Mary Wade Family

1930 - 1932: Criterion Hotel, Hay
1934 - 1943: Camping area, Hay

Worked as a labourer

OFFENSIVE BEHAVIOUR.

A Local Defendant in the Court of Petty Sessions, before the P.M., yesterday, Allan John Ray was charged for that, on the 5th November, he did behave in an offensive manner in the Hay Park, a public place.

Defendant pleaded guilty. Constable Jorgensen said that following something that he was told, he went to the park on Saturday morning at 11.50 o'clock, and secret
ed himself behind a bush. He saw the defendant lying on the grass, about 20 yards away, with a little girl, five years of age, on his knee.

The girl got up and walked away, and defendant called out, 'Come back here, Sissy!' whereupon the child screamed and ran towards Pine Street. Witness went to where the defendant was, and noticed that his trousers were undone, and that, when he approached, defendant endeavoured to do them up.

Witness said, 'What are you doing here ' and defendant replied, 'I never touched her!' Asked what he was doing with his trousers undone, defendant replied to the effect that he was micturating. Witness arrested defendant, and the girl was brought to the police station, where the Government medical officer made an examination, and stated that the girl had not been interfered with.

When charged defendant made no reply. Defendant said that he had been lying down on the lawn having a sleep and endeavouring to keep off the beer; he already had a bottle that morning. The girl came along and was gathering 'monkey nuts,' and took one of his boots, which he had taken off, over to a bench to break the nuts.

She came back with a handful of nuts which she gave to him. The girl had been turning hand springs in the grass, and had some burrs in her hair, which he was taking out for her.

Asked by the P.M. what he was doing with his trousers undone, the defendant replied to the same effect as he had answered the constable, and said that sometimes he could not wait to go to the lavatory after he had had beer. The girl was then fifty yards off, going away from him.

The P.M. said that the defendant had a long record of offences,' like drunkenness, riotous behaviour, indecent language, and the like. He considered that defendant's actions 'had been very suspicious, and that defendant was nothing but a vagrant and a nuisance.

He would be fined £5, and ordered to pay costs, £1 Is; in default thirteen days' hard labour; and he would also be ordered to enter into a recognisance, on his own surety of £20 and one surety of £20. to be of good behaviour for twelve months, failing finding the surety to be imprisoned for a month.

The Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW : 1873 - 1954) Tuesday 8 November 1938 p 3 Article

Alleged Indecent Assault. Defendant Acquitted

Allan John Ray was yesterday acquitted by a jury in the Court of Quarter Sessions on a charge of indecent assault on a girl aged 12 years, at Hay on 28th May. The charge was heard before His Honour Judge Shortland.

Mr. Moors Crown Prosecutor, appeared for the Crown and Mr. Champion for the defendant.

The evidence given was very short. The mother of the child in question stated that the child in question, Betty, was born in April, 1941. To Mr. Champion: Defendant had known her and her daughter Betty for some time. He had lived near them and when witness' husband was ill had cut wood for them.

The child in the case, Betty, gave evidence to the effect that one day in May she had walked along the river bank on her way home from school. Her companion had left her at the Alma Beach and she walked on alone. Passing the shed she saw the defendant, whom she did not then know, and he caught hold of her and disarranged her clothing.

Miss Brown came along and called Rae a dirty brute. Witness then went home. Defendant did not say anything to her and she was frightened.

To His Honour: She was standing up when this went on. To Mr. Champion: She lived in South Hay. Near the diving tower across the river there were some boys and there were some houses and a blacksmith's shop nearby. She called out loudly. She did not know defendant before. She did not know that he used to get wood and water for her mother when her father was ill.

He had once said 'Hullo' to her mother when she was with her mother in the street. He was not asleep when she came along and she did not wake him up. Apart from touching her clothing in the way described, he had not touched her. She did not lie down beside him. She had left him when Miss Brown came along he did not tell her to go home. She met Miss Brown a little distance along the track.

Irene Brown gave evidence to the effect that she was out walking with her dog on 28th May last. She heard voices in the bushes at Alma Beach and went to see what it was. She saw the defendant and the child on the ground. She walked back to the path and the girl came out of the bushes with her clothing disarranged

Witness said to the defendant. 'You are a despicable brute and a menace to little children.' He replied. 'I will plead drunk.' The girl's clothing and defendant's clothing was disarranged. She would say he was quite sober. When she saw the girl she asked her what she was doing there and the girl told her that defendant had pulled her into the bushes and described how he touched her clothing.

To Mr. Champion: She heard a movement in the bushes and went to see what was happening. She saw no one else about. To Mr. Moors: She first of all heard Betty's voice. She could notsay if it ,was being used in a conversational tone or otherwise. The child Betty recalled by Mr. Champion, said that she had stated in the Lower Court that the defendant did not have his clothing disarranged in any way.

Constable Swadling gave evidence to the effect that he had interviewed the defendant on 28th May. Defendant denied the charge of alleged interference with the child, but said that he was down there asleep in the bushes and spoke to the child after she came along, for a while. He further said that he had known the child for some time and sometimes gave her threepenny pieces and sixpences, but had never interfered with her.

