THE EKETAHUNA TRAGEDY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4038, 15 February 1892, Page 2

THE EKETAHUNA TRAGEDY.

The Inquoßti.. v ;: •'■''■'.

Indication of Blood on a shirt. Ino.oiry Adjourned aad Prisoaero Remanded.

An inquiry into the circumstances attending the death of John Dalton, who was found at Eketahunn on Friday morning; with his throat outand' a wound in the back; was held -before Colonel Roberta, Coroner, and the following jury on Saturday afternoon; -Messrs A, Anderson' (Foreman), T. Bayliss, W, Bayliss, T. Parsons, M. Nielsen and E, Tomlinson,'

The body of the' deceased' Baying been viewed, - Inspector Thompson, wlio »as conducting the proceedings on behalf of the police, requested His Worship to open the B.M. Court for a few minutes before .proceeding further with the' inquest, as 'two prisoners were in custody, ohatged oh suspicion witlrthe murder of Dalton, whom lie would like dealt with.

His Worship agreed to this; course being adopted,

Charles Smith mid Charles Harrison were then charged with the murder of John Dalton. Neither of the men made imy statement, and they were remanded till .Friday, the 19th inst. ' •

The jury having been charged, the following evidence was taken : Frank deposed: 1 am' a sheep-farmer residing at Ta« ataia, on 'the Alfredton road, I was proceeding out to Tawataia between 7,80 and 8 o'olock on Friday morning in company with Mr W. R. Bone, I Baw the brothers Smith a few yards in front of me, who said there was a man lying with his throat cut on the side of the road,' I rode up to the. fence- and found a man lying there. I immediately turned my horse round and went' for Constable Boache. I went baok with hira to where the man was lying. He was not then dead. Wo found a deep gash on the left side of his throat. He was mumbling to himself quite unintelligible. Constable Roache proceeded jo stitch up the wound in the throat. After dressing his wound we took the coat and shirt off the man, and. lifting him up discovered another wound on the left aide, from which some substance >was oozing, I remained with him till he died, when m removed the body to the Town Hall. Jt would be about an hour from the time \we/found- him till he died. I saw the two ucoused in company with th'e'deceased at the Railway Hotel on the previous night between, eleven and twelve o'clock, I saw them drinking I together and saw them'.leave the hotel in oompany with the deceased, Ajuror: Were the"acoused under the influence of liquor?' • Witness: Slightly; the deceased was mrire'sd than the accused, who were drinking beer, Mr Elliston was present, : The accused and deceased wonld.be there about twonty minutes. They. seemed to be old friends, of some years standing, and were quite friendly, Constable Roache, sworn, deposed: I remember the last witness calling me out of the station just after eight yesterday morning. In oonsequenoe of what he told me I provided myself with some flesh needles and silk and proceeded up the-Alfredton Road. Arriving there I found a man with bis head against tho fence- about five chains up the road from the railway gates. I saw blood on the man's dothing, I found a out in his throat about three inohes long, from which blood was issuing:' He; was alive but I could not understand what he said. I sponged the wound arid put five stitohes in and dressed it with a pad saturated with carbolio oil, As his clothes were saturated with blood' we cut them off and the last witness gave me a shirt. While doing this we discovered another wound on his left side. He died about an hour after I arrived, I had the bodv carried to the hall. In consequence of information reoflived 1 proceeded to the Mangaone where, I arrested the aocuaed Charles Smith first, I read the oharge but he made no statement, I arrested Harrieon a few minuteß after- He made no statement to me, but said a few minutes after, "A nice thing to go into town and then be charged with murder the neift morning." Several others were present when I arrested thorn, and searched their bunks in their presence, lex amined carefully their clothing. One shirt seems to have a slight indication of blood. The shirt was claimed by Harrison, I found a pocket knife open, lying on the table. This wa,s qlaimed by Smjth, 1 ajsp found a large knife or dirjt in, a little bag under his bed (produced), It was in the sheath,. I found 18s 6Ju.in the pocket book produced, I found also a razor, etc I examined the articles produced but could discover no traces 'of blood about them, They appeared to bein good order, I found a rabbit skin purse in deceased's pocket and alpiife. There, was no money in the purse, but I found a storekeeper's receipt, I have no previous knowledge of the deceased, I saw the deceased ou the previous evening about 7.50 ooming into town, about three miles on the Alfredton Road. i They were working for Mr George, of Alfredton, and occupied the same tent.

By a juror: I found a pooket knife on'tbe" aqoused UarrJßpn. William Hutcnisbnsworn stated: lam a laborer. I recognise the'b'o'dy of deceased as John Dallon, I have known him for - the last' twelve months, He,came from Lincolnshire. By a juror'; It tibuld' be'arJoiit 10 o'ofock When.ye had drinks together'. The deceased'paid'for some'flrjiiks, and said he had come from Mauriceville that day where lie had been working for four weeks at £2 a week.

By a juror i I did not know what money he had.

Dr Beard deposed; I made a.post nwlmi examination of the body of deceased; John Daltopl The clothing ,was pupil stained \yith bfood." He had also on boots aiij) epx, which were damp, I then madeTa superficial examination of the body, which was that of a man about 85 years of age, well nourished. The height of the body was tt'uuutufl; ?"■ chest Win. There were no old scars about the body oi' marks. On tha left side of the'neelf starting from .Jiah* an inch above {he cfjntpe of tbs'breastEioqe and extending ■■■tymfis and onwards, to the left side> waft clean cut of 2 and 6-Bths iuqlics in length, caused by a sharp'instrument, suoh as a knife, which out through the stermio mastoid'muscle, the shyroid gland, and the Ant part of the windpipe, about 78tbs of an inch in diameter'. Within the hore of the windpipe there was a small effusion of blood. The wound its'elf contained 'dotted blood, Inextfound'a' woUndfon" the leftside half dp focli in diameter, between the which some eubtaneousfat protruded, Over {he right. - eyebrow 'was \ a,briiise.

evidently made -wry recently, about the size of'a lite shilling piece. There were also two small superficial cuts on the bridge of the nose, evidantJy produced by SDrae blunt instrument, suoh as a fall on to a'log of wood, Cross - examined by Inspeotor Thompson: Neither of the knives produced in all probability would have made the wounds in the [neck, or if they had been used, a great amount of force tnusthave been given to the blotvs,. I found ofi)exaiming the deotaaed that inflamum* tion of the bowels-badiißgTrtron the left side, but nil ihe other portions of the body were in a perfectly healthy condition. The stomash .contained some' digested meat, amongst other things.) In my opinion, death resuited .from loss of blood, aided by inflammation of, the boweb, exposure ond exhaustion. The wound in the neok would not have directly caused death, but the one in the side would be quite sufficient to kill, The wounds might have been self-inflicted, but from their nature it was very improbable, Spine few hours must have elapsed since the inflictiou of the wound, and the discovery of the body. This being all the evidence available, Inspeotor Thompson appliedfor an adjournment till Thursday rooming next, the 18th hist,, at 10 a.m., which was granted.

Later Particulars.'

Eketahoha, Monday.

The murder case is still the allabsorbing topic, and will continue so for some time.' The inquest of Saturday threw very little more light upon'tue matter, Inspeotor Thompson, Detective Herbert and Constable Roaohe aro conducting searching investigations, and are being assisted by several residents. They yeaterday prooeededto the camp of the two men arrested on the Mangaone road, and there found a shirt with what is thought to be blood upon it, Smith and Harrison, the men arrested, have made no statement, The former appears to be very' much agitated, aim is pacing his cell from morn till night, but the latter manifests the coolest indifference. The police are continuing their search to.day.