THE TEMUKA TRAGEDY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1243, 2 May 1884, Page 2

THE TEMUKA TRAGEDY.

The fallowing are the main fact of the ( murder and suicide which occurred at the , Arowhenua Hotel yesterday as given by . the Timaru Herald :— About daylight , yesterday morning the deceased arose, ] and, slipping on hia dressing gosm, pro- i ceoded upstairs and called his man servant. After receiving no answer, he was hoard to go down stairs again, and before ! the servant had fully dressed two reports of firearms were heard. As it is not daylight till about six o’clock at this season of the year, and our informant being positive that the day was just breaking, it is concluded that the time the reports were heard would be between 6 15 and 6.30. The man servant and the women servants paid no immediate attention to the occurrence, though more than one admit that they were a bit frightened. On one of the servants going to the room with some coffee for her mistress, as she had been in the habit of doing, about halfpast seven o’clock, she was rather surprised and startled to find that the bedroom door was locked, and still more startled on observing smoke issuing from the keyhole and round the door, the smoke smelling like burned gunpowder. She immediately called up her companions, and it was decided to send for the police, and not to break into the room themselves. A messenger was accordingly despatched to Temuka, and on arriving at the Police Station ho informed Constable Morton, the officer in charge, as well as he could of the circumstances surrounding the melancholy affair. Constable Morton went out at once, first sending tor Dr Hayes, and both arrived at the hotel about the same time, they at once broke in the dour of Mr Garland’* bedroom, and one. of the ghastliest scenes ever witnessed presented itself to their horrified view. On the floor, at the foot of the bed, lay on its right side the body of Mr Garland, and in the bed that of Mrs Garland. Mr Garland was first looked to. On raising the body it was seen th t the right side of the face was blown away by a gun shot. Underneath the b dy lay the weapon with which the terrible deed had been accomplished,—a double-barrelled breech-load-ing fowling-piece. The wound was of such a nature that death must have been instantaneous, and the position in which the body was foun t showed that it was so The deceased was dressed only in his night shirt, drawers, and dressing gown. In the bed she had slept in, covered with the bod clothes, lay the body of Mrs Garland, with a feorful wound in the back of the head vi&ib’o to those entering the mom ; in her case, too, death ( must have been instantaneous, the whole 1 of the upper side of the head being blown away. On examining the gun a coil or plait of false hair was found fastened to the trigger guard, with a loop which was found round the left foot of the man. The bed and the room generally, as may be imagined, presented a sickening appearance. Actually howjjjthe dead was done can only be surmised, but everything points to the supposition that the man deliberately shot his wife as she slept, pi icing the muzzle of the gun close to her 1 head, and then fixing the loop of hair to 1 the trigger, destroyed himself by firing off the second barrel with his foot. Dr Hayes having examined the bodies and pronounced life extinct, Constable Mor- ; ton made search for anything that would throw light on this painful occurrence, - and in one of the pockets of the deceased’s i coat found the following letter, which, however, gives no clue to the ! motive of the deed. The letter, which was ia an unfastened envelope, was addressed to “ Mr Broom,” and Constable Morton knowing that Inspector Brobam had been acquainted with Mr j Garland in Christchurch, and supposing it was intended for Inspector Broham, i sent it in to Timaru. The letter is as follows “ April 30fch. Mr Broom. Sir, —Thii letter is to let you know that I did this act of injustice to my wife and myself and my children and God, and may God forgive me. There is LlO in the cash box, which belongs to Mrs Swinton, my siste», and a chepuo on the Bank of New Zealand, Christchurch, for L3O, for money I have put in the Bank of New Zealand with my own account belongs to Mrs Swinton, and I wish that am milt, L7O, paid to Mrs Swinton at once. There is Ll7O in the Bank of New Zealand to my account, and I wish it to be paid over to ray brother, Henry Garland, fur to see my children right according to law, and Mr Holmes, my solicitor, to act with my brother, so that my children get what belongs to me. If there is anything else, sell all you can, and divide it between the four children—three boys and one girl—now alive, let them all have the same. If what is written down by me is not right according to law, the law must put it right for my four children, —John Garl vnd. ” Mr and Mrs Garland, though comparatively speaking resident but a brief period in this district, wore universally respected, and the shock caused to the inhabitants of Temuka was of a most painful nature, and the most heartfelt sympathy has been aroused pn behalf of the four little children.