TE AWAITE TRAGEDY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7718, 21 January 1905, Page 2

TE AWAITE TRAGEDY.

FIRST TRIAL OF ELLIS.

Tlie Evidence. (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON. Jan. 20. At the Magistrate's Court John I Mch'enzic, alias James William Kl- . lis, was changed with the murder of L Leonard; I). Collinson, at To Awn- ' ite, on March 2fllh of last year. Mr T. M. Wilford defended. All the witnesses were ordered out * of court. s Mr Uilfoivl said he dkl not proL pose to cross-examine but merely to y watch the case on behalf of the ncr cused. He would not interrupt unr less he saw something irrelevant, ily s taking this course he hoped the case would be finished by to-morrow I night. [( The first evidence was that of Hie surveyor who had prepared plans of the scene of the murder. The evidence up to lunch was chiefI ly format describing the scene of the e murder. Dr. l'almcr, of Featherston, who made the post-mortem examination, hud no doubt that the person who bred the shot was at a higher level than the deceased, and that the wcait pon used was of a calibre of about .8. TJso wound was not caused by a shot from a Snider or sinootlribora shot gun. > William Henry Tisdall, gun--1 smith, gave expert; evidence. He s thought, after hearing Dr. Pulmer's y evidence as to the nature of tho t wound, tiiat the shot was fired from f a .3 or a .303 calibre weapon. The bullet which caused death was cvidentally an expanding one, and many rifles were chambered to take cartridges of the calibre mentioned above, and) .303, cartridges could, 1 witness said, be easily made to fit 1 a .3 calibre rifle. " Alfred William iioss, who was with Collinson at the tiuie of the murdet. J was next examined. His testimony " on tho whole was a repitition of that given by him at the Uuruest. 0 Oliver Ashiy Bunny, a young unit), r manager of Tc Awuite station, said s ho Knew the deceased Collinson as a i' contractor for scrub cutting and on [" station work. As u contractor Col--1 linson employed his own men. Wit- '•' ness had known accused since 11100. 1 Accused hud at diOcrcnfi, times work- : cd on To Awaile station, both as *- contractor and workman. In Fobru--1 ary, 1904, he haa a contract with n witness for scrub cutting. Witness arranged to meet Collinson on Snl--0 urday, February '27 th, 1904, to ■ ni.-a uru up a block. Before measuring it was usual for B contractor 1 to flag the lines. , Collinson was then cutting at a spot about a mile away from where they were to measure up. On Saturday morning witness went to Kennel's camp (Collinson's), and in consequence of what he was told ho went on to a spur and waited till he saw three men coming down Cole's Creek. They e were McDonough, Walters, and ._ Ross. Witness met them near To e Awaile River,, and knew then that ,_ they had found Colllnson's body. Witness went for the |>olicc, telling f the men not to touch the body till j the police had arrived. Witness remembered accused / working for ColL linson in 1003, when the latter was camped at Waipawa Knob. 'Accused !_ ceased working for Collinson about May 25th, being dismissed by Collin- « son on account of his shooting ' stags. Witness had instructed Col- . linson to dismiss him. " Accused at this point took a par- " ticularly keen interest in the ovia dencc, and smiled slightly. ' Bunny, continuing, said thai some ime in January or February, 1903, 11 he had a conversation with accused, l " who was then employed by Collin- ; son. The conversation was about 0 coming /on- to Te Awaite. Witness ■ first sj)oke 'to Collinson, who called c accused over. Witness exchanged a '« "Good day" with accused, and said : v "It's strange you coming to work '• n Te Awnite at this season of the " year, after '.leaving Glcnburn and » telling my brother, (manager ofGlen- '" burn) that you were giving up scrub s cutting localise there was nothing in * it and you were going to work in - town. It looks us if you came here * purposely for the deer-stalking seas san.", Accused said •• If l wanted e to get doer stalking I could get s plenty of stags without coming 'i here." Witness .said, "That's all -right, McKenzie ; 1 just wanted to e tell you what I thought." Collin- - son had told witness that accused s was shooting stags, and witness di- - reeled Collinson to dismiss accused, s "At the time accused was dismissal ed," continued the witness, "he was working at Tora camp. I remember S in about June, 1903, it was report- .- ad lome that a sheep had been killit ed) under suspicious circumstances. i Ths sheep was found near the Junce tion of Cole's Creek with Te Away ite River. Accused hod no right to be there. The sheep had evidentli ly been slide, [fond a portion had a been removed. The body hud been - put in a water-hole and covered - with tawhina and manuka. 1 had i some conversation with Collinson i abeut the sheep." i. Mr Myers: What did Collinson i say ? ,■ Mr Wilford objected. He contend- , od that, this was not evidence, and should be rulod (out even if bis Worship had only a doubt on the point. It) should be left to the Supreme Court to decidV. Mr Myers said he bad no desire to prejudice the accused by introducing unfair evidence, but it was import- ( ant both in the interests of the _ Crown and of the prisoner that Hhe ' fullest evMcnce should be taken iff j thul court. This was important in the case of a charge of murder. He proposed to ask this question : '" Did " I Collinson name anybody as having i ' shot the sheep?"- ' Mr Wilford : That is more objec- . tionablofl than a straight-out question. ; His Worship said ho preferred to | rule the question out, and leave the •' point to ixv raised auU decided in' the higher court. : Mr Myers : What sort of u muu 1 1 was Collinson ? i | Mr Wilford objected. Mr Myers ; Was lie a popular man? Mr Wilford objected. Collinson I might be |ii dove to some and a ' raging lion to others. A general ' statement by the witness was not relevant,- l His Worship thought the (fuestiou • had better not be put. 1 The witness, continuing, said that < at the thue of Collinson's dsath some of tlie stags would be in a .< condition to shoot and sonic would not. He believed licenses were Issued as from February Ist. Evidence was given by Denis I Reardon, James Smith, and John I Her]ily that they had heard nccused 1 use throats against Collinson. j Frederick Jackson said the rifle produced was stolen from his camp on the Glenburn station. In its place was a message signed "J. McKenzie," enclosed in u tobacco pouch I which witness had given accused i some time before. . He had heard accused say Collinson "wanted n bullet stuck into him," o nd that he (accused) would square accounts with him some day. The case stands adjourned till to- . morrow.