. The head was, in fact, completely covered with old wounds. The lower jaw was entirely detached. As to the trunk, no flesh, and no organs were to be distinguished above the 6th rib. For seven inches down from where the head had been severed the vertabra were perfectly clean. Within the ribs was a mass of living corruption, but on scraping that I found a mass of coagulated blood. Every organ in the lower portion of the trunk was in a normal condition except the liver which was slightly congested. They were in a wonderful state of preservation. The heart was gone, but the stomach was perfect. The legs were perfectly sound. I saw the clothes on the body. On the left breast there was a cut in the shirt apparently made by a sharp instrument, and which was about half or three quarters of an inch wide. It was between the second and third ribs. The wound might have been made by an instrument half an inch wide. In the flannel was a cut corresponding with that in the white shirt. In the sleeve of the right wristband there were cuts or holes. There were not the slightest signs of blood on the shirt. I was not surprised, for frequently where a weapon is thrust into a cavity and the heart that it happens with the elasticity of the flesh the wound closes when the weapon is quickly withdrawn, and internal bleeding takes place. From the position of the cuts the instrument might have pierced the base of the heart. The cause of death must have been hemorrage. Such a wound would account for internal hemorrage, and would have been sufficient to cause death. The upper portion of the breast bone was broken inward and downward; a downward blow with any instrument might have done this. The ribs were also fractured. The second, third, fourth and fifth ribs were fractured on the left side. They were clean fractures, and might have been caused by the same blow. The second and third were also broken on the right side. The fracture of the breast bone would have been sufficient to cause death by the rupture of the heart. It did surprise me that part of the body should be consumed to such a considerable extent. I cannot account for this except on the supposition that there had been some wounds in the upper part of the body, when decomposition would have set in at once. The muggy weather would account for the condition of the body, but not of the skull. I cannot account for the condition of the skull. It would not have been in that condition unless some corrosive liquid had been used, or it had been boiled in water. It is possible, but highly improbable, that boiling water applied to it would have rendered it in this condition. It must have been subjected to heat for some time. I was called to see the prisoner after he cut his throat. I saw him lying on the road. He was bleeding from a considerable wound, and had he been let alone he would have died. There was blood on the road where he lay, and also about 10 or 20 yards from where he was, and towards Mrs Gramatica's was another smaller pool of blood, and 10 or 20 yards still nearer Mrs Gramatica's was another pool of blood. This last pool would be about 10 yards from where Quinlan's body was. A razor was shown me, and the wound in the throat could have been inflicted by it. He told me he did the thing himself. He could not speak till I stitched his throat. I asked why he did it. He said, "Oh, don't ask me." He did not at that time object to have his wound dressed. He did object to have it dressed before he was removed to Westport; it was merely stubbornness.
Cross-examined by Mr Pitt: Supposing there had been a head on the body it would have been facing the river. On the left arm there was some flesh, and the hand was attached. The body was reclining towards the left, and the flesh had adhered to the parts near the bank. I made the examination of the clothing when I made the post mortem. My first attention was drawn to the tears or incisions in the shirt when the body was brought on the road, but I first saw the cuts in the breast at the post mortem examination two days after. Someone called attention to the marks on the sleeve of the right arm when the body was on the road. The left hand was then attached. The upper portion of the body was clad, with white shirt and flannel, buttoned up to the neck. There was no collar or necktie. The legs had only a pair of trousers on them besides the boots and socks. I cannot say that the absence of flesh might not be attributed to the action of animals or birds, but were it so I should expect some marks of teeth. The proof would be on the bones. An animal to have reached the interior of the body would have taken away the broken ribs. I should expect to find traces of rats. It would be possible that rats might remove the flesh, but I should expect to find traces. I should imagine that the state of the skull would .have necessitated the application of heat for from 3 to 4 hours, but an hour's heat would have accelerated decomposition, and so would wounds. At the inquest I said nothing about the incisions in the shirt; I merely answered questions. I said nothing about the coagulated blood either. I had not my notes with me. It was a very important point. The hemorrage from such a wound as that described would have caused death. I think that is a main point, but I did not mention it at the inquest for the reasons I have stated. I said at the inquest that if the heart had been stabbed I could not tell. The coagulated blood might have been caused by a fall or a blow. I did say at the inquest that from the advanced state of decomposition I could not say what was the actual cause of death. I cannot say so positively, but it was caused by the effusion of blood, though what caused that effusion I cannot say positively. The breast bone might have been broken by falling forward on a stump or stone, but its resistance would be great. The fracture of the ribs might be caused by a blow or a fall. I should think one blow or fall would break the breastbone and the ribs too. The fact of the fracture to the breastbone and the ribs would not accelerate decomposition, or only to a very slight extent, providing the skin was entire. From the state of the body when I say it it was not possible to say how the head had been severed. It was impossible to notice any wound on the wrist; it was too much decomposed.
Re-examined by Mr Fell: It was impossible to say whether Quinlan's head was severed daring life. There were no traces of injury on any of the vertebrae. If on falling the breast bone was the first point of contact, it might be broken, but ordinarily in falling the head would be struck first. The breast bone might be broken by a blow from a billet of wood, provided the head was thrown back. The body was lying feet forward, and falling in that way it would indeed be difficult to break the breast bone. Half an hour's boiling of the skull would be sufficient to account for the state of the skull alter a week's exposure, and even throwing boiling water over the body would have accelerated decomposition. The fact that both shirt and under shirt were pierced, does not assist me in accounting for the coagulated blood. It might have been caused by rupture of the heart or by a wound.
By his Honor: The effect of the application of boiling water would be to loosen the hair, but a slight friction would be necessary to remove it altogether.
By Mr Fell: From the state of the lower portion of the body, I should say death had occurred about a week.
