THE ESCAPE OF THE CHATHAM ISLAND PRISONERS.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 133, 29 August 1868, Page 5

THE ESCAPE OF THE CHATHAM ISLAND PRISONERS.

A COBEESPON-DENX of the Wellington Independent gives the following detailed account of the escape of the rebels:— “Our readers already know that the rising took place on the 4 th July, and that the Hauhaus, having boarded and seized the schooner Rifleman, managed to reach New Zealand by her. But while, as has been already told, the mate of the Rifleman saw Maoris running about on shore in a state of furious excitement, and was immediately thereafter boarded by an overwhelming force, he could not give the •detail of the events which had happened. We shall now do so, but to make our story •clear, it is necessary to try back a little, In the first place, then, let us say a word as to the natural features of the place. At the Wharekauri landing place, there is a stretch of beach backed by a hill. On the beach is the Court House, Lock-up, and ■Custom House, together with the houses of the settlers. On the top of the hill is situated the redoubt, occupied by the guard, which contains their wheures, sleeping rooms, and the magazine. When the military guard occupied this redoubt, it was guarded in reality, two sentinels being constantly stationed on the walls, which had an outside ditch; but after Mr, Rolleston’s visit, the aforesaid guard was dismissed and eleven of their number retained under the title of Armed Constabulary. Discipline became lax, and no real precautions whatever were taken to guard against a sudden rising of the Hauhaus. Two sentinels lounged leisurely about without rifle's and only armt'd with bayonets. Sometimes the sentinel took a stroll and dropped into the public house or the blacksmith’s shop for a smoke, while the rest of the famous eleven disported themselves at their sweet will. >One or two of the guard, indeed, being •married men, resided some distance from the redoubt, and of course would have been useless in the event of a rising of these so-called prisoners. Captain Thomas, who was Commander of the Guard, Postmaster, Collector .of Customs, Resident Magistrate, and Resident Clergyman,—because, good easy man, he regularly celebrated divine service to his white and copper-colored brethren— appears, amidst the pressure' of his many and onerous duties, to have allowed the chosen eleven and their prisoners to do pretty much as they pleased. He had faith in the Hauhaus, and implicitly beHeyed thut wefe the mostharniless and pacific of people. ” He scouted the very, suggestion that they would ever think of rising against their and jSooh-pobhed all arguments tP ‘ the contrary'. To all' warnings, he burned a deaf ear. So far back as the 4th of .April, i,.Mr.: Thomas Ritchie, a Justice of the Peace in the island, received information ; from ' one or more pf the Hauhaus, who betrayed ."the confidence of their compatriots, that a : rising was contemplated j that they intended awaiting the arrival of the first vessel to overpower their guard, and to escape by it. This important information Mr. Ritchie embodied in a letter to the,Hon. Mr. Stafford, which he showed, to Captain Thomas before despatching. Captain Thomas, however, was incredulous, and by . the same mail wrote to the Government to the effect that Mr.

Ritchie’s apprehensions were entirely chimerical; so, in the end, that gentleman took nothing by his motion, as the Government simply acknowledged the receipt of his letter, and asserted that they were in possession of information which showed that his assertions had no foundation. This was warning the first, but a second one was to follow. Sis or seven weeks afterwards, about the end of May, Sergeant-Major Finnimore, on getting out of bed one morning, found a notice affixed to the door of his whare, to the effect that the Hauhaus were about to rise. Still Captain Thomas was incredulous. Then, later still, two of the prisoners went to Captain Thomas and told him of the contemplated rising, but that sceptical officer would not listen to them. We are utterly at a loss to account for the conduct of Captain Thomas at this critical juncture. Twenty stand of arms had been sent down by the Government for distribution amongst the European settlers, but he, in the exercise of his discretion, kept them safely locked. With the pig-headed obstinacy which sometimes characterises little men in power,- he held to his one idea and did nothing, He wouldn’t arm the settlers; he wouldn’t put the guard on the alert; he wouldn’t take even the most ordinary precautions which prudence suggested. Wrapped in fancied security and sublimely confident in his own opinion, he calmly pursued the even tenor of his official way. But the storm was slowly gathering, and ere long burst. The Hauhau conspiracy had assumed a practical shape; the plans were laid, and the men selected to carry them out. The Hauhaus had a prophet, and his name was Te Kooti. This prophet found favor in the eyes of Captain Thomas, and was allotted a whare close outside of the redoubt where he and his wife lived. The prophet used to carry in firewood to the redoubt, and thus became acquainted with all its interior arrangements. This information was communicated to his Hauhau friends, and they laid their plans accordingly. On the 4th of July the time for action came. No guard being kept, the prophet contrived at about three o’clock that day to place three men in the sentry box inside the redoubt. Their special duty was to force open the magazine and secure the ammunition. The prophet, to enable them to do so, obtained an iron pricker used for the fires, from the guard’s whare, and handed it to them. Meantime a large number of Maoris had flocked into the redoubt, and so lax was the state of discipline, that no particular notice appeared to have been taken of this circumstance. Only five of the guard were in the redoubt, and two of them were engaged at the time in making up their little monthly accounts, wholly unconscious of what impended. Constable Harnett was one of those men. Suddenly, quick as thought, a Hauhau sprung at him and seized him by the shoulder. Harnett jerked himself free and struck at his assailant, who, instantly recovering, swung through the air a tomahawk, and buried it deep between Harnett’s eyes. Again the tomahawk was raised —again it descended, and this time a second terrific cut was inflicted straight across the nose and face. Poor Harnett fell and in a few minutes was dead. The blow of the tomahawk was the signal for the rising. Just as it fell, a host of Hauhaus rushed on the five men of the guard, and bound them hand and foot with flax. Simultaneously the magazine was forced open, the ammunition seized, and the rifles taken from the racks. In the meantime, five or six parties of the Hauhaus outside had not been idle. One party seized all such stray members of the guard as were walking about on the beach, and having securely bound them, conveyed them to the redoubt. Another party visited the house of Captain Thomas, took his carbine, sword, and other articles of value. A third party visited the houses of the settlers, and compelled them to deliver up all arms and valuables, while they securely tied up every male European in the place, with three exceptions. In the management of this affair the tact and finesse of the Maoris were conspicuous. /Just before the beginning of the outbreak, two of the guard and Sergeant Elliott were ; standing outside of the redoubt. -Up then went a- Maori 1 to Sergeant Elliott and confidently told him that Captain Thomas wanted lb see him down at the Court House. Similar representations induced the other two men to depart upon a similar errand, and thus the'field Was’ left 1 cleax*, the only ‘men to deal with being the five in the redoubt. Having easily secuied these, as before described, the rest were afterwai’ds readily captured in detail. Sergeant Elliott found Captain Thomas did not want him, so he returned towards the redoubt, and was wantonly fired at three times before being secured, one bullet striking the heel of his boot. The other two men who had gone on a fool’s errand, were captured and bound on the beach when about to return. Surprised by the visits of those men, Capfc.

