THE NEW BRITAIN MASSACRE.
A letter which has been received from the Rev. B. Danks, of the Wesleyan Mission in the New Britain Group, by the Rev B. Chapman, of Sydney, gives some particulars of the murder of Mr Klinsmeth, the naturalist, and two Frenchmen who were in his service. Mr Danks heard of the mjirders, and that Mrs Klinsmeth was alone in her house, and he says : —‘‘ I had the boat at once got out, and sails put into her, and everything made ready to go away before sunrise next morning (Good Friday). Accordingly at 4 o’clock a.m. we cleared Port Hunter, and got into Mioko passage soon after sunrise. Here we found Mr Kliusmeth’s boat stranded on some boulders. It had drifted away from the scene of the murder, and found a resting-place here. All the stern of the boat was burnt, and she was hacked about very much, as though she, too had done the natives some wrong. Her planks were smashed, and she was pierced in several places. Of course she was full of water, but we got'her off, and took her in tow. It was hard work with this addi tional weight, but wc at last landed her in Mioko harbor, when I saw poor Mrs Klinsmeth. She presented a picture of sorrow, that I shall not soon forget. Haggard, wearied, and worn, heartache and anguish, caused the once erect form to stoop, and desolation was written on every line of her features. Her eyes spoke of sleepless nights and her features of days of fasting, while her tottering step showed her diminished strength. She shook hands in a mechanical kind of way, and then motioned me to a seat not yet having spoken a word. Then she took a seat a little to ray right, and little by little she opened her mind to me, and gradually the tears began to flow, and as she passed from one subject to another—all concerning her murdered husband —they came faster and faster until she relieved her heart by giving vent to a flood of tears. After this she seemed to talk without much effort, her conversation previously being constrained and difficult. The scene of the murder is the other side of the harbor from Mr Klinsmeth’s house, yet within sight, on an island named Outam. This island was bought some time ago by Mr Klinsmeth, and it is said that the natives then promised him that they would go in his boat whenever he desired them. He wished them to go on Sunday last to a place called Byarara but they would not, and it is said they were impudent. Mr Klinsmeth became angry, and went to Outnam, accompanied by the two Frenchmen. Mrs Klinsmeth did not seem to know exactly what followed upon their landing, except that some native houses were burnt, and all the whites killed. Mr Klinsmeth was the only one shot, the hall entering the abdomen and passing right through the body. All the bodies were mutilated most fearfully, but they were recovered by our teachers, and taken back to Mioko, where they wore buried. European life in that part of the Pacific can hardly he worth living if, as appears to be the case, it is continually threatened by revengeful or greedy savages, who no sooner taste blood* than they thirst for more.” Mr Danks further writes that the Mioko natives who murdered Mr Klinsmeth and his companions immediately afterwards planned the death of Mr Blohm, a-resident trader. The intended victim having been, however, warned, was forearmed, and the plot could not be carried into effect.
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South Canterbury Times, Issue 2637, 2 September 1881, Page 2
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605THE NEW BRITAIN MASSACRE. South Canterbury Times, Issue 2637, 2 September 1881, Page 2
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