CHARGE OF MURDER.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 August 1922, Page 4

CHARGE OF MURDER.

WELL-KNOWN FARMER ARRESTED, DEATH OF ELDERLY MAN. INCIDENT AT A DANCE. By Telegraph.—Press Associativa. Christchurch, Last Night. Samuel Holland, aged 35, a member of a well-known Ashburton fanning family, has been arrested at Ashburton on a charge of the murder of James Gill, aged 62, a farm laborer, who had been a well-known figure in the Ashburton district for the past forty years. The facts appear to be that about one o’clock last night a number of men wefte standing outside the Victoria Hall, Ashburton, where a dance was in progress. Gill rode up on horseback and in dismounting remarked that his horse was fond of music. It is alleged that Holland thereupon stepped out from the bunch and hit Gill, knocking him down. Gill picked himself up and asked who had struck him, whereupon Holland, it is said, stepped out again and struck Gill a second time. Gill fell to the ground in the middle of the roadway and did not rise again. Holland wentj away and some of the others of the party propped up Gill in a doorway, thinking he would soon come round, and one of them took his horse away to stable it. Half an hour afterwards this man returned, and on examining Gill came to the conclusion that he was dead, and he sent for the police and a doctor. The latter pronounced life extinct. It is stated that earlier in the day Holland and some friends were at the Chertsey Hotel, when Gill rode up. While Holland’s party were at the bar it is alleged Gill came in and called out: “Three cheers for the man who" killed Michael Collins.” Holland, or one of his friends, retorted: “You are a de Valera are you!” Then there was a scuffle between Holland and Gill, but. they were separated, and Gill then left. Holland will appear in Court this morning on a charge of murder