Untitled

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 64, 17 March 1870, Page 3

Tragical Occurrence at the Eat of Islands. — A deplorable circumstance occurred at the Bay of Islands last week, showing the extreme folly of masters of whalers in employing natives to capture runaway seamen. It appears that on Friday last two seamen belonging to one of the whalers in port, made their escape from the ship. On the following day, the master finding they were miss'ng, engaged three Maoris to track them. The runaway sailors were soon caught, and one of them gave himself up, but the other, who was armed with a revolver, refused to be token, and said he would fire upon the first man who attempted to capture him. One of the natives, named Ben Hamone made an attempt to capture him, when the sailor fired and shot him through the chest. He also fired another bullet which peuetrated his left side. The other two Maoris then followed up the sailor and succeeded iv overtaking him. A desperate struggle ensued, and the sailor was eventually brought to the ground by a blow on the back of the head from one of the Maoris, which rendered him senseless. He was then conveyed back to the ship. When the Coquette left the Bay, Hamone was lying in a very precarious state, aud it was cot expected that lie would recover.

Fatal Accident at me Gate Pa. — A fatal accident bas occurred at the Gate Pa to one of the armed constabulary, of the name of Burrows. It is thus described by a correspondent of the Auckland Herald:--" After pitching camp, the duties of the day were over, and the men strolled about till nearly dusk, when land another, walking backwards and forwards on the road, and almost close to the redoubt, were startled by a loud explosion about thirty yards from us, followed by what at the moment appeared to me to be fireworks known as Roman candles ; three going up nearly vertically, and a fourth describing an arc towards the gully on the righthand side of the road. Almost immediately after I heard the remark, ' Somebody is hurt,' and at once proceeded to the site of the explosion, where three or four persons were standing round the prostrate form of Burrows, who was lying on his back in a pool of blood, with arms extended. A second glance showed half one- side of the poor fellow's head blown away, and a large quantity of brains scattered in the dust, together with :i broken piece of skull about the size of my hand. The poor fellow had in the course of his ramble found an uuexploded 112-pounder Armstrong shell, from which he extracted a quantity of powder, and then, with an jucautiousness that savored of infatuation, laid a train to the interior of the shell, which instantly exploded with a fatal result. Several other persons standing near had a very narrow escape, and one or two, experienced in such explosions, immediately threw themselves down on the ground*