A MYSTERIOUS MURDER.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1761, 10 July 1888, Page 4

A MYSTERIOUS MURDER.

Melbourne, July 4,

The usual quietude of the township > of Elmore, or, as it was called in earlier days, Runnymede, not far from Sandhurst, was rudely duturbed by the discovery made on Saturday that a man had been murdered in its vicinity. The namt of the murdered man is not known, nor has it yet been ascertained what weapon was used or who was his assasin. The only certainty about the matter is that the victim wa§ wilfully killed, for the blow which battered his skull in must have been well aimed and intended to deprive him of life. About the end of May a tramp or swagman made his appearance in Elmtre and took up his abode in a hut about a quartwr of a mile from the valley. The hut is frequently inhabited by sundowners and ths unknown man differed little from other« of that class. He appeared to be about forty-six years of age, and his accent showed that he was a native of Ireland. He was last seen alive on the 6th June by Mrs Andrews, a boarding-house keeper, who fixes the date by the Sandhurst races, which were held on that day. The man came to her house on the 6th June, and asked for a piece of bread, and in return for this he cut up some firtwood for Mrs Andrews. On Monday la»t four woodcutters took up their abode in the hut. That afternoon one of them (Duncan MsLean) went to the log and bush fence dividing the paddock from the lane to pick up dead leaveß to light the fire. He there found a bran bag hidden amongst the logs of the fence, and on opening it discovered some wearing apparel saturated with blood. He reported the discovery to Senior Constable Salts, who is in charge of the Elmore Police Station, and that officer commenced a Bearch. On Saturday afternoon Senior Constable Axtile found the body of a man in an advanced state of decomposition, hidden in the fence. The body was lying face downwards between two logs, and was covered by an old blanket, which in turn was hidden by dead leaves and dried grass. The body was omly thirty-six feet from the hut, and the wonder is that four men had lived in the hut for nearly a week without discovering th» presence of the decomposing corpse. The body was nude with the exception of an old shirt, and it presented a shockicg appearance. The greater part of the right aide of the skull was completely broken in, and six large pieces of bone were almost detached. The police kept guard over the body all night, and Dr Taafe arrived from Rochester and held a post mortem examination. It is his opinion tiiat the man was murdered three or four weeks ago, and that the fractures must have been caused by heavy blows from some metal implement. The man had evidently been murdered whilst lying on his left side in his bunk, probably while asleep, for there are no evidences of a struggle. The body was then seemingly carried through the back of the hut (where three slabs had been removed), and hidden in the fence close by. The clothing found in the bag was stained, either by being used to wipe up the gore or by havisg been placed under the bunk when the man went to bed.

An incident which may assist in clearing up the mystery is related by Wm Brooks, a slaughterman, who states that be gave a sheep's pluck to a man answering to the description of the murdered man about four weeks ago. A few mornings after Brooks was returning from the slaughter) ard about five o'clock, and he saw a man eoming from the hut in Mr Eobertson's paddock T«ry hurriedly. The man had a swag, and got oyer the fence close to where Brooks was, and the latter noticed that the s' ranger had lost his left hand. He wore dirty moleskiu trousers and a dark coat, and the stump of the left hand was covered with dirty rags. The police are pursuing the inquiry, but the absence of motive for the crime and the time that has elapsed since the occurrence, make their task a difficult one.

HOW THE SUEZ CANAL IS WORKED. The number of ships in the canal at the same time is sometimes very great. On December Bth last, for example, fifteen steamers cleared the canal, of which seven were outward bound. The previous day nine cleared, and the day before seven, so that during the Bth some thirty ships were probably at one time in the canal. Sometimes there are as many as forty, and all are under the control of the French gentleman sitting at his desk in an upper chamber at Terreplein. 'J he method of working is excessively simple- Against the wall at one side of the room is a narrow shelf or platform, aloag which runs a groove. At intervals this trough or groove has deep recesses, and at two places these recesses are of a larger size. This trough or groove represents the canal. The recesses are the sidings. The larger intervals are the Great Bitter Lake and Lake Timseh. When a vessel is about to enter the canal at, say, the Suez end, a small toy boat, or model three inches long, is chosen to represent her. A group of these model ships stands ready beside the model canal, each furnished with a ifng. About 40 have the English fiig, ten ,or a dozen the Preach Hag, and so ou with o\,h,f

nationalities. As the steamer comes up and her name is known, it is written on paper, and placed on the toy boat. The whole number of ships thus actually in the canal at any moment can be seen at a glance; and, as the telegraphic signals give notice, the toy boats are moved along, or placed in a siding, or shown traversing one of the lakes at full speed. Signals are sent from the office to the various gares, prescribing the siding at which each ship must stop to let another meet and pass it. The official who is on duty keeps the models moving as he receives notice, taking care, when perhaps two ships, going in opposite directions, are both nearing the same siiJing, to give timely warning to the pilots in charge, by means of the signal balls and flags, at each station under his control from the office, and to direct which of the two is to lie up and which is to proceed. Barring accidents, the whole arrangement goes like clockwork. The clerk can read off in a moment the name, tonnage, nationality, draught, and actual situation cf every steamer; he can tell what pilot she has on board, what is her breadth of beam, wha K rate she is moving at, and everything else which has to be known about her; and he is able, without an effort, to govern all her movements, to prescribe the place where she is to pass the night, and the hour at which she is to get under weigh in the morning, although he does not fee her, and probably never saw her in his life. The fees which vessels pay for passing through the canal are often enormous. Some of the large liners of the Peninsular and Oriental, or the Orient service, pay as much as £IBOO in making a single transit. For every passenger half a napoleon, or 8s 4d, is charged. Three-fourths of the ships that go through the canal are English.