THE NGARUAWAHIA MURDER.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 263, 24 February 1877, Page 2

THE NGARUAWAHIA MURDER.

[EY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. |

The correspondent of the Dunedin Evening Star telegraphs the following account of the murder by Tipiti in the Waikato Gaol on Tuesday last:— AucKiAJTD, February 21.

A horrible murder was committed in the gaol at iMgaruawahia, Waikato, last night. A Maori named Tipiti, who was confined in the cell with an old man named Samuel Morgan, cut the latter's throat, broke the window in the cell, seized a policeman's horse, and escaped. The murderer was captured this morning at the coniiscation boundary in Pirongia Range by Constable M'Leou. An inquest on the victim is being held. T' a murderer is only about nineteen years of age. The murder was committed with a Tomahawk which the prisoner used in his work,

He carried a gun belonging to the constable when captured. Had the telegr&phist not succeeded in arousing the Alexandra operator, the murderer would have escaped. It appeared ill-feeling existed between the two prisoners, though. the deed was done in imitation of Winiata. Repeated representations of the insecurity of the gaol have been made to the authorities. The Maori and Morgan were locked up as usual last evening by Sanderson, the gaoler, at about half-past seven o'clock. Sanderson did not leave until quarter to eicdit, when he was accompanied by Warder Hobson. About half-past nine o'clock Hobson went back to the gaol, and discovered that the window had been broken, which aroused his suspicions ; and upon examination, he found that the Maori prisoner had escaped and Morgan had been murdered. The latter's skull was split open with a tomahawk, which the native had ' secreted in his bedclothes, and his throat was severed. The murderer stole Detective Doolan's horse and saddle, and when arrested lie was armed with a stolen fowl-ing-piece. The police and volunteers guarded every avenue, the telegraphist having alarmed the whole frontier. The murdered man (Samuel Morgan) came to New Zealand about twentyfive years ago, and went to live at the Mission station at Te Awamutu with a relative (the Rev. J. Morgan) who was engaged in evangelical labour amongst the Natives. On the breaking up of the Mission station, just before the war, the Rev. Mr. Morgan removed to Auckland, but his relative continued to reside among the Natives, having about twenty years ago married a half-caste, daughter of Captain Moncur, and niece to a chief of the Ngatikairo tribe, and the principal man in Raglan. When the war broke out Morgan came to Auckland, bub when quiet was restored he and his wife returned to Waikato and settled upon a piece of land at Pirongia, which had been awarded by the Compensation Court in consideration of losses sustained by him during the war. Morgan became addicted to idle, intemperate habits, and got into pecuniary ditiiculties, and, his land being mortgaged, interest accrued. Mrs. Morgan decided to sell the land to an Otago runholder, the purchase money leaving a considerable balance after the mortgage was satisfied. The purchaser attempted to have a survey made, but the Natives stopped it, and this led to complications. During a dispute about the survey Morgan went to Te Kuiti, it is believed for the purpose of meeting the King Natives to prevent the occupation of the land, Morgan having quarrelled with his wife in consequence of his habitual intemperance. Tiiey had a large family, numbering twelve children —four of whom wore* placed by the late Sir Donald M'Lean in St. Mary's Orphanage. Morgan yeeeived no sympathy from the Kingites, and the~ Ngatimanianoto were openly hostile to. iiini. Rewi, the great Ngatimaniapoto chief, was alarmed lest a collision should be brought about by the action of- ,( *' Pakeha-Maori, and on the 2nd of JUPq] *uary warned him to clear out. v , r /'an and another European named tjY UZ3 had been living at Tohua, a nati\_ /'/clement between Takapua and Otoringa\ and had been guilty of many indiscretions, which excited the fear of Rewi. That chief sent twelve of his followers to eseoxi the two Europeans across the frontier, where they were handed over to the custody of Te Wheoro. No o'iarge being laid agaiust them they were released ; but a few daj's afterwards Morgan wag brought before. Major Tisdali, at Alexandra, charged under the 2nd section of the Vagrant Act, and sentenced to one month's imprisonment, witli hard labour, in the lock-up at . Ngarnawahia, He was undergoing his sentence when the murder took place. The gaol at Ngaruawahia is one of the worst places for the purpose chat could bo selected. It is of brick, and was built during the war as a block house. Any person could shake the whole building with his hands. The confinement of pri4 soners in such a place is merely an optional matter with the prisoners theni' selves. The Resident Magistrate was so convinced of the uaelessness of the lockup as a place of imprisonment that he was in the habit of sending dangerous or slippery prisoners to Auckland.