Helen Williams deposed: I am an hotelkeeper, residing at the Lyell, and my house is known as the Welcome Inn. It is on the side of the town next the Lyell Creek bridge. I have been there nine years. I knew Dennis Quinlan quite well by his coming in the house. I last saw him alive on the 28th January, about a quarter to 9 in the evening. He came into my house alone. Mrs Gramatica was there, and he asked her to have a drink. They each had a small glass of beer. They were not in the house five minutes. He went out first, and she went away after. He came back afterwards and got a bottle of brandy, and went towards Cliff street. That is the way to the Lyell Creek bridge. I have seen the prisoner three or four times. I saw him on the 29th January, early in the morning, about half-past 4 or twenty minutes to 5. I was in bed. He knocked at the window and wanted a bottle of brandy, and I said "No." He said, "For God's sake give me a bottle of brandy, for I've got a friend near dying, and I'll give you 15s for it." He left, and went towards the town; he seemed to be in a hurry. He had on a black coat and hat and a dirty pair of trousers. I could not see his face. It was not his ordinary dress, which was a brown suit and a light brown Yankey felt hat. I saw Quinlan's body after it was found. I got out of bed after he had asked for the brandy and looked out, because he went away growling, and I wanted to see who he was talking to, but he was alone. The hat produced is the one Davidson generally wore, but it is not the one he had on that morning.
Cross-examined by Mr Pitt: I saw the body on the road, and identified it by the trousers, and I saw the head which I knew by a dent on the nose. A man named Charoni was in my house about half past 8 on Sunday evening. Charoni only stayed two or three minutes, and I don't remember him coming again that day. I have seen a man named Owen Rush; I don't think he was at my place that night. It was a fine morning when Davidson called. I cannot recollect whether it was wet on Sunday night. Davidson might have been 40 or 50 yards away when I looked out of the window and saw him. I had answered him, and told him I should not get up to get any brandy. I did not see Davidson on the 28th, the Sunday. Mrs Gramatica next came to my house after that Sunday on Court day. Davidson was on the road when I saw him on the Monday morning. He was too far off for me to tell the color of his trousers, but they looked of a dirty light color. I watched him till he got to Mr Ingles'.
Re-examined by Mr Fell: He went tearing and swinging along, walking very fast.
John Whelan deposed: I am a miner and reside at the Lyell. I had known Dennis Quinlan for 16 or 17 years. I last saw him alive on Sunday, the 28th January, at 3 or 4 o'clock, at Famer's Hotel. He wore a black vest and jacket, tweed trousers with black stripe, and straw hat with black band. He was quite sober. On the 6th January I saw the body, which was Quinlan. I knew it by wounds on the nose and the left temple, while the clothes corresponded with what he used to wear.
Cross-examined by Mr Pitt: I had seen a good deal of Quinlan. He was a little rowdy when drunk. He would take his own part. I was never frightened of him. I don't think he was a dangerous man. I knew he got in a row at the Wakamarina, and I heard that he was shot at. I saw Quinlan about 9 or 10 o'clock in the morning at Famer's on the 28th January. He did not say where he was the night before, but I heard afterwards that he slept at Gramatica's on the Saturday night. When the body was in the coffin it had the trousers and socks on, but I can't say whether there was a shirt on; the upper part was eaten away. I did not see for maggots. I am certain that on the Saturday he spoke of going to Gramatica's, and I advised him not, as it was a house of bad repute.
Re-examined: He was quite sober on the Sunday morning. He did not appear as though he had been out on the loose all night.
Louis Carmine deposed: I am a bootmaker, and live at the Lyell. I knew Dennis Quinlan when he was alive, and I made a pair of light boots for him. I last saw Quinlan alive on the 28th January. He seemed sober then, both in the morning and about tea time. He had on the boots I made, and the boots produced are the ones.
Cross-examined by Mr Pitt: I saw him on the Sunday morning, and I passed him just before tea time. I spoke to him, merely giving the time of day.
John O'Rourke deposed: I live about two miles up the Buller from the Lyell, and I am a miner. I know the prisoner Davidson, and have done so for about three years. We were working together for about six weeks as mates on a claim. I remember the 28th of last January. We were working a little that day. We were working on a river claim, and we were shifting our boxes to save them. We knocked off work about 5 o'clock. We had a hut there. Davidson after leaving off work washed himself, and said he wanted to go down to the Lyell. He said he did not think he would be back tomorrow if the river was up, but if it went down he thought he would. He did not come back till about 7 o'clock on Tuesday morning. He was then a little excited in looks, but I did not notice anything more. He seemed to be put out a good bit by the way he spoke and looked. I asked him if there was anything the matter with him, and he said, no. I asked him if he had been in any bother or anything, and he said, no he had not. I had had breakfast, and I asked him to have some, but he would not. He said he was not hungry, and did not care to eat, but he had some tea. He wanted me to go down to the Lyell, and said he would transfer to me a claim he had higher up. I said I did not think it was worth anything. He said it was a good claim, and would pay £3 or £4 a week. He did not want anything from me. He said he would rather me have it than anyone else, and if I did not take it, it would only be jumped. I asked him why he would not work it himself, and he said he would never put a pick into the ground again. I asked him what he was going to do, and he said he did not know. He said he did not know whether he was going to work any more in the claim he was in along with me. I asked him if he was going to get married to that woman (meaning Mrs Gramatica). He said he thought he would. He had mentioned her name several times before. I was sure he knew her. He had praised her up and one thing and another. He said he thought he might marry her. I told him it was the best thing he could do, he had been single long enough, and had never bettered himself. I went down with him to the Lyell to get the share transferred. We crossed the river together in a boat. He was then dressed in a light Crimean shirt, dark trousers, and brown hat. On the way down he took an axe out of the bush. I think he had planted it before. It was two miles from the Lyell where the axe was picked up. We parted near Sloan's, and we were to meet between 11 and 12 o'clock. He took the short cut across the foot of the Lyell Creek to Gramatica's place. I went to keep the appointment, and went several times, but he did not come. I thought it strange, and I went to look for him, and went towards the bridge. I saw Mrs Gramatica there, and went back to Carroll's. I then went by the short cut to Gramatica's. There were about eight or ten inches of water in the creek, and it was only about 12 feet wide. I scrambled up the bank to the road. It took a pretty tough time. It was a very difficult place When I got on the road I saw this man, Davidson, with his throat cut. Another man had seen him before me, and he had gone for a policeman. I did not know what was the matter at first; I thought he might be drunk. We helped to take him into the Lyell on a timber cart. Davidson was in the habit of carrying a small dagger about 6 or 7 inches long in the blade, with a guard protecting the handle. It was a pretty narrow blade with a sharp point, but the blade was not very sharp. He used to cut tobacco with it, and he used to have it on the claim. He always cut his tobacco with it. I never saw him carry the dagger on his person. He used to stick it in a log beside him.
