Death of Te Kooti

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 129, 20 April 1893, Page 2

Death of Te Kooti

Auckland, April 19. (pee pkess association). ( Te Kooti passed away quietly at 8 o'clock on "Monday night at a native settlement situated on the shore of Ohiwa Harbour. He had been in failing health fop some lime, consequent on a recent accident which bcfel him. Death came unexpectedly. When he breathed his last he was surrounded by many of nis most deroted followers and his wires. The natives haye been thronging to Opetiki to day, purchasing provisions for the tangi, which will certainly be the largest ever witnessed.- . ■■^■..■.■wvcexamm

The death of Te Kooti (announced in our last issue), which took ptaxeat Ohiwa, Auckland, removes from the stage one-wfaxriormerly^pkyeAi«wpgo-minent part in New Zealand history. He first became -notorious in 1865, w hen the Hail -Han * fantfticisjg| was being stamped out on ine%ast%soaßt. Among the prisoners taken at the fight at Wairangiahiktf in Poverty Bay, he was sent to the Chatham 1 Islands. After a residence there of about two years the priaqners^n* volted, and after murdering orafbr two persons, ; and nearly , s^wogling Mr Chudleigh, (who is ,stiU -a resident on the Chathams) sei?edj o a Vessel called the Rifleman, and under the command of Te Kooti, sailed/ for Poverty. Bay, where they. fyp&kf&fk place called Wharepngapn^Bp aj>bjit six miles from the Bay. They consisted of 163 men, all weir arifed with rifles and ammunition; se^i; jat|the Chatbams. A small forcfe'of Europeans and Maoris .under Qaptain Biggs was sent against him, but Te Kpoti refused to surrender, and . Cap^fin Biggs was forced to retreat. Te Kooti then left the coast; dhtf obj6n£l Whitmore followed him, 1 and at iMst brought him to an engagdtnefit at Pukitapu, but the' result; was a draifti battle. Colonel Whitmore' gaWfup the pursuit, and; Te KoGti wenVfurther into the interior.' ' For a ■ flfibft time nothing wad heard of tire' rebel, but on November 1 Othj ; ' iflßSj IWe Kooti issued from; Jus,in,ountain~r>treat and came' down on the* settlers in Poverty Bay, a,n4 massacred men, women and children; with 5 { *v i the hideous accompaniments of savage warfare.' In all 32 white people pCrished, and,, the tale of the murders sent a thrill of hoiro* ! thfroi/gh the colony and gave^rise to a wild cry for vengeance. Volrfnteerg' assembled and they were joined by the Ng&iporous, and' Ngatfkahungunusipilne former formed the largest number of avengers, (for, formerly, Maoris l&d been slaughtered by Te Kooti in even greater proportion: r. than! whites, ) under the gallant Major Bopata. Ttopata forced Te Kooti [toi cleai out of the Makeratii " pa, I and he? with his followers took; refuge at Kgatapja, a natural fortress surrounded jbjrrftfwcipices. After suffering reverse? of no very great consequence, uinier Itopata's guidance the pa wfle stormed, and taken with terrible "slaughter, but the arch-fiend, Te Kooti, escaped with a considerable numbed of^nis men westward. He sbon peared, and from time to time swo^rod down on friendly pas, killing aJICMEo offered the slightest Yesiutance.. At this time his habitat .was in,^ the Urewera country, and he: seeins to have been stimulated by his. -security and successes to assume considerable state and; to pose as a conoueror. But Itapata was ever on his^tai^aiid ultimately he made, his way'tq Jtne Waikato, where he' entered into-ne-gotiations with Mr Firth tois^cgre peace and pardon ; but the .. Govefnment, confident -of his capture, rejected these overtures. • However the (Government reckoned without their host, for Te Kooti escaped although his camp was captured. :> A Iprice of £5000 was then placed Oil his head, but without result. His career was closed practically, (yet he could not be taken, and the, hunt dragged on year by year until he went into the' Kingcountry, where he lived quietly unjtil men lost sense of the .heat* of the past fray, and he received a pardon from the Government. Sin^e then he travelled over various portions of Wka North Island, viaitingf a few months ago, when" he jyriu a- broken man in constant fear of aasassimwjon at the hands of the relatives of those whom he had so pitilessly WurcterM in the days of his power. He w«f a clever strategist, and a tolerably gwd fighter according to ' Maori nbtioh% ; but he was at the dame tinje rema¥kably careful of his bwh u »%ini'iand always avoided a hand.tp*hrad %ra* flict. It was neyer clearly ujpa|erltopd whether Te Kooti really deservecf deportation to the ChathamSj, bu^e.was suspected, while . under;, the j%te Colonel Fraser, of treachery and holding communication wkh the enemy at the fight at Wairarigiahika, and , on that suspicion was punished.