MORE "HORSE FIEND" OUTRAGES.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10264, 6 February 1899, Page 5

MORE "HORSE FIEND" OUTRAGES.

TWO STALLIONS KILLED

ONE INJURED.

A BLACK TRACKER AT WORK.

With deadly malignance and unerring cunning, the creature who has earned for himself the name of the "Horse Fiend," has, after an interval of three months and a half, again resumed his horrid work. On Saturday night two stallions were dastardly stabbed to death, and a third jusescaped through the knife missing the jugular vein. This time Fendaiton was se lected as the scene of operation, and the outrages must have been committed between 10 or 11 o'clock in the evening, and 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning. The first stallion to be discovered waa the horse Royal George, tbe property of Mrs M. H. Scarlett, of Scarlett's Brewery, Fendaiton road, which was found lying dead with the familiar stab in the neck in an orchard at the back of the brewery, at about 6.45 a.m. The next was a young stall-on by the trotting horse Irvington, and owned by Mr Chas. Henshaw, son of Mr John Heushaw, i of Bligh's road, found similarly stabbed, and lying in the middle of a 14 acre paddock adjoining the road, at about 7 a.m. The third—the animal which escaped with a Btab in the neck only—was a pony stallion, owned by Mr Box, coach proprietor, of NormanTs road, and was discovered a little later. At a quarter to ten yesterday morning the police were informed that Henshaw's stallion had been stabbed, and shortly after ten o'clock the detectives were at the scenes of the outrages. THE CASE AT THE BREWERY. The orchard- in which Royal George was found is at the back of the brewery. To reach it the man who perpetrated the cowardly deed would have to pass down a narrow dark lan*?—a weird enough spot in all conscience on a dark night. It is overgrown with trees, and turns round a corner into the brewery yard. There are buildings about, 'and unless acquainted with the brewery and aware of the fact that no one was likely to be on. the premises on Saturday nighti, the man would hardly have ventured down. In amy oase he must have been closely acquainted with the brewery and the habits of Royal George, as the orchard is thickly overgrown, and it was customary for the animal to stand in one spot where the trees were thickest. Thia spot is evidently where the animal was stabbed. It is close to the fence, and the man must haive climbed quietly over a rough ditch and through the wires of the fence, which is placed on top of a mound composed of the earth thrown out of the ditch. At night, and even with the moon which was fining on Satuiday night, it must have been difficult to see the animal among the trees, but the horse fiend has evidently grown expert at his work. The ground at this spot was saturated with blood, showing that the poor brute had stood for some time without moving after the wound had been inflicted. Then the horse must have plunged forward, for its body was found same five yards off lying on the left side, with the stab in its left jugular and another pool of blood under its head. It was also found to have been horribly mutilated in the hindquarters. This is a fresh development of the fiend, as none of his previous victims have been similarly treated. It is surmised that this mutilation was done either in daylight or by the light of a lamp, as it is of such a nature that it is almost impossible to conceive of anyone doing it in the dark. Mr Hill, the veterinary surgeon who was called-in by the police, concluded from the of the carcase that the animal must (have "HietT aboift "1 o'clock"" in 'the morning. The horse, who was by St. ; George out of Miss Lxicy, was last seen [ about between, 9.15 and 9.45 o'clock on Saturday night. An) employee at the brewery, named Pat. Cunningham, was passing down the lane when the horse neighed. He went over and patted the animal on the aieok. In the morning Mr [ Fred Cuddon was passing ait about 6.45, ! o'clock on his way to do some fishing in the stream which flows past the back of the orchard, and notic- | ing the dead animal informed Cunningham, who communicated with the police. Royal George was an aged horse, dark bay in colour, and about 15 hands in height, and was worth about £20. MR HENSHAW'S HORSE. It is evident that the ''fiend" must have passed either from the brewery down Handley's road across Norman's road, and into Bligh's road, or vice versa, as Mr Box's pony was running on the road, and he must have intercepted it and stabbed it while passing from one place to the ether. In the light of subsequent information obtained from Air Box's employees, it is possible that Mr Henshaw's horsa was the first victim. The animal was found lying in the middle of a 14 acre paddock on its right side, with the stab The wound, like the otljer two, had evidently been inflicted with a sharp knife, and it had gone right into the jugular vein. It was evident that the man had driven the animal into a corner, the north-west corner of the paddeck, where the ground was bare and hard, and had caught him and inflicted the wound there, because the marks on the barejsoil showed where the blood had spurted after the blow had been struck The animal's course to where he fell could be plainly tracked by the blood on the grass Th&re was one other filly in the paddock. The dead body was first discovered by a lad named Archie White, the son of a neighbour, at about 7 o'clock in the morning. The stallion was not much over two years old, and was brown in colour. The stab was almost in the identical spot where Royal George was stabbed. The horse was worth over £30. SCR BOX'S PONY. Mr Box's skewbald pony stallion, which luckily escaped death, -had been left in the stable, but had got out after eight o'clock, when it was last seen on the road. The "fiend" had evidently caught the pony and attempted to stab it similarly to the other two, but the aaumal {being restless had probably moved slightly, with the result that the point of the knife just slipped round the jugular vein instead of into it. The pony, no doubt startled by the pain, had broken loose, and there is a theory that this must have been as late as five o'clock in the Booming, because he was in the habit of going off home when startled. A man named .. Rowe, boarding at Box's, states that he heard the pony cantering into the yard about 5 or 5.30 o'clock in the morning. On the other hand, an employee of Mr Box's, named Thos. Clark, states that he and «. companion were sitting in the grass at about 11.15 o'clock in the evening, alongside the road, waiting for Mr and Airs Box, when they saw a man they describe pass them going quietly along the road in the direction of Bligh's road. Mr Box's pony is by Wildrake out of a sister c. Daffodil the famous trotting mare. ' THE BLACK TRACKER. Soon the news got about that three horses had been stabbed, and all Fendaiton soon knew of it. There was tremendous excitement, and crowds of people soon visited the ground. A tall, black individual, with the Tinmistakable cast of countenance of the Australian aborigine, •a* a at once noticed scrutinising the <7rouna, and a whisper went round, "It is a black tracker." So it proved. Smarter than the police, the Horse Protection Society, soma three months ago, it is stated, imported a black tracker, named Charley Hooper. He has been since concealed at Mr Richard Allen's at Fendaiton, and at once this morning he was brought on the scene. It was late, however, before the police (who accompanied him) became aware | of the atrocities having been committed, and | got on the ground. In the meantime heavy rain had fallen, and many people had visited the scene. Instantly, however, that the tracker reached Mr Henshaw's horse, he picked up a track—ilthoiigh to -Byoae but a tnwker