Cross-examined by Mr Pitt: He never told me where he got the dagger. I knew a man named Croucher; Davidson never told me he got the dagger from Croucher. The dagger was usually about the claim. It was no use looking for the dagger on the claim because it is a river claim and half under water.
By his Honor: He used to take the dagger home with him at night. The river goes 20 feet over the logs on the claim where he used to put it when at work.
By Mr Pitt: I never heard Davidson speak of Quinlan. I never found anything wrong with Davidson. We had been mates about six weeks. He was a quiet man, and I never found anything wrong with him. Mrs Gramatica told me Davidson had gone by the short cut to meet me. I never saw the spot where the body was found.
By his Honor: When I came up from the creek, I came on to the road at the very spot where Davidson was lying.
By Mr Pitt: The country is very rough. I don't think any person could go that road at night except they endangered their life. I have had this dagger in my hand. I don't think the edges were very sharp. I never saw him whet the dagger on the stones after use. I know it was naturally blunt on the edges. We used to cut the tobacco with the edge near up to the point. I think I asked him what he was going to do with the axe, and I think he said he was going to cut wood for the old woman, meaning Mrs Gramatica. He might have told me he was going to give it to her. Davidson was, I think, away on the Wednesday before. He returned on the Friday afternoon. I don't know that he had been drinking. I had had a couple of drinks with Quinlan. I only saw him once in my life. He was about my size. I am about 13 or 14 stone. I believe it was Saturday morning that he returned, and not on Friday as I said before.
Re-examined by Mr Fell: I think Quinlan was about 40. The dagger and the tobacco were put on the log while we were working. We used to take it home with us at night. I don't know where he kept it.
Charles Organte deposed: I live on the Westport road, and my house is further down the road than Gramatica's. On the night of Sunday, the 28th January, I left Rassmissen's place between 10 and 11. It was showery. As I passed Mrs Gramatica's there was a candle light in the window nearest the Lyell. There was light in each room. There were two or three men talking loud like disputing questions inside. I got home at quarter to 11 by my clock. I did not notice a woman's voice at Gramatica's.
Cross-examined by Mr Pitt: I passed close to the house. They were all talking together. My wife was with me. The talking was like that of three or four. There were two for certain, and by the talk there might have been more.
William Wallis deposed: I am a carpenter, and in January last I lived at Mr Carroll's place. I was lodging with him, and doing work for him also. I was lodging with him on the night of the 28th January last. Mr Carroll's house is 52 paces from Grammatical. Between 2 and 3 in the morning I heard a greet row at Gramatica's. I was in bed when I first heard it. The noise wakened me; I got up and stood at the door and listened for five or ten minutes. I heard a great row, a great stamping and wrestling going on on the floor. I heard voices shouting, but could not tell what they said. They were in anger. I could not say how many voices there were. I heard a great fall on the floor; and everything was quiet after. The next day I was working at Carroll's, but I did not see a soul about Gramatica's house that Monday. The home was shut up all day. I can't say whether there were any blinds. I saw no smoke till the day after the Tuesday. Mrs Gramatica has a little girl. I did not see the child about on the Monday. Usually the child was about playing with Carroll's children sometimes, and it struck me as remarkable that the child was not about. I saw the body of Quinlan pulled up. You could see the grass bruised a little; there was no track. It did not look as though anyone had carried a body there. Supposing anyone had pitched a body from the road most likely it would have fallen to where the body was found. The grass and scrub was more bruised by the time I got there by people trying to get the body up. Nothing attracted my attention to Mrs Gramatica's on the Monday except the stillness.
Cross-examined: I did not see the little girl on Sunday. I suppose the scrub would have been more bruised if the body had been dragged down. After I heard the fall I waited about a couple of minutes and then went back to bed. I heard the noise plainly. I could not say how many persons were in the house, but from what I heard there must have been three or four there. I thought a row was going on, a row of fists. I had been living at Carroll's five weeks, and I had heard rows at Gramatica's once or twice before.
By his Honor: I could not distinguish any woman's voice.
By Mr Pitt: Sunday was a fine day till I went to bed at 8 o'clock; it was not raining when I got up. I heard no words and no cry after I heard the fall. I recollect when Davidson was taken to the lockup for attempted suicide. After Davidson was in the lockup I did not see anything in Gramatica's house to attract my notice. I believe it was locked up that day.
By his Honor: I first saw fire in the house after Sunday; on the Tuesday evening.
By Mr Pitt: I smelt rags burning on that evening, and I smelt them for a good hour.
