EXTRAORDINARY CASE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5142, 15 September 1877, Page 3

EXTRAORDINARY CASE.

(Abriged from the Gipps Land Times, Aug. 27),

A man named Peter Murray, aged fifty-four years, in the employ of Mr. Grant, butcher, of Newry, was admitted into the Gippa Land Hospital on the 16th inst. suffering from severe injuries, which he on oath declared were inflicted upon him in the manner described in the subjoined depositions ; —“ On the 15th of the present month I was at Fraser’s Hotel, Glenmaggie, and Johu Fraser stabbed me with a knife which he held in his right hand. We were not quarrelling. Only the two of us were there at the time. It was in the bar of the house where I was stabbed. Fraser asked me if I would go to work for him, as he was going to commence the butchering business, X refused. It must have been this made him angry. I was standing when I was stabbed. I felt something hot, but did not know what had happened till I looked at Fraser and saw the knife in his hand. The knife was a large-sized pocket-knife. When I saw the knife in Fraser’s hand I saw that it was bloody, and the blood was then flowing from me. I had spoken to Fraser about some selection, and I gave him no, occasion of any kind to interfere with me. I got up and started away driving, and when about a mile on my road I felt faint, and I then saw a man named George Hower, who was also driving. He came towards me to stop, and asked me if I was engaged, to work for Fraser. I said, “No.” He then said, “Are you coming back with me to Fraser’s?” I said, “No.” He. then said, “Then I’ll go a bit of the road with you,” and began to start his horse so as to frighten mine. He frightened my horse so that I could not hold him. We went on for about half-a-mile, when I fainted from loss of blood, and the cart went against a stump, and I was thrown out, and then received a bruise. Hower then came to me when I was on the ground and said, “ Holloa, who’s been stabbing you?” I said, “Fraser,” when Hower said, “Then I must help Fraser.” He (Hower) then took his knife, and removing the clothes which covered the wound, thrust the knife once into -the exact place of the wound, removed the knife, and thrust it in again crosswise to the first thrust. He did it very coolly. Hower took the knife he used from his own pocket, and opened it while I lay on the ground. You see, all this was done to hunt down Donald Grant, a butcher in whose employ I was. • Where Hower met me and assaulted me was a mile the Tinamba side of the Glenmaggie township. After he had stabbed me he drove home. . I said “Good-bye” to him, and that I had got the worst of it, but would punish him.” He replied “Not so much as you think.” I thought by this that he meant the affair would be kept dark. I believe that Hower made my wound deeper than it was before. I tried to walk away but could not, and lay down beside the road. I was there, I think, about an hour and a half, when a young man who is- fencing for Stone’’ came up and took me away to the township." When Fraser stabbed me it was about 3 o’clock p.ra., and Hower did so within an hour after. Every word of that is as true as ever a word a man spoke. I have no more to say that would be of any use. I cannot exactly swear to the time, but all else,is perfectly true." In consequence of these statements, Mr. Foster, P.M., issued warrants for the apprehension of Fraser and Hower, and they were arrested by Sergeant Irwin on a charge of stabbing with intent to murder Peter Murray. Both denied all knowledge of the affair. On Friday morning, at 8 o clock, Mr. Foster again attended at the hospital. Fraser and Hower were placed at the foot of Murray’s bed, and the depositions above given having been read and sworn to as correct by Murray, he deposed further : “ The two men now standing before me are the men who assaulted me, and both stabbed me.” Fraser was called upon to question Peter Murray. In answer to a question whether Murray knew who he was, he replied, “You are John Fraser. When you and I parted on the 15th, we parted friends. We wished each other ‘Good-bye.’ You did stab me.” To George Hower : “ I saw you on the 16th, coming towards the township. You stabbed me in the old hole where I was stabbed before. I could not struggle much, but I sang out enough. You made the hole deeper and wider. The knife was a pocket knife, with a, wooden handle.” Neither of these depositions was taken as a “ dying” deposition ; but at 4 p.m. on Friday, when °it became evident that Murray could not live, Mr. Foster prepared to take his dying declaration, but Murray said he did not feel that he was about to die, and consequently no further deposition was taken. He expired .about an hour afterwards, at a quarter to G p,m. on Friday. Both prisoners are at present in custody, bail having been refused.