WOMAN MURDERED.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 October 1923, Page 1

WOMAN MURDERED.

ROBBER’S CRIME AT ARAMOHO. AUSTRALIAN AX'D N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. WANGANUI, October 27. Aramolio was the- scene of a terrible crime late last night, Airs W. R. Oates, wife of a storekeeper, being murdered, and her husband being severely injured and robbed. Il appears that Airs Oates visited her husband at the store and later returned home. Oates, after closing the store, also started for home, carrying with him the cash takings. On reaching tho back door, lie was felled by a savage blow from a blunt weapon. Several blows followed, and lie was rendered unconscious. When he come to, his senses, lie found his money, and the assailant had vanished. Oates struggling to a neighbour's house, and then, with assistance, returned and entered his own home. In the passage his w.l’c was found suffering from desperate injuries, the brain protruding through tlif skull, ,'iie having evidently been struck while sitting in a chair in the kitchen reading. file woman ran into the passage. where .she was struck a violent blow on the head, which split her skull The miscreant then gagged the woman. and finding that sh e had not the takings from the store, as expected, he waited for ilie husband, hiding in the doorway of the wash-house, which was

within a step of the back door. Airs Oates was conveyed to the hospital in a low state, hut she died shortly after midnight, her ease being hopeless from Dio outset.

The police wore quickly on the scene, hut they found no trace of the criminal, who got away quickly with the booty, over one hundred pounds. Oates was severely injured about the head, anus and legs. It is surmised that both he and his wife were struck by an iron bar as there was no trace of any instrument used by the murderer. An Irish terrier which was in the house, was also severely injured by a blow, evidently to stop it from making a noise. Chief Detective Kemp, Detective AYnl'li. and Senior-Sergeant Dimiio. fin-ger-print expert, have arrived from Wellington to assist in the search for the murderer. Oates ha* boon in the grocery business some three years. He is well known in cricketing circles, being captain of the United Club. His parents are iu business in a calo at Palmerston North. Tho murdered women was 32 years of age. MURDERER NOT CAPTUREDWANGANUI, October 28. There arc no fresh developments in the murder case. A large number ot police, including detectives from Wellington are hard at work, but there is nothing to record. They have a baffling task'. Oates is progressing in tbe hospital. Owing to the fact that the nnuderer of a Chinaman over a year ago wiy not traced, and that another horrible murder has occurred, there is a good deal of uneasiness.