THE PAPAKAIO MURDER.

NZ Truth, Issue 69, 13 October 1906, Page 4

THE PAPAKAIO MURDER.

A Dark, Unfathomable Mystery. Previous Murder That Was Never Punished. A deep element of mystery is attached: to the death of William Hay Rennie, schoolmaster at Papakaio, near Oamaru, who lost his life on Tuesday, the 2nd inst., but it is now thoroughly certain that he was the victim of an atrocious murderer, who has left not the slightest clue to his identity. Whether the motive of the crime was plundeir, or revenge it [is impossible to say. If the former, j the perpetrator of the foul deed got very little except a gold watch and a bicycle, and perhaps a little silver, because, so far as is known, the murdered man kept very .little cash m the house. His dwelling; stood m a very isolated position, over a mile from the nearest house, and about a similar distance from the Papakaio school whither he hiked it every day. Deceased sort of bachelorised there, [cooking two of his meals, breakfast and tea, a girl named Jane Milne Johnston, daughter of a* laborer at Papakaio, turning up at about ten m the morning, doing up the rooms and cooking his dinner. She had been performing these services for the last three years, and latterly received 12s a week. On Wednesday last she appears not to have turned up until eleven o'clock, for some reason or other, letting herself m by the front door, of which she kept the key, Rennie keeping that of the hack one. She was extremely surprised to notice that the blinds were down and that the back door was standing optn. It absolutely startled her, she says. However, she went m and .put tho milk m ils place iv the kitchen, and then went into the sitting room and I bedroom. In the latter she saw de-

ceased's hare foot hanging over the bed, and, as he should have been up long ago, she became frightened, and cleared out without waiting to ascertain if he was asleep or ill. Her sister^ and one Ronald Borrie, returned, and it was only on the latter making an examination of the body and saying "RENNIE IS DEAD" that the girl seems to have realised the true meaning of the happening. The fact was soon made known, but it wasn't until later on m the day that there was a suspicion of the foul tragedy that it is now known happened. Articles of clothing were distributed on the floor, and it soojb" became evident that the chest /of drawers had been cransacked, and ttiaf a gold watch had disappeared. Ren- ' nic wore both gold and silver watches as his fancy prompted, but his silver one was found still ticking m his vest, which hung on the wall. <As his bicycle had gone from the shed outside, it is presumed that the mid-' night assassin used this as a means of getting away, but m which direction he went there is no, clue. Dr. Whitton, who made a post-mortem at the instigation of the police, found that the bed-clothes were quite ijindisturbed. There were three wounds on the head, two at the hack on tlie right side,; and one on thes right':: temple. There was some brain matter m the neighborhood of the wounds, mixed with blood. The body had not stirred after the wounds had been inflicted. In fact the unfortunate dominie never knew v. lut struck him, passing away m his sleep without a twitch. His arms were folded on his breast, and it was a perfectly peaceful death. There were no stains on the bedclothes. The' wound on the right temple was lacerated, an inch and a quarter long, and a quarter-inoh wide, and one inch above the right eye. The circular wounds at the bask of the head .had about the diameter of a garden pea. an inch and a quarter apart. No other wounds were discoverable, at all on the body, which was quite healthy. 1 The doctor discovered that only one shot had been fired by ;\he . 'bloodthirsty scoundrel who had idone poor Rennic to death, but the bullet had split into three fragments when traversing the brain, and had. thus caused the two wounds at the. back of the head. Tt was impossible to tell whether Rennie was asleap or otherwise at the time the affair happened, but he had the natural position of a sleeper.. A SILLY YARN hsd got around ' after the schoolmaster's «ealh to the effect- that he had suicided by shooting himself, but as there was no gun . visible, neither m the room nor about the premises, and as he wasn't known to possess one, ; the idea was not tenable. The affair caused a great sensation m the district, where deceased was very well known, 'and police weire despatched •from all quarters, including Ghristchurch .and Dunediii, to endeavor tp track t-he villain down ; but not one of them could pick up any sort of clue to go upon; but" all the country j districts were at once closely watch- ■ ed, as is usual m such cases, for strangers who might pass for murderers, and who had. to give an account of themselves. Major' Keddell conducted the in--quest on "the remains, and said that an exhaustive enquiry was highly nec&ssary, and consequently the police would ask for an adjournment after a few of the- witness had been examined.. The deceased's untimely death at the hand of a midnight assassin had ,shocked the whole community. The theory of suicide Was discounted by the 'absence of the weapon. It was known that' Rennie was a mechanical genius, but he couldn't well have devised a weapon which' could shoot him while he lay m bed and then totally disappear. 'He had been killed m his sleep, otherwise any emotion of horror, or rage, revenge whatever; would have been indelibly STAMPED ON THE DEAD MAN'S FEATURES (question? Mr Keddell), whereas the expression on the face was that of innocent, untroubled, placid sleep. The reason why the deceased had been' shot was extremely hard to fathom. He was not known to have kept any cash m the house, nor was he known, to have had any enemies. However, the mystery would have to be probed to the bottom. All the particulars riarrated above were elicited from the girl Johnstone and Dr. Whitton. A brother of the deceased came up from Dunedin to give evidence, but of course he could not throw any light on how his relative came to meet his fate, as he had not seen him for a year. This brother was James Alexander Rennie, commercial clerk, of Dunedin, He said deceased was not peculiar m his habits, but he was of a somewhat reserved disposition. He knew nothing that- would support the theory of suicide, nor did he know about his financial matters, or whether he had anything on his mind. In fact what this witness did know was not worth mentioning. The inquest was adjourned until Friday, the 19th inst. It appears that Rennie dabbled a good deal m photography and kept a dark room near his bedroom locked, but an examination of this disclosed nothing. He also went m for mechanical devices,- and even at school the bell tolled *at the exacthours shown by the clock for assembling and dispersing. He naturally lived a wry quiet life, and read a cood deal.. A copy of Pickwick Papers was found on the floor alongside his bed on the morning his body was. found. He had evidently been reading it on the night, previous, when he was seen to cycle towards his house, at 7 o'clock* having evidently been out for a spin ; and lights were said by 'some passer by to have been observed m- the place >■ AS LATE AS 11 P.M. Deceased was a son of Captain Rennie, one of the old identities of Port Chalmers. His mother is at present domiciled at Sawyer's Bay. She married again, and is now the wife of Captain Thompson. Rennie was m the Dunedin Training School for " a while, and had been m charge of the Papakaio school for about 13 years. He had been a member of the Masonic fraternity for some time. Thero are many theories and rumors afloat, but they are mostly the work of amateur Sherlock Holmese' The fact of the bicycle being missing points to the dark deed be-

