THE PIPIROA TRAGEDY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4376, 10 February 1922, Page 2

THE PIPIROA TRAGEDY

DETAILS OF THE CRIME. Details of the Pipiroa tragedy which occurred last Tuesday came too late for the last issue of the “Ga.zette.” The circumstances are that a married woman named Gladys Hutchinson was fatally shot by a map named Arthur Page, who also attempted suicide by shooting himself. The unfortunate woman .was. aged 30, and her assailant 33. Pipiroa being in the Thames Police district, the Police at Thames we’re first communicated with about the crime, and Stergeant McDonnell, Constables J. Devereaux, J. Riley-Jand Dr. Ritchie started at once for the scene of the tragedy. Arriving at the locality of the dreadful occurrence, the party noted the man Pagelying on the roadside at Pipiroa. He was splattered with blood from a great wound in his breast, where the shot had entered when he had at-' tempted suicide after shooting his victim. Leaving a constable with the wounded man, the party hastened to the whare where the outrage had taken place. Articles of clothing, a hat, and hat-box were lying about just, outside the hut, and a great pool of blood on the ground told all too plainly the dreadful story. The victim- of the shocking tragedy lay on a mattress, her face covered in blood, the blood gushing from an open wound in her cheek, while her right arm had been almost blown off. The poor crehture was in great pain. Updn examination, Dr. Ritchie found 1 , that the upper jaw had been fractured, and the roof of the mouth shattered. Two cartridge wads'and a number of pellets were extracted from her mouth and cheek. “HE SHOT ME.’’ j “I was going home, and he shot /me,” the woman answered to the serigeant’s question as to what was wrong. After recovering from the choking effect of the blood in her mouth the wounded woman, in reply to a further question as to who shot her, said : “Page did.” A COOL CUSTOMER. The doctor then attended to the man Page, who 'had shot away a portion of his left breast, and the two patients were put on Cars for transport to Thames. Page smoked, and talked volubly, in spite of the. paip of his wound, which, however, was subsequently proved to be of n.o very, dangerous nature. THE WOMAN DIES.' The condition of the woman became very bad after crossing the Wharepoa ferry, and she progressively worse dying on the journey between Puriri and Thames.

STORY OF A WITNESS. Mr Bertram Wallis, a farmer residing opposite the shanty where the shocking affair took place, gives the following account pf l it: “I was painting my house, and w,as up.o’n'the verandah,” he said, “when I happened to look round. I don’t know what made me look round, but I happened to glance in the direction of the whare. I -saw th© two come out of the shanty. The woman was dress-, ed and carrying a parcel. The man followed closely behind and he was carrying a gun. Suddenly he put the gun .up to her head’ and. fired, and she fell to the ground. The man then took two steps back, turned slightly, and pulled it on himself. He, held the gUn with the muzzle to his left breast, and fired, and almost immediately he ’.fell to, the ground. The woman, who was lying on the ground, screamed loudly and Igot to her feet and came across the. road. The man crawled slowly to his feet and staggered towards the shanty. I then rushed across to the shanty to take the- gun from the man, but he picked the gun from the floor and covered me with it.. He sang out something, but I could not hear what it was, so I did not go too-close to him. I. immediately rushed down the road, where I met another man named Gordon Boswell, and he went to the house and got a gun. We then walked over together and found the woman half lying on the small bridge covering the drain leading to my house.” Mr Wallis said that the man was then with the woman, having evidenti ly walked over to her. He picked up his gun, and again covered them, but he was persuaded to get rid of it, and it was thrpwn into the .drain. The man was then taken away from the woman, about' .100 yards down the road, where he was found by the police with a man standing guard over him. The gun was recovered from the drain, and was ifound to be a double-barrelled shot-gun, full cocked, x with two unexploded cartridges in it. These were taken charge of by the police, together with the gun. On examining the locality where the shooting had taken place, the doctor picked up an exploded cartridge, while the police recovered another. SEEMINGLY JEALOUS RAGE. Mr Thomas Hutchinson, a Maori of Turua,, was the husband of the allegedly murdered woman. He stated that they had been married for; fifteen years, and they had three children, aged 3,7, and 10 years, respectively. His wife left him about a week ago and had been living with the man Page. They had occupied the sh,ack on and off for. some time. ,He had been frightened of the man Page. The shanty was owned' by Tom Keene, a farmer, at Pipiroa, but had been occupied by a man named Wilt Ham Willots-, who owned the furniture in it, but who had not been there for some time. It transpires that the assailant, Page, spent the midday with a man named George' EU’S, where he had a cup of tea', and after the man had gone to Work, it is stated, Page secured the shot-gun from Bills’ house, which is near to the scene of the tragedy. The husband of the woman accompanied the police to the spot where the tragedy took place, and was almost distracted with grief when he saw the terrible injuries his wife had sustained, and despite the efforts of the doctor, he continued to stand round, and spoke to her while her, in-, juries were being attended to, and (Continued in next Column.)

• Continued from previous* Column, gave her small sips of water while she was waiting for the car to coni vey her to the hospital. "I was going home and he shot me near the door,” she mumbled to her husband, who was standing over her, and when the question was repeated to her she nodded her head. It transpires that she was leaving Page to return to her husband on the day the tragedy occurred. She had packed up her things and had left the shanty with a 1 few parcels in her hand when she was shot. How the unfortunate woman managed to struggle to the road is inconceivable - in view of the extent of her injuries, for the distance was over 100 feet. Although bleeding profusely, and with her face and arm completely shattered, she had managed to reach the roadway, evidently trying to get to the neighbour’s house opposite. CHARGE OF MURDER. At the Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday morning, before Mr J. H. Salmon>.S.M., on the in formation; of And-i rew McDonnell,. Sergeat of Police, Arthur William Page, labourer, of Pipiroa, was charged with that on the seventh day of February, 1922, at . Pipiroa, he did murder one Gladys McGregor Hutchinson by shooting her with a'gun. The Sergeant of Police applied for a remand for a week, as ,the man Page is at present is an inmate of the Thames Hospital. PERSONAL HISTORY. The man now in hospital, Arthur William Page, whose age is given as 33, is a native of Ballarat, Australia, and arrived in New Zealand in 1913. He was a labourer by occupation The woman, Gladys Hutchinson, was 30 years of age, and was born at Waihi, her maiden name being Glftdjfft McGregor. The formal inquest was held a* r Thames,