THE CHATHAM ISLAND MURDER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 260, 24 December 1880, Page 4

THE CHATHAM ISLAND MURDER

A correspondent of the Christchurcli Press give further particulars concerning the victim of the brutal murder in Chatham Islands. He says: — " About three years ago a young girl named Susan Snoswell, a native of Ly ttelton, came down to the Chathams, having £een engaged as servant by a squatter, Mr. Charles Kerr, residing at the north end of the island. About the end of a year from. the time she was engaged, a Maori namecLWi Warepa, one of the Chathams,' asked her to marry him. She,>.no dpubt/ led away with the idea of becoming the wife of a man who owned- a great deal of land and some J2oof sheep, 1 consented. She" was ' very >young, about seYenteen, an'd rather

good looking. The idea of a white woman marrying a Maori was looked upon, even in these isolated regions, with disgust j everyone could foresee that her life would be miserable and wretched in tho extreme, and that she would put herself out of the pale of all intercourse with her own countrywomen, but the sad and dreadful fate that has been hers should prove a warning to all white women who should contemplate such a mis-alliance for a moment. This Wi Warepa was. of a most suspicious and passionate dispqsition^and a fervent disciple of Te Whiti, exceedingly jealous, although, according to native reports, his own character was immoral in the extreme. His. wife, finding herself ' cut' by most of the respectable people, seemed to lose all respect for herself and rode about straddlelegged like a native woman, generally very dirty looking, but occasionally coming out tidy and clean." After giving details of the discovery of the body similiar to those already published, the writer says the unfortunate creature was found literally from the mouth upwards smashed to pieces. In the house, under an old pea coat and some bloody clothes belonging to Warepa, a piece of her jaw, skull, and teeth were found. And although the signs of death and the manner in which it was committed were apparent to all, the doctor insisted on holding a post mortem examination, the necesity of this was doubtful. Most people look at this with horror, that the poor woman's dead body should be exposed to further desecration, as the evidence of death was so awfully apparent. One of the jurymen on the inquest found the weapon with which the murder had been committed. This was a pair, of tongs all bent, twisted, and bloody. Warepa had confessed, and said he only did what he thought was perfectly right, as his wife had been unfaithful to him, both with white people and natives ; that he had had a severe quarrel and loched her out, threatening to murder her, or as he expressed himself, kill her outright if she came into the house again. She did so, and he did the horrible deed. He is a very powerful man and must have beaten her until he had no breath to continue.