Murder at Newtown.

Manawatu Herald, 29 August 1899, Page 2

Murder at Newtown.

At 2 o'clock on Sunday morning a man named John Tarr reported to the Mount Cook police that the body of a man, who had evidently been murdered, was lying in a house at King street, Newtown. Investigations, and the statement of Tarr, at once convinced the police that the body was that of Alexander Farquhar, a wharf labourer, popularly

known amongst his mates by the pseudonym of " Scotty." The appearance of the body betokened that the deceased, prior to death, had been engaged in a struggle with some adversary, as besides several cuts on the right temple and other portions of the head, from which blood was still flowing, the face had been very much battered, and both eyes were blackened. The occupants of the house were at once placed under arrest, and gave their names at John and Annie Erwi\i. According to Tarr's statement, the deceased and himself were boarders in this tenement. He (Tarr) went home about 12 o'clock, and entering the kitchen in the dark tumbled over the deceased as he lay in the position de> scribed in the kitchen. A young man, commonly known as " Sharkey," and who was a boarder in I the house of the Erwins, informed the ! police that he went home intoxicated about one o'clock on Sunday morning, and also fell over the body, and became so frightened when he realised what had happened that he left the place hurriedly, and walked the streets till daylight. John Brown, who lives next door to the Erwins, has made a statement to the effect that about 6 o'clock on Saturday evening he heard* a row at the back of Erwin's place, and looking over the fence saw two men struggling on the ground. Eventually they got up and went down a couple of steps, and one of them washed himself in a tub of water, standing near an artesian well. Shortly afterwards Brown heard another disturbance in the kitchen of his neighbour's house— high words, things being banged about, and a general row going on. Later on, he alleges, he heard a woman in Erwin's house calling out, " You have murdered him, you !" and using abusive phrases towards somebody, pitched in a high key, and punctuated by a great deal of bad language. Passers-by are also alleged to have overheard the woman calling out to someone, " You have murdered him."— N.£* Times.

"Empire and freedom 1" 80 said one of the greatest of Bomans, when asked what were his politics. Britons, let the motto be your watchword throughout the ages. But no less notable was the saying of one of the greatest of New Zealand public men when asked what he took for a cough or cold, "Woods' Great-Pepper-mint Care," he exclaimed, He was as right as the old Boman statesmen. Give it a trial ; it is sold everywhere and nerar fails. mmmmmmmmm - mm^ mmm