SHOCKING OUTRAGE NEAR GISBORNE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2689, 31 January 1924, Page 3

SHOCKING OUTRAGE NEAR GISBORNE.

11-YEAR-OLD GIRL DONE TO DEATH. Gisborne, January 29. A brutal crime-was reported to (lie police this morning, a girl named Gwendoline Kathleen Murray, aged 11 years, having been outraged and murdered. The girl was sent last night to collect the mail at Makavaka. She called at a grocery store and left for home at about eight o’clock, this being the last occasion on which she was seen alive. The girl did not arrive home, and the sexton of the Makaraka. Cemetery discovered the child’s body under some trees in the vicinity of the cemetery. To all appearances she had been brutally done to death. The police were communicated with and, proceeding to the scene of the crime, they fonnd the body as described. To all appearances the girl had been outraged and done to death. a Gisborne, Last Night. The scene of the murder is three chains oft' the main road, and three miles from Gisborne. The nearest house is about two chains away. Oe c-upants of this house lljard a girl scream during the evening. The night was very dark, and the body was found under a Wellingtonia tree, with a. basket of groceries near by. The girl’s clothing was much torn about. The body was discovered by a small boy who was looking for eggs. The girl’s family thought she was staying with friends, as was sometimes customary. Inspector Hutton states that the police have a diffieul task, as there is no clue so far available ns to the girl’s movements after eight o’clock. Gisborne, Yesterday. Further particulars of the Makaraka murder show that the crime was apparently committed soon after eight o’clock in the evening. The girl, Gwen Murray, who was only 11 years of age last birthday, left her mother’s home a mile, and a-half away, at 5.30 p.m., to go to the post office and store. She received the groceries and letters from the store and left shortly before eight o’clock with 10/- change. Before leaving, the girl, according to the mothei’’s statement, was told to go to Mrs Green’s wnere the girl’s mother boards. If Mrs Green was not at home the girl was to go to the bakehouse, see her brother, and tell him to take her home. The girl failed to do this, and Mrs Green didn’t get home till G. 30 o’clock, and saw no sign of the girl Murray, and the storekeeper, Mi's Dixon, states that she ask ed the girl if her mother knew she was out so l-ate, but the girl said her mother was aware of the fact, and she was all right. Mrs Dixon says the girl appeared to be just as usual. The next link in the chain is the story of Mrs Fleming, wife of the sexton of the Makaraka cemetery. While she and her husband were sitting inside the house, between seven and eight o’clock (she thinks that was about the time) they heard one loud scream, which seemed to come from the direction of the road. Mr Fleming went to the door to listen, but could hear nothing. It was quite dark at the time, and hearing nothing further, he thought the scream came from some girls out joy-riding and went inside again. This morning a lad named James Smellie, while gathering eggs, saw the girl’s body under a tree, sixty yards from the main road, and ten yards from the sexton’s back gate. The sexton went to the spot. He found the girl’s clothing disarranged and tom and marks of violence plainly visible on the throat and body. The police were informed and Detective McLeod and Plain-cloth-es Constable Thompson went out. In searching the body they discovered that the ten shillings had been stolen. The police have a difficult task as the vicinity was all grass covered and there were no footprints discovered. MURDERER ARRESTED 50 MILES FROM GISBORNE. CONFESSES CRIME. Gisborne, This Morning. The police last night left for Matawai, forty-seven utiles from Gisborne, and Inspector Hutton and Detective McLeod arrested a man named Robert Herbert Scott, thirtyseven years of age, on a farm between Matawai and Motu. In a statement to the police, the accused admits the outrage and murder of the girl Gwen Murray. The police and their prisoner relumed to Gisborne at 1.30 a.m.