THE WOODVILLE TRAGEDY.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 13, 1 December 1877, Page 3

THE WOODVILLE TRAGEDY.

.1 CORONEB'B INQUKBT. ,8. J3L.Kerap'B.eyidencs continued i We ■ shortly afterwards went to tea. The swagsman had gone, Prisoner sereral timea re- , marked that deceased might have got off the .track andiost. himself in the bush, and if he did .not come back m the inprning,"'he would go and look' for him« Others carae m during the evening jahd. enquired for George. While some of th^ company were writing letters, prisoner asked me to sing a'song. I declined ■ at this time,'' but when the 'Visitors- left the hortse, 1 then sang a song. While I was . ;f singing a (Jerman came to Iho door wifih a ' horae and atdog and put up for the night. ■ f The/German knew previously, and . enquired wher^: he was; Prisoner replied as ' f stated^ above. %■, know : ■ ,Wie. spot where , } George was splitting the palings.; A man ; .could: not lose, himself .there; After this I went to bed, and so did the lodger at about . '.-. 10.30 Vclock. X'lay ; ayakeabj)ut half an' hour.- I heard movements about the house,, . 1 but nothing unusual. s l " slept till'rabrnihg. '.'". I got up about 8 o'clock arid had breakfast. ' y Prisoner made no remarks about George's absence. I enquired if he had come home.. ""Prisoner said, No ; but he would go and look * ' for him. 'While we were.' eating breakfast .prisoner went out, saying he was off to look for his mate. He only: ate a few.mouthfuls. ■ :- . When 'we had finiahed ' a ' party of six came along for the purpose of going .into the bush • to look for George. ; ,1 with them to *;. where.. -.tHiei palings,, were being split. 'We~ ,; went about the bush' for some distance. Hflte^ins, Beiyeri, and myself were m pntf ' party.- " We's'pread 6ut the bush. We soon heard soine one shouting, '" Here's a^l^ble «iht !" JThis was : abojit 11 a.m. Bea^S' was on my ; left 'and nearest the i" corpise. ;> - I s went -towards the 1 place where deceased was^lying. Prisoner was standing ' there, pointing towards' where the body lay. can't say from which direction the prisoner came. .1 could not sec the .body from where prisoner was standing. , < I exclaimed, ■f. 'f Where is- it. \" . Prisoner then pointed toy wards Jih© corpse,, but, itill I could not see, it. I' was standing about 60 ! feet from the * corpse. It was quite impossible for any , t :one to see ground! !at ' that distaricja even now that a quantity of the supplejacks has been cut away. ,- ! WHfen we terif ejtfsi the body, ' the 1 most of the' search p^rty were there. '• ;i: was about 15 feet ofE : ' when I first' noticed the cbrpse. I had to go. closer than that before I could see the jbead;! When I got close up I found that: his face was ! put m two, his temple outgone eye cat outj and his nose partly cut away. ; The bodjfe WM?.lyrag:onj its Bidd with legs -drawn «jtr was dressed, as< I saw him thepreTaQUimprnmg.. The prisoner lifted ■ the body up. > I noticed, a dice-box on de-: ceased's breast, atpiece of candle, whiphi had evidently b«en stuok against a tree alongt ■lßide..o| *^ihp;'body, : imd a. b^x^co^ntajning" matchei, with a leaf of a religious magazine. [Articles produced by Constable and identic BpA ;^ ! .'witness.]^ -TbJS' wKple^ol -them were spotted^ with blood. ' ; The prisoner did ' : not seem affected at the sight. This sur- : prised me not a little. The prisoner simply raifled the body by the arm and picked up the piece of (Sindle, which; he held up. He stoopeddown and looked under the body. He took a purse oct of deceased's trouser pocket and , opened - ifc We, tihen went to look for traces m the bush, as we thought the.man|had not been murdered where he now layi hut could not find : «my. !l was, not surprised when I heard t»f . prisoner's arrest There was no weapon near the body^ The^ cleceased was :^|ing^ about lif chain from Where he had been splitting. I again saw the body this morning, and' identify it as that of George Olkndt.' [The pnspner asked witness some questions as to distanbes arid other small matters m connection with the finding of the body and its ppntipn, but as they v are -of; no weight m COTtiection with: the merits of the case, we