By Mr Fell: I am not quite certain that it was Tuesday; I know it was not Monday. To the best of my belief it was Tuesday.
Catherine Carroll: I am the wife of Patrick Carroll, and I live with him in the house just beyond Mrs Gramatica's house near the Lyell. I remember Monday, the 29th January last. I noticed particularly that there was nobody about Mrs Gramatica's house, and it seemed deserted. She and the child were generally about, and I noticed that they were not on that day; also that there was no smoke. I did not look at the blinds, for I did not go to the front. I heard no noise on the Sunday night. On the Tuesday I smelt something like woollen stuff burning, and the smell came from Mrs Gramatica's. This was just at dusk. I saw a man knock at Gramatica's about 11 o'clock in the day, but no one answered. He knocked at the front and at the back. On Monday night I went out to get some water about 10 o'clock, and someone struck a match, and I saw by the light the figure of a man at the hack door. I could not distinguish the man.
Cross-examined by Mr Pitt: The man was at the back door. I thought it was more the appearance of a man than of a woman. I am not sure now that it was a man, but my impression was it was a man. I did not take notice of the time the smell of burning woollens lasted; it was twenty minutes at all events. The name of the man who called in the morning was Owen Rush. I heard of Davidson cutting his throat; it was after he was taken to the lock-up that I smelt the rags burning.
Re-examined by Mr Fell: Persons might have gone to the house on the Monday without my seeing them. The Court then adjourned till 10 o'clock this morning. -Colonist, 19/6/1883.
The trial of John Davidson at the Supreme Court, Nelson, for the wilful murder of Denis Quinlan, at Lyell, on the 29th January last, was concluded late last night. The following persons were subpoenaed by the Crown to give evidence in the case: — L. Carmine, J. Whelan, P. Carroll, W. Wallace, Mrs Williams, Mrs Carroll, A. Chase, J. O’Rourke, B Scioroni, Rosana Boyle, J. Stanton, B, Thompson, F. Ullmer, O. Morganti, T. Hubbard, Dr. Campbell, Constable Keating, Inspector Emerson, T. Short, and J. F. Clark. Our special telegram states that the Judge summed up very strongly against the prisoner. The jury retired at midnight, and after forty minutes’ deliberation returned into Court with a verdict of “Manslaughter.” The prisoner was sentenced to penal servitude for life. -Kumara Times, 21/6/1883.
THE LYELL TRAGEDY
VERDICT OF MANSLAUGHTER
A LIFE SENTENCE
The whole of the witnesses having been examined, the following letters addressed by the prisoner to Mrs Gramatica in gaol were put in:
You doubted my word before, and you are doing the same now, but you will see the end of it. Had you believed me, you and me would not be here to-day. Think that over well. A lie I never told in my life, and I will not now. I will not wait for the grand jury to sit. Though I am innocent of the crime I was charge with I will say that I was helping you to do it, and then you will say as you did before; you remember you said once that you did not think I was so fond of you, and this will be the same as that.
Mary, I am very sorry indeed that you are that hardened in crime that you doubt my love for you. Yes I do, and forgive all the past and will stick to my word and you will see then that I tell no lies, all for the love of you. You can't turn me against you, do as you will, and you will never live with another man only me, if I can manage it. If I die, by Heaven you will do the same, if I live, you will do the same. I am too fond of you for that though you have tried to hang me all you could, but to no purpose.
Do as you like. My life is nothing to me since you try to take it from me, and to live without you I will not, and to die without you I will not, by all the good angels that ever travelled the heavens. May I be d____d for ever if I do, for I am innocent of the crime that you tried to have me hanged for with your lies. If you want to live you must let me live as well and deny your statement. If you don't do that to my satisfaction you will hang with me, and I will not try to do that. Choose for yourself. I thank you for your offer of doing my hat but I can't be so cruel as to disgrace you. People might think that you cared something for me, and that would lower your dignity in the eyes of the ladies.
"If you like death, don't die for me, I don't give a d__n which you choose to do. Deny jour statement and live; stick to your statement and die. May my body and soul burn in hell for everlasting if I am telling a lie, for if you don't go back of that statement, you must die at all rule and peril, that's the short and long of it; stick to me and I will, that you will find out at the cost of your life, and blame your own stubbornness for it. What's all the world after death to you or me? Nothing. Hoping you in good cheer to give me the final decision of life and death, I remain yours to death, even the same, to alter I never will — that's me, as you must be aware of before today, that what I say I will do at all risk. Don't be a fool."
"My dear Gramatica, the supposed Mrs Davidson * * * I forgive you for the past if you change your mind now, although it is hard for me to do it after you taking part with that Irish ___'s son that's dead and d___ I hope, that's all the harm I wish him; and for the last time I request you to do as you are told."
"Your a false hearted woman, if I may call you a woman, to pretend love to me, and to allow that dirty, low Irish pig of a blaguard to sleep with you the night before that happened. I only wish I had the chance of defending with the son of a b___, but he is in hell now."
"I, Mary Gramatica, am sorry for taking the advice of another to bring John Davidson for the murder of Quinlan, which is false, but not of my composing. I did it at the advice of a pretended friend, and knowing the same to be false. I know nothing of this murder. Signed Mary Gramatica. — Have it properly drawn by Bonny, and send it to me, and I will take his advice. Send him to me, and you will be free in three weeks. If you don't, you will never be free, take my word for that."
