A MEMORABLE EVENT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 251, 16 October 1908, Page 4

A MEMORABLE EVENT.

0£ JTlil- MAORI JVAR. _ BOIU XiLl ' DJii: S)2 J. H Walker, of Waifaw#, supples with the folio,viiig narrative °i the Tc Ngutu-o-te-Meuu engagement, o\er Which there has lately been considerable controversy. _\lr. Walker took part in the engagement, and with nis skull partially dov- j H by a .Maori's musket, remained in ine nusli all ni'dit. It will he remembered that ilr. Walker combatted ilr. Sha- ahan'.s account of the death of 1 i on 'I .'tnpsUv in a recent issue of tho Mr Walker writes;—

Oil the march through the lmsh we came upon a n.- :ve watch hut, .a small I (belter on th • track, in which an infant was sle , mg, a,id w3io was killed 'by one of f Ivwpapa, 0 r friemllies. As ive marehc along wo came upon a lad about ten years old. Further on we came tc a smull creek; this ;vas near the pa (stronghold) in the vicinity of which was a small clearing, on which i fttoo two largo, rata trees. While we ' we: . there

A COXTINTOrs FIRE vas kept up by the enemy. The loss to our side was becoming serious. Hero T saw our commanding officer (Col. Thos. Macdonnoll) and Major Von lempsky holding a consultation, regardless of the danger thev were in. My attention was drawn from them by a comrade falling to the ground, shot through the head. Shortly after this I heard groan's I ti.«i crossed to the top side of the elcfiring, and found one of Yon's men wounded jn the thigh. While trying to convey him to the bush, Anderson came to assist me. The sergeant received a flesh wound and retired, but he quicKly returned and received two more slight wounds. Lieutenant Rowan then came to assist me, and just as that brave officer and I were stooping to pick the wounded man up hi: (Lieutenant Rowan) was

SHOT THROUGH THE JAW, and fell backwards to the ground. I then started to convey him (Rowan) to tlhe bush, and was immediately assisted by Sergeant Anderson and others Lieutenant Rowan whs placed m the hands of Rev. Father Hollands, the doctor, and officers. I then returned to the wounded man. By this time several men had gathered round the foot of one of the trees taking cover. 1 glanced upwards and saw a flash from a gun or rifle, and told the men. They at once left their position and went into the bush. Major Von Tempskey, who was a short distance from me, was trying to rally thoso oi us who w«re near at hand. His words were to this effect: "We are losing our men and doing nothing; men, follow me!" We made a rush as one man, when, alas! POOR YON FELL, A CORPSE.

This 'caused a short panic amongst us. Some of tlie men made for the bib*li, towards the direction from whence we had come. J then weat back to the wounded man whom I had left. Jle yelled out that i was murdering him. This was. - tl n doubt, owing to the pain he was suffering from his wound. Lieutenant Hunter called out, "Take cover, men." He was standing at the edge of the bush. I did not obey iiis order, but made another attempt to get the poor wounded man over tli« log. Lieutenant Hunter called out to me to take cover, remarking Owt I was too foolhardy. Me spoke to me in a:i angry tone, and started towards me, saying that lie would assist me. Alas, poor fellow! Ere be reached me

HE FELL A CORPSE, iieing shot through the head by someone in tll-e tree. About the same time t'he wounded man was shot dead. ] then went towards tllie bush. Here J met Captain Buck coming into t r ne clearing He asked me where poor Von's body was. I showed him, and as we Vnifs l)odv. die I. a jr. i.., 1, ~' j ; se a; i.'. right side IMs mv.1,1 aiuck in ike ground in front of my left foot. 1 turned him over on his back, and asked, where he was hurt. Imagine my feelings wihen I found that he was dead. [ lifted 'him up and started to CONVEY HTM TO THE BUSH. j and was soon assisted by (feorge llundy and others. I went back to tire flearing and fetched his (Captain Buck's) sword, and brought it to the I"ish and handed it to Jim Walden. Here I saw Captain Roberts and Lieutenant Hirtzel standing by poor Buck's body. Captain Roberts ordered us to leave the body and take care of ourselves. II demurred' at this, and Roberts struck mo on the shoulder twice with his sword, bidding me to obey orders. T then went back to the clearing for my rifle, having laid it down the moment poor Buck fell, J also picked up tile captain's cap and took the captain's handkerchief as something for remembrance of that .<ad event. I then had

A LAST LOOK AT POOR VOX. Upon arriving at the spot where I '•ad last left poor Lieut. TTunter. I saw several men stooping over his body. Tliis was long after Hunter liad been shot. One of them (an elderly man) ■was trying to take a ring off Hunter's linger. I asked them what tliev were doing, and the elderly man said be knew tbe Hunter family, 3ie baring worked /or them. He wished to take the ring to the brother (Major Hunter). 1 asked for a knife. He banded mo' one. I then cut the fleshy part of the finger, took off the ring, and gave knife and ring to iSie same man in tlic presence, of other men. Shortlv after this 1 HEARD SCREAMS OF A CHILD. [ made towards the . sound. As I turned the corner of the pall I saw a small Maori cliild just inside the entrance of the pab. J took it by the arms, and lifted it ontaide the pah, and endeavored to pacify it. George Dore canre up to me and asked vviliat I hail got. II said a prize. Tbe more we strived to console tile little mite tbe worse it cried. We saw three Maoris coming towards us. I raised my ride to fire at, them. Dore. seeing they were friendlies, tapped niv rifle, thus ! causing (lie bullet to go astray. One ) of the Maoris called out in broken Eng-1 1 lish not to fire as they were friends. Wl»vn thev got elose to n*. one of them said Hie knpw the child's father, who was a rebel chief, r thou went to have another look at the pah. and as I reached the entrance r HEARD A THI'D AXD A SCREAM. Tpon looking round I saw one of th« Maoris striking the poor child on the he?»«J witli the butt i-nd of his gun. T rushed upon the brute. and threw him to the ground, -but. was soon overpowered by the other two Maoris. I saw tlie poor battered child still gasping, nnd 1 bogged Dore to shoot it out of its misery. V>ore shot the Hhild and ended its pain. The three Maori* then made towards the bush when; [ had last ff»en Lieutenant Hirtzel. Captain Roberts and others. Dore and 1 were now alone. A few minutes later a Maori sneaked out of the pah with a gun in his hands. He struck at my head. I parried the blow as best I could, hut was FELLED TO THE GROUND.

