A Murder.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 15 April 1890, Page 2

A Murder.

A ferocious muvdrf was commi'efl at New Plymouth April 15th ia the recreation g zounds on Friday, the victim being an old maa named Stephen lialoney. The deceased was a* discharge*! apldieri having sewed in the Crimea. He lived alone in a Buiall cotiase in the grounds and was last seen alive on Fricla; at boor. He N». missed on Friday night, and a tearch war mad* for Win on Saturday afternoon, -vlien his hoily was found lying in some fern and Be u'j about- SO chains from his house. Marks of violence were fonnd oi' tMe Txvfjy, but were not & first considered to l» of r, eo:iou9 cha^aetev, and there was Uttle blooc 1 . visible. Tae pest uiorUin to-day revealed that the deceased had beta horribly inaV dered. Niue cuts were found ontheheaS ; none of them, however, fractured the braia. His windpipe had been smashed to atoms by some blunt instrument, and there was no external cut, but severe concussion. The theory is that the murderer used the blunt end of a small tomahawk, inflicting repeated blows on the throat with it, which severed the vn .dpipe. but no severe external wouad wan observed. The deceased was a native of Kerry, Ireland, and had been in this Colony over thirty years. He wbb decrepit, and could not walk without a stick. His stick and hat were found about six «r seven yards further in the scrub.

Wlien the b xly was found it was noticed that one of the pockets had been turned inside oat, ftnd deceased's puree (empty) was found near the body. The motive of the crime was evidently to obtain money. The police have arrested a Native named Mitu Kfti, who wan liberated from goal 14 days ago, having served a sentence for houcebreakiug. Marks of blood were found on the Maori's trousers, and he was seen in the locality on the day the murder was committed. The deceased told the keeper of the recreation grounds that a Maori he did not know had called at Iris house alone on Friday inoraing, and he had given him his breakfast, c also said the Maori toM" him he was, employed doing souse work in the recreation grounds. The keeper told the deceased that the Maori's statement was untrue, aa no Maori had been working iafeafroaadt. XtejialiM a»«fic«4ia

getting up the case, and jit is expMfcf d that evidence wi 1 be produoed at the inquest (which commences on Monday) sufficiently ■trong to commit the Maori for trial. The murder is supposed to have been committed with deceased's own hatchet wbioh bears the marks of blood upon it. The deceased was a reoipient of oharitable aid, and ha.*. no relations in the Colony.— Exohange.