The Dauntless Three

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10392, 9 May 1927, Page 3 (Supplement)

The Dauntless Three

MESSRS. THOMAS, ROBERT AND GEORGE HUtk VETERAN BROTHERS RECALL EARLY DAYS. IXCIDXKIS OF THE MASSAJiIE. Closely asscnaied w.iii the early, days pf Poverty Lay is the uanie oi Price. Four bvoth.es of that name •were among the harry set-tiers iiere and, at the moment, three'of them are living in Kennedy Street, Mangapapa. The fourth, Mr Joseph Price, died some time ago. Those living here now are Messrs. Thomas, Robert and George Price. Mr. Thomas Price tame cut from Ireland about iB6O and landed in Na-pier-from a vessel * 'Montmorency, ’ which was burned at her audio.age on the night alter the passengers disembarked. On the voyage out, Mr. Ptico had kept a diary and he offered this to the captain so that the latter could write tip some sort of a log to replace the papers burned with the vessel. This the captain gladly accepted. It was a dramatic introduction J to New Zealand for Mr. Price. Ho spent some time in Hawke’s Bay and then came north to Poverty Bay, later returning again to the southern district tnlTutre he had the contract for the cutting of the timber which formed the first “sleepers” in the Woodvii !e-_\ a peer railway line. This wood came from Te Auto. Mr. Price again spent some time in Poverty Bay and then went overseas for a considerable period. Now lie lias come back to Gisborne again. 1

DEATH MISSED NARROWLY

Mr. Thomas Price has some very interesting memories of the perilous times of the Massacre in 1868: Me recollects that the late Mr. Woodbine Johnson had a remarkably narrow escape from sharing the fate of Major Biogs, the first man killed in the Massajre. On the night of the trngody, -Sir Woodbine Johnson was viskiii" Major Biggs and only left his own homo at midnight after refusing pressing invitations to stay ior the night. °A few hours later the Natives arrived and the first murder of the Massacre was perpetrated. One member of the household, a young lad named Sammy Tarr, saw the Natives commit the deed and crept for safety between the kitchen and the rest 01 the house. When a chance occurred, lie slipped down into the river-bed and warned neighbors nearby, then coining on into town to spread the alarml'urtiicr. Major and Mrs Biggs, their children and a Mrs. Lac hie Farrell, who lived with them, acre all killed by the Natives. When the Natives arrived at Major Biggs’ place, they were 011 their way other settlers lnrther down and on the ether side of the nvei, but, after their deed, they apparently became too frightened to cross and continued down-stream without doing so. “IN THE SHADOW J” Major West'upp, who lived on the river-bank, was sitting up late that evening at work on some account, books,^when be noticed a, shadow thrown cn the blind. Keeping quite still, he could make out the voices ol' Maoris a.ud the burden of their conversation was that “they would these people on the way hack. ’ Inc voices faded away and Major AA'estrupp, now thoroughly alarmed, awakened a friend, a Mr. Dennis, who had been dozing 011 a couch immediately beneath the window on which the shadow had been thrown, and told him what the Natives had said. The two men then left the house, crossed the river and came safely into. town. A day cr two previous to the tragedy art Biggs’ place, Mr. Findlay Fer-n-usoi.j®;?/;d another man had set- out to inspect some sheep 011 property beyond Mr. John Clark’s place, Opou. On their way hack to Gisborne, they were intercepted be a band of Natives on the day that Major Biggs was killed, at a small creek near Opou and were hath killed. DUEL TO THE DEATH?

This had mi interesting sequel, tiie truth oi v.-hi-h, Mr. Price states, lie has never had reason to doubt. A relative of Finlay Ferguson who was killed, made a solemn v.ovv that he would kill the Native who had shot Ferguson. Some time later the relative” learned that the murderer was a member of a Waikato tribe and that he had returned-home!’ Going to the "Waikato, where peace rcignfrd at the time, he approached tlie chief or the tribe to which the murderer belonged, laid the case before him. and demanded util. The chief agreed and called up the tribesman, explained the position to him and told him that he would have to fight for Ins life. Botn Native and pakeha. were given revolvers and. pieced a distance apart. At the word of the chief they opened fire and the pakeha’s aim proved truer, the Native falling dead with a bullet through h s chest. The chief set the pakeha across a river nearby after informing idm that if he returned to the district again the relatives of the tribesman would continue the vendetta. Needless to say, he did net return . • ‘THE DAREDEVILS.” Seme little time after the Massacre, Mr. Price went down to Hawke’s Bay and spent a few months there. Returning <o Gisborne with a friend named Mr. Tom Gilmour and his brother Robert, Mr. Price became interested in some work in swamps out a,t Muriwni and the. three men took up residence there. At the time, the spdS*r°i' the Massacre was still on the district and anyone who resided far

