TAR RRA Set Rn ee ee

aboard the ship with regard to the dead
man’s habits and associates. It was revealed
that the deceased was a widower with no
known relatives in this country, and that
when the ship was in port he was strongly
addicted to drink and was often absent from
the ship for several days. His absence had
therefore caused no comment. Several
members of the crew had seen the deceased
in licensed premises in the city in the com-
pany of a local woman known to them as
“Maureen” earlier in the week.

The Second Steward informed the police
officers that, whilst in a licensed house on
the 5th instant, he had met Percey and the
woman Maureen. Percey had handed to
the Second Steward the key of his cabin
and asked him to switch on the radio set,
which was situated in his cabin and which
relayed the B.B.C. programmes to the
officers’ and crew's quarters throughout
the ship. He stressed to the Second Steward
that his keys should not be handed to any-
body else as he had over £65 in his cabin.

The woman Maureen was known to the
Police and when interviewed she stated that
Percey was never out of her company from
the evening of the 4th instant until 2 p.m.
on Thursday, the 6th instant, at which time
he was very drunk and he left her to return
to the ship to collect more money, as he had
then spent all the cash he had with him.
He arranged to meet her again in a cafe
adjacent to the Docks at 5:30 p.m. that
day, and the last she saw of him was when
he was making his way towards the Dock
entrance. He did not keep the appointment

and, although she searched all his known
haunts in the locality of the Docks that
evening and on the following two days,
she had not seen him again.

Enquiries aboard the ship had elicited the
fact that Percey was last seen aboard at
3:30 p.m. on Thursday, the 6th instant,
when he had returned in a drunken condi-
tion accompanied by a man dressed in the
uniform of a Chief Steward of the Mer-
chant Navy. Together they had visited
the Second Steward and had purchased
from him six bottles of beer, which they had
then taken away in the direction of Percey’s
cabin. Percey had invited the Second
Steward to join them in his cabin for a
drink.

Door PADLOCKED

About 4:30 p.m. that day an employee
of the Marconi Marine Company visited
the Radio Officers’ quarters in the course
of his duties and found Percey’s door closed
and padlocked on the outside. The Second
Steward, who had been invited for a drink,
visited the cabin at about 4:45 p.m., and
he also found the door padlocked. Evidence
of further visits to the deceased’s cabin
between that time and_ the finding of
Percey’s body was obtained and on each
occasion the door had been found padlocked.

From the evidence so far obtained it
appeared that Percey was murdered between
3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on April 6th, and
that the last person to be seen with Percey
was the Chief Steward who came aboard

3 His

with him about 3:30 p.m. that day.

description was accordingly circulated
extensive enquiries were put in hand
all licensed premises, cafes and likely pla
in the Docks area, and visits were paid
all other ships in the port, with a view
tracing or establishing the identity of ,
Chief Steward. These enquiries were son
what. handicapped by reason of the fi
that it was Easter week-end and ma
people who could normally have been «
tacted at the Docks and in the vicinity
Sunday, the 9th, and Monday, April 19
were on holiday. Accordingly the assj
ance of the Press was enlisted to give pl
licity to the details and the description
the Chief Steward, and a poster was print
and liberally displayed on and around ¢
Docks.

A fairly good description of the suspect
Chief Steward was obtained from seve;
witnesses, and it was also established th
he had been seen by a member of the cre
in local licensed premises, when the Paci
Shipper was last in this port about <
months previously. It therefore appear
that if he was in fact a sea-going Chi
Steward, he was off a ship that was now
port and was also in port when the Paci
Shipper was last there. This was quick
tested and disproved. The evidence, ther
fore, pointed to the fact that the suspect
Chief Steward was on the Shipping “Poo
awaiting a ship, and had been for some tim
if in fact he was a Chief Steward at a
A list of all Stewards on the “Pool” w.
obtained containing 61 names.

During the course of the enquiries on t!

78 East Second Ave.

Compliments of

Wholesale

Vancouver, B.C.

- GORDON CAMPBELL LTD.

WOOLLENS CLOTHING UNIFORMS

Phone FAirmont 1241

Page Eighty-six

THE SHOULDER STRAF