The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1868. THE TARNDALE TRAGEDY.

We are enabled, by the courtesy, of Mr. Graham Greenwood, who arrived in town this morning by Holder's van, to lay before our readers authentic particulars of the terrible tragedy wliich has just been enacted at Tarndale. It appears that having lieen informed by Mr. E. Hope of the circumstances, Mr. Greenwood left Motueka Valiey on Friday last, taking with him Constable M'Farlane, and reached the Tophouse at 11 o'clock the same night. ( )n the fol-l.-.wing morning he cominued his journey to Tarndale. collecting by the way, all who, having hor.es, were able to accompany him, to act as jurors on the inquests. He reached the Accommodation House, about two miles from the scene of the murder at Tarndale, a! out 7, p.m.. -where lie found several other persons awaiting his arrival, w lio afterwards took part in the enquiry as witnesses. The next morning (Sunday) after an early breakfast, the party atari ed for Tarndale. Mr G'-eenwood having determined on holding • In-- inquest that day, though it was Sunday, as the bodies had already been dead four days, and the threatening aspect of the weather made it a matter of uncertainty whether any delay would not have rendered all travelling impossible. Half an hour took the parry to the spot where the body ofthe murdered man lay in one of the rooms of the station, carefully sewn up in a blanket. The jury then viewed the corpse, which was that of a man of about 30 years of age, strongly built, and about five feet five or six inches hi»h. Two wounds presented themselves, where the bullet had entered the buck below tlie right shoulder blade, and passed out below the ribs in front, about two and a half inches from the central line of the body. The face was not distorted, and presented the usual appearance of death from gunshot wounds. From the evidence taken it appeared that the deceased, who was a German, and known by tho name of ' German Charlie,' as well as by other aliases, which he ahvays allowed to be feigned names, wa3 working as brickmaktr's as-istant at Tarndale on Wednesday, the 2Dth uit. In the afternoon, according to the evidence of Charles Sparrow, the brickmaker who -was working -with him, Augarde (who was not personally known to witness), rode up. carrying a rifle on his left shoulder, and after making one or two ordinary remarks, enquired 'where all the chaps were?' to which Sparrow replied that they were all away from the station except German Charlie. He then rode on to the place where the deceased was at work, about 20 or 30 yards off, and Sparrow heard him say 'Charlie, I've a letter for you,' the words being followed by the report of a rifle, and looking up, he saw Augarde galloping past him as hard as he could go. Sparrow's first care was to see in which direction Augarde went, fearing that as the only witness of the crime, he would be the next victim. But seeing him galloping away at a distance, he then wsnt to the clay-pit, where German Charlie was working, and found him, curiously enough, still standing upright, and wounded as we have already described. He immediately told Sparrow that he was shot, mentioned Augarde as the man who had shot him, and asked to be taken to the house, towards which Sparrow carried him, until, overcome hy pain and weakness, he requested to be set down, saying that he was dying. With this Sparrow complied, and then went fbr assistance. When he returned with Messrs. Hope, Shrimpton, and Goble, he found him quite dead, not having moved to all appearance since he had last seen him. They had scarcely removed the body to the house when they saw a young man named Kemp riding from the direction of the Clarence, and on his coming up to the station he informed them that he had fust discovered the body of a man lying across the road, about .five miles off, at the junction ot the rivers Alma and Severn, having his brains blown out, with his right foot lying over the stock of the rifle, and his horse grazing at some distance off, the bridle having been removed from the mare's head, and carefully fastened up fco'tbecsaddle. They .at once, concluded this to be Angarde'f) body, which was afterwards pruved to be correct, and Mr Hope soon after

started with the news, to find the nearest magistrate, in order to hold the requisite inquiry. The various witnesses having given their evidence, the jury, of which Mr. Adolph Wiesenhavern was foreman, returned the following verdict: 4 That the deceased Charlie the German died from the effects of a gunshot wound, tlie bullet entering the back of his body below the right shoulder, and coming out below the heart, in front of the body, inflicted wilfully and deliberately by Ivanhoe Augarde.' Immediately after the inquest on German CharHe, a fresh jury having been sworn in, Mr Greenwood repaired to the spot where the body of Augarde lay, which presented a most horrible appearance, the whole of the roof of the skull having been blown off anl the brains scattered in every direction. After covering up the body in a. blanket, the jury returned to the Accommodation House, Wairau Gorge, and afcer a repast, which was much needed after 10 hours' fast, resumed the enquin r , which occupied until 11 o'clock that 1 night, and was concluded on the following morni ing, when they arrived at the following verdict, which, it will be seen, is tantamount to one of " Felo de se;" — " That the deceased Ivanhoe Stanley Augarde met his death by committing premeditated suicide, by blowing out his brains with a rifle." It appears tliat Charlie had been employed at Mr Carter's station on the Clarence for about 17 months, where he had frequent quarrels with Augarde, ami six weeks ago, had opened and shown a letter from Augarde to a young woman in the Wairau. to whom it is supposed that he was paying his addresses. Some time after they met and fought, without any decisive result, the fight being stopped. The..'? circumstances evidently rankled in Augarde's mind, who sought sati faction in the death of his antagonist, and conscious of the retributive justice wliich must inevitably follow upon his crime, had ■ a* evidently determined upon his own subsequent destruction, for a letter was produced by Percy Augarde, written by his brother the niglit before the murder, which plainly showrd this to be the case. The body of Charlie was to "be buried at Tarndale on Monday last ; that, of Augarde was left in charge of Mr Augarde, sen., who reached the scene on Sunday, and undertook its burial. The inquest was not concluded at all too early, for on leaving Tarndale it was almost a matter of a few minines whether the travellers or the fresh reached the crossing at the Rainbow iirst, for the river was rising rapidly. Theriver,however, having been crossed in rafety. the rest of the journey, in spite of the tempestuous weather which prevailed, was comparatively easy, and atter being detained a day by the raiu at the Tophouse, Mr Greenwood was enabled to resume his journeyto town. Mr Greenwood requests us to express his obligations to all those who assisted him in this painful enquiry, and especially lo Messrs A. Wiesenhavern and Gil lett, and we would also add that we learn from Mr A. Wiesenhavern that the jury desired to append to the verdicts an expression of their strong sense of Mr. Greenwood's exertions on the occasion.