I By Major Scully : Prisoner Used to sleep I m the kitchen or bake-house. He did not sleep there on Thursday night ; lie slept m the office or bedroom that~ used to be occupied by Gtebrge.^-I J know because when I went to bed I heard him go to bed m that room, and blow the light out: The other lodger went to bed at the time :;l went. After the light was extinguished f I heard noises as if a man was walking about *m; slippers. G-eorge's room is close to where I slept. I don't remember to have heard prisoner say that he slept m that room on that night. •. ; . ■.* \.\" .... By prisoner : .1 hoard you go to Gf-eorge's •bedroom after I blew the light out. I heard you come, out 'again— several times. I cannot say that I afterwards heard you go into the front room. I did not hear you locking the front door. I did not hear yougo into the bake house after you blew the light out.- I did not hear you turning over the leaves' of a book after you went to bed. By the Forman: lamsurepsisoner made : remarks about sleeping the previous night. He said he had slept very cold with plenty of mosquitos. . , By Prisoner : I was m bed about half an , hour before I went to sleep. I did not hear you go into the back room afterwards. John Dudeck deposed : Tarn a laborer. I know the prisoner. ' I remember Thursday last. I went to the accommodation house kept by prisoner, and deceased. I have been there before. I asked for a nights, lodging' for myself, horse, and dog, and got it. I enquired for 'George. Prisoner said he had gone into the bosh to split palings, and had not turned mp yet. He told me some time after v^ards j he had been looking for George, bufi" could not, find him he appeared to be anxious and uneasy. I went i away with my horse- to the paddook while he prepared supper, He remarked during the evening that George must be.lost m the bush, and that fie would go m the morning to look for Jiim. - We .then entered \ into a general conversation,* when the last witness proposed that we should "retire to bed ; that, was about 10 p.m. The prisoner slept m the office. I saw him go there before I got to, bed. The office was George's room. I heard him • opening land closing doors after I- 'retired. The next morning he came into the- room and said breakfast was ready. 'I asked him if George had come home during /the night. He said I have been out looking for .him, and am . going again after breakfast to try and find ■him. He" soon after went away, and some others started off into the bush to look for the lost man. Prisoner asked me to stay and look after the house, while he was away and I did so When he returned, I asked him if he had found George. He said " Yes, with his "head all smashed." This was about 11 a.m. He did not give any particulars as to how he thought it had happened. He seemed to be m a hurry to be off somewhere, and told me to help myself to dinner. He seemed to be excited, anxious, and much perplexed m his mind. I saw the body afterwards brought up to the house. It was covered up. I knew it was deceased's body. By the Jury s" I. did not see which way prisoner went .from the house. By Prisoner : "I remember you rapping at my door m the morning. I remember that breakfast wajs.oh the table when I came out of lny'rpoml 'JLdon't know if Kemp was -sitting on table' when I came -in. I cap't say; whether Y ou Were sitting at breakfast. It .was 'about 8 o'clock, while we were at the table, 'that you asked if I had been l&okihg for George. . , By' the Jury: - Prisoner did- not say how long he had been looking for his mate. '" At this juncture the jury adjourned to the spot where the murdered man had been found, for the purpose of arriving at a 'Correct idea respecting the various positions, of the Bearcli party at the time prisoner gave the alarm on finding the body. The ground was carefully 'examined and m some spots measured. The 3 ury likewise examined the place where the man had been engaged splitting on the morning he was murdered. The enquiry was resumed at 3 p.m. John James Murphy deposed : lam a publican residing at Woodville. On Friday morning, the 23rd inst., William Fountain called at my hotel, and said Ollandt was lost m the bush'; Jie had gone to split palings the previous day and had not come home: J He said he was" going to search for him. He Had a plan of the block deceased was supposed, to be lost m. He remarked that he could' not see how any man could get lost there. I went along with him. We went as far as the accomodation house door. 'The prisoner came out, Baying " Are you ready ? now we .will go." He took us up to the, stump where deceased was supposed to,,have been at work. I Baw lying on the stump a «oat, 2 pipes, a knife, and a pannikin .with some liquid m it like tea. We Btaid talking for a few minutes, looking at the* tools which deceased bad been using. I noticed that the maul handle was broken. Mr Fountain' picked up the broken handle, remarking that Ollandt might have gone into the bush to out a new one, and perhaps cut Himself badly, which might be the reason of his absence. 