FURTHER PARTICULARS. DEATH OF MRS. GRANT. Last Night.

Waikato Times, Volume XIV, Issue 1204, 16 March 1880, Page 2

FURTHER PARTICULARS. DEATH OF MRS. GRANT. Last Night.

There is every reason to l;elieve yesterday's attair was the result of a brutal murder, and that the bleeping and unconscious, man v>.is killed by one stroke, and tli.it a deliberate atteaipt was made to conceal the evidence ot the crime by burning down the house in which the deed was done last evening. All that is known of the mcmbeis of the family is that on Saturday night Grant travelled by a tram-ear fiom fcouth Dunedin to the corner of David -street, "« hence no doubt lie proceeded home. The next thing we hear in connection ■« ith the family is that at about 4 o'clock on Sunday morning a neighbour named Henry Hylon —who happened to be up for a few moments saw a light in one of the front rooms of the house. This was the fitting-room. From this till close upon 7 o'clock, Kobb, sem\, who lives in Lambeth Place, opposite, saw smoke issuing from the residence of the Grants. His son being 1 a member of the Fire Brigade, the father naturally roused him. After satisfying himself that the smoke \v;it> re.illy coming from, the house, Hobb, jun., donned his uniform, and ran across the street. He called to the inmates but got no answer. He tried the front door but found it locked, and went round at once to the back. At this time he was ceitain the house was on fire, as smoke wii issuing* from underneath the eaves, from the window and other place>. He found the back door open. Rushing in he went up the passage and into the bedroom, hearing as he did so a gurgling noise in the loom. Ho found the binoke t-o thick as to prevent hia seeing anything, and he lvid to go down on his knees. He had not made above a movement or two in this way ere he felt A BODY LYING ON THE HiOOE. Catchingr hold of it he dragged it out and placed it half-way in the isitting-room. As he moved it he heard groans which convinced him tlr.it the person was alive, and when he got it out he found Grant himself lying on the bed, but seeing he was quite dead and having got tho fire under, he did not move the body. At the head of the bed was an ordinary Americou axe which belonged to the house. Grant had a severe blow on the head, inflicted by this instrument, for it was coveied in blcod. Blood was also on the pillow and over the bed, and -•pattred over the wall which would have been made not by the isluup blade of an axe but by the butt. Dr Bro »vn states that there can be no que.stion that the Mow was given w hile Grant was quietly sleeping, and that it caused death im« madiately. Mrs Grant had three woundi inflicted nlso by a portion of the axe, other than the .sharp edge. Unuoubtedly it it had been inilioted whilo the woman was in bed, for she has bru&ies about her body and legs, and her night-dress was also burnt. Thus apparently she must have had a enscious interval after receiving the blows and made an attempt to g-et from the room. The baby had no blows up n it. Underneath the bed, after the blow had been struck, the axe was placed at the head of the bed, A lighted candle had been placed under the bed, and the clothes were partly burnt. The mattrevss was burned pretty well through, and a hole made in the floor. It is a strange thing that none of the ne'ghbom heard any noise. Tho parents of the deceased, living immediately in the rear, saw nothing of any of the family after between 3 and 4 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, and not the slightest sign about the house afterwards of any disturbance or struggle, and there is not the slightest reason to believe that robbery was committed. Mrs Grant's jewellery remained untouched on the chest of drawers, in the bedroom. Dr. Brown, when she was admitted, at once treated her wounds, and as the result of thi& during 1 the afternoon, she breathed more easily, and slight hepes were entertained of her possible recovering consciousness. She died at 12.30 to-day.

Hrrauxrr says woman is the Sunday o( num. A stormy Sunday- "=uc h t Iqq