Untitled

Manawatu Herald, 28 February 1893, Page 2

*

Smith answered, "Oh, no ; he has already gone home." That remark was the first intimation of Jacobsen 'g disappearance) and from then till how ths police of New Zealand have parched with unremitting diligence; but in vain, for Jacobsen The most painstaking enquiries failed to disclose any reason why he should fcf his own acCord obliterate his ( personality and keep his movements secret, and the police were finally : led to the conclusion that he had hlet with a misadventure or had been the victim of wfol play. When the Papier assisted Smith td the township he, too, disappeared, and the police were unable to get details of Jacobsen's latter movements which he would havp been able to supply. Having a keen desire to obtain this information, the police sought Smith while they were also seeking Jacob- j sen, and they were ibrtifixl in their work by a warrant for Smith's arrest, which was issued by Hambrook, and charged Smith with the larceny of camp gear". Months passed and no news of either of the ; partners was learned until recently, .when word reached New Zealand that Smith was in Victoria. Detec tive O'Connor, of the New Zealand police, was sent over to endeavor to effect his arrest, but after a six weeks' search here he was forced to abandon the task as a hopeless one. He returned to New Zealand at Christmas, and left as a legacy with the criminal investigation officers ot police in Victoria,- a photograph and a description of the missing man with the request that every possibly endeavonr should be made to effect his arrest. Ward and McManainy were rewarded for weeks of watchfulness by recognising Smith in Bourke-street. The man denied that he was Smith at first, but the eyes of the detectives had noted a scar on the chin, and had from that and his general description satisfied themselves that they had made no mistake. They determined, therefore, to place him under arrest and await developments. They were saved much trouble in the matter of evidence of identification by the admissions of Smith. : Within a few minutes he said that it would be useless to deny his identity, so he said he was the man wanted by the New Zealand police, and was willing to submit to arrest, He was then locked up at the City Watchhouse on a provisional warrant issued by Mr Panton, P.M., charging him with the larceny of camp gear, the property of George Hambrook. The accused, Smith, served two months' imprisonment at Clinstchurch, New Zealand, in the beginning of 1884, and another short term subsequently for a similar offence. . He-was known to the police under the - alias Aldridge. , . ! The man Smith,, alias Aldridge, | who has just reached New Zealand I from Melbourne, arrived in Wellinging on Sunday. On Monday he was charged at the Magistrate's' Court j with the murder of Jacobsen, and i also with larceny, on which charge he was first apprehended in Melbourne. A remand was asked for by the police, but the authorities have nob yet decided whether the^ case shall be heard at Wellington,^ Masterton or Pahiatua. ; It transpires :the calcined bones, which bave several times been referred to as having been found in the neighbourhood where Jacobsen was last seen, have been in the possession of the police for some twelve months, and are now in Wellington ; but the experts who have examined them are unable to positively determine whether or not they are human bones. The circumstance which suggests that they are so is that some buttons were found in the debris with them. The only undoubted human remains are some teeth. Other of the fragments are believed to have been the bones of a sheep. — Post. Jacobsen's remains are so charred that only three or four large bones were found. The rata tree, in the hollow stump of which they were found, had been burning for three days before they were discovered which accounts for their calcined state. For lonie time a strong stench had been noticed in the vicinity of where the remains were found, and a search was repeatedly made without any result.— Examiner.