Thomas walked up the hill to the redoubt, to ascertain, why they had come...when, he hadn’t sent for them. He very soon found out. On reaching the whare, he saw the Hauhaus, armed with rifles, no guard to be seen, and everything in confusion. Scarcely had he asked when all this meant, when he was overpowered and bound like the rest. It is stated to us, that the horror of his position then forced itself upon his mind. He shrieked for mercy, and implored that he should be allowed to see his wife and children once more, thinking that death was certain. The Hauhaus, however, were merciful. They loosened his cords, and having put handcuffs on instead, forced him to go the Custom House and give up the key of the safe, from which they took a sum of £6OO. Then the Rifleman was boarded, and the Hauhaus got clear off. There are some incidents in this affair which deserve notice. Mr. Beamish, an ex-captain in her Majesty’s service, who Was a storekeeper there, fought pluckily, and being a powerful man and an excellent amateur pugilist, floored the Hauhaus right and left, till he had to succumb to overwhelming numbers. Mr. Chudleigh, a sheep-farmer, the Hauhaus nearly hanged. A rope was put round his neck, and he only saved himsely by putting his hand between the noose and his throat, holding the fingers with his set teeth until they were nearly hitten through. Ultimately, the Hauhaus relented, and he, too, like the rest, was tied up. Such is the narrative of this affair, which could never have occurred had the Government taken such precautions as common prudence would suggest, to guard the prisoners. From first to last the whole affair has been one piece of gross mismanagement. To send down eleven men to guard 180 fighting Hauhaus, was to expose the former to the risk of sudden massacre whenever the latter chose to revolt. And not only was this the case, but every European settler in the Island was rendered liable to the same fate. We cannot acquit the Government of having evinced the most utter indifference to the lives of the colonists in their proceedings, and they may thank Heaven, that it was only through the generosity of the Hauhaus, that every white man, woman and child in the Island was not murdered. That such a terrible tragedy did not occur was no fault of the Ministry, who took the best possible means to secure its perpetration.

From another correspondent our contemporary gives the following . “ On the morning of Saturday, July 4th, when the prisoners made their escape, they appeared particularly cheerful. In the afternoon they suddenly left their work, and some went to the redoubt to secure arms, while others bound those of the guard who were near. The Maoris then proceeded to rifle the Government stores and the private houses of the settlers; taking money, arms, and ammunition. The wife of one of the residents, Mrs. Alexander, with great presence of mind, saved her purse, containing 300 sovereigns, by thrusting it into a large teakettle then boiling on the fire, and lost only 35 sovereigns which she gave up as all she had. Captain Thomas and his guards when bound were thrust into the lock-up, Captain Thomas remonstrated that the cords which bound his wrist cut him. and suggested the use of handcuffs, and having been told where to find them, the rebels were considerate enough to substitute them. The natives took from the Government safe, which they forced Captain Thomas to open, a little more than £SOO, besides what they obtained from the residents, Mr. Chudleigh endeavored to prevent their escape by slipping the cable of the Eifleman, but his design was discovered by some young Hauhaus, and a rope was put round his neck for the purpose of strangling him; and he would certainly have been killed, if some of the older natives had not interfered. As it was, his hand,, which he had placed between his neck and the rope, was forced into his mouth, and he was made to bite his fingers to the bond. Three prisoners, who were averse to the rising, but did not give information of it, were left behind. The natives stranded the schooner Florence, which was off the Island, before they left; and when the Eifleman was out of sight an attempt was made to float her, with the view of reacMtig Wellington, but it was unsuccessful, and was also the cause of a fatal accident. An unfortunate native, while assisting in the operation, was accidentally drowned, or crushed to death—or perhaps partly both—beneath her bottom. An inquest was held by Captain Thomas on the body of Hartnett, and a verdict of wilful murder returned against the Maori who killed him. A warrant for the apprehension of the murderer was issued, merely as a matter of form, we presume, for we do not see at present how it can be executed. The Storm Bird brought up the prisoners who remained on the island, and all the men of the guard

but two, who were left behitfd with'Uaptam Thomas. Reports have been received by the (Jovernraent as to the_darn|ige' r done by the prisoners, and a list of blatms for Compensation, which will in due course receive attention and consideration. Altogether, 163 men, 64 women, and -71 children left the island in the Rifleman.’’