CHARGED WITH MURDER.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 210, 5 September 1922, Page 6

CHARGED WITH MURDER.

TBE ASHBURTOH TRAGEDTf. McGEE BEFORE THE COURT. (By Telegraph.—Press AssocmtlonJ I ASHBURTON, tnig day. '~ Samuel Holland appeared in Umrt tor day on a charge of having murdered s James Gill on the night of August 21 " The police applied for a remand until c Thursday, which was granted, wrth bail > as- before, a total of £1000. 8 ■•' It is alleged that at about one o'clock 3 on the morning of August 26 a number " of men were standing outside the Vie- ' toria Hall, Ashburton, where a dante J was in progress. Gill rode up on horse--3 back, and in dismounting remarked that j his horse was fond of music. It jj 3 alleged that Holland thereupon stepped r out from the group and hit Gill, knock--3 inff him down. Gill picked himself np r and asked who had struck him. Holland, t it is said, stepped out again and struck - Gill a second time. Gil] fell to tie ' ground in the middle of the roadway and ' did not rise again. Holland went away. • j Some of the others of the party '■j propped up Gill in the doorway, think- | ins he would soon come round, and on«. lof them took his horse away to a stable. Half-an-hour afterwards this man returned, and on examining Gill came to •.'the conclusion he was dead. He sent for j the police and a doctor. The latter on ■ arrival pronounced life to be extinct. r | It is stated that earlier in the day I Holland and some friends were at theChertsey Hotel when Gill rode up. While Holland's party were at the bar Gill came in and called out: "Three cheers for the man who killed Michael Collins."' Holland, or one of his friends, retorted: '"You are a D 9 VaWa, are ' you!" Then there Was a scuffle between Holland and Gill, but they were ; separated. Gill then left.