THE TRAGEDY NEAR OAMARU.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume III, Issue 681, 6 July 1882, Page 2

THE TRAGEDY NEAR OAMARU.

A Mysterious Case.

A Sad Story of Shame and Death.

Shocking Termination of a Mis-spent Life.

An Unceremonious Funeral.

[by telegraph.]

Oamaru, To-day.

Finding it impossible to get any information through the police with reference to the alleged murder near Papakaio, the Oamaru Mail yesterday sent a special re, porter to the district to make enquiries, the result being that the following information was obtained :—Alexander Beattie and Sarah Adams, the murdered woman (who was also known as Adamson) came to the district between six and seven years ago from Southbridge. Beattie entered into business but failed, and then took employment on the farm of Hall Bros., near Georgetown, where Beattie and the murdered woman lived for three or four years. Both were addicted to drink, and frequently quarrelled when in liquor. About nine weeks ago they took a small cottage in a lonely gully near Peebles, and about 120 yards from the spot where the body was found. Beattie (who was still working at Georgetown) about six weeks ago returned home unex pecteclly, on a Saturday night, and, not

finding his paramour at home, went to the house of the man named Barney Carroll, about half a mile away. Here Beattie found the pair drinking to-gether. A scene ensued, during which Beattie threatened the woman and threatened the life of Carroll, who laid an information against Beattie, who some days afterwards was fined and bound over to keep the peace. Beattie then returned to work at Georgetown, and, so far as is knewn, did not again meet his paramour at Peebles. The Sunday following, the woman went up to Georgetown, apparently to heal the breach, but Beattie declined to have anything more to do with her, saying she was a rotten-hearted woman. She was driven home late at night by _ a farmer, and on the day following she disappeared. Beattie afterwards stated that he had made a thorough search for her, and that ho believed she had gone off with a pedlar named Chrystall, who was in the district. The woman had made no friends in the district, owing to her drinking habits, and the people, accepting Beattie’s statement that the woman had gone away, as was very probable, did not make any search. Nothing more seems to have been heard of the matter until about a fortnight ago, and about a fortnight after the woman’s disappearance, when Beattie reported the matter to the police. No search seems to have been made then, and it was by the merest chance that the body was found on Sunday morning. The place where the body was found was near an abandoned coal pit, up a gully, over half a mile -from the nearest habitation, a place seldom visited by any one. On Sunday morning, while looking for a horse which had strayed, a man named Warwood, while crossing the creek, discovered the body, which was lying almost in the centre of tho creek, and, with the exception of the feet and one shoulder was covered by seven or eight inches of sand. Information was at once sent to town to the police, and some time afterwards the body was removed. So far as can be ascertained, the body seems to have been lying on the back with both feet close together, and one arm held out in front of the face, af if in the act of warding off a blow. The hair was dishevelled and the dress partly off the body. Round the throat a handkerchief was tied pretty tightly- It is stated that on the elbow of the arm which was held in front of the face, there was a wound, and that there were three or four wounds on the head, and that the throat was cut in two or three places, but upon those points no thoroughly reliable information can be obtained, as the doctor who made the post mortem examination declines to give any particulars. It is also stated that the police have found several things stained with blood, amongst them being a small bar of iron, but the police will not say whether or not this is correct, as telegraphed yesterday. Beattie has been arrested and charged with the mur-

der, but the Mail reporter did not obtain any information tending to connect him with the woman’s death. They were not, so far as could be ascertained, seen together after the night previous to the woman’s disappearance, when Beattie declined to return home with her. The supposition that a murder has been committed seems well grounded, andj the police appear fully satisfied upon that point. What evidence they have to connect Beattie with the crime is not known, but that the crime was not committed for purpose of robbery is shown by the fact that the body when found still had a brooch, ring, etc., on, while nothing in the cottage close by had apparently been disturbed. Hall, one of Beattie’s employers, states that to his knowledge Beattie did not leave the farm near Georgetown, which is several miles distant from the place where the body was found, from the time he returned after the law case until four o’clock on the afternoon of the Saturday after the woman is said to have disappeared. The woman is said to have been the daughter of a doctor in Armagh County, Ireland, and that she was the wife of a lawyer in the same place, but this statement, which was frequently made by Beattie when in liquor, is discredited. She was apparently a well educated woman, who had been brought up well, and who always dressed X’emarkably well, but, as already stated, she was addicted to drink, and made few or no friends in the district. The body was buried yesterday at Papakaio without the slightest ceremony, the only persons present being the constable, sexton, and the local publican, who drove the horse and cart conveying the body to the grave. The coroner’s inquest will be resumed at Papakaio on Monday, at one o’clock. It is said that there are about twenty witnesses to be examined.