THE RUNANGA MURDER.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 November 1917, Page 5

THE RUNANGA MURDER.

ALLEGED MURDERER CAUGHT. DRAWS REVOLVER ON DETECTIVES STOLEN MONEY RECOVERED. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Christchureh, Last Night. This evening, about 8.56, two Christchurch detectives' arrested a man, who gavo his name as William Eggers McMahon, and he was immediately charged at the Policd Court with committing the recent Runanga murder and robbery. Defective 4bbott, who made the arrest with Detective-Sergeant, Connolly, made the following statomont to newspaper reporters: "To-day." he said, "a telegram came from the coast, containing some important information, and, acting on it, we made a diligent search for a woman in Christchureh, who was supposed to be the wife of McMahon. It took us some time to locate her, but wo eventually did so, and shortly afterwards we found out that a man answering to McMahon's description had beeseen in her company at Ip.m. to-day. CATCHING THEIR MAN. "Wo then searched the town, and care, fully watched all trains which left, especially the one which left for the ferry boat, We came back about b' p.m. to the Empire Hotel, and there was McMahon having dinner with tho woman.After the couple had finished their meal, MoMalion left the hotel alone about 6.30 p.m., and Detective Connolly and I accosted him, and brought him to the detective office, telling him we had heard that lie had come from tho coast, and that we wanted him to account for his movements. McMahon had a small brief' bag in his hand when we accosted him, and this he carried with him to the detive office. On the way there he remarked that he had been over to the coast buying land, We asked him what he had in the bag, and he replied: 'Oh, just a few odds and ends,' but he seemed ' disinclined to let us open it. In fact, he refused to. We told him that wc wanted to see what was in it. McMahon was sitting on n. chair in the detectives' office, with the bag on his knee. He opened it slightly, and slid life hand in, and began fumbling in tho bag, - JUST IN TIME.

"Wo were both watching him very, closely, and suddenly Connolly grabbed McMabon's hand and pulled it out of the bag, na he had his suspicion that all was not right. It wag just as well that he did ao, for MeMahon had a ,38 automatic Colt, fully loaded, in his band. We wrested the pistol away from him, and I hand-cuffed him. THE STOLEN MONEY. "Besides tlio pistol there was in the bag a quantity of ban': notes in bundles of 20, tied in elastic bands, just as tbcy arc sent out from the bank. Altogether there would bo about £IOO or ao in the bag. Wo placed MeMahon in the watch house, and went back to the Empire Hotel, where his supposed vrife was. We took the woninn to where she and MeMahon had been staying, which was at a boarding house in Gloucester street, just opposite East Christchurch, and her* Connolly and I recovered a large numbei of banknotes, silver and copper coins. These were all in a steel trunk. Thi banknotes were wrapped up in paper, and there ware a r.nnber of brand nev( £5 notes still in book form, as thej are before they are issued by the banks These new notes were all identifiable and we identified them as part of tlu proceeds of the robbery.

"The money lias not been counted sc far, but fm:n nil appearances it aeorm that it is prao'-i illy intact." In the course of a further conversation, a press representative was IoM that besides the pistol r.isd money in MeMahon's brief bag, there were about 100 loose cartridges for the pistol. DESCRIPTION OP ACCUSED. There is not the slightest reason to supposo that McMahon is a returned soldier. He is believed to have been about Chrifitcburch for a year or so, and lin.'l frequently travelled to the West Coast. From papers in his possession, he may be from America. •, McMahon 'is a strongly built man, apparently about .'JO to 3*5 years of age. Whc :i charged at the police station ho nil Id nothing. He was examined by the police doctor, but it i< understood no marks were found upon him. Fc will appear at the Magistrate's Court in the morning, when he will be remanded. HOW HE WAb TRACKED. CLEVER PIECE OF DETECTIVE WORK. Greymouth, Last Night. The nllegcd murderer arrested in Christclmrcli, was traced frota hern by Detective Ward tn Hokitika, where he hired a motor to go Otiraon Monday. He had been in Grey mouth' four sn'o'ltfis ago, posing as a travelling ngent tor agricultural, instruments, but he' was libsent until four days before, the murder, when ho left the hotel and disappeared, saying lie was going to Chrlstchurch, He returned Again after the races, and was shadowed by the police till the arrest. A candle found in his. room in the ho-' tel stuck in the floor of «, polish tjn lid which Was found in the whare near tho sccno of the murder, put the police on his track.