WAE ON THE WEST COAST. ATTACK ON THE TUETJTUEUMOKAI EEDOUBT BY THE EEBELS. ' CAPTAIN EOSS AND NINE MEN OF ARMED CONSTABULARY KILLED.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3446, 1 August 1868, Page 3

WAE ON THE WEST COAST. ATTACK ON THE TUETJTUEUMOKAI EEDOUBT BY THE EEBELS. ' CAPTAIN EOSS AND NINE MEN OF ARMED CONSTABULARY KILLED.

Fkom an extra issued at Whanganui on July 14th we mak6 the following extracts :—: — A, despatch hai been received from the front, dated Patea, July 13th, 1868, 10 p.m., givipg the following particulars of the attack on Turutummokai. The attack on the redoubt at Turdturumokai was made before break of day. Private Lacey was on sentry outside— ohallenged twice and then fired— reoaived a volley— was ihot through the ihoulder—

succeeded in loading h'n rifle, but could |not firs it off. Went to the gateway and saw Captain Ron in his shirt Handed his rifle it Rene, who fired it. Rots then fire) off all the clmu. bers of his revolvar, and part of mother. He thti ca'iel out, "I am dor* for ; men, you must do (he I e->t 3 i>u can for your1 selves." 'I he men theu teemed to have had a panic, and some of them attempted to escue. ' Four men' jumped over the parapet, one of whom wai caught and tomahawked — frightfully mutilated. , , Three others, Cowie, Wilkie, au i Burrows got away to Waihi. Four men held one angle of the redoubt;, " and two of these men, Milm >d and Johnston, being armed with bayonets, kept the natives from getting over the parapet. The latter had cat steps' in the parapet, and as soon as one showed his head he wa* bayonetted. The«e four men held the post until Yon Tempsky arrived. The natives never got beyond the gateway of the redoubt. Casualties : One officer and nine men killed — Captain Ros«, Sergeant McFadden, Corporal Blake, and seven privates, viz. : — Shields, Holder, Kershaw (mutilated), Lennon (frightfully mutilated), Ross, Swords, and Beamish, Beamish was a young man. When mortally wounded, and not able to load bia piece, he opened hia pouch for his comrades to supply themselves from. Eight men are wouuded. There were 26 in all at the post. Later reports state that Katene and all his people went off last night to the Hauhaua. We are all in good spirits here, and the settlers have no intention of giving in ; every man in Patea is under arms.

When the newi -was received at Patea Colonel McDonnell started -with the Patea Light Horse. The excitement at P*le», and all along the coast where the news has reached, is interne. The redoubb is a place of some strength, placed on a knoll, and surrounded by a ditch and bank— the former of some depth and breadth. The dead bodies were brought dowrn to Waiugongoro, and interred in the graveyard there.

The Wellington Independent writes: — "Aliout three feet inside the gateway lay Captain Bobs, frightfully tomahawked, and with his heart cut from his body, Lennon mu*t hare been killed before he could have reached the redoubt, fur he lay alongside a whare, on the outside, literally cut to piece*, and his heart torn from his body. The Native Contingent-, amongst whom were Katene and Eaho t have since this affair left the redoubt where they were stationed and gone over to the rebels, taking with them all the breech-loaders and revolvers which have been recently served out to them. The following communication was received by the friendlies from the rebel head chief, it being put on a split stick and stuck in the road near Waihi. Its contents were to the effect that 'He had eaten the white man they had killed — his wife and children had also tasted the white man, and it wa<i good. In future all white men would be but food for the beasts of the field and fowls of the air. His throat was open— it was hanging and red. We have tasted the white man, and Who knows when we will stop? You know not when the winds die ; death is now my friend, itvery white man wh.o crosses here death will claim ; even as the heavens so are my words. Will the next meteor oome from the east, or from the south, or from the north, or from the west ? Ye know not— even so you know not where we will gather the next palm of the white man. I have said'"