DASTARDLY ATTEMPT TO MURDER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4352, 2 March 1875, Page 2

DASTARDLY ATTEMPT TO MURDER.

(From the Nm) Zealand Herald, Feb. 22.) The use of the knife -is. fortunately little practised here, and it is only on very rare occasions that we are called on, to".chronicle events where the evil passions of man prompt him to resort Jto such methods of settling his supposed grievances by resorting to the process of stabbing his fellow-creature. The last case of the kind that occurred in the province was at the Bay of Islands, which resulted in the death of the victim and the sacrifice of the murderer on; the scaffold, while; his accomplice’s sentence was' com* muted to a long term of penal servitude. ; We regret to learn that another case, happily-not so disastrous in its results, has just occurred, brought on, as usual, by the effects of drink. Four seaman—three of them natives of Russian Finland—belonging to the ship Warwick-

now lying in harbor, were on shore on Saturday nUt. They paid visits (luring the evenS?to various public-houses m the town and partook of frequent libations of strong drink, Ssailtin- eventually in their all becoming more ot less intoxicated. At about half-past one o’clock yesterday morning they all proceeded down the wharf for the purpose of going on board their ship. A dispute appears to have arisen amongst them, and high words ensued between two of the sailors, named Orliff Mattisen and AVilliam Smith. When opposite Messrs. Walker’s gum store the former drew his clasp-knife and stabbed Smith in the face. The blows were repeated four or five times, the victim receiving the blade of the knife in thelip, the right cheek, and the temple, two of the arteries being severed. The wound in the cheek was a deep gash, descending from the side of the nose to the comer of the mouth. Having inflicted these injuries, the assassin rejoined his other two companions, _ and the three proceeded down to their ship, lying at the bottom of the wharf, leaving the fourth to his fate. As might be supposed, he bled profusely from such injuries, and the zigzag course that in his intoxicated state he pursued from the gum store to the waterman’s house was plainly discernible during yesterday, by the trail of blood that the poor fellow left in his wake. The night watchmen were unfortunately abseut on a job to the North Shore, otherwise the villain might have been prevented by the presence of strangers from carrying out his nefarious design. The night policeman, whose duty it is to patrol that portion.of the wharf leading from the toll-house to the watermen’s steps, was most unaccountably absent from his post. He ultimately, however, appeared on the scene, and assisted the wounded man to the standpipe by the watermen’s steps. Here he washed the blood from his face, and was thereby enabled to see the extent of the sufferer’s injuries. Strange to say, instead of at once seeking medical assistance he conveyed the man, at the risk of his bleeding to death, to his ship, assisted hy one of the hands of the Warwick, who had also opportunely come up. Having seen the wounded man into the forecastle, Captain Skinner was aroused from his sleep and apprised hy the constable of the circumstances. He immediately ordered one of his men to go in search of a surgeon. Dr. Hooper, of Hohson-street, in obedience to the call, attended without delay and dressed the wounds in the man’s face. The cuts were not considered by him to be dangerous, but the man had suffered considerably from loss of blood. The seaman, Mattison, who had inflicted the injuries, finding that his victim was brought on board the ship, and that he was likely to get into trouble, coolly

readjusted his clothes and decamped -without molestation, although what the polioefl&i officer already alluded to was thinking about at the time when he allowed him to pass, it is inconceivable to conjecture. The wounded man, when questioned afterwards, appeared unable to give any intelligible account of the occurrence, and the other two men could throw very little light on the matter, beyond the fact that a quarrel took place between the two men, about what no one appears to know. The assailant, after leaving, the ship, was observed by the constable to proceed down the wharf and turn off in the direction of Freeman's Bay, by way of Custom-house and Albertstreets. All the united efforts of the police during yesterday failed to discover the culprit in his hiding-place. There is little doubt, however, that he will soon be captured. Dr. Hooper attended again yesterday on hoard the Warwick, and sewed up the wounds of the seaman Smith, and he is reported to be progressing favorably. Captain Skinner gives the two sailors in question the character ,of beirlg two of the quietest and most harmless men in his ship.