firrro tow” was considered utterly reckless. .For their disregard of dan-, grr. the trio earned tlm sobriquet of ‘‘The T>areclev;'ls,” “Fe were alwavs readv for trou'-le.’; said Mr. Fri'-e. ‘‘blind even- night we slept .with' a rifle and cartridge, belt in eur hunks -riiusf ip ersa 1” V b.. ; ; . ; - t ri -. er-thebree men were omidoyed; ■'l rws.Vwoyk,' and lived ip'- a wbrireriheniy; ' -.'Hero.- I’lsda'^cJ^rr^A *ith'inri- was' kept in reaqiness f>‘r hwat-; . t.aek and .tlm' ffiept with, theurgU7)g beside them.

MIDNIGHT RECONNOITRE—A NID " ' THE SEGUED. On one occasion, during the nigtu, tho dogs set up a furious barking and the household Were up in arms in a

I short space. All gathered in the main building, rifles were loaded, and all windows and doors manned. After waiting nearly an hour, Mr. Moodbine Johnstone decided to reconnoitre, himself. Down he went on. his hands and knees, and crawled about a hundred yards through long grass into the middle of a paddock. Even from there lie' could see no sign of anything hostile. The others followed him and the rest of that night , was spent lying in the grass awaiting an attack which never came. Morning showed that some sheep had moved down the hill in the direction of the house and everybody thought it a great joke that they had turned out to stem an assault by sheep. Two days later, however, the sheep again moved, the dogs barked and there, was another alarm. On the following morning Mr. Tom Price aim Mr. Gilmour went on a tour of inspection up the valley whence t'.ie shtvp had been driven. They found abundant traces of the Natives, numerous footprints showing on all soft ground, but. to this dav.‘they have never ascertained the identity 1 ! these nocturnal visitors and what their intentions were

RAT SHOOTING TEALS TO GOOD RESULTS, Mr. Pf«C3 went on to relate how, one night, he was responsible ior arousing the camp. Their whare was rather over-run by rats and one big chap came out on a rafter when Mr. Price was in his bunk. _ “I lifted my gun,” remarked Mr. Price, “and shot the beggar. Then the trouble started and every man in the place dashed out with guns ready. Our boss whs very annoyed about it, but I pointed out that, as my rifle hadn’t been tised for some time, I took the chance of killing the rat and cleaning the gun too.” Next day Mr. Johnstone thought it would be a good idea to clean all guns, as practically all liacl been loaded but unused for over a month. He told them all to fire. Hammers clicked, but not a single charge went off! Had there been a sudden raid bv the Natives, the defenders would have been sorely tried, for reloading would have been necessary before a firearm could have been used, After that,

naturally, more care 'was taken and shooting' practice -was regularly indulged in.

“PRICE HIT ANYTHING.”

In the course of this practice, Mr. Price established his reputation as a min"•-sm«n. "articulariy among Maoris in the neighborhood. A number of men were shooting at a thin stick standing upright in the river and anyone who hit within a foot around it was considered to have done- very well. Mr. Price lifted up his carbine and sent bis first bullet through the stick, cutting it off near the surface of the water. Some friendly Maoris in attendance saw this and spread the word that “when Price lift gun, lie hit anything.”

SIGNALS BY RIFLE SHOTS. Ore evening Mr.. Johnstone, who had-left to spend the night in town, came, galloping back at about ll o’clock and aroused the househoa., saying he had seen some Natives in the bush a mile or two from the bouse. All the men got up and lay along a. fence near the house. After a time, a report sounded from the direction of town and a general move was made for the cover of “the bush. Air. Price’s counsel wins that they should hold their positions arid finally this was done. Throughout the night nothing happened end next day they learned that the shot had been merely a signal from a redoubt' near the town. “Thev. bad a remarkable wav of rir.-ngiPng then.” raid Air Price. “All the outposts right up tlxe Coast from Gisborne used the system. When a death occurred at one of these posts, a rifle was fired once. Posts oi\ either side heard t-his and fried twice, those a stn<m furth-v- ?'n» rieU three trios, and so on rr, t.be liny. Thus, bv the number of shots heard, each pos+ was informed exactly '-here anv death moniT-vl, ’or they knew that it was List that number of oust;-’ away. Why they did it rjm.-tUv ! don’t know, but it. was the custom.”

