The Motu Tragedy.

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2135, 28 July 1898, Page 2

The Motu Tragedy.

INQUIRIES ON THE SCENE. AN INEXPLICABLE MYSTERY. Gisborne, TuescDy. The police officers who brought the body of Scott, the murdered man, out of Karaka had. a very rough experience having to ‘pack ’ it 20 miles over a rough bush track. Scott’s whare is a rough slab Rut of the usual type found in bush settlements. It is situated on a clearing about four acres in extent, on a rise, and over a stretch of half-cleared land, upon which there has been, some time since, an junsuccessf ul burn. Jnside the whare'was lying the body of the murdered man, placed on a stretcher in the centre of tin building, and covered over with sacks. An examination of the body made at Karaka showed that there were no bruises on’ it, but the head and skull had been badly knocked about. The fatal shot entered under the left eye near the nose. Two wads and several shots were taken out of the brairj The presence of wads is taken to indicate that the gun was fired at very close quarters The shot shattered the brain. The fact that both jaws were fractured is' taken as evidence that Scott had been struck either by a fist or by a stick It may. be mentioned that the stick found alongside the body was too long to have been used to strike deceased, and it >is also considered, from the position in which the body was found, that the crime was not committed on the spot, but that the body was carried some distance and placed in the spot where it was found '

The rcene of the tragedy is distant from the whare about three . miles by a winding rough bush track,, and is as pretty a stretch of New .Zealand bush scenery as could be imagined. The narrow track follows round the side of a hill, above which- there .is light standing bush, and sloping to the river below is a bank of fern and scrub, which bore the marks-of recent traffic through it. Alongside the track on the river side lay the. trunk of a small tree, upon which were blood stains, partially washed out* by the rain. Below the track and towards the river is a small gully, where the body was found, 10yds from the track, lying agaiust a log. Scott’s hat was found 10yds further towards the river.

A search was made for weapons or other evidences of the crime without success. There was no visible means of any struggle having occurred on the track. The scene of the tragedy is a very lonely spot, and one that is not frequented to any extent, being between the holdings of Messrs Smith and McCullough.