'I asked prisoner what weapon George- could have taken with him to cut the handle with. He replied, " perhapß he took the bill hook, but I, don't know that he wm working with it up here." We advanced a few yards into the bush. Fountain got upon a felled tree, and suggested going along it. The prisoner said, " No ;' come this way, and perhaps we may find his tracks." I remarked I did not think we could see any tracks.' - The prisoner said "Ohjjes; here's one. I know that is the mark 'of George's boot."" We followed | prisoner along at a smart pace; thinking he l saw the tracks. We ultimately came out i on to the cleared road line—Richardson St. He still called our attention to tracks, until, we came on an old eawpit. We went a short distance up the ro*d, when I noticed foot-marks coming from the opposite direction and towards us. We decided to go up , the road as far as Mr Pinfold's. The priso- " ncr and Hutchina were- to go up the .other road,, as far as Mr Louri's. We went to I Penfold's and enquired if Ollandt had been | there, and found he hod not. We staid a short time, and then came back to the main road, and came along to the Accommodation house. I saw Hutchins and asked him if Ollandt was come home. He said "No." Fountain and I went inside and sat down a few minutes. Fountain made some remarks about the bill hook to prisoner. We then left and came along to my hotel. Shortly ' afterwards we returned to the accommodation house and asked prisoner, if the deceased had taken the bill , hpok with him, he replied he would go and see. He went into

the back room, and returned immediately, saying the bill hook was gone. I remarked it was likely Gteorge took the bill liook to cut a new maul handle with, and while doing so had cut himself. Six of us, including prisoner, then started to search the buah, prisoner leading, and remarking that this was the way George always took when going to his work. We went over the Mine ground we had previously heen over. and. walkfed very fast, prisoner lending w* towards the sawpit. previously mentioned. We now separated for tlie purpose of searching the bush. I soon got entangled m some felled timber ; the otfiers going on ahead. Prisoner sung out once. He was on my left hand. I "answered him, stating I would come as fast as ! could with my lame leg. Shortly after this I came out on, to a road. I then met Mr Peebles, and told him We intended to search the bush thoroughly. We went up and turned into^the bush above where I had come out previously. Shortly afterwards I heard prisoner, and a few seconds after heard several voices. We kept walking towards the voices. When we got within a few yards of the speakers, I enquired jf lie was much hurt. Some one replied, " Hurt indeed ?he is dead !" I then went, up to the corpse with some of the others. I noticed a dice-box lying on the breast of deceased. I stooped over the dead body to look at the wounds. I then found a match box and also a leaf of a magazine. Some one called" my attention to a piece of candle which "was lying by, the corpse. [Articles produced and identified by witness.] I suggested that all .the articles should' be . hit as found. Prisoner wanted to remove them. I noticed that a candle had been stuck against a tree alongside of the corpse, l concluded that the piece found had been used for that purpose. . lat once said, a Constable should be,- sent for. I advised the prisoner to get his horse and go, and I would make one to. stay by the corpse until he returned. I sent off for a sheet to coyer the body, and stayed until the Constable came. I was with him while examining t the body, and articles found with it. I told ! my groom to go and get some sacks to make a stretcher with on which" to carry the corpse to the Accommodation house. By Major Scully : When the body was found prisoner was. very cool all the time and made no remarks m my presence. I think the body had been found about 5 minutes before I saw it. I heard some, one singing out. I knew the prisoner's voice. We had been led by the prisoner close past the body twice during the time we were searching. We were not more than 10 or 12 feet from it. [Prisoner was asked if he had any questions to put to this witness. He replied, ' No' ; his evidence -had" been given m a very correct and straightforward ' manner.] The corpse was awfully cut about the Head ; the two jaws were separated by a blow m the. mouth, the nose was partially cut off, one temple was cut, and one eye seemed as if it had been dragged out of his head. The hands and arms were smothered m blood. I did not see so much blood about the face, but a great deal about the neck. The body was lying jin a hollow place, one hand was lying across the body, the other along side oi it; the legs were on slightly elevated ground and the middle part was m tjbe lowest place. Y ei 7 little blood was visible near the corpse — unless on a stick close to the body. The 'stick was not resting on the body. , I dont think any one could possibly notice the cut state of the body, 1 more than about 6 feet from it. The body 1 could have been seen at a somewhat greater | distance. I think the corpse had been I lying where we found it for a good many hours. It was fly-blown when first seen, the wounds on face and neck very much so. (To be concluded m our, next.)