TRAGEDY AT ONEHUNGA.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 235, 6 October 1886, Page 2

TRAGEDY AT ONEHUNGA.

MR GIRR, TEACHER, FOUND

DROWNED,

This morning, at 9.30 o'clock, a painter named Tingey was fishing off Mangbrb Bridge, when hefounda rope attached to the bridge. Ho hauled tho rope up, and found tho body of Mr Gurr, teacher of Onehunga school, attached to it. He was dressed in his oidinary clothes, with a black frock coat, and a ropo was fastened around hia body; "' Ilia tweed hat was put in the -bit of the rope which was fastened around' - tho bridge. This was about midway '■ on tho woodwork of the bridge, where the tido is strongest. Tha position of the body was such as to lead to tbe i, belief that his death had been a quiet Vi one. His legs were straight, aad his ,;i hand's down by his side. The rope was : J round his body underneath the arms. It was an ordinary clothes line. Upon diaCjvering the body, Mrs TiDgay sent word to Sergeant Greene, who was engaged at " the Police Court, and who Went to Man- " gare Bridge and found the body already drawn out. It was placed on Mr F. Moor's cart, and removed to Michael's Manukan w Hotel, whero the inquest will bo held to-.". morrow*.

Gurr was last seen alive by Dr, Erson and Mr Bright. The latter gentleman witnessed his will, and asked if he thought, he was going to die, and Gurr replied " Ko| but I am going to remove, and accidents may happen." When the news became known then, was great excitement in Onehunga. knots of people standing about discussing the state of affairs.

The sad occurrence is naturally associated with tho charges which have been before"! the Board of Education at its last twb meet- j ings. It is understood that this charge | consisted of improper behaviour towards f female pupils attending tho Onehunga'; public school.

The complaints against Mr Gurr firsfi reached the Board of Education on the 23rd ult., when Mr P Clark, Secretary to tho Onehunga Committee, wrote notifying the Boaid of the teacher.--resignation. Ho proceeded to say1,-' that while the Committee recognised th. advantage corf.ir.d on the school bs*Utaste in the inside appearance of thy* rooms, and hia undeniable ability as a teacher and disciplinarian, yet, from-,! certain charges that had been made, they were of opinion that his retirement" would be for the best interests and well being of the echool. This was in the face of the fact that the charges on investigation. proved to be by no means so serious aa., at first appeared, The Committee further expressed tho opinion that as Mr Gun's ' connection with the school and the Board-' was being severed, no good ond could be gained by detailing tho charges referred to. ■'<'■ To this communication the Board replied . stating that it was not willing to accept MrGun's resignation without further explana-_: tion. They had, however, suspended '• Mr Gurr from his duties, and requested the Committee to furnish all infor* J* mation in their possession respecting the charges as soon as possible. The Commit- { tee wrote on September 25th, failing to see1 any reason for the refusal of the Board to I accept Mr Gurr's r aignation, and -statin-}" that in his letter Mr Gurr announced his intention of leaving teaching work for... other employment. For that reaeon, theyK' felt that no good purpose would be served"'' by publishing the particulars of their in-1 quiry. In fact, somo of the informant!/' were given to understand that their statements would not be made public. Mr Rice. Sect etary to the Board, wrote, in reply to this letter, repeating the request for nil i; information in the possession of the Com-i mittee regarding the charges against Mr Gurr, and also asking for the letterof resignation. Mr Clark, Secretary to the Onehunga". Committee wrote a reply under date of OfcS tober 2nd. promising to forward the infor*" mation asked for in a few days.-He also a stated that at a meeting of the school i committee on the previous night Mr X Gurr applied for leave to withdraw his resig-1 nation, and under _the circumstance, the committee decided to forward the resignation .ud particulars of the charges to tte"*i Board. V Mr Gurr leaves a wifo and fix ohil-; ,' dren. Two of the sons are grown up and" in situations away from Aucklaud. The'__ remainder of tho family reside at' Onehunga Ho took an active intere-t' in musical matters, was conductor of J the Onehunga Choral Society, and acted asV conductor on tho occasion of the recent "Pirates of Penzance" performance, Htf formerly held a position in the' Oamaru public school, and at the time of ■'. his death was President of tho Auckland i Branch of tho New Zealand Educational; Institute. •-- ■-.ji ■;•■; Gurr Overwhelmed by the Charges'_-. Against Him. -.„,. j Dr. Erson states *. "I was well acquainted; with Mr Gurr. Ho camo to see me last; night, and was in a very depressed state! 1 I noticed this the more as I had; been out of town for a holiday. I was the,, first to tell Gurr about the serious charges, against him, Ho rvas stunned by the - _ news. I consider Gurr a man deficient m moral courage. That is why m he sank under bis trouble. Gurr feltl ■ that tho charge was so serious after his. past success tbat wheu I told him h. said "Do you bel'ove it." I said - '■I do not." Then he said "May I come to see you." Tbo night before last he called upon mo and I saw a great change. This was caused by tho publication of thecharges in the newspapers, added to tho fact; that someone sent a slip clipped from a Wellington paper reporting the affair. Last night I told Mr Gurr to write a strong i letter to the Board, denj ing the accusation. Ho replied, "lam beside myself, and do, , not know what I am doing, but if you will" assist mo I will write." I Tho lato Mr Guir told me that he had not slept for several nights. I told him to take a dose of bromide of potassium. He said he bad some in, the house, and would take it when he went home. He declared to me that his mind was completely unhinged. I told him to show a stroDg facfi and declare his innocence, as all his frionds would rally round him. Mr Gurr replied "What further punisbne it could have been mtted out to me even it uuilty, than to have had the thing published throughout tho colony as 8 flagrant charge, and after building_ up a reputation like mine, to be blasted in thi way " I then shook bands with Mr Gur and he went away." I believe him to have I been entirely innocent. Hia action was the re-Hilt of not having moral courage toface the situation. I was present when the body wis pulled up from the water. He had. b.en dead for seme time. . _•? , Or Erson also said : I got the leadim. . points he wished to bring before the Board. Those wore: —(1) The investigation was reported (2) ho was afforded no oppor*; , : tunity of being brought face to face with his accusers and of repudiating