SHOCKING MURDER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 2, Issue 201, 26 November 1880, Page 2

SHOCKING MURDER.

[By Telegraph.] Haweea, To-day. Yesterday, Mary Dobie, sister-in-law of Major Goring, went for a walk towards Te Namu alone. Not returning at 6 p.m., a party was organised and bonfires lighted along the coast line. The searchers at about 10.30. p.m. found the body forty yards off the |main road to Te Namu Pah. The thiroat was cut from ear to ear, and life was extinct, • The body presents a dreadful appearance. Stannard, a man from Hawera, was arrested on suspicion. His clothes bore traces of blood, and he passed the scene of the murder at or about the time Hone Piharaa’s daughter saw a horse with a saddle on tied at the scene of the murder. Colonel Roberts, Mr. Hursthouse,’ and Hone Pihama ha%*e just returned from the scene. They found an old saddle, and a bunch of wild flowers, evidently gathered by the deceased. Blood was found from ten feet to forty yards eff the road. The ground shows traces of a desperate struggle. The scene is within a hundred yards of the uninhabited pah of Te Namu. Great consternation and sympathy prevails. Mr. Hursthouse is very energetic in pursuing the inquiry, as also are Colonel Roberts and Hone Pihama. It is understood here that the wife of the storekeeper at Htpyera wiped some blood off Stannard’s clothes before he started for Opunake. The people here do not think him the culprit. Major Parris left Hawera for Opunake this morning. Stannard was married by the Registrar early in the week to Miss Prosser here. The blood stains on the coat were probably due to his separating two men fighting at a hotel in Hawera on Tuesday night. Stannard has been horsebreaking near, but bears a good name, and is a superior, cultivated sort of man, not at all likely to commit such a crime. Captain Wray, the coroner, has gone up.

Another AccountWellington, To-day. The body of a young woman named Miss Dobie was found at 9.30 last night, under circumstances that leave no doubt that she had been brutally murdered. Her clothing was nearly torn off. A man named Walter Stannard, from Hawera, has been arrested on suspicion. Blood was found on his hat, clothes, and boots, which he accounted for by his horse having cut his nose. This morning a pair of fustian trousers were found within six feet of where the body was found lying, and also a piece of a bridle.