He also denied having seen Miss Brown there. When charged with the offence, defendant said, 'This is serious; a man might get 12 months.' When asked if he wished to make a statement, defendant said that he did not, except to say that he was not guilty. The defendant was sober when interviewed.

To Mr. Champion: He made no inquiries from the premises near the beach as to whether they had heard any cries. That was the case for the Crown. In reply, the defendant, Allan John Ray, made a statement from the dock, to the effect that on the day in question he had been about the beach gathering bricks for a hut he was building.

He went to sleep down there and awoke when something touched him. It was the child Betty. She was there talking with him for a while and then he told her she 'had better run along home. A few minutes later Miss Brown came along. He had known the girl and her mother for years and when her husband had been away ill he had cut wood for the mother and got water for her.

The jury, after a short retirement, returned a verdict of not guilty.

The Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW : 1873 - 1954) Friday 20 August 1943 p 2 Article

LATE ALLAN RAY - SUICIDE VERDICT

The Coroner, Mr. T. F. Cook, J.P., yesterday held an inquest touching the death of Allan John Ray and found that he had died poison, self-administered, from the . affects of strychnine. The evidence was to the following effect.

Sgt. Foley stated , that about 4.30 p.m. on 30th. April he went to the Bushy Bend with Dr. Thompson, who examined the body of the deceased lying near his camp and pronounced life extinct. The body was that of Allan John Ray, a single man, a returned soldier of the 1914-18 war.

Near the body was a small bottle which witness would say contained strychnine. There was also a panniken containing a small quantity of pink crystal. There were marks indicating that a struggle had taken place on the ground - the marks, were like the scratchings of deceased's hands. He was present when a post mortem examination was conducted by Dr. Thompson and certain organs removed, sealed in jars and handed to the police.

These organs were conveyed to the Government Analyst by escort. The report of the analyst showed that the contents of the body contained 0.6 grains of strychnine. The bottle and jug near the body were also reported to have contained small quantities of strychnine. Witness further stated that the deceased ' had lived' here practically all his life.

He had been away from Hay but returned here about a week before his death, suffering the after effects of a drinking bout. From information he had received, it would appear that the deceased had been a sick man for some time and was not quite normal. From enquiries made and his own observations, witness would say that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death, and if poison had been administered, he would say that it had been self administered.

The scratches indicated earlier would be consistent with the deceased's own struggling. Dr. Geo. A. Thompson, Government Medical Officer at Hay gave evidence of having examined the body, taken certain organs therefrom and of having sealed them and handed them to the police. He would say that death had occurred in the previous two hours from the time he had examined the body at the Bushy Bend.

Having read the certificate of the Government Analyst he would say that death had been caused by strychnine poisoning; the amount stated to have been found in the organs sent for examination being more than sufficient to have caused death.

Alfred Matthews, pensioner living near the deceased gave evidence of a conversation with deceased on the morning of 30th. April when deceased borrowed his boat to go across the river to see about a job. Deceased returned the boat and informed witness, that he was to start on the job the following day.

At this time the deceased appeared quite normal, and he did so when witness spoke to him about 2 p.m. Witness next saw the deceased lying on the ground near his hut an hour or so later. He went over, put his hand on deceased, and called out 'Allan.'

He did not reply but made a sort of quiver with his lips. Witness, further stated that he had known deceased a good number of years and, never heard him say that he would take his life. He had been away at Carrathool and Narrandera returning about a fortnight before his death.

He was a little bit erratic and had some funny ideas — he was a little bit queer, witness thought. He had not complained to witness of sickness other than that his head was a little dizzy.' To witness' knowledge he had not recently been drinking in Hay but he said that he had been drinking in Carrathool and Naranderra. He put witness in mind of a man who was half in the horrors.

Albert Ray, brother of the deceased gave evidence to the effect that he had had a conversation with deceased on 29th. April when he appeared quite normal and in good spirits. Earlier in the day he had been at the witness' home for lunch and broke off a conversation to say that he could hear the Chinaman talking to him.'

Witness said that - the Chinaman had gone away, and he did not mention the Chinaman again. Witness was under the impression that deceased was recovering from a big drinking bout. He had never heard his brother mention that he might take his life. Deceased had never had any sickness and witness did not know of his ever having attended a doctor other than for repatriation matters — he was -getting a war pension, he thought for gas.

To the Coroner: There would be no reason for deceased to have poison - he did not go out rabbiting. Witness knew of no person who would be likely to poison his brother. On the medical evidence he really thought that deceased took it himself. The Coroner said that from the analyst's report and the evidence before him, it appeared that the deceased died from strychnine poisoning. Apparently his mind had become temporarily deranged as - the result of a drinking bout.

He would find that the deceased died on 30th April at the Bushy Bend, Hay, from the effects of a certain deadly poison known as strychnine, wilfully administered by himself on the same day.

The Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW : 1873 - 1954) Tuesday 20 May 1947 p 2 Article