MURDER-OR SUICIDE.

Manawatu Times, Volume IV, Issue 43, 29 May 1880, Page 2

MURDER -OR SUICIDE.

Mr. Ward, U«sident Magistrate; -on Wednesday:, hald a re-inquiry into the cause of death of Charle* Williams, who was found dead m the road on 'the swx iusta&t, under very suspicious-cir-cumstaneSgj and although the investigation occupied the b.eit portion of the day, th« result has b«»n to! leave the matter exactly where it was at the. start. From the very outset of the. inquiry the: proceedings. 'have been both; irregular ! and unsatisfactory, for through the! stupidity of the Coronw, and his nrisv guided intention of sparing a family ; pain, a suspicion has been attached to i it, "vrhich evan. the re-enquiry has failed to banish. A& th» first inye'sti-' gation there wai an apparenjt desire to.' burk publicity of the facts, the Constable was allowed to give secondary evidence, and m the face of the medical evidence aj| to the inaliili.ty to testify to

the cause of death m the absence of all analysis, the jury undertook what the doctor had refused. Then, again, although the jury was empaoaelled to hear all the evidence an.d' thoroughly, sift the cijise, the Corbne'r kept the contents of two most important documents found upon the b©dy to himself, which certainly were calculated to throw a very material light upon the $ad affair. Taking everything connected with the catastrophe, we -cannot fail to feel that an elucidation of the mystery was made, a secondary consideration to the avoidance of a scandal,' and the knowledge of the fate~of poor Williams considered of small consequence to the fair fame of a resideal; m the, district. It may he remembered that the chjef ground upon which a re*opening of the case wai founded was to ascertain the result of the analysis by Dr. Skkt of the deceased's stomach, and it certainly does appear ah perfeot consonance;, with the other suspicious surroundings of the cage-that while tlae Rangitijpei Advocate has devoted four columns to the reiterated evidence, the result of the analysis- has not been published. In consequence of the delicate connection which a settler \n the district had with ,the casejj/it is generally thought— whether .rightly or wrongly— -that there was a predisposition on all sides to make Williams put a suicide, and that ground is somewhat strengthened by the following letter which was published m the Marton. paper ;— ? Our correspondent goes on to say that ho knew the deceased for over two years, and part of that time well. He was a descen - dant of one of the early settlers m -Boston, TJ.S., where some of his friends are well* known at the present time m literary circles, though under a different name to that borne by the deceased. He first left home m a whaler bound for Australian waters, and the goldfields breaking out at the time, he went there for a while, but afterwards went back te sea again m the coasting vessels. His restlessness, however, would not permit him to remain long m the old groove, and he was next to be found m company with others practising illicit distilling on the coasts of Adelaide and Tasmania, from whence they smuggled the spirits into 1 Melbourne on board the firewood; boats. He first came- to New Zealand during the Otago " rush;" and during the. last few years he wandered about the Wairarapa, cutting firewood (which appears to have been his favorite work) for any one wbo would give him food and shelter; and somtimes doing a little illicit whisky-mak-ing ; but *s he always got drunk onthe first of tho spirits, this last undertaking was not a sucoe»p, Our coi respondent adds that his mind was feeble and partly gone, though now and then some indications of his former culture would become apparent. He. had a habit while asleep of repeating three times the words " Father," " let me die," or others, and had sometimes talked of poisoning himself, as he said ho was not afraid to die. He would frequently lie about m the state| described by the Bartletts, and stated he felt no inconvenience from doing so, .and would rather be left alone. When our contemporary^fave insertion to the above, it must have known that : to connect the dead man with the person therein described was perfeat rubbish. It was repeatedly sworn m i evidence that Williams was between twenty -five aud thirty years of age, so l that to connect the identity of the two \t would' have been necessary that he should have been at the Victorian diggings when five years old; and gone to the Otago " rush " at twelve. It was desired, however, thatevery thing.should lead to the presumption that Williams met his death by his own hands, and as the letter ran Jin that groove it was inserted, without a care as to the ridiculous incongruity of the facts.