THE KINDER CASE.

Inangahua Times, Volume XI, Issue 1764, 1 October 1886, Page 2

THE KINDER CASE.

Our readers will have noticed a paragraph now going round the papers to the effect that endeavors are being made in Sydney to secure the release of Bertrand, under sentence of life for poisoning a man named Kinder. This case created a great sensation some 21 years ago, and is now held that as BertMnd has served 20 years he should be released. The following particulars of the case we take from " Heaton'a Australian Dictionary of Dates." The murder of Mr Henry Kiuder by Louis Henry Bertrand forms one of the most remarkable cades in the criminal jurisprudence of the Australasian Colonies, and from the revolting circumstances attending it, and the position held in society by the principal parties concerned, it is justly entitled to be considered one of the causes celebres of court business. On Octo ber 2nd, 1865, the public of Sydney were startled by the intelligence that Mr Henry Kinder, prinoipal teller in the City Bank, a gentleman well known and much esteemed, had committed suicide by shooting himself. An inquest was held on the body, when Helen Maria Kiuder, the wife* of thf unfortunate man, gave evidence to the effect that deceased had for some days been under the influence of drink, had been very violent, and had frequently threatened to destroy himself; that whilst in the garden she had heard the pistol fired, and on returning to the room occupied by her husband she had found him lifeless. Subsequent suspicions circumstances caused the arrest of Mrs Kinder, at Bathurst, on a charge of murder. She was remanded to Sydney, and at the same time, Louis Henry Bertrand, a well-known dentist in Sydney, and the most intimate friend of the deceased, and Jane Bertrand, his wife, were arrested on a similar charge. The hearing of the case at the Water Police Court lasted till December 6th, when all the prisoners were fully committed for trial. During the proceedings, a series of the most atrocious details 6v«r heard in a police court came to light, and amongst other papers produced, were the diary of the male prisoner Bertrand, and a bundle of letters, writtenalmost daily by him to Mrs Kinder, leaving no doul»t of Bertrand'g intention to get rid of Kinder, with whose wife he hadformed a Unison. Kinder had evidently been drugged day by day, till he bpcamfi thoroughly demented and stiipih'»'d, and it was supposeii, either that Brrtraud, finding that lii 3 victim was more tenacious of life than he had expected, had fired the pistol, and had

placed the weapon in Kinders hand aftnr death; or, having placed the weapon in Kinder's hand whilst he was still alive, but in an almost comatose state, had bent the arm and then pulled the trigger, in either case leading to a supposition of suicide. Bertraod and Mrs Kinder were placed on their trial at the Central Criminal Court, in 1866, Mrs Bertrand having been set at liberty by the AttorneyGeneral, as it was clearly seen that the part she had taken in the series of circumstancesconnected with the case had been done from fear of h«.r husband, who had used the most terrible threats towards her, and that she had really no knowledge of the intended murder. After a long and patient trial, at which the most learned counsel were engaged on both sides, Mrs Kinder was acquitted, and Bertrand found guilty and sentenced to death, March 21, 1868. The most strenuous efforts were, however, used by the prisoner's friends to obtain a commutation of the sentence ; every le^ii and technical point was made available for fresh hearing and renewed arguments. The case was taken before the Privy Council, which upheld the conviction, Bertrand being meanwhile kept in Darlinghurst Gaol. At length, after the lapse of about two years, during which period all those skilled in medical jurisprudence were consulted and examined, the sentence was ou the ground of insanity commuted to imprisonment for life, a sen fence Bertrand is now undergoing in Paramatta Criminal Lunatic Asylum, N.S.W. Mrs Kinder found it expedient to emigrate to New Zealand, where she was at once engaged as barmaid at an hotel in Hokitika, and has since remarried. — Exchange.