THE POKENO MURDER. AN AGED SETTLER SHOOTS HIS WIFE. HARROWING DEED OF A LUNATIC.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 91, 28 February 1885, Page 6

THE POKENO MURDER. AN AGED SETTLER SHOOTS HIS WIFE. HARROWING DEED OF A LUNATIC.

Auckland, February 20. Yesterd ;y a terrible tragedy was enacted amid the lovely farm settlements of Pokeno, in the dwelling of a small settler of the district. Though only 40 miles from Auckland, and close to the trunk railway, Pokenq is both in itself and in relation to the out side world so completely isolated that the deed was committed without any one being alarmed, and the news of the tragedy only reached the city this morning. From the accounts to hand it would appear that the author of the tragedy, Robert Prendergast, a settler at Pokeno Valley, who is about CO years of age, deliberately shot his wife through the heart about noon yesterday. There was neither ear nor eye witness to the dreadful crime, as Prendergast and his wife were at the time alone in the house, which is at a considerable distauce from any other dwelling, and is situated about six miles from the railway station. The road leads through highly-cultivated, gently-undulat-ing country till the homestead of Captain Gordon is reached, distant about four miles from the station. From thence an acclivitous track leads over several ranges to the residence of the murderer, distant nearly two miles from Captain Gordon's. Close to the house in which the murder was committed is the residence of Mr Robert Pendergrast, junior, who is married to a daughter of Captain Gordon. The residences of the Prendergasts, father and son, are quite isolated from the rest of the world, the nearest neighbour being at least one and a-half miles away. Pendergrast, senior's, tarra consists of about 200 acres of hilly land, most ot which is covered with the primeval bush. It would appear that for some years past he has done nothing with the land, depending almost entirely for support on the earnings of two unmarried sons, who resided with the old couplo.

Discovery of the Crime. The mannor iv which the crime was discovered and traced to the murderer is peculiar. Yesterday was the annual f&te of the school children at Pokeao, and on the occasion the whole of the youthful population turned out for enjoyment. Among the pleasure-seekers wew two sons of the Prendergasts, young unmarried men, who resided with their parents. When they returned home about six in the evening, they were horrified to find the dead body of their aged mother, lying stark and stiff on the floor of the kitchen, in a pool of her own blood. They at once gave the alarm, and some of the neighbours sent for Constable Ryan, oi Mercer, who immediately went to Pokeno to make enquiries.

Extraordinary Conduct of AccusocJ. The accused man, Prendergast, was at Mercer ye3terday afternoon for some hours, and attracted attention by his extraordinary behaviour. He "was in a state of intoxication, besides labouring under high excitement, and was speaking and drinking with everyone who would join him. He talked a good deal of incoherent stuff, and in the course of his conversation asserted several times that he had shot his wife. He loudly boasted that the whole of Mercer belonged to him, but that the title deeds had been lost while he was in the Asylum. He intended, however, to go and see Superintendent Thomson and get them recovered. Those who heai'd him concluded that he was raving, and of course the majority of them knew that be had been about two years in the Lunatic Asylum, from which he was discharged two years ago. They therefore paid no attention to his assertions about having murdered his wife, and he was allowed to leave the township unmolested.

Bow the Arrest was Effected. At about ten minutestoeicht o'clock on Wednesday night, Constable Ryan, while at his residence at Mercer, received a telegraphic memo, from Mr Hamlin, railway stationmaster and telegraphist at Pokeno, stating that Robert Pendergrast had killed his wife that morning at Pokeno Valley. Ryan having seen Pendergrast about the tsnvnship an hour or two previously, at once hurried over to Mr Porter's Jdotel, and inquired from Messrs Porter, junior, and Kelly if they had s sen Pendergrast lately. Fortunately, Mr Porter had just previously seen the murderer in a cutting near the township, and walking towards Pokeno. The constable, Mr Porter, junior, and two young men named Kelly and Findlay. sons of settlers, started off in pursuit. The new moon gave just sufficient light to enable the party to run along the rough roadway. At the bridge across the Maungatawhiri River, two miles from Mercer, they met a lad named Clark, who resides at Captain Gordon's, and asked him if he had met a man, and it transpired that this lad was conveying a telegram from Robert Pendergrast, junior, for transmission to his brother in Newmarket, informing him of "the death of his mother," no hint being given of the poor woman's tragic end. The boy informed the party that he had met a man beyond the bridge, but it was evident that the lad had not recognised the murderer. The party having got on the a^ent, started to run. Near Kellys homestead they heard dogs barking, and at an adjoining house, occupied by Mrs Douglas, they sow Pendergrast standing talking to Mrs Douglas. Thinking that the man might be armed, the party advanced on tiptoe, and when Ryan got close behind him he laid his hand on his shoulder, saying, "Are you Mr Pendergrast ?" and being answered in the affirmative, arrested him on the charge of wilful murder. After the arrest the accused man said, " Take care ; you may be making a mistake." "Mistake or not," said Ryan, "I'll arrest you. I'm the constable at Mercer." "If that be the case," said the prisoner, "I did it, and the pistol is in the kitGhen." The constable then took him into Mrs Douglas's house and searched him, finding nothing but a small flask of brandy, half-a-crown in cash, a pair of spectacles, matches, etc. Going to the station, he made many contradictory statements, but frequently reiterated that he had shot "the old woman." He appeared to be slightly under the influence of drink. Amongst the ether statements he made was " I shot the b r through the fcusart. She pleaded hard for mercy. The graUows will give me lair play. If Macnhe«Bon (a neighbouring settler) was here I'd Bhoofc him dead." The prisoner went quietly to the station, and when he reached thelock-up he appeared quite hearty, at once asking for his tea, and adding in a jocose manner, "I do like my tucker." He then returned to the subject of the murder, "I

