A MYSTERIOUS MAN.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 30, 26 May 1876, Page 2

A MYSTERIOUS MAN.

We take the following from the "West Coast Times " :—" Reports having reached Hokitika that a mysterious stranger had been seen by several persons in the vicinity of the Jackson's Bay Settlement, and some suspicion being felt that he might prove to be Cunningham, the murderer of his mate on Lake Ohau, the Commissioner of Westland Police, Mr. James, proceeded to the settlement by the steamer Waipara on her last trip South, for the purpose of making all possible inquiries. The result of his inquiries was to show that some unknown man had been in the neighbourhood, and had evaded observation, but there was nothing to indicate his exact identity with Cunningham, though his dress was said to have been sinrlar, and his appearance is as much a mystery to the settlers as it was' at first a source of fear. It may have been some one who, while in the bush, had become distracted, and has probably by this time perished, or wandered further south;; He could scarcely leave northward without being noticed, as the police have everywhere been on the watch. The first circumstance noticed was the fact of some footprints hi the bed of the Cascade River—of some lierson whose boots were apparently worn out. Subsequently a man was seen in the' bush by some of the settlers or their children, dressed rather raggedly, and when approached lie stooped down or started away into the bush—a circumstance winch aroused suspicion, because, as one of the settlers expressed it, it is the instinct of people there when out in the bush rather to approach each other than to avoid society. He was afterwards seen lower down the River Arawata, and again disappeared. Tlie last time he is supposed; to have been seen was close to the town- : sliip, where a boy saw a strange man up in! a fusehia tree, feeding on the berries. He is not known to have been seen after-j wards, and the circumstances still remain' surrounded with mystery. He cannot have escaped by'sea; he could scarcely; have gone northward without having been; seen at some of the ferries ; and if he went south towards the Sounds, the chances of his being able to* sustain himself for any length of time are A 7 ery small. Ifo| 3 *%" n'neant that none of the any food or clothing, and that none of their houses appeared to have been entered in their absence."