Mr Fell commenced at 4 o'clock to address the jury. After alluding to the gravity of the occasion, he proceeded to say that he believed the jury would consider that he had fulfilled his promise in making out a strong case for the prosecution. Mrs Gramatica had given her evidence in the most straightforward manner, and it had, in all the main points, been corroborated by the testimony of independent witnesses, and in addition to this the prisoner himself had done and said even more to prove his guilt than any other person. It must be remembered that Mrs Gramatica was not now charged with the murder, but only as an accessory and with having endeavored to shield the actual murderer She had no doubt made false statements, but these were given in the hope of freeing her friend. Her evidence showed that she was on terms of great intimacy with the prisoner, who was thoroughly infatuated with her. No doubt she was a woman of dissolute habits, but from the beginning he had a strong passion for her, and that infatuation was to be traced throughout the whole case, and this, together with the curse of drink which had fallen on the district, had brought him into his present position. He was at her house on the Sunday evening waiting for her, when she arrived with another man, and he was seized with a paroxysm of jealousy. It was suggested that more than the three were present, but if so why were they not produced, for Davidson must know who they were. Their non-appearance was a strong corroboration of Mrs Gramatica's evidence, as was also the fact that Wallis, who was aroused by the disturbance at night, heard no woman's voice in the row. Mr Fell then alluded to the doctor's evidence and to the extraordinary demeanor of Davidson at the township. The impression conveyed by this was that he found he had desperately wounded Quinlan, and then rushed off to get brandy, the medicine apparently so commonly in use at the Lyell, in the hopes of reviving him, but it was of no use; he came back, found he had to face the worst, and the next time they heard of him he was sitting by the woman's bedside. Then he removed the body, and tried to get rid of it by throwing it over the bank, but it lodged part way down, and the next day he looked over, saw the awful object there, and in his despair attempted suicide, afterwards expressing regret that he had failed in doing so. Mr Fell then commented on Davidson's own statements, pointing out the discrepancies, the proved falsehoods they contained, and their utter improbability. It might be urged that he had killed Quinlan in self-defence, or that it merely amounted to manslaughter, while the third conclusion open to them was that it was wilful murder. Now he could not help pointing out the malice betrayed by his conduct to the man Staton, when, as he presumed, he attempted to come between him and Mrs Gramatica. Take this in connection with the letters written by him in gaol, and it was easy to conceive what his feelings would be when he found Quinlan returning home with her. Mad with jealousy, and inflamed by drink, he slew the man he hated, the man he did hate, and does still hate, as shown by the awful hope expressed in his letter to Mrs Gramatica that his soul was now burning in hell. It was his (Mr Fell's) duty to ask justice from the jury, not to seek for a conviction, and it was with this view that he had laid before them all the evidence at his disposal.
Mr Fell sat down at 5.10 after speaking for an hour and 40 minutes, and the Court then adjourned until 7.15, when the Hall was densely crowded in every part.
Mr Pitt, in opening for the defence, said that but for Gramatica's evidence, Davidson's whole conduct throughout the case was quite consistent with his innocence, and that woman, known to be of dissolute habits, and the one on whom suspicion first rested when Qninlan's death became known, came into the box and at once admitted herself to be a perjurer. She was also an accomplice, and although it was said by the Crown that she was not running any risk of her neck it must be remembered that the Crown had had to pledge itself not to proceed against her in order to get her evidence. In this she had made false statements on vital points and generally was not to be believed, while her evidence was uncorroborated on many important points and altogether contradicted on others. Now assuming Quinlan to have been killed at Gramatica's house by violence there was no evidence whatever that the prisoner did the deed. He then commented on the extreme improbability of Gramatica's story with regard to the quarrel, the stabbing, the sitting down quietly afterwards together, and Davidson helping himself to the brandy of the man he had stabbed. Then when the body was found where was the bandage? Everything was found on him except this which would have been strongly corroborative of the truth of the woman's evidence. Then was it likely that she and her child would quietly sleep through the noise described by Wallis and others, the former of whom heard three or four men's voices as well as that of Mrs Gramatica. At considerable length he referred to the dagger episode, and laid great stress on the fact that it could not be found and that the prosecution had not caused Davidson's hut or claim to be searched for it. Then there was the bag of blankets which was never found, and which Davidson was never seen carrying, although he was said to have started with it in the direction of the Lyell. The prisoner had fully and satisfactorily accounted for his change of clothes. He was alleged to have partly destroyed his shirt and to have left the other part in the house. Now was this not a much more likely act for a woman than for a man to perform? He then criticised Dr. Campbell's evidence at length, and commented very severely on the carelessness with which he had given his testimony at the coroner's inquest, where he omitted all mention of several very important matters. Then there were the incisions in the shirt and flannel which did not correspond with each other, while neither corresponded with the suggested wound in the body. Another theory for the prosecution was the state of the body and skull which, it was suggested, had been boiled, subjected to other kind of heat, or treated with some corrosive substance, but there was not a particle of evidence in support of this, while there was irrefutable evidence that there had been no fire in the house between the time of the alleged murder and the removal of the body, and besides, Gramatica was there all the time, and could have told whether or not Davidson had done any such thing. Then much had been made by the Crown Prosecutor of Davidson's two contradictory statements. These had been read at length, but he dared not read to them Gramatica's statements which were now admitted by her to be false. It was admitted by the Crown that she had committed perjury and yet they were asked on her uncorroborated evidence to hang the unfortunate prisoner. He then referred to Gramatica's statement given in evidence here that Quinlan had not slept at her house on the Saturday night, whereas it was clearly proved by three independent witnesses, Carroll, Whelan, and Chiaroni, that he had done so. There was also a striking mistake in her statement as to the time when Davidson visited the Lyell, all of which tended to show her sheer unreliability. Referring to the cause of death, which Dr Campbell had said might