DEATH OF TE KOOTI.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4397, 19 April 1893, Page 3

DEATH OF TE KOOTI.

[By..Telegrapli.-Pres9 Association,)

;. ■■'■■'■■■^i''^Auckland, Tuesday.' : Te Kooii died ut seven last night at Ohiwa, The death of To Kooti quietly in his brd is not the kind of death prepared for him, three and twenty years ago, says the N.Z.Times. In July of 1869 he suddenly, appeared at the bead of n land- I .of escaped prisoners in iho Bchoouor. Rilloman off tho coast of Povorty he defeated overy party sent to effect his capture, arid ow pod into tho Uriwera country, Titokowuruiwas raiding the west ! coast, : jb£Hau Haus were exceedingly troublesome,'tho-Colonial Forces and Native 1 contingents were apparently overmatched, tho Government was struining;-:.every A nervo. to retain someAif Atho British tfoopsjf :;Ati- ihia'."-: crisis To; Kooti suddenly ■appeared"., at the head of his,woll-armed band,- equipped by plundering in tho military stores at the- He acquired a commanding : iufluonco as a ' prophet '. . .ind-.fanatic, aud in his first encounter™ with the. parties sent to capture himl he established a great reputation fori skilfuhstrategy, There was a great! alarm, : throughout tho Colony, whichH !was Suddenly deepened by the newsl 'of; the.Poverty Bay massacre. ■>' Issuing, from his hiding place, Te Kooti descended upon the unhappy settlement-., in . the dead of the night and massacred everything before him--men, women, and children, Thirtytwo whites and a number of Maoris! perished in this desperate, hideous,! well-planned raid,, the accounts ofl which sent a thrill of horror through' the Colony/ 1 :.-: ■;.^:-"f;> i .lhewurderor3".wofo;'followedby Ropata.- withA.his; ; Ngatiporous but managed to escape by lowering themselves ■■ down™ a'steep; cliff, -and finally. ■ gotAclear'A awayA toAHhe Uriwera country A ; . To. Kooti.. afterivards ':£' pitchedffhisSA'campU: near Lake Taupo; frequently making raids on;-all.'sides;- -Finally■ after"much' fighting.he was reduced to a scoto or two of followers and hunted from glen to glen, .with ai reward of £5,000 offered., for;'■ his'-capture,.,- For months be led life, vtloubliug: and turninglpAliunted out of lair, seeing his friends, fall on overy ,side, losing : .wife iando ho v: still avoided oapture; j : At last, he -broki through tho tbila/and getting into tho King Country, got shelter behind the Aukati line, and was heard of no more till:1888, wben;-Mr:Bryce .included hitn as'tie.last'pf.-.tbe outlaws in. tho goneralawneßtyK ; A.; S ■ : ;;Tefi;£yeflrß'' ago' 'there ■" was''' a slight;'outburst of indignation, But public radically changed since the-1870 days when MrFox so vigorously and accurately represented it—generally recognised that Mr Bryce.had done wisely.. After all' to forgive is Divine.'■ Strangely enough the outlaw, even after the amnesty, contrived to bo a'menace to the peace of certain districts,; The trouble that , he gave, the excitement he caused, bis arrest on ono occasion, tho movements 1 of small bodies of constabulary, recalled the terrible history of 1869-70. But it was merely a reproduction in miniature without the danger which attended tho larger presentment, Pub--1 lie opinion realised tho alteration of i the twenty-four years j in the brother- ' hood, of tho races Te Kooti was for- ' gotten,'A His peaceful doatb simply recalls the memory of one of the most ' stirring episodes of the warlike past,.