The Papaokai Tragedy.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3720, 16 October 1906, Page 3

The Papaokai Tragedy.

FINDEAY’S ARREST. Oamaru, Oct. 11 As related by the Press Association telegram yesterday, a man named John Findlay was detained by the police on Wednesday afternoon, pending enquiries as to his movements; This morning he was brought before two justices and remanded for eight days. Findlay was seen by several residents for a couple of days before the murder, but disappeared from view after that. ' On successive days he accepted lifts from a grocer’s carter, going-in the opposite direction on the first occasion to that on the second. He told various people that he had been a sailor on the Port Stephen, and left that vessel here, but the captain says he left with a full crew and without any alteration. At no time does he appear to have been far from Rennie’s residence, and was finally dropped about two miles, away in the middle of the afternoon. On Tuesday, the 9th inst., photographs of a number of old friends of the police were shown to .several, who picked that of the man Findlay as the man whom they had seen. He was today placed among , a number of others, and identified by various people as the man they had, described. Findlay has a bad record having served at least three terms in Christchurch .and .Dunedin for housebreaking, forgery, . and larceny. Commissioner Dinnie left for the North this evening. Before doing so he gave a short interview to r a representative of the North Otago Times. While reticent on several points* he jnrentioned that the property missing from Rennie’s house, so far as known, was a gentleman’s Torpedo bicycle, of 22m frame, and B.S.A. parts, one gold double-case Rotheram keyless watch with the monogram on the outside of the case, and an inscription stating that it was presented from the Papakaio Church - Choir, and blank cheques on the Bank of New Zealand, Dunedin, numbered 165545 to 165556, inclusive. Any information about these goods would be of use to the police. The reporter also gathered that the solution of the mystery was not far to seek, . from- a remark that while there was some mystery surrounding the crime, it was not the most mysterious in the history of even New Zealand. Findlay had been arrested on good grounds, and the police were fully justified in their action. A Glenavy correspondent writes to the Eyttelton Times: — The Papakaio murder is the engrossing topic of conversation here at present, and many are the theories advanced by a number of budding Sherlock Holmes. It is now generally admitted that robbery was not the motive,' and it is held that the disappearance of the bicycle and watch were merely attempts to blind suspicion. The discovery of some startling photographs in Mr Rennie’s house have altogether upset the previous theories ot motive, and developments of a sensational nature are anticipated in the near future.