have been the smashing of the breastbone, Mr Pitt referred to a statement that Mrs Gramatica was alleged to have made to one McKenzie regarding an axe, requesting him to "remove that horrible axe," and he suggested that probably the death blow had been given by her with that instrument. If she had been innocent as she pretended to be, nothing was easier for her to do than to inform the neighbors of what had occurred whilst Davidson was at the Lyell. By her not doing this the clearly showed that she was not innocent, and if not innocent then her whole story fell through. Davidson's strange conduct at the Lyell can be accounted for by the fact that he had been drinking heavily, and was suffering from incipient delirium tremens. There was no evidence at all of any murderous weapon having been used, and Quinlan might have met his death by a blow, or a fall, or some sudden excitement, nor was there anything to show that he was killed in Gramatica's house. He might have come by his death by accident, by a fight on the way home, or he might, in his evidently drunken state, have walked over the precipice, mistaking it for the road. It was true that the head was found apart from the body, but according to the doctor's evidence there was nothing to show that it had been detached by violence. The letters written by the prisoner in the gaol were regarded by the Crown Prosecutor as strong evidence, but for his own part he did not attach much importance to them. They certainly were extraordinary productions but quite explicable. The position taken up by Davidson was that he himself was conscious of his own innocence, but that she and others with her were guilty. Had she been true to him he would have been content to suffer for her, but she knowing him to be innocent had turned against him and sought to convict him. Hence the opprobrious epithets used by him towards her. The letters at one time exhibited the wiliest malice, hatred, and revenge, and the next ware full of love and affection. Indeed they seemed to point to an unbound state of mind on the part of the writer. The Crown Prosecutor spoke of the animus displayed against Quinlanin the letters and said that after such awful expressions the prisoner was not entitled to any sympathy from the jury. But he did not ask for their sympathy, all he wanted at their hands was justice. The crime was attributed to jealousy and the letters were put in as proof of the existence of it, but he regarded them rather as the productions of one who was suffering from ingratitude and injustice from a woman from whom he had a right to expect different treatment. In conclusion he would say that he had done his best to place before them the whole of the facts of the case so far as they had come to his knowledge. The duties of all who were taking part in this trial were very grave and responsible. He felt deeply his own responsibility in defending the prisoner, but those of the jury were far greater. It would, he felt sure, be far more satisfactory to them to be able to arrive at the conclusion that they could acquit the prisoner than to have to find a verdict of guilty with all its awful consequences. He felt sure that the evidence would receive the fullest attention at their hands, and that the verdict at which they arrived, whatever it might be, would be a just and a righteous one.
Mr Pitt resumed his seat at 10.15, after addressing the jury for three hours.
His Honor then commenced to sum up. He said he would first go over the evidence quite irrespective of that of Gramatica, and with three ends in view, first to ascertain whether Quinlan was murdered by somebody; (2) If so, when and where?; (3) By whom? With masterly skill he brought into strong light all the salient points, and arrived at the conclusion that even without the woman's evidence there was at least a case of very strong suspicion against the prisoner, while if they believed her statements they must of course convict without hesitation. He said that the fact of their being there and having spent so long a time over this trial was a proof of the value which, in our present social condition, was attached to human life. They were there to vindicate it not only in the person of the murdered man, but of the accused. They had a double duty to perform — to the prisoner, whom they were not to convict unless they considered the evidence against him perfectly satisfactory; while on the other hand it was their duty to the community not to acquit him if they considered the evidence against him was conclusive.
His Honor having occupied an hour and a half in summing up, the jury retired at midnight. Shortly afterwards the foreman returned and asked whether it was open to them to find a verdict of guilty of manslaughter.
His Honor sent for the jury and explained to them the difference between murder and manslaughter, and said that it was open to them to find guilty of the latter.
The jury then again retired and after being absent for 40 minutes from the time they first left the Court, returned with a verdict of guilty of manslaughter.
The Registrar: Prisoner at the bar, have you anything to say why sentence should not be passed upon you.
Prisoner: Yes. I have been found guilty on the evidence of a perjured prostitute and two perjured constables.
Mr Pitt: I would ask your Honor to consider the evidence of the letters and the remarks just made by the prisoner as to some extent showing that he is not altogether responsible for his actions or utterances.
His Honor: Prisoner at the bar — I cannot wonder at the apology offered for you by your counsel, at the same time it is impossible for me to give any weight to it. You are evidently a man of violent passions, and, rendered furious by drink, there can be no doubt that you committed the crime. I wonder that you should show so little grace as to make such an observation. The jury have taken the most lenient view of your crime, and the evidence would, in my own opinion, have fully justified a verdict of wilful murder. The grounds on which that verdict are founded are perfectly irrefragable, and your observation can have no other effect than to show how thoroughly you are wanting in grace. But I shall not prolong this scene. You have been found guilty of manslaughter, but I consider it of the most aggravated kind, and I shall inflict the severest punishment allowed by the law. The sentence of the Court is that you be imprisoned with hard labor for the remainder of your natural life.
His Honor then thanked the jury, and discharged them, saying that they had done their full share of the work of this session, and would not be called again.
The Court adjourned shortly before one a.m., until 10 o'clock this morning. -Nelson Evening Mail, 21/6/1883.
NELSON SUPREME COURT.
THE LYELL MURDER, THE VERDICT.
(UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION,) Nelson, June 21.
In the Lyell murder case, the jury retired at midnight last night, and, after an absence of forty-five minutes, returned with a verdict of manslaughter. The prisoner, in reply to the Judge, said he had been convicted on the oath of a perjured prostitute and two perjured constables. The Judge sentenced him to penal servitude for life, saying, at the same time, the jury had taken a very merciful view of the case, as the evidence fully justified a verdict of wilful murder. The case has created a lot of excitement, the Court being crowded during the whole trial.
Later.
