KUROW TRAGEDY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 2877, 30 April 1925, Page 2

KUROW TRAGEDY.

MYSTERY STILL EX’EXPLAIN'FT) o:imain, April 2.3. <>l i\e Rutherford, a girl IS years of age, the victim of the Kurow tragedy, ami Phillip Hudson, 10 .Mars, had been keeping company for four years, and were formally engaged, with ihe full approval of die parents. They had been away together on several occasions. Miss Rutherford, on the day preceding ll.e accident, had a difference with her mo! her concerning certain de--1 ail- of the former's employment. II i.- iindersl mid dial the girl left home ~n Tuesday morning. April 21 <t, laking a dress basket, and did not go 1 11 work, ll is believed dial a room was taken in a Dunedin lintel, and the dress basket left there. Mrs Rutherford did not see her daughter up lo die time of die ;n----eidcill. Consent was given lo Hudson hy his parents lo u>e die ear about (i. 30 on Tuesday evening. Hudson was a eaielii! ami experienced driver. There i- no ollieial information as lo die lime die pair left Dunedin, nor I heir movements up 10 the lime of die accident. Xu one knows when the couple left Dunedin. The scene of Ihe tragedy is a lonely, rocky pari of the mad, til* miles from Oamaru. Apparently the ear, a, two-sealer Austin, was not under proper control when ii went over the elitl, ns 11 had left the smooth part of die I'nnd and had .just missed a telegraph pole hy indies. From Ihe evidence available die ear was travelling n! a fair speed when il shot over tile cliff.

The police, including Detective Le ,Seuer. commenced inquiries on Wednesday’ afternoon. They found Hudson’s waleli slopped al 7.25 lieside the body of I lie girl; also n hat, glove, and a man’s liandkcrehiol snaked wilh blood. A man’s hat was found nearby wilh a hole in the loji. An empty earl ridge was found beside Olive Rutherford and an el her near Ihe wrecked ear. Empty rhoeolale boxes and broken lemonade bottles were also found. The bloodstains led from Ihe body of the girl down the side of the hill past the debris of the ear, jtjul nti again over the stones down |o the water's edge. The stains were not extensive, but sufficient to show the direel ion in which Hudson went. The ride, if used, was no! discovered. ami ii is thought that it iiijlv have been taken lo the river by Hudson. Wheiher Hudson and the girl were in the ear when it, went over Hie cliff will probably never be determined. When discovered, the giil had a bleeding wound in the top of the skull, and there was a mail round hole in the head. An operation was performed on Wednesday evening, at 11 o'clock. Her face was scratched, apparently ' hrough striking- mi Ihe rocks, and there were severe abrasions about :he Imily. The girl, though uneoneiou .-.poke several times, but made no reference to the accident. M-cpiing lo say that her neck was

Mr Condon, a resident of Kurow. when passing along the road a I i.ltl i.m. mi Wednesday, April 22nd, saw the ear pulled up on the side of the

oaf!. near where the ‘accident snbuqueii i 1 y happened, and ascertain'd from Hudson waving his hand hat all was well. A shepherd who

missed mi a horse at 7.30 a.in., in a heavy fog, noticed a disturbance of metal on the road where the ear had left it. He went further up the road, and on rein ruing investigated. Looking over the cliff, he saw ihe remains of the ear and a body lying on a ledge 2-> feet down. Dr. Mat boson, of Wharekuri. was communicated wilh, and, assisted hy hi- wife, dressed the wounds and i-i.nveyed the girl to the Kurow I Intel. The death of Miss Rutherford i,i etifred at 9 p.m. mi Saturday, wit bout her regaining consciousness, except to murmer “Hood night’' |o her mother. The body was brought to Oamaru, and a post-mortem examination, held in ! lie evening, showed Ilia! a bullet entered the lop of her head on ihe left side, emerging near the , ighi ear. The brain was badly lacerated, ami il is remarkable that -die lived so long. Dunedin, April 29. An inquest was opened at Kurow ■in the motor accident victim, Olive .L-an Rut heiTm’d. and adjourned a tier forma! evidence of blent.idea I ion. The I'alln-Es evidence showed i hill; the girl had been employed in a I toiled i ii olliee for the past three v cars.

STORY OF TRUDGING STRANGER. AT WALMATIv

Waimalc, Last Might

Is Philip Hudson, wanted on a charge of murder of Olive Kut-her-loid at Wharekuri, still ! The police are still searching the \\ aitaki river, but one woiitan in Maimatc believes him lo he alive. A stiaii-

ger called at her house oil I’ ridav morning for a clip of lea. He stilled he came from Kurow (near Wharekuri) and apologised for his lack of appetite by saying that he had been badly knocked about ;., u l had been sleeping out. He was young and well-dressed and appeared very shaky and nervous. He had a number of fresh euts on I,is face and kept his hat over his eves. His conversation appeared signilieunt to the woman, and on having, he picked a bundle from a hedge, ' which, by its shape, may have concealed a rifle, and asked

tin direction to the main South road, He had apparently approached her house across the pad- ••!< eks, ,-t-, lie was not seen pns-.-mg on the load. Oamaru, Last .Might. Xo l race has yet been found of Philip Hudson, who is wauled on a .•barge of murdering Olive Rutherford .-it W'jinrekuri last week.