shot h«r, and should have done it years ago." Having seen P«ndergr<ist safely under lock and key, Ryan procured a trap, and, accompanied by Porter and Kelly, proceeded to the scene of the murder, which they reached about midnight, picking up Robert Peudergrast, junr., as they passed Gordon's homestead. Reaching Pendergrast's, they found that the sons of the accused had removed the body from the floor of the kitchen to a bedroom. There was some blood on the floor of the kitchen near the table, but that was the only sign of anything unusual in the room. The deceased was lying on a stretcher in a small room, the only visible injury being a slight scratch or bruise on the right temple, wnich the sons stated had caused the blood mark on the floor of the kitchen. Strange as it may seem, the sons believed that the death had been caused by a blow on the forehead, there being at first eight no very apparent sign of the bullet wound. Ryan assured thorn that the death had been occasioned by a pistol ehofc, whereat they looked incredulous. He, however, soon put all doubt at rest by unloosing the hooka and eyes, and pulling down the stays, when the underclothing was found to be covered with blood. The wound was under the left breast, apparently just over the region of the heart. A further examination showed the left hand to be blackened with powder, while there was a slight abrasion on the palm. Both eyes were open, and the arms drawn up.

Mr Thomas Porter's Statement. Thomas Porter, hotelkeeper at Mercer, made the following statement : — Last night, hearing of the murder from Constable llyan, I accompanied him in pursuit of Pendergrast, and found him standing at Mrs Douglas's door, on the main road between Mercer and Pokeno, and four miles from the former place. He was conversing with Mrs Douglas. Constable Ryan went up and arreslel him, and charged him with tt c wilful murder of his wife. Pendergnefc remarked to Ryan, " You are making a mistake, ' Ryan then handcuffed him, and took him into Mrs Douglas's house and searched him. Ryan said, " You can make a statement if you like, but it will be taken down in writing, and it may be used as evidence against you." He then proceeded to assert that he had shot his wife. He paid : 'I shot her in the heart. I put up with it for eleven year?, and it's a good job it's over. It ought to have been done eleven years ago. With the whistlingand chopping, no one could stand it. It was all the same night and day. I gave her every chance since I came back (moaning from the Asylum) three years ago, thinking she would reform, but it was no use. The whistling and chopping aye went on. But it's all right ; Gillies will give me fair play." When he was being taken by Ryan to the station, I heard him continually questioning Ryan as to who had given the i information. Referring to the murder, he said : " She pleaded hard, but it was no use. I shot her through the heart. I could stand it no longer." Later on he said to Ryan, " It will either be the Lunatic Asylum or the gallows."

The Scene of the Tragedy. The PendergrastvS 1 residence is a small weatherboard building of four or five jrooms^ the ordinary residence of people in this quarter. The body of the murdered woman was lying on a stretcher in a small room off the kitchen, it having been lifted from the floor on to the stretcher by one of the sons. Deceased had four sons altogether, one of whom is married to a daughter of Captain Gordon. There is no sign of a struggle, and deceased's features are not much contracted. The pistol must have been fired at short range as there is the mark of powder on her breast.

Tlio Motive for the Deed. It appears that some 15 years ago Pendergast was wrongly jealous of his wife and 'an old man named Archie Buchanan, and, as one of the settlers puts it, " he is cranky on this point, but on other matters he is right enough."

