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Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 201, 12 January 1866, Page 2

HORRIBLE MURDERS AT OTAHUHU. The peaceful settlement of Otahuhu has been thrown into intense excitement and commotion, consequent on the discovery of the buried bodies of three murdered persons, named Mary Finnigaa, widow, aged about 55, and two of her sons, James and Benjamin, aged respectively about 17 and 14 years. The Southern Cross, in reporting the circumstance, says : — " It may bein the recollection of some of our readers, that in the Auckland Police Gazette of the Ist instant a notification was given to the effect that Mrs Finnigan and her son, John Finnigan, were missing, but were supposed to have gone to Eolritika. The notification appears to have been inserted mainly upon the representations of a discharged soldier from the 65th Regiment, living in the same house, and named James Stack, who had married a daughter of the deceased Mary Finnigan. The wife of Stack died some months ago in Auckland, previous to his taking up bis residence with bis mother-in-law at Otahuhu. On the first day of the Auckland races in September last, the neighbors first noticed the disappearance from the house of the mother-in-law and her three sons ; but upon Stack being questioned as to their whereabouts, he madf a veryplausible story of their having suddenly taken their departure, under assumed names, from Onehunga for HoMtika — the cost of passages having been defrayed by himself. The suspicions of the neighbors were naturally aroused that all was not as represented, feeling satisfied that such a sudden determination to remove from Otahuhu would not have taken place without some intimation being given to themselves by Mrs. Finnigan. Anxious enquiries were consequently made from time to time as to whether news had been received of their arrival at Hokitika ; and to appease all further alarm on the matter, letters were stated to have been received — after a sufficient lapse of time to permit of their landing. Due notice of the alleged departure of the deceased for Hokitika was also forwarded by Stack to Alexander Finnigan, the eldest son, who is connected with the Commissariat Corps, \ and stationed at Tauranga ; but so improbable did the story appear to him, that he at once obtained leave of absence, and visited the house of his mother, to satisfy himself that they had really left for the goldfield. Subsequently it transpired to the knowledge of Stack that enquiries had been made by Alex. Finnigan of the shipping agents and others at Onehunga, as to the probability of the deceased leaving for Hokitika, but without success ; and intelligence was also stated to have been received from Hokitika that no such persons have arrived there. The result was that Stack suddenly disappeared from the neighborhood on Monday last, and has not since been heard of. On the fact of his absence from the house becoming known, active measures were at once takeu by the police and neighbors to institute a thorough search of the premises and adjacent grounds. After a diligent search, their labors were rewarded by the discovery of the body of James Finnigan, which had been interred outside the boundary furze fence of the allotment. The body was greatly decomposed. This discovery, of course, led the searchers to make renewed efforts, and, after a short time, the body of the mother, Mary Finnigan, was discovered beneath a bed of carrots, which were grown to a considerable height. It- was placed in the house, ..beside the body of James. On further search, the body of Benjamin was found at a spot a few yards from where James had been buried. The search was continued, in expectation of finding the body of John, aged 12, but without success, up to a late hour last night ; the searchers, however,discovered a quantity of partially burnt clothing, which had been buried near the front part of the house. The disinterred bodies were examined by Dr. Elmßley, who found that in each case the skull had been completely smashed in near the temple, as if by a heavy blow from a hammer. The injury of itself he considered to be sufficient to cause instantaneeus death. In addition to the blow on the head, the throat of Benjamin had been cut. A few days before the murder Stack borrowed a hammer from his neighbors, and when requested to return it, after the disappearance of the Finnigans, he said that he could not find it, but readily gave Is. 6d. in payment. It was also observed by the neighbors, on the day alter the Finnigans were said to have left for Hokitika, that Stack was busily employed washing, and up to a late hour at night. He is well known in several parts of the province, from having been in the 65th for so many years, and is known to have made money by sly-grog selling at the Front during the war. He has, undergone a period of imprisonniaat in the Stockade for stealing a pair of boots from the shop of Mr. Keesing, Queen-street — having been captured by the police after a long chase. Those who know him describe him as being rather a short, thickset, active man, approaching forty years of age, with black hair and face shaved. In a brawl at the Front he received a cut on the upper lip, which was stitched up, but the mark still remains. He is said to be of a rather unsociable nature and surly temper.