THE DEEP STREAM FATALITY. A DRUNKEN ORGIE. FOUR PERSONS BURNT TO DEATH. "Dunedin, November 3.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 228, 12 November 1887, Page 9

THE DEEP STREAM FATALITY. A DRUNKEN ORGIE. FOUR PERSONS BURNT TO DEATH. "Dunedin, November 3.

Proceedings for sly grog-selling are likely to be taken in reference to the Deep Stream fatality. The following was the principal evidence ab the inquest : — Dougald Machill, labourer, residing at Barewood Creek, deposed that ho had identified one of the bodies as that of his sirttei June Sufcton, the wife of E, Sutton. Her husband was a labourer, and resided at the Deep Stream in a sod hut with a thatched roof. That was the house that was burnt. It was about 18 feet by 15 feet, and contained apartments divided by a calico partition. There was only the one door to it and one window. No one lived with his sister and her husband. Ho could not identify any of the other bodies, but he thought the smallest body was that of Sutton. Witness was at Suttons house on Sunday evening. He went there in the evening. He could not say whether it was 9 o'clock or 11. He only stayed about twenty minutes, and then leff, the people going to bed. He went home to his hut at Bare■\vood Creek, about a mile and a-half away. When he was in the hut there was no one there bat his sister and her husband. They had been at Rutherford's, and witness had gone home with them from that place. He went to Rutherford's between 10 and 11 in the morning, and found Sutton and his •wife there. There was talkincr and drinking going on. There Avere some 10 men at the place, most of them strangers to him. When he left Rutherford's ho was not the worse for liquor. Sufcton and his wife were both the worse for drink. Sutton was worse than his wife, but he could walk well enough. Witness took 2s worth of drink from Rutherford's. It was whisky, and there was about a quarter of a bottle of it. Witness left ifc with the Suttons when he took them home. He had no reason to suspect that anyone would come the hut afterwards. There was a fire in the place, but the only light was from a single candle. When witness left the hut the door was only fastened by means of a stake and a hook. It could be very easily opened. Witness was awakened next morning by Fitashnmons, who told him that his sister's hut had been burnt and that he was going for a constable. Witness dressed hurriedly and ran down to the hut, where a few people were about the hut that had been burned. Witness saw the four bodies lying in the hut just as they were found. Mrs Suttons was in the bedroom, and the other three bodies were lying just where the bed was and as if she had been in bed. U itness's sister was born in Scotland, and she was married in Dunedin about 18 months ago. Sutton was English, and 42 years of age, and had been in the colony o\ er 30 years, ' and his sister had been in the colony 12 years. She was about 29 years of age, and had no children. To Mr Wilson : There are about ten tents within 100 or 150 yards of Suttons place, and a dozen people at the very most lived in them. There were no angiy words at Suttons in the evening, and my brother-in-law and his wife lived on good terms with the people all round. To the Coroner : I went back for the drink at the request of my sister. She said she wanted it so that her husband might have a drink before he went to woik in the morning. William Fitzsimmons said he was a labourer or horse-driver, and at present resided at Deep Stream, within 100 yards of Suttons hut. He knew them, and had seen them bofch at their own hut on Sunday morning from his own hut. In the evening between 10 and 11 o'clock he heard them coming back from Rutherford's. A little while after witness heard two strange ■voices. The people were arguing about a bottle of whisky. From what he heard, one of the strangers wanted to get a bottle of whisky thai had been taken from him. He said he would get it back again or fight for ifc. Things seemed to get quieter and witness fell asleep. Sometime after he heard an explosion, and jumping out of bed he noticed a light through a crack in the tent. He then opened the door and saw the hut on fire from end to end, and the roof had fallen in. The explosion was like that of a dynamite cartridge that had not been damped. There was no one about. Witness called a man named Alamar, who lived close by, and they went over to the fire. The hut was all in flames. There was a strong wind blowing from the south towards the door at the north of the hut. They could not get within 10 yards of the hut. Witness then went and roused up some of the neighbours. When he returned with Constable OBrien he saw 3 bodies lying just inside the door, and another body lying where the bed was. Witness could recognise the bodies of the woman and her husband. He knew a man named Teddy Ure, and he had nofc the least doubt that one of the bodies was his. He did notrknow the other man. Witness heard that Sutton had some dynamite which he used for blasting firewood. Ifc must have been the fire in the hub that caused the explosion. Latterly the Rutherfords did not sell grog. To the jury : From whafc I could make out the stranger was accusing Sutton of having taken the whisky. The quarrel was not ft serious one, and it seemed to have been all made up again.