REPORTED OUTRAGE AT THE HUTT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume VII, Issue 238, 29 January 1889, Page 2

REPORTED OUTRAGE AT THE HUTT.

A REMARKABLE FICTION. Early on Saturday morning* a great sensation was created in the Lower Hutt township by a rumor that during the previous night an outrage had been committed under especially brutal circumstances upon a girl in the employment of Mr G. H. Scales, the well-known commission agent of Wellington, who resides at the Hutt. As might bo expected, the matter was eagerly discussed all oyer the township. Numbers of people who had slept toundly all through the night remembered having heard strange noises, while others recollected seeing disguised individuals of a hang-dog tj'pe slink shamefully about in the fields. The excitement was increased when two distinguished members of the detective foree — to wit, Messrs Kirby and Campbell arrived by an early train aud proceeded to Mr Scales' house. Information had been given by Constable Harnett to Inspector Thomson by telegraph that an outrage had been committed, and in consequence Detectives Campboll aud EL* by Wte at once despatched to the Hutt. Upon arrival at the house of Mr Scales, the detectives interviewed the girl, whose name is Lydia Elliott, and who is about 19 years of age. She was in a highly nervous condition, but was abe to make coherently a statement to this effect : — About 8.30 on Friday evening, Mr and Mrs Scales left the house on a visit to some friends, leaving her (the girl Elliott), two children, and a servant boy named Samuel N orris at home. ■ She went to bod a few minutes after I half-past 10 (sleeping upstairs). | About 1 1 o'clock, hearing a noise on '

j bite" stairs-, she lit a candife; and. 1 jfu__ped ! out oi bed. As she did so» two ttieiU entered the room wiiS_ a lantern, ar((S one of them at oote* blew out_*her Kghti. One of these" I men were tall, and tine* other short, an<_ btotfr wore Chinese masks, and were dres_e*d! alike in moleskin trousers and light s___ts, neither having coat or vest. The tail man said to her, "I would kill you, but that would not hurt you. I will do something that will ruin your character.'" ; (She then went on to describe the outrage, which, she said, was- committed by the tall man white the other lay on her chest.) The- tall ! man then iook a (piece of string out of his trousers pocket and tied b_*r by tbe Wrists and waist to the iro_' , bedstead. Th© " little man " took & ' piece of tape from her workbox and tied lie-* to the bedstead by the ankles and feet, 'lhe fttH man thereupotcut her hair off wikh &■ pair of scissors, and threw some watei*' over her legs and feet. He then ran downstairs, while the short man jumped out of the window. She did not know either of the men, and would not be able to indentify them. Mr and Mrs Scales corroborated" the girl's story to a certain extent. They returned home at a quarter to 1, and as they neared the house heard screams emanating from the servants' bedroom. Mr. Scales upon going into the room, found the. girl apparently tied by the feet and hands to the bedstead, with her hair lying on the floor, and a quantity of water lying around her feet. Theboy Norris who slept the sound sleep of the youthful, was at once awakened and for the first time heard of the affair. The detectives carnfully examined!. ihe window and ground all round thebouse, but could find no trace of* men having been about. Thes string with which the girl had beerr bound was then shown to Mr Scales ' who at once identified it as having '• beeu tied round a parcel he had re* cently received frcm England. The 1 wily detectives tried the length of the ! string, and found that it was not long * enough to go round the girl's waist-- * Coming to the conclusion that there* i must be something wrong, they then ■ told her that she would have to be * examined by a doctor. She strongly > objected, cried, and then admitted that her story was a fabrication. * She was sorry, she said, for 5 having told such falsehoods, but during the evening she had a nightr mare, and hearing the dogs bark she 1 got frightened, and in her fright - tied herself up. She got the tape from her work box and the string * from a chair in her room, on which [ it was lying. Thus ended one of P the most remarkable cases ever in* i spected by detectives.