SUPPOSED MURDER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1542, 25 August 1905, Page 3

SUPPOSED MURDER.

THE TAP AN 01 MXSTERY.

' V , :(Em Press Association.) ; . Dunodfn, last night. ?■ ■1; '■ It now turns out that the Ohinathnn How Bfng Tong, found dead in his hut , t ( neac.Tttpanni, was shot in the head. This j , was only discovered to-day, the previous examination being a hasty one made with* , k • • ;■ out the blood being washed from the fane. : - The ointumstanoea point to the wound not w ' having been solf-infliotad, No firearms •.’were found about the place. The man lived by himself on the onlskirts of the . township,and was generally respeoted. - He to be, possessed of money ; £4B was found intact at the head of his

bed, while a waloh and chain were in the

pookot. There are two or three small homes dose by, and two persons state '‘ that they hoard a shot on the Monday evening between 9 and 10. It seems improbable that the man made away with himself. A revolver was .found in an* - other room, but it . was not loaded, and was covered with dust. The whole ease is at present a mystery. The inquest was continued to-day. Evi*. /- ,donae was given that deceased was 60 years of ago,, and had resided in Tapanni for 20 yearsi having previously been a gold h miner. .... , Ah Ohong, from Beaumont, oallod at •: deceased’s homo on Tuesday, and found the body, at once giving information to ?./ the police. • Dr Robertson, in his evidence, said he fonnd on the floor in the bedroom a pool . f ; ; of blood, ohiefly arterial. The lamp had . seemingly exploded, and the bed was } , burned on thßsido neatest the window Where deceased had been lying. The globe . at the lamp was not broken, but the vessel { . containing the oil was in small pieoos, Piooes of a whisky bottle were lying about on the loft side of the body. The olothes ..V ware all charred, and portions of the flash burned a little. There was a wound on

- the right cheek in tho 'region of a large • * artery, and otoso to It a pieoe of the whisky bottle glass. ' Over the left of tho'forehead was a large bruise... Whon the wound in . the cheek was received Sing .Tong must have boen alive. The bruiee on the fore* head had been inflicted daring life. It penetrated right into the bone to the inner side, and there had been conoussibn of the ..., ( brain. Ha foundaamall wound on the left corner Of the mouth. He found little blue,marks. a 3 if of gunpowder, and be ’ removed two or three grains. The wound penetrated the large vessels of the nook, including the jugular vein. It wont down wards and baak Wards for.three inches, and • had penetrated .the bone, of the spinal 1 - coluCan. It Wait a wound such as would - be paused by a bullet. It was this wound that caused the man’s death. As the doctor had not foudd a bullet or made a complete poet 'mortem examina* .Vtion, the Inquest'was adjourned, ,