CRIMES AND SUICIDES.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 78, 27 March 1886, Page 5

CRIMES AND SUICIDES.

Some ingenious thief managed to steal £68 14s from Timaru Railway station on March 5.

Mrs Sheehan cut her throat at Tai Tapu, Canterbury, on March 17, but she is expected to live.

Thomas Eavanogh, 14 years of age, is in custody at Napier on charges of breaking into houses and stealing,

At the Oaraaru criminal sessions, Marjory Poole has been sentenced to one year's imprisonment for ill-treating her child. At Oamaru, on March 5, Mrs Johanna Croft waa committed for trial at the Supreme Court on a charge of incendiarism. The Dunedin Caledonian Society held a secret meeting on March 12 to consider the alleged defalcations by the late Secretary, which exceed £1,200. The Government offer a reward of £50 for the conviction of the persons who murdered the man whose body was found in the Waikato River above Mercer. Suicide season in Canterbury. John McNeill, a farm labourer, cut his throat on March 17, and died from the effects, about three miles from Methven.

A surveyor named George Dundas committed suicide on Sunday, February 28, at Palmerston North, by shooting himself in the chest. He had lot some time been afflicted with melancholia.

At Templeton, Christchurch, on March 11, a man named James Hampton committed suicide The deceased hung himself in the chaff house, He was a farmer, and was in monetary difficulties. At Halswell, Canterbury, a man named Heinrich Meihopt has been committed for manslaughter. He is said to have wilfully caused a collision between a trap he was driving and one containing a Mrs Dempaey and ,her child, with tho result that the latter was killed.

A Maori woman named HaengS Napu, who haa been missing at Wanganui since Monday night, 22nd inst,, was found drowned on the 25th inst. When lost eeen, she was under the influence of liquor, and was then crossing the bridge to the camping ground. It is rumoured that her husband had beaten her a few nights previously, but he denies this. A murderous assault was committed by a Chinaman at the Tamaki Hotel, Tahoraite, on March 17, on the waiter, a man named J. Wright. The Chinaman attacked Wright with a slasher, inflicting two severe wounds on the back of the neck and v one on top of the head. The injured man was taken to Woodville, where Dt Fushell dressed the wounds which are not so serious as at first believed. The Chinaman has been arrested. ' Ah Chew, a Chinaman who was discharged from the Napier Hospital on Tueß* day, March 16, hanged himself on Thursday, March 18. Deceased was leprous, and threatened suicide if discharged. On being sent away, he was given money to pay his railway fare to where hie father was living. Instead of going he went on Petane Beach, to an old disused shed, whore he was found this morning hanging ftfiUx the rafters. He had been in the Hospital since last July. Particulars to hand regarding a drowning case at Riverhead, which took place on Saturday, March 20, are aa follows:—Constable Foreman, who proceeded to investigate the affair, recognised the body as that of a woman who was well known to the police at Auckland under the name of Mary Houley. She was about 32 years of age. For some timo past she has been living with a gum-digger named Alfred William Slater. From the information furnished to the constable, there can be little doubt but that deceased, committed suicide. An inquest was held on March 22 at the Riverhead Hotel, by the coronor, A Bonar, Esq., and the jury, after hearing the evidence, returned the following verdict s— ''That deceased committed suicide whilst suffering from temporary insanity." About 6 aim., on Mar. 3, when the Hawea was about 20 miles from New Plymouth, a lunatic named Kayo managed to get through the port hole of the bath-room unobserved, went overboard, and was drowned. It appears that Kaye was being conveyed to Wellington in charge of' a keeper, his sister and brother-in-laV having already arrived from England for the purpose of taking him home in the Arawa, which leaves Wellington on Saturday. This morning, the lunatic was allowed to go to the bathroom alone, and being there half in hour, and not replying to the keeper's knocks, a seaman was let down the side to look in the port-hole, who reported that it was open, but he could see nothing but the man's clothes. A boy then got through the port-hole, who opened the bathreom, when it was found that Kaye must havo squeezed himself through tho hole and have got drowned, On March 23 a young'man named Charles Vesey informed the police authorities that his sister, Elizabeth Grace Veaey, was missing, and that he feared she had committed suicide. It subsequently transpired that his fears were only too true. A search was instituted by the police and the young woman's brother, and about 5 o'clock Mr Vesey was horrified to behold that the receding tide had left hia sister's body visible in Cox's Creek, somedistance from their residence. It appears that his attention waa first attracted by her hat, which was discovered on the side of the creek. Constables Clark and Collls made enquiries into the sad affair. The body having been removed to its late residence, Mr Brokenshaw's, Richmond Avenue, it was searched, and the razor missed by Mr Vesey was found in one of the dress pockets, also a blank sheet of note paper. Careful search was made, but no written document of any description left by the deceased which would tend to throw light upon her action, was discovered. Miss Vesey has been in a depressed state since the melancholy death by drowning of her twin Bister at Motu Ihi, and has lately been attended by Dr. Coomb, who treated her for mental depression. The history of the Vesey family has indeed been a sad one. The brother and his two sisters landed here in November, 1884. They were strangers, and having no friends in tho colony, they shortly afterwards went to reside with Mr Brokensbaw at Richmond. One sister entered into service, and was drowned at Motu Ihi under mysterious circumstances, and now within a few months the twin sister has met the same untimely end. The deceased was about 19 years of age.