THE MURDER NEAR REEFTON.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3063, 21 April 1881, Page 3

THE MURDER NEAR REEFTON.

(by telegraph.)

Greymoutii, April 21

Further particulars have come to h?nd relative to the murder at Larry's Creek. Bell's skull was battered in so as to expose the brain, and splinters from the stock of the gun, which are scattered around, show the force of the blow. CoDsidering the strength of the two men, M'Gahey being five feet eleven, and the desperate struggle which must have taken place between them, and of which there is abundant evidence, it is thought that M'Gahey missed Bell when he fired on him, as he was sitting on a pail in the barn beginning to milk, and there was a cupfull of milk in the bucket. It is staled that M'Gahey had been married ; bout fourteen years without having cause to doubt his wife's fidelity, but about two years ago it was rumored that Mrs M'Gahey attempted to poison him, it being said he had been very sick, and that some fowls which eat his vomit died, but nothing came of the report. They had an adopted child—a girl—and soon after the alleged poisoning affair Mrs M'Gahey accused her husband of violating the girl, but a medical examination obtained by the police showed that there was no truth in the allegations. Mrs M'Gahey soon after that began complaining of the hardship of her married life, and the cruelty she said she was enduring then. Her sympathisers procured for her a situation, but she did not stop long in it, and gave a very unsatisfactory reason for not doing so, going back to her own house at Larry's Creek. The next night it was burned down. Her statements as to the cause of the fire were again considered unsatisfactory, though the jury brought in an open verdict. Subsequently some friends got for her a separate and suitable engagement with a private family, but she would not accept it, and placed herself under the protection of the deceased—a single man. The people began to revive the poisoning rumor, the charge of violating, and the burning down of tLe house, and attributed it to a desire that M'Gahey should not come back to the farm, which was mortgaged for more than its value. M'Gahey laid an information against Bell, when his wife sought Bell's protection, for Btealing his property, but the charge was not upheld. The inquest on Bell was adjourned without aaking evidence.