ing the work of a man, but "i«f this writer's opinion that does not always follow. A man of Rennie's reserved disposition would take few into his confidence, and it is just as likely to have been the deed .of a female as of one of the sterner sex. And at time of writing he strongly suspects that it is. However, it's & neat hit of work for a murderer, or a murderess. That bicycle may be found m ■ some outlandish spot some day; the watch is a mere detail* and also the few stolen cheque forms which are alleged to have- been torn out of the cheque hook found m one of the drawers. The mere abstraction of them might have been done m .order to throw the authorities V ' ,:, OFF THE SCENT, and/to make them believe that boodle waff aimed at. But a few. cheque fowns don't mean boodle by any, means, as if they, were filled m fop. any amount the banks, placed on the .alert, would put their hands on to the drawer m no time. To steal those cheque forms was foolish anyhow, and that should be apparent to anyone of common intelligence. Thera were a lot of silly rumors m Oamarw each day after the perpetration o£ the crime, one being (a couple or three days afterwards) that the.culprit had been collared at Chrisfcchurch with the bike and gold watch 1 m his possession. But of! course ..it was all v flam. Who starts these rumors when anything important hap-< pens never seems to be traceable., This is the second mysterious murderous occurrence that has been recorded m Papakaio. The last was m 1882, and has never yet been elucidated. It was known as the Gully) murder, the unfortunate victim being one Sarah Adams. This person had been living with ! a man named Alexander Beattie as his wife, and theyj weren't very fortunate m their domestic relations, as a short time before her murder Beattie had- been milled to court and was bound over to keep the -peace towards her.) There was a good deal of suspicion when she disappeared, and owing to blood being found on his clothes, etc., and other suspicious apnearances he was arrested on the body of the woman beinnt discovered buried m the bed of the creek. It was shown that the victim had had her. skull fractured by, some blunt instrument. In the end, however, a Supreme Court jury, .acquitted .Be.attic of the crime* the scene of which is about; a mile .ami > a half from the spot .where the latest tragic occurrence eventuated. ■

\ (By. Wire). . ..:'.: ' Regarding this Papakaio murder case and the strong comments that are being made about ia- sailor having been seen ill the vicinity before the tragedy and also seen cycling away, from Papakaio on the morning ' fallowing it I may say that the police are perfectly aware of tbe identity of the man and further could put their hands on him at any moment-, >they think/ it necessary. In fact,, he is really under surveillance, although he doesn't know it, but at present' there doesn't seem any justification for his arrest. THURSDAY MORNING. The latest information is that the name of the sailor is John Findlay, aged about 30, and ah old Caversham industrial School inmate. He was • yesterday at the' Steward Settlement, a few miles from Papakaio, and detective Fitzgerald resolved to take him to Oamaru where he was lodged in the police office. He has not actually been "arrested," but is being detained pending inquiries as to his movements lately. It is alleged' that on the Monday before the murder, one Stock, a grocer's carter,,, was driving near Papakaio and overtook a man who asked and was given a lift. He said he was a sailor and had left the Port Stephen at Oamaru. On the day following Stock again picked up the man, this time in the vicinity of Rehnie's house, and again gave him a lift, but the cart was going in the opposite direction to that of the previous day. He rode about two miles, and during the drive he asked' for half a loaf of bread, saying he had had no dinner. Of course there may be nothing in all this to incriminate Findlay, especially if he .was a daseiter from .a ship, hut it is not definitely known' whether he was a. deserter or not.