lloiv long. I lay then; X know nut When I came to ]> saw a .Maori lying dead at my side. Coporal Lumsden was kneeling by me. 11l- said that lie saw the attack made upon ine. and as the Maori was about tu give me il final Mow. he liroil and killed the .Mauri. 1 tried to get upon niv feet, but was ton weak and shaky to do so without tile aid of Lumsden. He 'held me against the fence until J was able to walk. Dore came up to assist me. Lumsden said that Lieutenant llirtzel. Hastings and others were in th c bush not for away. Lumsden then left us. ft was no\v getting dark. Dorc ami .T afterwards left the pah. \\ e had not gone far when a VOLLEY WAS SIA'T WniZZIXO THTiOUOH TIIK IJCSII.

\\V laid down, expecting another volley, We heard someone giviinr orders to take cover anil prepare "for Hie worst. This encouraged us to proceed fltrUivr. "We soon came upon Lieutenants Ilirtzell, Hastings and nJioufc Hi others. No sooner had we joined tlieni than a volley was tired in our midst, wounding Lieutenant Hastings. Corporal Lumsden. Dore and about nine others. Lumsden was shot through the mouth, and Dore through the arm. I tied up Dore's arm up with Captain Buck's handkerchief. T( was entirely owing to Lien!.. Hirtzell's eimlness (h iI the wlhole of the wonndi-i v/ere rot lett lo the sainc fate as poor Lieuten-

ant Hastings, Captain Palmer died as he was being conveyed through Hit bush and was then left. J was nut able myself to keep pate Willi Ilk others, so was LEFT BEHIND. Shortly after this I came across m.yi friend, George Liinisdcu. lie was leaning against some hnslles. 1 slaved wiill liim until lie expired. The poor fellow died in great pain. Heavy tuvng ..as going on a.l our left sonic distance oil', t'iie whole of the time. As I wont along I' came upon Dure. He iiail giccii up through weakness, owing to loss of blood. 1 .stayed with liim until fe rallied a little. Then we proceeded together for a time. lie again became too weak to travel, and he fell to til.' ground. 1 was too weak myself to lift him to his feet, so sat down by his side. It had been (lark for some time, and we had LOST ALL SIGNS OF OUR COMRADES.

lie laid his head on my lap and said he was done for. After a time 1. asked how lire felt, but received lio reply. He had become quite cold. 1 thought he was dead. At last I left him and crawled along as best I could, sometimes other times on my hands and knees. A-t times my hand would grasp a naked 'bayonet, then a haversack, or a cap; this gave me Hopes, as I believed f was on the right track. After proceeding ill tills maimer some time, 1 heard a challenge "who goes there?'' in a very low tone. I laid very quiet for some time. At last 1 heard voices in broken whispers, in my i own language. I could also hear t'ne ' nasal organs of some wiio were ill dreamland. I then ventured to move toward the voices, and found one of my own company, and was told by aim that there were

A LARGE NUMBER OF MEN j ALONG THE TRACK, and that as soon as tile mumi rosy we would start for home. I was glad to lay down, being done up, what with the mardh through the bush and rivers m the morning and night, and the fatigue through the day from the effects ot the ,blow on my head. It was little wonder. Had it not buen for a drop of spirits .which was passed along to me from Mr. James Livingstone, I doubt if I would even have been spared to write ibis true report. During the night v e beard four shots from Rrevoiver. then a pause; then one shot. This 1 liuieu: was the last of poor Jlastin 0 5. After this the

NATIVES WERE YT.I.LTXG AND 'SHOUTING in the direction from wneiice tile shots were fired. The ground fairly shook 'from the tread of the dances of the wild Maoris. WUien the moon rose we started for Waihi, and by daylight we had reaciied the clearings. Thou for the tirst time -we saw about 70 to SO men and officers, including Cap la hi Roberts, Lieutenant Hirtzell, aud Mr J. Livingstone, and the three Maoris whom I had seen near the pah. We arrived at Waihi on the Still day of September, 1808, at abouit 9 a.m.

1 HAD BEEN REPORTED DEAD by several who had arrived in cam]) the night lieforc, some of whom asserted that they saw 1 nl- fall a corpse. I was subsequently requested to attend at the officers tent to report what I knew about the late Captain 'Mink's death. There were several oliiievs present, amon'g wJiom \rere Major Hunter. Captain Goring. Lieiitentaut IVivtzell, and others. I cannot say who the others were. Lieutenant Ilirtzell Iced nie if I) would l«t them have the late Ca.ptain Buck's cap to send W'tli Other things to Ill's liuck 1 pave it up at once. Father Rollands s|)oke very kindly to ine for having rescued J.ic-.-tenaiit Rowan, and having nc k , 'd t'liroughout in the manner 1 had. I'c. as a token of respect, presented !- e with a prayer book (Mass Hook) Serjeant O'Brien was present also.