Bushfellers Fired upon at night at Waituna.

Manawatu Herald, 27 April 1893, Page 2

Bushfellers Fired upon at night at Waituna.

A good deal of interest, and at times excitement, has been occasioned at Waituna for several weeks past, owing to a party of bushfellers having been intimidated night after night in their camp by the discharge of firearms, and at last actually fired upon, by some unknown person. The reports were . plainly heard by the settlers dwelling near, and as they always occurred late at night, caused a good deal of anxiety. We referred to this matter when the trouble began, but were misinformed as to its origin. On Monday, however, one of our staff visited the camp, and obtained the following information xrom the bushmen themselves : — On March 10th, H. Jepson, J. Fowles, T. Lind, F. Vette, 0. Vette, J. Hawse and J. Slipper pitched a camp in Mr Shortt's bush at Waituna, and commenced work on their ooniracti A few days after, At about half-past four in the afternoon they

1 ■■■•■! rnVM-lfi.il- ft 'il- i-l -n rn-Tn-milliM heard a guti fired close to the card^j but rid notice was takeri of it;. M Half-jjast 0 another sliofc was fired, over the tent, when it was thought someone was trying to have a lark with them. At 9 o'clock another shot was fired, when one of them ran out, and fired two barrels of a gun into the scrub. Next night two more shots Were fired over their damp. On Sunday evening, April, 9th, they Were all back to the camp after E&ster, and the shooting re* commenced. A shot was fired through the corner of their fire place (the barrel had apparently been pushed between the pungas of which the chimney was built). The charge entered the fire, and scattered it about the inside of the tent. One evening as Jepson' approached the camp from his work, to prepare tea, he saw a black man come out of the tent. The appearance of the stranger was so terrifying that he stopped at several yards distant, afraid to go near him. Jepson described the mjttn as .having a yery broad forehead, and extremely wild looking eyes. He carried a large pistol ; ajf nife or dagger also hung by his si«}e. After looking at him for a few seconds, the intruder made off at a great speed through the scrub. Jepson found a pipe still alight, belonging to one of the men, which the wild looking man had been smoking. The firing over and into their tent occurred about a dozen times altogether, but the culminating point came last Wednesday night, when a bullet was fired into the tent, which first struck the table and then entered a bag of sugar which was standing at the foot of the bunk in which T, Vette lay. They all ran out of the tent, and two shots were fired into the scrub, where they heard a noise as if semebody was moving about. The dog growled continuously. They returned to the tent, and T. Lind lay in wait under the table, with a loaded gun, when another shot was fired right into the door of the tent. Lind ran out, and just saw a figure bolt round the corner of the tent, and pulled his trigger, but the gun hung fire. Having failed to catch their aggressor, and not being able to work through want of sleep, taken with the evident danger of their position, made them resolve to shift their camp out into the clearing, which they did the following day. Since this time they have not been molested. The only probable explanation of the strange affair we have yet heard is that the ground on which the camp was pitched was tapu, and some fanatical Maori has threatened their safety to induce them to shift. — Advocate.