ROTOMA TRAGEDY

Hokitika Guardian, 8 May 1925, Page 4

ROTOMA TRAGEDY

tty Ml i!l)l-'.H AND S' It IDK. i.atkk details. AUCKLAND. .May o. AlHiotigh a eerlaiii amount of mystary still surromal-s yesterday’s Rotoma tragedy, certain details which have been revealed point conclusively

to a ease of murder and suicide. It is estld islu d almost, beyond doubt that the victims are Carl Olson, .storekeeper of Ilorotiu, and Molly Moors, a fourteen-year-old girl, also of Horolii 11 . The whole ei i. umst-a nee.s appear t'l he the result of tile albabduction of a mere child from her aunt's home in Hastings, iind it ap-p.-ars evident that Olson, a pov.erl: built man. iniirdered ilte girl and (hen took his own life at her side. Last Sunday week Molly .Moors left her home in Moroliu to go to her aunt at I last mgs, and prior to the depart lire of the second AiieklundWclliugloii express from Erankton, she ami Olsen were ol .served having a eoulident ial conversation on the dark side of the railway station. The girl proceeded on her journey, to he followed bv the man in the ear which was found at the siene of the tragedy. This ear was obtained by Olsen front Stanley Rluvkmoiv. a motor deader at I lamilloii. Il is (.video! Ili.il there wa.s a prearranged plan for the two victims to meet at Hastings, Hilt: it is from here that an element of mystery surrounds the ease. It is known that the two registered at. the Te Teko Hotel on isnnday night. last, and left early in the morning for Rotorua. Roth were then, in bright spirits, and whatever plan Olsen had arranged for

his companion, it is apparent that .she hail no knowledge of his sinister mot ives.

The distance between Te Teko and llofoma suggests that Olsen and hicompanion proceeded leisurely along the Rotorua lloail to the .scene of the tragedy. After being extricated from the soft sand into which the ear had got olsen apparently enticed the girl from the ear, on a suggestion to go duck shooting, 'the child had barely left tho vehicle when she was apparently shot by Olsen as she stood at his side. The discharge entered her body just below the heart, and penetrated across the body in the direction of the right thigh. From the short interval between the two shots hoard hv Public Works employees, a few chains away Olsen must- have reloaded the gun, placed the short barrel in his mouth, and took his own life, lie foil alongside his victim, and was found still lightly holding the weapon in both hands.

Both bodies have heon examined by T)r Hay. of ltotorua, and it is understood that lii.s evidence will go to prove that the- child had not been interfered with improporfy. Olsen is well known in the South Auckland district, and only a few weeks ago lie wa.s the central figure in a tragic motor accident which occurred at Horotiu. lie was driving Miami Mrs Gralmin and their daughter. Gladys, home from Xgaruawahia. ami when rounding a, 'curve, near tho Freezing Works, crashed at high speed into a telegraph post. The ear overturned. and Mr and Mrs Graham sustained terrible injuries, from which they succumbed in a few minutes. Miss Gladys Graham was badly injured, and is still an inmate of the Hamilton Hospital. Olsen, escaped unscathed. The inquest on the victims of that tragedy was adjourned sine die. hut it.

fit understood that a charge of mar slaughter was to have fieen brough against Olsen, now the principal acto in a further gruesome tragedy. The scene of the double tragedy i

the top emi of beautiful Kotoma Lake just near where the AVhakatane road leaves the lakeside. Climbing up through bush to the coast to the left is a track - leading to Kelt's old homestead. while running down to tin water’s edge is a pretty shingle beach in half-moon .shape, about three-quar-ters of a mile long, and to the back is tea-tree scrub, then a backwater lagoon. The gun with which both victims were killed was a sfngular weapon It had heen a. single-barrel, brecchloading, choke-shot gun, and only recently the barrel had been sawn oft about twelve inches from the brooch. The wooden portion of the stock too, was missing, the whole thing being a little over a foot long. The car, number 20,002. which figured in the tragedy, was registered in Hamilton in the name of Harold Piper, who. however, recently sold the vehicle to one Carl Olsen, storekeeper, of Horotiu, to whom the vehicle had been officially transferred. Olsen was a single man. about thirty-eight years of age. and for the past three years bad been in partnership with a .Mi' 1). Ku.st in a storekeeping business at Horotiu. The parents of the girl. Mr and .Mrs Moors, are related to Ku.st. and Moors acted as accountant at the store. The Hours lived in a house attached to the store, and both Olson and llust boarded with them. Tt a] - ] ears that Molly Moors, who was still at school just prior to the tragedy, was a good-looking and exceedingly nice-mannered girl. She was a great favourite in the district, where her pleasing disposition won her general friendship. A short time ago she, went for a holiday to Hastings, where she stayed with relatives. Olsen left Horotiu on Friday in the Dodge ear which he recently acquired, the ear concerned in the fatal accident at Horotiu being still under repair.

01,sen. who spoke with a slightly broken accent, is believed to be either a Swede or a. Dane. He was a tall, vvll-set-up man of ruddy complexion, am! wore pine nez. It seems that the recent fatal ear accident in which Olsen was concerned preyed greatly on his mind, and he was known to have commented to certain of his acquaintances that he expected to get sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment for manslanghleV. Last Thiirfiday he visited a linn of .solicitors in Hamilton and intimated that he desired to make out. Ids will, lie first called in the morning, when lie gave detail;- lor a draft copy. These, it is understood, were very intricate, and when he called again in the afternoon he intimated that he would look in next day. hut that he intended leaving for IJotorua ill a few days. He failed to call again.