“Did he not tell you that, when he was in the Arcade, a man had come up and asked him whether he could lend him a pencil?”—No.
Mr. Maxwell was slightly in error there, for what Alberts had said was that Ross came to him and asked him for a pencil.
“Did he not tell you that, while he was preparing the body for removal, a man pushed his way into the wine cafe, and that he (Ross) went out with his hand covered with blood, and served him with a bloody bottle?”—“No.”
“Did he not tell you that he had told about the tragedy to Ivy Matthews?”—“No; each time he mentioned Ivy Matthews it was with some execration.”
Asked as to his record, Harding said he was 30 years of age, had been convicted “about nine or ten times—it might be eleven.” His offences included housebreaking, larceny, assault, wounding, escaping from custody, and a fourteen days’ “solitary” while in prison for making false statements against two warders. The confession, he said, was made on Monday, January 23rd, and that same evening he sent for the governor and asked him to send for Detective Walsh, and when Walsh came he communicated it to them. The inquest was on the 25th and 26th, and it finished about midday on the latter date. He thought he saw a report of his evidence in the “Age” of the next day, and Dunstan might have seen that report. When asked how long he remained in gaol after making his statement to the Governor, he answered: “Until the 27th of January—no, it was more than that, I think the 30th January.”
DUNSTAN’S CORROBORATION.
Dunstan was then called to corroborate Harding. He was awaiting trial with Harding for housebreaking, and at the Police Court he had pleaded guilty, and had exonerated Harding. It should be recalled here, however, that when the two men came up for trial, and the same course was adopted, the jury declined to accept the story that Harding knew nothing of the charge, and he was found guilty of receiving. Dunstan had twice previously been convicted of larceny, and he was one of the five that were in the remand yard on January 23. His story was that he heard certain answers made by Ross, but only one question put by Harding. The answers were: “I was talking to the girl”; “if they do find any wine inside her, that ain’t to say I gave it to her”; “my brother was serving”; “I left my girl at half-past 10”; “I ain’t the only man that has got a disease”; “no, a bike”; “I will ask the old bastard what he was doing there at half-past 1”; “Ammunition Works.” The only question he heard Harding ask was: “How was she dressed?”
Dunstan admitted that when Ross came back from the inquest Ross said to him: “That is a nice cobber of yours, to go into the box and swear a man’s life away.” Dunstan had not been called at the inquest. He said that he first told the Governor what he had heard on the Friday or the Saturday two or three days after the inquest. He had had opportunities for quiet talks with Harding in the meantime, but there had been no conversations on the subject of Harding’s evidence. He said he had never read in the papers any account of Harding’s evidence. Harding had asked him had he heard the conversation, and he had told Harding that what he had heard he would tell to the governor of the gaol. He had not told Harding, because he “didn’t have much time for him.” Being shown a copy of the “Herald,” with Harding’s photograph in it, and being asked if he had seen that before, he said: “I do believe I did.” He couldn’t say when it was, but it was when it was in gaol. He had said that he never read a paper in gaol, but that didn’t mean that he had never seen one. It was only a passing glance of the “Herald” as he walked up and down the yard.
Harding, who had been out of court, was then recalled, and further cross-examined by Mr. Maxwell. He said that, on the day following the inquest, he and Dunstan were reading a paper, either the “Age” or the “Herald”—that is, he was reading it aloud, and Dunstan was looking over his shoulder. He had often had papers lent from the adjoining yards, and on these occasions Dunstan got the benefit of them.