THE RACECOURSE TRAGEDY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8166, 27 July 1906, Page 2

THE RACECOURSE TRAGEDY

U'CV. WOiIRALL SUMAfONED BJii'OKK 15Alt <JI? HOUSE. Miii.uouiixi;, July 2 C. Til, lie v. Air Worra 11, when sum■»«»ed to appear before tile bar of the i louse to explain las reference to the vli.ef Secretary, when addressing a meeting at Bendigo, said ho inlcaUcd to obey the summons in the name of eiod, iu the name of citizenship, and iu . lie liopo of a more glorious and pips, perous Australia. If any penalty were imposed for his words he would thank aoa for having allowed him to come into His fellowship of suffering, [Rev. Mr Worrall stated that the murder would never have occurred if the Chief Secretary had exercised the powers given him by law.]

The murder oE" the welsher" DonaU AleLeod took place on the flat at Flem ington on the i4th inst., after the t Z tor the Steeplechase, MeLeod I,J oeen laying the odds, and i s S1 aave tried to evade payment of debt* made on the steeplechase, whereupon ui infuriated mob kicked him to deTh several persons are under arrest * Australian newspapers show tW .kleLcod s plan was to lay all LuL could at longer odds than other book makers were offering. Then chose who had backed winners sented their tickets MeLeod would* -urn them the amounts they had actually paid to him with a prese nt settlement at some future date N ee rf ■ess to auy, he never kept his p rom j s , iis proht consisted in all money ■vas laid on the rest of the ffcid ai 2 ms clients rarely made more 'ilf ihillinq bets. He and a man nim. I d, '° Te t0 the wurse.anl -IcLeod took .up a stand on a box irom which he loudly called th« ' oa the Grand sLpl eht/ ae went on with the intention 0 f -mg only on that race, but tiler* was a strong run on Lady JJoris for the £rt i ace, and MeLeod, probably thinkma sue would not win, waa unable to « sist the otters of the crowd io bet witli aim. He made over twenty bets about bady .Doris, and stood to lose £4 uj if she won. He did not bet on any oth , uorse and when Lady Dons won he unable to pay, and had to return the Tf J wltU lf "»« usual promise to settle on Monday. On the second race, too, he laid £4 l oa to £IC .bout the favorite in shillings. Aeain the favorite won, and again MoLeod scaled his clients. He-weat on betting m the fcteepleohase. Altogether he jiade 31 bets, and received 475, Seven oets were made on Decoraliou, for' "hioh he would havo had to pay out U3 10s, and he only had £2 7s in his jag Decoration won, and seven people who had backed him presented heir tickets. When the race was over MeLeod said ho could not pay. Somebody idled, " Jiick the to death'—. Hid the rest of the horrible s thus told by the " •rowds arc common at md as a rule little notice is taken of ,hein, but it soon became apparent hat this howling, frantic, cursing mob hat surged across the flat in the' wake if a man running with despair depicted m his face was a mob that meant nischief. As tlie hunted man ran, tL o crowd tearing alter him till thousands joiued in the hunt. The welsher was a jig, heavy fellow, red-faeed, and plainly scant of breath, and as he ran lie lucked and dodg°<l through the throng ■hat sought to detain him, and struck lim as lie passed. Xuocked dowtf* mce, the foremost ranks of his pur. -uers reached him, and the sounds rom the pack that swarmed over him vere horribly wolf "like iu their vicious, 'ess. He was up again, and lurly form forced us way out from thi rotvd, and piuliug and SLug-jerinp, ■tumbled on lo tlie feuce close io the ■uter cairiage piildoek. Leaning ,'.iirist it, Liie niiin t'acod his pursuers md appealed for mercy. "1 e.ui't pay you, boys, for 1 haven't 'he money,'' he j.id. " Give me a ehituce, boys !" A ain of blows Wis the answer, and rics ot " Kili him!" " Deal it out to .im" were raised. Oue man vlio is said to have invested tlie sum if Js with the defaulter, but whose ferocity was out of all proportion to the imount of his paltry loss, climbed over -he fence, mid, dealing the defenceless van a terrible blow on tue back ol tue seek, felled him to the ground amid tie Merciless feei of his mad and coward y issnilants. Here he was beaten and iticked whilo the crowd fought overlain ike dogs. The end soon came. In. sensibility relieyed him, and death uercifully followed quickly. Tl;e ■lorror of the whole dreadful incident ■fas relieved by two or three rays of .rue humanity andeourago supplied by the pluck and love of fair play of ieveral young men, two of them wellmown boxers, who risked their lives at »he hands of the ungoyernable crowd to save the life of the man who, by ■rant of moral principle, had caused the that ondod iu his dreadful loath They floored men right and ieft, but scores were kicking at the loomed wretch on the ground, who had io hope of succour. When the police forced their way into the crowd the man was dead, and nothing remained jut to carry his corpse lo the casualty room.