Other Statements. Fireman .Donaldson, on the Waikato train, states that while at Mercer yesterday he noticed prisoner behaving in a peculiar manner. He seemed excited, and made many wild statements, one of which was that he owned the whole of Mercer, but the Government had swindled him out of it, and that Judge Gillies had burnt his title deeds last time he (prisoner) was sent to the Whau. He also made in Donaldson's presence a statement regarding the murder to Elliott. Mr Murray, publican, Pokeno, states that Pendorgrast told him on Tuesday that though people said ho was mad, he was not, but could make himself mad in 20 minutes, and no doctor in Auckland could tell if he was sane.

The Scene of the Murder. We have already described the position of the Pendorgrasts' house. It is a new weatherboard building (having been recently erected by the prisoner's unmarried sons) of five rooms and a porch— all on the one floor. At the entrance to the house is a porch, from which a door leads direct into the kitchen. Alongside this room is one which was used as a dairy, and the other rooms are approached from the kitchen by Beveral steps, being on a different level. The door from the kitchen leads into a large bedroom, and other two small bedrooms are reached through this apartment. The deceased was found by her sons lying on the kitchen floor, and they carried her into one of the small bedroom, placing the corpse on the stretcher. On the jamb of this bedroom there is a mark which, ! taken in con j jnction with another fact we will mention later on, affords a clue to the circumstances immediately anterior to the murder. On the jamb of the door was the mark of a chisel, while the lock showed that it had recently been prised open. A mortising chisel found on the table in the kitchen exactly fitted the mark, and was apparently the instrument used for opening the door. The fact which must be taken in conjunction with this is as follows : —On the morning of the murder, Mrs Robert Pendergrast, jun., asked her mother-in-law to accompany her to the picnic at Pokeno. The poor old woman refused, alleging as a reason that the unseemly stories circulated by her husband regarding her made it unpleasant foi her to appear in public. She then stated that she was afraid of her husband, but remarked that she would lock herself in the little bedroom. The theory, of course, is that after the sone had left home Mrs Pendergrast locked herself in the bedroom. Penderfrast having made up his mind to do the readful deed, procured the mortising chisel, burst open the door, and dragged her into the kitchen, where he shot her.

i Tbe Murdered Womar. The deceased was a frail-looking woman, about 63 years of age, fair hair and complexion, and height about five feet. Her face was rather pleasing, though her appearance was somewhat marred by the loos of her front teeth. When murdered, she was dressed in a brown winsey skirt, and reddish print bodice, &c.

Tbe Pott Mortem. The autopsy of the body of the murdered woman was made by Dr. Dalziel at about 4,30 in the afternoon. Detective Twohey was present When the body was opened it was found that the bullet had entered about three inches below the left breagt, pierced

the apex of the heart, fractured the seventh rib, and, striking the backbone, had shivered one of the vertebrae into small fragments. The ball^a spherical bullet, was found jußt beneath the skin of the back. The doctor was of opinion that death was almost instantaneous.

The Pistol. The weapon with which fcho deed was done is an old-fashioned horse pistol, brassmounted and fitted with a swivel ramrod.

Previous Threats. Over ten years ago the prisoner became jealous of his wife. It appears that there was a dance at Pokeno, to which Pendergrast had gone by himself, leaving his wife at home. After Pendergrast's departure a neighbour named Archibald Buchanan called on Mrs Pendergrast, and in a humorous manner asked her to accompany him to the dance. Ever since that occurrence, Pondergraab has suspected his wife of infidelity, and appeal's to be quite mad on this one point. It is stated that a few days after the danco Buchanans wife left him, but whether there is any connection between this circumstance and the jealousy exhibited by Pendergrast is not known. Several years ago the accused theatened to shoot his wife with a single barrelled gun that is now in the house, and in consequence of the threat, Captain Jackaon, K.M., caused the gun to be taken away irom him, and retained possession of it for two years. The Pendergrasts arrived in the colony from Scotland by the ship Helenslea, 20 years ago. During Wednesday, it seems that the prisoner had a desire to go to Auckland, as he asked at Porter's Hotel when the train started. Subsequently he complained that he had lost his passage through tarrying too lon^ over a cup of coffee in the Railway Ref reshmenti Rooms.

The Inquest. The inquest Avas to have been held at Capt Gordon's residence, five mileo from here. At 3 o'clock the jury were sworn in by Captain Jac&son, and proceeded to view the body. On returning, the inquest was adjourned until the following morning at the Court-house, Pokeno. The jury, after hearing evidence, returned a verdict of 11 Wilful Murder" against Robert Pendergast, senior.