SINGULAR HOAX.

Marlborough Express, Volume IV, Issue 209, 25 December 1869, Page 5

SINGULAR HOAX.

Our readers will have noticed singular paragraphs in our last two papers, relating to a supposed insane woman wandering about m the bush beyond Kaikoura in a nude state, with an mtant under one arm, and a variety of firearms under the other. Our Kaikoura correspondent has by the last mail given us some particulars which serve to show that in all probability the whole affair is a shameful hoax, having for its object the selling of a few extra nobblers, or a similar unworthy reason. The following is a brief account of constable Baap’s efforts to discover the W< Dec tl 2l— -Started for Boat Harbor ; on arriving there 'was informed by Mrs. Monk that her eldest daughter, Louisa, had seen M. Clarke the dav before. , , . Dec 3. —Hot believing the story, went as far as the Waiau via Hawkeswood and Mt. Parnassus, enquiring if a woman had been seen travelling in the direction of Boat Harbor, or any other way, but found no person had seen or k Dec 4 To Cheviot Hills via Parnassuss ; telegraphed thence to Commisioner Shearman, U —Returned via Hawkeswood to Boat Harbor ; every person he met disbelieved the Dec 6 —lnformed by Mrs. Monk that on the sth while the men came away, she, with her children, went on tin j beach On returning w; S a was first, and went in the back way, and saw M. Clark standing with a loaf of bread in one hand, and with the other she snatched some butter off tUo plato. r l'lia girl told ber to take the food. She said “No, no, no !” put it down and ran away. She had a double-barrelled gun with her, with zinc on the stock and new caps on the nipples. She was quite naked, with the exception of a piece of white blanket, reaching from the shoulder to the hip. Mrs. M. and her daughter Emily, aged 11, came round the house and saw her running away with the gnu on her shoulder. At 10 a.m., while at the house, I, with Dr. J Haast’s man, saw what we believed to be the woman walking about the boat sheds, about half a mile off. We immediately ran down in the hope of catching her, but when we got there we could see nothing of her, but the marks of a woman’s boots on the sand. Mrs. M. said she had not been that way. On returning from searching the hush, about 3 p.m., I met Haast s man and Mrs. M. and children, who told me the - woman had fired three shots at the children. They then ran into the house ; she followed, and threw a large knife at Louisa, inflicting a skin wound long below the right knee. She then went to the cupboard and took an egg and sucked it. Haast’s man and Mrs. M. were about a quarter of a mile from the house at the time. The children all ran to their mother, and appeared very frightened and excited. I went to Hawkeswood about 0 p.m. to obtain assistance to search the bush. I got three men there, and three from Mt. Parnassus. I sent a messenger with a telegram to A. Ingles, Esq. Dec. 7. —I returned to Boat Harbor, but could not find any trace of a woman.. Dec. B.—l started with ten men to search thoroughly, but could not find her. On returning, Louisa informed me that while she and a boy were getting water at a creek in the bush, the woman came and sat down in a muslin dress with green spots, white boots, a crinoline, and her hair put up. She told the children she was sorry she had shot at them the other day, but she was gone there (pointing to her forehead). She then went away into the bush, Dec. 9, 10. —I continued the search, but was unsuccessful. Dec. 11.—I returned to Kaikoura, and met a special messenger with the following telegram : ‘‘Margaret Clark has notjbeen away from Christchurch (Signed) Shearman.” I searched Monk’s house to see whether they were concealing the woman, but found nothing to excite my suspicion. The constaqle adds that he cannot help believing there is some truth in the story, as the children appeared very consistent in their remarks. Our correspondent adds that Mr. Caverhill in writing to him alludes to this story as that of “the woman in white” which he considers the most scandalous hoax ever perpetrated upon the public, and remarks upon the singular circumstance that two men should leave a woman and a number of children alone and unprotected day after day if they believed the story themselves.