PAYMENT BY RIFT.-E. Every man in those, mvs was very !cr«>n on np’ri a n,, n. h'-> ; tri.supply was apngraj.tlv father limited. _ A i-'n,n. Afo’—n, eurdovee of 7vfr. B’ee-'ib'ne T-obrstevc; v‘ n s S'* r.iev tn tire nnn t’m.t-. nrl»—tlm lirmu'-miufl for h ’rh +o ho -noid Mv; W’ges fen I wo montb o . be promised to bis rmr'oyer, that, instead of mnnev. he should ho given a. n : ho rri tlmv cophl, d goimne; Mr. Af organ-’s .wish .wasfackccs’'dj;a. , .. ;; ... .. ; A:T. 'ONE-'R. TW IJJ'CK D f? ’ VP?. ■ ?ri'-AiikW’Chis.caidvraripmiiri,rinri’NlM T i-'' a dlsriyct rcoolleetionr'-rif.: bflririod prenr l ' .Tar.k«rwv. the man who birihuglideibn'yfiyst ; luilTrr-di ' tfep l ', hyd;' waggon into Poverty P- T, tra-vellmg

> overland from Napier by ivyay. of To Reinga. This pioneering with bul-lock-waggons appears to have been , characteristic of this branch of tho 1 Jackson family, for this man’s father 1 was the first to make the trip, from Adelaide to Bendigo, in Australia, by this means. Incidentally Mr. Jackson., Senr., sold his team in Bendigo, on arrival, lor £360. j EARLY FLOCKS OF SHEEP. I Mr. Price also remembers the arrival of one of the first big flocks of sheep in the district. They were • brought overland from Maungatata ! near Waipukurau, Hawke’s Buy, by i Messrs. Henry Harris and John and j Dugald JL'erguson, who then owned > what is now -Mr. John Clark’s Opou j ( property. This mob were run on that ; , station,' but, unlike the present day, j many animals were lost in the bush. I HUNTING IN THE EARLY DAYS, j J . I I Sport in car.y times consisted man?- j ; ly of cattle and pig hunting, and the j : game was always an exciting one, not j only on account of the beasts, but also i ? because of the roughness of the conn- j ; try. On one occasion, Mr. Price, liis : brother George, and Tom Gilmour • were out after wild cattle some dis- ! tance beyond Muriwai. They were on horseback and sighted a. small herd, j Mr. Tom Price led the pursuit and he i attempted to jump what appeared to lie a small depression in the ground, filled with bush. Unfortunately this was wider than it appeared and ! was also forty feet deep. Horse arid rider disappeared, but they suffered j no injury and the only trouble was to j get them out of the trap. This was ; finally managed, but, by that time, the cattle were well away. They had some compensation, however, and on the way back killed a heifer winch had wandered from the heard and been left behind. To buy meat was unheard of—it was simply a question of taking gun and horse and hoping for

seme luck in the scrub. Very rarely did one return empty-handed. In passing, it is worthy of note that Mr. George Price lias many recollections of shooting cluck from a Maori canoe in what now comprises the main streets ot the busy Hawke’s Bay town of Hastings.

ELECTION HUMOR. A memory of election times came to Mr. Price’s mind. The incident occurred when the late Sir James Carroll was contesting Parliamentary honors. His opponent in the election set out in a buggy to a country meeting and stopped at an elector's bouse on the way. While lie w<as inside some persons unknown removed the wheels of the vehicle and left the candidate stranded. Alter a long delay, he was conveyed to the meeting by other means. On arrival lie apologised for his lateness and explained what had happened, laying the blame on “some or those' doughboys.” His opponents then adopted the slogan “Remember the doughhoys,” and, Mr. Price considers, this had much to do with Sir James’ success.

THE MISSING SPECTACLES. “I remember an incident which concerned Air O. A. deLautour,” concluded Al‘r. Price “and one which caused a great deal of. amusement-. One day Mr. deLautour could not find his spectacles. Going into his public office, he announced that whoever found, .them could have 5/-. A boy standing by asked where the money was ancl Mr. deLautour smac-ked twio half-crowns down on the counter. 'Jbe youth picked up the money and pointed out that tbe missing spectacles were on Air deLautour’s lorehead. So struck was the lawyer by the boy’s business instincts that be took the lad into his office. Later the lad was admitted to the Bar and became one of the most successful lawyers produced here.”