A PAWELKA STORY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1033, 20 April 1912, Page 4

A PAWELKA STORY.

A sensational story is going the rounds to the effect that it was Pawelka who hanged Tahi Kaka, sentenced to ieath for the murder cl John Freeman, at Puhipuhi. Since the death of Tom Dong, it is s,aid, New Zealand uas been without the services ot an executioner, and when the sentence on Kaka had to be carried out no hangman could be found. The gaols were searched, and Pawelka, sentenced to 20 years in gaol, and serving his second year, accepted the gruesome task. It was arranged that he should go to Auckland and put the rope around the Maori boy’s neck on condition that he kept it a close secret, and that he should receive a substantial sum of mouey and be allowed to leave New Zealand unobserved. Pawelka periormed his part of the contract, and when he returued to Wellington it was agreed that he should “escape.” On the first attempt a warder not in the know detected Pawelka, and he was marched back into his cell, but ou the second occasion, a Sunday morning, be was provided with civilians dress and allowed to escape. The finding of the convict’s clothes iu the harbour, and the arrest of the suspect at Mokau was part of the fake. It was a cleverly managed drama, a magnificent fake engineered by the high officials. The police deride the story, but —there it is !