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.

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Page Eighty-six

THE SHOULDER STRAF