the short grass showed no sign—and followed it to a neighbouring house. He was of course unaware that the horse bud been discovered by the lad Archie White, and tliat it WHS hia track made in the morning that he was following. Then he scrutinised the ground with the vigilance of a sleuthhound, going over it carefully and examining every eign with slouching gait and his head ha»gi"£ in the typical attitude of the Australian black. Finally he picked up another track in a corner of the paddock. It was, he suid, the track of a boot with an iron heel, half of which had broken otf. no toe plate, and four rows of nails in the sole, with one liadl in one row missing. He followed it out over the fence by a corner into Bligh's road, down Halkett's road, and up Papanui road to Tomes's road, where he lost it at tlio corner, owing to the traffic and rain having obliterated the track. • Ho then thought, he had. picked up the same track on the opposite side of the tram line. This led to a House where, however, tho man who was found there was able to give a satisfactory explanation of his whereabouts during tihe nigat. Again the tracker returned to Scarlett and Sons, where it is said ho made a search. What the result is the police naturally refuse tD state. It is said that when investigating the surroundings in connection with fixe atfeir at the orchard, which is about a mile or more from Mr Henshaw's paddock, the tracker picked up a track, witich he started out to follow. Two enthusiastic members of tho force came to help him, aud pushing on ahead, obliterated the marks. The tracker is reported to have been much disgusted at this. J His wonderful quickness of eye was the subject of general comment. While following the tracks of the broken boot-heel down Halketts road, he suddenly remarked, "He slipped here." No sign of track, let alone a slip, Mas visible to the onlookers, but oi> the tracker pointing it out to them, it became evident that something of the kind had occurred. The tracker has, so far as can be ascertained, failed to detect the tracks of the same person in the vicinity of the different horses, out this is probably due to the fact that the heavy rain has obliterated the footmarks. SO-u.. DEDUCTIONS. In case it is a man living by himself who commits these horrible atrocities, every citizen of Christchurch and the surrounding districts should bs asked to supply any information in their possession concerning any man whom they know to live by himself. On the other hand, in case it may be a man living with others, it is the duty of the Government to increase the reward to, say, I £1000, so that the cupidity of his comrades may be sufficiently aroused to give information to the police. There can be no doubt that it would ba impossible for anyone to stab horses iv the way this man has been doing without getting the blood spurted over his clothes, or signs of it appearing about his person, .and if he is not some individual living wholly alone, whoever lives with him must have some suspicions. PREVIOUS OUTRAGES. The affair has caused the most intense excitement in Fendalton and among the surrounding districts. These coses bring the total number of actual deaths where the fiend has been at v/ork up to twenty, to say nothing of supposed cases. On tho 15th of October last he slaughtered two fine stallions belonging to Mr J. Horler, at Riccarton, valued at £200. Before that Mr Chas. Lewis's thoroughbred Onain Armour was killed in its paddock, and on Christmas morning of 1897 Mr W. F. M. Buckley's Zulu was stabbed in its box, while a month before that Mr Starker's What's Wanted was stabbed at the Show Grounds. These are only a few of the Inter instances in which the tiend has displayed his diabolical skill as a slaughterman. He has successfully established a reign of terror among horse owners. It is a .curious fact that, with the exception of Mr Lewis's Chain Armour, none ot the horses stabbed have been thoroughbreds, but have had a cross strain of blood! at least. Mr Box's pony's narrow escape is peculiar, in the light of the fact that the pony's dam was also mutilated by the horse fiend as far back as 1893, and also escaped.