At the Supreme Court to-day, Mary Gramatica was arraigned on a charge of being an accessory after the fact to the murder of Denis Quinlan by John Davidson. The Crown offered no evidence, and the jury were directed to return a verdict of not guilty; and having done so, his Honor addressed the prisoner, and said that he was convinced that she was innocent of murder, and as to the charge of being an accessory, was more sinned against than sinning. She excited the passions of the men, and led up to the crime, and her conscience must tell her how much she had to answer for, not before that, but before a higher tribunal. He hoped when she left she would consider the depraved and disgraceful life she had led, and would endeavor better to discharge the duties she owed as mother, and would give up her shameful life, and by her conduct in future do the best in her power to blot out the wretched past. She was then discharged. -NZ Times, 22/6/1883.
THE LYELL MURDER.
(Nelson Mail.)
His Honor addressed the prisoner at the bar as follows: Mary Gramatica, I have a few words to say to you before giving you your discharge. That you are innocent of the murder of Denis Quinlan I am absolutely convinced. With regard to the other charge of being an accessory after the fact I have no hesitation in saying that I believe you to he more sinned against than sinning. In screening Davidson and assisting him to conceal his crime I believe that you were acting under compulsion. But in absolving you from legal crime I cannot say that you leave the dock untainted by guilt. You must feel in your own conscience how much you have to answer for, if not before this, before a higher tribunal. You must be fully aware that you are greatly to blame for this terrible occurrence, for you were the cause of exciting the rage and passions of the two men, and it was you who led up to the final crime. I do hope that your presence in this Court will lead you to seriously consider your mode of life. I am told that prior to your husband’s death you were a respectable woman. I hope that you are not so completely lost to all sense of decency but that you will determine once more to become a respectable member of the community. I hope that when you leave here you will think over the depraved and disgraceful life you have been leading of late, and that you will endeavor to better discharge the duties you owe as a mother to your young and innocent child; that you will give up the shameful life you have been leading, and by your conduct in the future will do the best in your power to blot out the wretched past. You are discharged.
In concluding a lengthy article on the Lyell murder case recently brought to a close in Nelson, the Evening Mail sums up rather warmly upon Nelson ladies: — We would that our comments on this painful affair could cease here, but we must, we fear, come nearer home before they are brought to a close. The whole of the surroundings of this horrible murder were well known, and all must have been aware that it arose out of a quarrel between two drunken men in the house of a woman of ill fame, and there had been a pretty clear indication in the newspapers of the disgusting nature of some of the language that had been used. Then, what meant that crowd of women which thronged the gallery of the Court house? Not by two or three, not by a dozen, not by a score, but by hundreds was the womanhood of Nelson represented on the closing night of the trial. Prompted by an unhealthy craving for excitement, there they were — girls of tender age, young women, arid grey-haired matrons — listening up to midnight to the revolting details of the tragedy, and the filthy expression used by the actors in it. Instinctively the Judge lowered his voice when it became necessary to repeat some of these, and under any circumstance it would have been painful for him — as indeed it would to any man possessing any sense of refinement — to soil his lips by giving utterance to the disgusting language. How much more painful must it have been when he saw that one-third of the audience consisted of women —women who were not there compulsorily or accidentally, but voluntarily. It was a sad sight, a humiliating spectacle, and one of which we earnestly hope, for the sake of its good name, that this fair town of ours will never witness a repetition. -Marlborough Daily Times, 27/6/1883.
THE NELSON TRAGEDY.
FULL DETAILS OF THE MURDER.
IBy Telegraph.] (From our Own Correspondent. Nelson, This Day.
Following are full particulars regarding the gaol tragedy: — Since Davidson's conviction, he has been cheerful and good humoured, civil, and obliging, and he was restored to the position of cook, which he had occupied previously to his trial. It appears that the first act of the warder on rising in the morning is to let the cook out of his cell, and Warder Adams appears to have done this, and Davidson lighted the kitchen fire and that in the warders' room. Adams had gone into the back yard, where the murder took place, apparently for the purpose of washing, as his towel and toothbrush wore found near where the basin stood. This yard is about 28ft by 22ft, enclosed by a high concrete wall with three entrances — one from the gaol, another leading into a building used as a woodshed, where the bodies of the murderer and his victim lay on Saturday, and a third into the back premises and garden attached to the gaol. These preliminary remarks are necessary to a clear understanding of the horrible details, which are as follows: — At ten minutes to 6 Shallcrass, the gaoler, was awakened by a scream which did not appear to him to come from the gaol premises, and immediately afterward this was followed by another scream, and then the sound of a pistol shot. Shallcrass got up and ran downstairs to the entrance of the passage leading from his private apartments to the cell. This passage, running north and south, is some 27 feet in length, with cells on either side, and at the end where Shallcrass entered there is an iron railing gate; at the other end, crossing it at right-angles, is another passage loading to the yard where the murder was committed on the east and to the exercise yard on the west. Passing the warder's room on the way, Shallcrass unlocked the outer gate, and had proceeded two or three yards when Davidson appeared at the other end with a revolver in his hand, beckoned to Shallcrass to stop, and bade him stand still, or he would shoot him. Then ensued a long parleying, in the course of which Shallcrass asked where Adams was, to which Davidson replied that he was "all safe." It may be as well to state here that from where Davidson stood he could see his victim, who was lying cruelly stabbed to death within half-a-dozen yards, and Shallcrass says that during the time they were talking, he noticed that Davidson frequently looked in that direction. In a short time, Warder White joined Shallcrass, and was greeted by Davidson with the warning, "White, if you move, I will shoot you." For 50 minutes this went on, the gaoler in the middle of the passage, the prisoner at the end covering him with a revolver. Davidson talked much during that time of the Lyell murder, asserting that he know it was