HORRIBLE TRAGEDY AT SAMOA.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 128, 14 November 1885, Page 8

HORRIBLE TRAGEDY AT SAMOA.

Bir way of Fiji ourrMitefcj)sident at Apia fc rwards the following' account of a sensational crime. On McmdayrOctober 12th, tl is small community was star,tled by, the „, .njw^fchaii^^'bia'^esid'e^a-FrefibHniaii! 11 ,n imed E. iStnloy,:. and ; his SamoanVwife,; 0 Sile, had been mpst brutally ,murderedj[ , (( Anat his' house fiadbeeh jifled j ' ah' 'irorf' J ' fbhest containing money broken open,"and'i:: t&e contents stolon. The report occasioned « ; -, g 'eat. excitement, and the scene of the wagedy was visited by ; riutrfbers duririg'tne ° ' day, The' oiroumstance's. of- the iccfaeirr; since , elicited . are as .follows i-pSt, l^W.o was a miser, known, to be' possessed ' of considerable wealth'; but as by hiffhabitß^" h 3 had cut himself adrift from all sympathy r ? with his fellows, he was 'hardly ? recognised:. a ap a white man by the other .Biirbpean: residents. For some ? time -previous :to his •' ■, - dsatli he had been fill, 'and, it is said, had- - sliown symptonsof insanity, therefore, ltwo-.\: natives, a man and a woman, ihad: been;» ] attending to him. On~-the day before the .murder, the man was toldjhis services wexe f i no longer wanted, and he left. The woman, Who was living with a blacksmith named dhole wa, a Pole, had also returned to her own house. She was i washing .on } the Monday morning, but twice urged Oholewa to go and see St. Foy. He refused, saying the Frenchman was asleep. 1 At last as suspicions were aroused,' .the Pole, . consented to accompany a Mrs Wood, the, wife of the local baker, to the house, and &s soon as they entered they saw [ Blood Dropping Down From the Ceiling,' • from an upstairs room, and both left' : in' haste. A native policeman was then re quested to go and see what was' the matter; and after he had refused, because, as he said, he had no authority to enter the hous.e: An American went up, and found 'Stf. Foy. . and the woman lying dead, on the floor, with the evidences around of r tite ' fearful crime which had been committed, and of the terrible struggle that must have taken place. St. Foys jaw had' been fractured by a heavy blow,; he had, been stabbed in the back and' in the eye, and 1 His throat had been cut, severing the jugular vein. The woman also lay dead, her body showing many wounds. The strong '.bpx had been broken open and was rifled of 'its contents. Bloody footsteps Were all over the floor— clearly made by. the perpetrator of the foul crime, after the deed-had been 9 ' accomplished. The American' Consul took' the matter in hand, a jury was impannelled, . and a verdict of

" Wilfal murder against some person unknown " WaB returned. On Tuesday the excitement caused by the crime still continued. Steps were taken to protect the property, and, if possible, to detect the criminal. A watchman was placed in the house, stock was taken, and a reward of 250d01s was of* fered for the apprehension of the murderer. During the day, there leaked out certain suspicious circumstances about the blacksmith. Be had been out late on Sun* 'day night. He had come home wet, and with an overshirt on. He had sent for the woman, to wash his clotheß early in the morning, and it was said he had twice

Threatened to Shoot the Woman If she did not keep her tongue quiet. On those grounds, he was arrested, and on examination gave so unsatisfactory an account of himself as to increase suspicion. While, under arrest he was charged by another Frenchman with stealing £15 in English money from him Neverthelesa, for some days nothing was elicited which could fix either crime on the accused, and he was on the point of being discharged when the murder was discovered through his own instrumentality. On the Monday "following the discovery 6f the crime he asked, and was permitted, to go to his houße, in charge of a policeman. The policeman's brother, Mike Scanlon, went too, as he had asked for and obtained permission to take the case in hand. When at the house, Scanlan, unseen himself, clodely watched Gholewa. The prisoner made an excuse to leave the constable's side for a minutes, when, supposing himself unseen, Scanlon noticed him intentlyregarding one spot, as if to satisfy himself it had not been disturbed. As soon as the prisoner had left Scanlon started to turn up this spot, and in less than five minutes he had Unearthed 4,000 Dollars in Silver packed nicely into a kerosene tin, and an old soap box. Still he continued the search, and from among ,the bricks by the forge he drew forth another bag of Bilver The smith .then endeavoured to incriminate the Frenchman who accused him of theft, by confessing.to where another bag. of gold coin-was hidden, in the- bellows, and explaining that they came into his possession in the following manner ;— On the Sunday night of the .murder he saw the Frenchman, come out of St. Foys house, carrying bags of money. Me accosted him ,and asked what he had done, when he- sajd " Donfcyou say anythingjfand you will fifld three bags of money before your door .tomorrow morning." So he ,did, this, being the money which he had hidden, and which Scanlon had uncovered. Hereupon the Frenchman was also arrested, and. both j were held in close custody, but bags, of money kept turning up from the smith's house till eight had been 'discovered. . In the soap box waa also found

A Pair of Blood-Stained Shoes, and' these certainly do not belong to ' the French man. Chloewa has been in. New Caledonia for 8 years, and says 'he was- 14 months in Fiji. The case against him is so strong 1 that there, is no chance for him to escape hanging. St. Foy has left property to >the •value of 15,000d018. behind him, in ■ old stuff, mostly bought from wrecks and auctions.

- Suicide of the Murderer. ' Cholewa, the murderous blacksmith, has saved a lot of trouble by hanging himself in the gaol with the ropes of the hammock he was given to sleep in. The Frenchman is ' still in custody, but there seems •no evidence- against him. He will most likely be liberated shortly.