Tragedy at Plimmerton.

Manawatu Herald, 29 December 1896, Page 2

Tragedy at Plimmerton.

Constable Hutton, who is stationed at Johnsonville, went into the bush on Sunday a couple of miles from Plimmerton, and while brushing through some rather dense scrub came across a small cleared space on a spot overhanging a cliff. There an unexpected sight met his gaze — the remains of two human beings lying in olose proximity to each other. They had apparently been there a considerable time, all the flesh having disappeared and only the bare skeletons remaining. On closer examination the constable found that a terrible tragedy had been enaoted. The remains were apparently those of a man and a woman, in each of whose skulls there were undoubted bullet-holes. A bullet was actually found in one of the skulls. Close by were two revolvers and also a bottle. On opening the bottle, the constable found a slip of paper, on which was , written : — •• Never mind who we are. We are tired of life. We have left aeven pounds for burial expenses." On further examination, the constable found seven pound notes, well preserved inside the bottle. A little further away was a portmanteau, very much knocked about, deterioration having no doubt been caused by lengthy exposure. This revealed the only clue as to the date on whioh the tragedy oeourred. A copy of the New Zealand lanes, - 1

of the 24th October, 1894, was found inside the portmanteau. The clothing, or what remained of it, that lay near showed conclusively that the deceased were a man and a woman. The revolvers were very rusty, owing to being so long in the open, and the battered condition of the portmanteau and the disarrangement., of the skeletons was no doubt due to lae'mg tramped over by cattle, tracks of which appeared in the vicinity.— N.Z. Times.