The Sunday globe., 1901-05-19
WLLFUL MURDER.
The Verdict Returned by an Aus
tralian Jury.

/ Inc nrst step IN one OF the most in
! volved and sensational trials in the his
tory Of Australia has Just been
brought to a conclusion there when
JaHe Smith was returned for trial on a
charge Of wlful murder.
The case contains all the elements
that 60 to the making Of a novel Of the
shocker school, and will doubtless fur
ni-h the foundation for many drama
and romance. 1t involves the attract
i've and elegan,ly-dressed woman, the
single man with money, who believes
her true as steel, the blind and i'm n,redu-
lous husband, AN assignatiOn, robbery
"A mortgage, poison, death. burial, eX-
humation of the body, and the arrest of
the fascinating woman.
Patrick Conway, aged forty. who had
made good deal Of money in the meat
trade, became acquainted in Dunedin,
n. H., with a woman named Jane
Smith, aged thirty-two, whose husband
was employed in a large boot store.
The man knew Conway well, and the
latter lent him 600, taking as security
a prOmissOry note and the deeds on
house and land.
Early in February Conway left Dune
din for ChTistchurch, and here Mrs.
Smith joined him. The two did not
stay ii the same hotel, but they were
often together, and on one of these oc-
casions Conway was dTugge I, and e10
i'm money and the deeds and promis-
sorry note were taken from him.
He reported the matter to the police,
who suspected Mrs. Smith, but Conway
repudiated the idea, and before the
police had time 10 make further en-
quiries the couple had disappeared.
They left Chrlstchurch by the steam
ship Talune for Sydney, where it was
reported that Conway had died on the
voyage i'm fit. An inquest was not
considered necessary, and the body was
duly inferred there.
Conway's brother i'm Dunedin, how
ever, knowing the history of the wo-
man, suspected foul play, and set the
Sydney police to work, with the result
that orders were given to eXhume the
body. A quantity Of strychniae was
found in the vicera by the Government
analyst, and Mrs. Smith was arrested.
A strange story was told at the cor
Oner's enquiry which followed. Mrs.
Smith, in the course Of the voyage, had
been seen by the stewards and passen-
gers frequently talking to Conway, who
said that she was his wife.
On the night of February 19 Mrs.
Smith pur ;hased a bottle of stout,
poured out a tumblerful, went to see
Conway, and, after a little chat, gave
him the drink, and then left Half an
hour later in the middle Of sing
song" ON deck, Conway threw up his
arms aud fell on the deck in agony.
Within an hour he was dead.
BY the veriest chance the captain, as
the vessel was due in Sydney the next
day, decided to take the body ashore.
. Had he been two or three days from
land the mystery Of Conway's death
would never have been unsealed
a chemist from Christchurch and
his assistant depOsed to having sold
strychinine to Mrs, Smith, and the
| hOtelkeepeT in who.e house Patrick
Conway was drugged also gave evi-
dence.
q Conway had some $500 as well as a
considerable quantity of jewellery and
other valuabes when he sailed for Sgd
ney. After his death nothing was
found among his effects but pipe and
a few shilings.
! A verdict Of ''wiilful murder" was re-
! turned against Jane Smith, and she
was subsequently committed for trial,