Early Murchison Saw Grim Crimes

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 694, 20 June 1929, Page 6

Early Murchison Saw Grim Crimes

LAWLESS SETTLEMENTS

THE “TWELVE DISCIPLES"

‘•Murchison was formerly Hamden, but the changing 0 f S. name can never wipe out it* r? putatic n for lawlessness, C rin.?‘ murder, gold, floods and ea£j' quakes." That is the opinion of a Mount Ea resident who has spent 25 yesrs oft life in and around the township -Ji,was rendereu uninhabitable by « day morning’s earthquake. The landscape was rocked and heavJu the force of the disturbance Hni were wiped out, rivers were dwnjZ and havoc was played with the tryside generally. coai ’ This morning the veteran of goldfields sketched briefly for The many interesting events in the focw ing and history of the town “ c It is about 50 years ago now the "Twelve Disciples” set out fr ’ Nelson to explore new fields Ahr cal miners’ band they werti An mainly from the goldfields ’of a/ tralia. They went way of X House, and were supposed to be m ing for Buller. They called at the Top House h near a sheep run at Lake Station drinks were called all round. Becaw, the shouters were shrewd enough?! disappear those drinks ware n<wipaid for. That was how Murchfc!was founded, for the band itrnck tf the gold they wanted without Cohnany further. 11 The band of “disciples” was kuMe in Nelson ever after as he Tribe,” because their whereaba* were shrouded in mystery for a w time. They first struck gold at Dh gers - Creek on the Marui River. * The leader of the band, “Old died only some seven years ago not by which time gold was being wont* in the Matakitaki River and in ft, Blue Duck, Glen Kairn and Johnson's Creeks. Miners drifted there in hundreft and at the time of the ’quake. Km! chison itself had a population of fidt Tom Maine opened the first hotel fc Murchison, and he became the uncrowned king of the “tribe.” MANY MURDERS. The tribe lived there for years tat. ticaily out of touch with the oatsgf world, and the township developed into a typical mining settlement, where the only law was the law of the strong right arm. Public tarrings and featherings wen quite common in the old days, when the crude society had to take measures to protect itself against lav breakers. The notorious “West Coast Bible was the work of one of the well-knowi identities of Murchison, a staunch Presbyterian who turned atheist. The map of the district is dotted with place names recalling a few ot the many murders which have occurred from time to time in and around Murchison. On the Buller River there is a spot named the Murderers’ Bead where was enacted one of the mOs; diabolical crimes In New Zealand’! history. A man was murdered ant had his head boiled by a womgn, who threw the head and body over a haul The man who killed him. convictec of manslaughter, served a term' in gaol in Nelson, and finally went to tt. gallows when he killed bis warder. There is another placo the Death trap reminiscent of the famous Nee-ham-Soule case. A quarrel over a but resulted In a court case, during whicl Soule donned a belt of gelignite will the intention of blowing the Court and its contents to smithereens. A man named Bunn noticed somethin; queer about him and succeeded m dragging him outside before the «■ plosion occurred. Soule himself *ashattered, and the Courthouse wa.blown back, but no one else was ser.ously injured. This happened abet: 26 years ago. The uncrowned king of the “tribe. Tom Maine, disappeared at Haldane, flat one night and later another mysterious death occurred there. A quarrel between two mining ptd' on the Howard goldfield had dieastrous results, when one axed the other and then blew his own brains out They had quarrelled over a nugget o. gold, which was picked up by a wanderer who happened to pass shorllr He fell and broke his leg on lie way to notify the police, and was rescued by the Government land ranger who later died with the nugget in as possession. The nugget then earn’ into the possession of the Mount ho resident, and bad luck in the way - death and accident still followed wearer. Needless to say it has lo . since been discarded. PECULIAR FORMATION A noticeable feature of the district is the peculiar formation of u ’ Bridge, which indicates that som time in the past the Buller R' Ter been running in the opposite Signs of a great upheaval in the were much in evidence before day’s ’quake. The resident recalls a conversai - which took i>lace some years ago when a missionary predicted j some day the hills around Mure would collapse. and the to would become a lake. It seems that Monday saw tn filment of that prophecy. .