TRAGIC OCCURRENCE AT KAWHIA.

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 266, 6 July 1906, Page 2

TRAGIC OCCURRENCE AT KAWHIA.

DEATH BY DBOW-HNG IN THS HARBOUR. In the early hours of Wednesday morning last a tragedy of tbe most startling kind occurred at Kawhia. About 8 a.m. on that day Mr F. A. Pearson reported to Constable M‘oar thy that during tbe night Mrs Pearson had left bis hnuqe’and also left behind, pinned to her pillqw, a letter that plainly pp ike of her intention to commit suicide. The news soon spread and a search was instituted, a large number of people offering to help. As the tide was high at the time, and nothing could be seen from the beach in the water of the harbour, it was arranged to search around the township until the tide turned. A number of I d* mounted on ponies were sent skirmishing around the lagoons at tbe back of the town, and Constable M’Carthy put up a notice that volunteers to form search parties should meet at 1 p.m. Mr F. Hosking, as soon as the matter came to his knowledge, re ported that he was on the wharf at 6 a.m. and as he returned be saw foot marks going down the wharf reflected in the dim light. At first be thought they were his own, but ns he took fur ther notice he could see they were not, that the marks wore small as if made by bare or stockinged feet. He dismissed the matter from bis mind and it was not until he beard that Mrs Pea**son was missing that be recalled what be he bad seen. His conjecture that the tracks were made by Mrs Pearson proved only too true. - At 10 a.m. Mr Wightman came in his boat from Puti anl when he heard the opinion as to the whereabouts of the missing lady, said he had seen something dark in the water only a few hundred yards away and near Mr Newton’s pontoon. A crew at once jumped into the boat and found the body of Mrs Pearson floating where Mr Wightman indicated, in a backwash near where the pontoon was anchored. The boat being small the body was towed to the beach, where a hurdle and some blankets were waiting, and the ill-fatsd remains were carried back to its late home.

The report ot the inquest will give our readers further details. The late Mrs Pearson (who was 89 years of age) was the daughter of the late Mr Samuel Wiley, who died >at Waitara last Christmas. Her two brothers, one a schoolteacher and one a member of the late firm of Stott and Wiley, both reside at Waitara. She bad been married 16 years, and leaves three children, two girls and a boy. The deceased lady came to Kawbia about five years ago, and had a wide circle of friends in this district. For some months back Mrs Pearson suffered from a serious illness, that she considered incurable, and no doubt this idea preying on her mind led to her last desperate act. Her latter, of of which we give extracts, leaving out only portions that refer to the care and bringing up of the family, is a most remarkable and pathetic production. It unaffectedly touches some of the deepest chords in human nature. It pictures a woman of strong and loving character face to face with death—she sees tbe horror of her act and all that it entails, feels tfie “cruelty” of her fate, and while shrinking from the unknown and inevitable constantly forgets herself in giving thought to th; welfare of her children and husband. The fearful wrench which parts her from all that woman holds dear—children, husband, home and household gods—is graphically painted and is most painful reading. Tbe family and relatives of the de ceased lady hava our ‘ heartfelt tym pathy.