FRASERTOWN NOTES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1905, 15 October 1906, Page 1

FRASERTOWN NOTES.

'(From Our Own Correspondent.) An inquest was held at Mangapoiki on Friday, 6th icst., before Mr J. Corldll, J.P., acting coroner, and a jury of four, of whom Mr J. J. Parker was elected foreman, on the remains of the man Barry, recently found in the bush there. The evidence went to show that the deceased left the camp one night, taking a razor with him. The open razor was found among the bone 3 of the right hand, and the clothes were blood-stained. A post office savings bank book bearing the name of James Barry, Waipiro Bay, was’found ou the body. The jury returned a verdict of “ found dead,” there being no evidence to show how deceased came to his death, and that no blame was attached to anyone.

News was received here on Sunday that a native nam'd Waata Taiaroa had been found dead with a gun alongside his body in somo scrub at Whakatangirua, a native settlement on the Waiau river. An inquest was held ou Monday, Bth inst., before Mr T. J. Tunks, J P., acting coroner, and a jury of four, of whom Mr Douglas Walker was chosen foreman. The evidence went to show that deceased had been last seen alive on Saturday, 6th inst,, at dinner time, and that as he did not return that night search was made for him on Sunday morning. Deceased had tied a red and white handkerchief to a branch of a Kohai tree just over where he was lying, and it was this that drew the attention of the searchers to the spot. The gun had been discharged into tho abdomen while in a recumbent position, the discharge passing upwards to the chest. Kapene Tararoa, son of the deceased, said his father had been troubled in mind because the prophet Eua had accused him of practising witchcraft aud causing numerous deaths among Maoris. He thought it was this that had driven him to take his life. The jury returned a verdict of suipide while of unsound mind.