said that he was guilty, but that he was not, and vowing that he was innocent of the death of Quinlan, but that it was Grammatica who had murdered him. He also strongly objected to being sent to Wellington, declaring that if they sent for him, he would jump overboard on the passage. He further said that he supposed the police had been sent for, and that they would shoot him down where he stood. At one time he stepped away from his vantage point for a few seconds, returning almost immediately with another revolver, and then he stood there with one in each hand, occasionally pointing them at the gaoler and warder. This sort of thing went on, as I have said, for 50 minutes, and then, at 20 minutes to seven, Davidson quietly said, "Well, good bye," put the muzzle of the revolver in his mouth and pulled the trigger. The cap missed fire, and with the utmost coolness he repeated the action with the other revolver, pulled the trigger, there was a loud report, and he dropped a dead man. The gaoler and warder went toward him, and then to their horror they saw poor Adams lying dead in the courtyard, and between him and Davidson a bloodstained carving knife. On examination it was found that there was a scalp wound on the back of the head as though some sharp instrument had been driven down on it, piercing the skin and running down between it and the skull for two or three inches. In the back of the neck there was another stab, but the death-wound was lower down on the left side, a fearful gaping gash, through which the entrails were protruding. Adams's jacket was torn, and by his side lay a broken water-jug, and generally the evidences were such as to lead to the belief that there had been a struggle. In the lock of the door leading from the yard to the garden was a key, but it was not the proper one, and the supposition is that Davidson's idea was to make his escape, that he had murdered the warder for that purpose, and had taken the key from his pocket, but, unfortunately for him, it was not that one which opened that particular door. There, then, he was, like a rat in a trap; the evidence of the second murder he had committed this year lay before him; around him were high, unscaleable walls; all the passages to which he had access were barred by locked doors at their exits from the building; the gallows were before him, and he was a desperate man. The order in which the events occurred is not, and, of course, never will be, known; but the presumption is that, finding himself in this dilemma, he made for the warder's room, in which is a locked cupboard, where the arms are kept. This he broke open by smashing one of the panels. At one end, and out of sight, were a couple of revolvers, of which he possessed himself, and the theory is that he returned to the yard and fired one of the chambers in order to ascertain whether they were properly loaded, and that this was the report heard by Shallcrass. It is supposed that the pistol was fired in the air, as no bullet is to be found in the yard, and no mark made on any of the walls.
THE INQUEST AND VERDICT.
We have received a telegram from the United Press Association giving a report of the inquest which was held at the gaol on Saturday afternoon. Very little came out in the evidence beyond the facts narrated by our correspondent above. Mr. Shallcrass, in his statement, said that during the parleying he told Davidson he could shoot him if he were disposed. Davidson said "I'll be glad if I am shot." He (Shallcrass) said "I would rather that you took your life yourself, than that I should do it." Davidson repeatedly put his revolver to his own head. There were three prisoners in the cells of the corridor in which he and Davidson stood, and the latter, before shooting himself, shook hands with the inmates of two of these, putting his hand between the grating. Before that, however, Shallcrass left the corridor and went into his office to get his revolver, leaving Mrs. Shallcrass in the corridor. Davidson had then given up the idea of shooting him. From where Davidson was standing he could see Adams lying in the yard, and must have known he was dead. Davidson had been engaged as cook since 18th May last, and was always very orderly and obliging, and agreed with everyone, and never showed any sign of mental aberration. Davidson was to have been removed to Wellington, and, but for the bad weather detaining the Wallace, would have sailed. He did not appear to like the idea of going to Wellington, and he said if he had gone he would have jumped overboard. Shallcrass told him to lay down the revolvers, and then he could jump overboard. The jury returned a verdict, regarding the death of Adams, of Wilful Murder against Davidson, and on the body of Davidson of Felo de Se, and adjourned till Monday to consider a rider. Opinions were expressed that firearms should not have been kept where they were accessible to prisoners, and the fact of a life prisoner of such a character boing employed as cook was also commented on. -Evening Post, 30/7/1883.
Such stories as the fatal triangle of Quinlan, Davidson and Gramatica do not occur in a vacuum. Mary Gramatica's character and morals may not have been acceptable to the trial judge but this chapter in her life had its previous and following ones.
She was an Irish woman who married a Swiss miner called Peter Gramatica in the 1860s and set up home for him and their children in the Lyell area. In 1879 her daughter Ada was crossing the Buller river in a "cage" suspended on a wire when the cage broke, killing her and a man crossing with her. Mary and her husband watched their daughter fall and drown, unable to help her. Peter died two years later, aged 44, in the Westport Hospital of, it was said at the time, a broken heart.
Mary's situation then, with a child to care for and a living to make, was a precarious one. It is reported she took in washing to make a living but it is obvious she was drinking and making money where she could. Perhaps the relationship with Davidson was more of a business matter with her; his jealousy stemming from genuine passion and possessiveness but, on her side, the security of a breadwinner was her priority.
It was just bad timing that Davidson was in her house when she came home with Dennis Quinlan.
In 1896 Mary was on the Lyell bridge when a dray, whose horse had bolted, struck her and caused serious injuries.
The Lyell Times administers a deserved rebuke as follows: — "A mean and contemptible reference has appeared in the Buller Miner concerning the injured woman, Mrs Gramatica. We would have thought that any man with sense would be content, under the present painful circumstances, to let bygones be by-gones." -Inangahua Times, 14/1/1896.
Mrs Gramatica, who was injured by a dray accident at Lyell on the 7th inst., died at the Westport Hospital on Friday morning. She suffered great agony owing to internal injuries, but relief came shortly before her death, and she passed away peacefully. She leaves a daughter who resides at Nelson, and a brother at Greymouth. The deceased, who was a native of Ireland, was 46 years of age. - Westport News. -Inangahua Times, 27/1/1896.
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