Supposed Murder.

Manawatu Herald, 26 July 1898, Page 2

Supposed Murder.

Joseph Smith, a settler at Mot a, oear Gieborne, states that yesterday (Thursday) morning Oharles Jackson, a nephew of Scott, came to him with the information rfehat> hia" uncle had been killed. Jackson stated that on Wednesday evening Scott went to look for some cattle a short distance from his whare. He failed to return, and Jackson, feeling conce.rj^e i d,.je.fc,Qutv next morning to look for hiioa. T^o*" miles from the whare he found Scott lying dead aoroßa the track. Jackson at onc§ want for who, upon an - examination; of the 4 body, immediately found signs of foul play.

There was a wound on the forehead that was plainly caused by a gunshot, the .marks of the powder being visible. Smith searched, but could find no trace of any gun, though lying alongside the body was found f> tawa stick, abont Bfb long, with some blood on it, and a little further from the body was some blood and brain matter.

Smith and Jackson decided to shift the body back to the whare, to await the arrival of the police, and with the assistance of the other settlers this was done.

Smith can give no reason to account for the murder of Scott, who, he says, was a peaceable man, and personally he (Smith) has no knowledge of anybody having quarrelled with him.

The police will bring the body out to Earaka on Sunday, where the inquest will be held. Jas. Kennedy Scott, the murdered man, was a single man, 87 years of age, and a native of Belfast, and had been 24 years in the colony, the greater part of which waa spent in this district. He had a very nioe little property at Motu, upon which he had effected considerable improvements. From a cursory examination of the body that Smith made, it was impossible for him to state whether the wou&d was inflicted by a ballet or shot, but it is clear from the fact that powder has been burned into the wound that the fatal shot was fired at a short distance, and the indications are that death was instantaneous.

A " Poverty Bay Herald " reporter, who has just returned from the scene of the Motu tragedy, states that the police officers who brought the body of the murdered man J. K. Scott out to Karaka had a very rough experience, having to pack it 20 miles over a rough bush track. ; The body bears a deep flesh-wound under the left eye, which was apparently caused by a shot, and so close was the discharge from the gun that the eyebrow is singed. Apparently the body was dragged, after being shot, from the track down the slope into some scrub, where it j was lying flat on the back in a position iuto which it would never have fallen, and deceased's hat was found about ten yards away. The whole affair at present is an j inexplicable mystery, the difficulty ( being to find a motive for the deed. Charles Jackson, nephew of Scott, states that the latter left their whare at 1.30 on Wednesday afternoon to look after some cows on a section three miles distant and he (Jackson) went in another direction to look for some sheep returning at 4 o'clock. When his uncle did not return in the ] evening he became anxious and went j several times and cooed for him, but I thought he might have stayed for the j night at another settler's house near ( where he was going. Next morning he went out and found the body, i They never had a disagreement since . they had been living together, and, so ' far as witness knew, Scott had no dis-.j agreement with the men working for him. I The inquest was commenced at rhe ■ Karaka Hotel at 11 o'clock yesterday [ morning, Jackson being the first . witness called and giving evidence to j the above effect. — Press Association. '