THE WELLINGTON TRAGEDY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2532, 1 October 1890, Page 2

THE WELLINGTON TRAGEDY.

FURTHER PAKTieULAItS.

[per vkess association.]

Wellington, September 30. Further investigations show' that as the six youny; men were passing the Chinamen's hub sover.il Celestials /rushed out,one having a knife. The young men took to their heels, l>ut Smithy who had been ill, got left m the rear. On hearing him cry for help, the other five returned to the scene, and a general mekc ensued. Smith bled to death. One of those who took part m the stone^throwiiig afc the Chinamen's hut at the Lower Hutt last night states that the party consisted of Charles F. Hobbs, Henry Bolton, Walter Maidment, William Bowse, Edward England, the deceased, Thomas Smith, and another. They carried out their plans, and on being driven away by the Chinamen, Smith suggested that they should go across the bridges to the Chinamen they had visited early m the night. No sooner ssiid than acted upon. Stones were thrown for nearly five minutes, and then three Chinamen sprang out of the hedge, where they seemed to have been m hiding, and others of their race joined m. The young men ran away. Smith fell behind, being exhausted owing to a recent illness, and was caught by the Chinamen. He called out, "Help, they are sticking me." Hobbs, Bolton, and Maidment at once ran back, England following closely. They saw Smith lying on his right side, one Chinaman kneeling on his legs and another holding his head down, both, ifc is said, having knives m their right hands, i with which they seemed to be stabbing the prostrate'man. Hobbs struck one Chinaman with a heavy slip zail from the fence of an adjoining paddock, and struck another of the Chinamen, evidently the man now m the hospital, across the head and shoulders with it, upon which the Chinaman ran away towards the township: Smith was taken to Dr Welford's surgery, where it was discovered he was suffering from a punctured wound on the outer side of the left leg, which severed the main artery. It was the hoemorrhage from this that caused his oeath. Ihere were also two deep flesh wounds across the left forearm, not m themselves dangerous. Bra. Wilford and Whitehead, who attended the men injured m the last night's emente at the Hutt, havo, given their experiencee to the press reporters as follows:— , Dr Wilford says:—"About a quarter past eleven o'clock I was awoke with a tremendous noise outside my house. I looked ont, and saw a man whom I took to be a Maori running about, rubbing his hands and. yelling most excitedly, and there were two or three others at the gate. I asked the man what ho wanted, .but could not understand anything he said, and he went away with the others, who •were at the gate. About a quarter of an hour later, several other persons came through my gate, and on again looking out of the window I saw ft man lying on the gravel path near my surgery door. I asked what was the matter, and they said the man was hurt and bleeding very much. I said ' All right, I'll come down,' and hurried down to them, and could see m the moonlight that the man was very ill. They at once carried him in»o my surgery, and I found that ho was suffering from a wound m the left knee, probably caused by a knife, which had peiietratsd the popliteal artery and he had bled excessively. There were also- two ilesh wounds on his arm. The man was m a moribund condition, though be made an unintelligible .sound as though lie wanted to ..speak once after he mine into my surgery. I put brandy down his throat and did what I could f<n- him. b.jt he expired five minutes after they brouglitTitnr m, having bled to death. I then despatched one man for a constable and another for a stretcher, and they carried the body to the mother's house. Shortly after a messenger came down for me to go and see a Chinaman, who he said had his head cut open with a rail, but Dr Whitehead, my partner, attended the Chinaman." Dr Whitehead related his part m the matter as follows :—"I went down to see a Jhinaman at half-past twelve this morning at Kavanagh's old house at Waiwetu. I went into the kitchen and there found a Chinaman named Sam Coy and a mate, who said Coy had been injured. I asked him where he was hurt, and he took some bandages oft Coy's hettd, and I saw an incised wound about 3^ inches long, which might possibly have been caused by a sharp piece of wood. I could pass my finger half an inch inside the incision, and the skull was exposed. The man had bled a good deal. I stripped him, and discovered that he had severe contusions also on the left shoulder blade, the injury being such as to interfere with the movement of the arm. Just as I finished dressing him the police came m. The injured Chinaman could not speak English, but from the few words his companion was able to speak I gathered that some men had struck him down the road, proper arrangements were made, and I had him placed m a cart and sent to the Wellington Hospital, two mounted constables who had arrived from Wellington accompanying him. I went half vay along the road also myself. I do not think his injury of such a character as, under ordinary circumstances, would have a fatal effect.' Smith, the victim of the row, had been employed by Mr Splait, of "■Halcombe, where he had charge some months ago of a racehorse, from which he was thrown and sustained injuries that necessitated ,liis being confined m the Wangamu Hospital for a considerable time. A short time ago, however, he was well enough to come home, and had intended returning to Halcombe to-night to resume his duties there. He and his mother had last night been to his sister's at AHcetown to spend the evening, and whilst there several mates had called and asked him to go out. They then appear to have gone m the direction of Petone, and the occurrence we have related took place on their return. Smith was the support of his widowed mother, and the family had lived m Alicetown for many years. Detectives have been occupied all day investigating the row at the Hutt last night, but have not so far been successful m finding the knives used by the Chinamen on the victim Smith. At each of the Chinese quarters visited knives were found, except at the hub occupied by those m custody, and it is supposed that the latter m making their way to the residences of their brother Celestials after the row ended, either threw the knives m the river or have hidden them away. John Pelling is the name of the seventh :*wn concerned m the row. C. F. Hobbs, who >«?< w nearest the deceased when he was caugho h ¥ two of the Chinamen, states I that as soon as -a* latter got Smith down, one sat on His legs, nn( j was digging a knife into his left leg, wluu>.*j ie other was sitting on his breast and stabbing nuu j n the left arm. Hobbs struck one oi the Chiname.i with a stick he picked up on the road, and called to his mates for assistance. The latter came at once, and one of them ; he says, struck a Chiriky oft the back of the head with what he be]ieves to be a fence rail. This had the desired effect, as the Chinaman rolled over, and allowed Smith to get up. Hobbs also says that the Chinaman who was stabbing Smith's arms made ft rush at him, and tried to "knife him," but ho jumped aside and avoided the thrust. Walter England, one of the party, admits that he struck a Chinaman a severe blow on the head when he saw him stabbing Smitli. The weapon he twed ww «v stout

paling taken from an adjoining fence. Ho says he .first of all tried to push the Chinaman off, the.decoaaed, but finding he could not do so he hit him with the paling. The Chinaman he hit is the one who was brought into the hospital, but it is not expected that his wounds will prove fatal. The- wounds inflicted on Smith were very severe, and the bones laid bare. The wound ih the lei* was a stab, while the arm was slashed about and the coat also very much cut. '^