“THE EYE-EATER.”

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 10473, 31 December 1927, Page 2 (Supplement)

“THE EYE-EATER.”

MURDER OF REV. C. VOLKXER

AWFUL SCENE IN OPOTIKI CHURCH.

HAUHAUISM IX THE SIXTIES.

The bloodthirsty nature of the followers of the Pai-marire faith, or Hauhaus, as they were generally called, who descended on the Poverty Bay Flats in lStlo, and under Te Kooti murdered 70 Europeans and friendly Maoris, is little understood by many of the present generation. They were not merely Alaoris fighting for the love of warfare, or righting alleged wrongs by the pakeha ; they were religious fanatics of the worst type, and no more telling example of this can be given than in the account of the death of the Rev. C. S. Volkner, at Opotiki, in 1865. only three years before Te Kooti set out on his campaign of murder in Poverty Bay. There can be little doubt that some of those concerned in the ghastly work at Opotiki were with the Poverty Bay rebels later, and if, as is assumed in some quarters, Te Kooti intended to descend on Tiir'.ngamii after despatching the families at Alatawliero. the consequences would have been awful. Tbe opinion was generally held fictile settlers at Turanganui that such was To Kouti'sTn font ion. Air. Robt. Thel wall._ for instance, states that on (he morning of the Massacre, some of le Kooti's scouts, after completing their work on the Flats, came down within a quarter of a mile of Turnnganui. The localitv was then, of course, all covered with manuka and fern Fortunntelv. however, thev decided to retire. Still, with the 'Opotiki tragedy fresh in their ears, it can easily be understood that pakehas in Poverty Bay in 1808 were constantly (ui the qui vivo for the re-appearance of the relhdous fanatics of the Paimarire faith.

HAUHAUS TURN AGAINST AIISSION ARIES.

Tn the earlier campaign of the Alaori wars tlie missionaries had been respected, but in 1565 the Hauhaus no longer regarded them a.s sacred Atarcl: of that year saw the worst atrocity of the Pai-marire Avar, the murder of the Rev. Carl Sylvius Volkner. at Opotiki. by Kereopn and his band of fanatics.

Kereopn Te Ran (also' called Tithawhe) and Datura Raukntauri wore the two prophets despatched by ‘i e Ua (the founder of the faith) in 1865 to convert the-*tribes of the Fast Coast to the Pai-marire faith. They had with them two deserters from the British forces. One of these renegades was T.oius Baker, a Frencli-Canadiau-Imlian half-breed. At one time in his coreer he had been a stoker on 11.A1.5. Rosario. There is ample documentary proof that the founders of ilie Pai-marire faith did not authorise murders—or indeed hostile acts of any kind—on the proselytising mission to tlie East Coast. On his arrival at AATinkntnne Kercopa demanded that the Xgati-Awas should hand over to him the Roman Catholic priest of the district. Pending their reply lie travelled to Opotiki. ( Later it was stated the priest was spared because lie was a l-rench-man).

ARSSIOVAEY REFUSES TO LEAVE POST.

The I’ni-marire faith was expounded at Opotiki. and nearly the whole of the Wh ikatohea tribes became conveits. Patara then demanded ol the chiefs their missionary, the Rev. ('. Volkner. whom he desired to sacrifice to the god of Pai-marire. Air. Volkner was one of several German Lutheran- clergymen who had come out to work amongst the Natives of New Zealand. He was a member oT the Church of England and worked with zeal and devotion to improve the moral condition of the AVhakatohca people. Tie built a fine church in the principal settlement. This church (now known as St. Sephen the Arartyr's) is now the Anglican place of worship in Opotiki. When Te tin’s apostles reached Opotiki in February, 186-5, Air. Volkner was absent in Auckland. Patara wrote a letter to him ordering him not to return, as no missionaries would lie allowed to remain. On March 1 tlie ccffistal steamer Eclipse, arrived at Opotiki from Auckland, Mr. Volkner being a passenger. He had been warned in Auckland that it was dangerous for him to return, but lie could not- be dissuaded. Oil arrival Afr. Volkner and another missionary, the Rev Thomas Grace, were arrested. Kereom l v this time bad thoroughly established bis power over the greater cart of the tribe, and at a meeting that night it was resolved that Air. Volkner should he banded over to Kereopn and Air. Grace kept prisoner.

THK EXECUTION.

On the afternoon of March 2. stator) Mr. James Cowan in his “N.Z. Mars,” Mr. Volkner was taken out of his prison hr an armed guard and inarched into his church, which was crowded with foarfußv excited people. Kereopa, standing by the altar, ordered the missionary +o he brought before him. He announced that Mr. Vnlknov must die Oi«t dav. Wo the’stripped the missionary of his ooa + and waistcoat, which he (Kereopa' put on and ordered the minister to he hanged. An armed guard took him to a large willow tree one hundred yards away and a rope was putround his neck. He knelt down and prayed and then rose and shook hands with some of those around him. The executioners hauled on the rope and the missionary’s body hung lifeless. It is said that Kereopa shot Mr. Volkner os he was run up the branch.

BLOOD CAUGHT IN CHALICE.

The body was hauled up and down several times, and alter Hanging tor about an hour was lowered and taken to a spot near the church. Here the head was cut off with an axe by Heremita and the Natives crowded up to catch the blood and drink it. Aereopa had taken from the church vestry the white-metal Communion c-lialice. This he filled with the blood as it spurted forth, and he carried it, with the head, to the church, followed in procession by all the people.

KEREOPA SWALLOWS VICTIM’S EYES.

That scene in “Hiena”—‘'Zion'’ as the Upotiki church was called by Yolkner’s old congregation, was of a character revolting beyond measure. It was as if a clevil had entered into the people. Assuredly there was a demon before them tliere in human form, at once terrifying them and fascinating them by liis sheer savagery. Kereopa, dressed in liis victim's long black coat, stood in Yolkner’s pulpit and placed the dripping head on the reading desk in front of him. By its side he set the Communion cup of blood. "Hear O Israel,’’ lie cried. “This is the word of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We are ilie Jews who were lost and should have been persecuted. Behold!” Gripping the head, he gouged out both eyes. He held an eye up in each hand between fingers and thumbs. “Listen, O tribe!” lie said. “This eye is the Parliament of England, and this one is the law of New Zealand.” So saying he swallowed them one after the other. The second eye stuck in his throat, and lie called for a drink of water to help him swallow it. He picked up the head from the lloor where he had dropped it, and set it up in front of him again on the pulpit-dcsk. DRINKING THE BLOOD. Then the cannibal priest took up the Communion chalice (containing the blood) and drank of its contents. Tic passed it to one of his flock, who put it to his lips and took a sip, and it was then passed from hand to hand among the congregation. Some put it to their lips to taste their missionary's Wood ; others dipped leaves into the cup and sprinkled themselves with its contents. The empty cup was carried back to the desecrated pulpit where the head lay. The stains of the martyred missionary's blood remain in the wood of the reading desk till this day. «? The atrocious deed earned for the arch-murderer the epithet ‘Kai-karu’ or ‘Kai-wliata,’’ the “Eye Eater.” .Six years Inter when he was captured in the Urewcra Country, he said lie knew lie would meet with misfortune sooner or later, because one of “To Whakaua’s eyes stuck in his throat”; it was an nitun, an unlucky happening and a portent of death. From the church Mr. Volkner’s head was taken to the house of the Roman Catholic priest, where it was set on the mantelpiece. Then it was carried to the murdered man’s house, Perin. The object was to whakn110a or “make common” and pollute with blood all the places sacred to the Christian ministers. MURDERER'S END. The victim’s head, according to the Natives, was later smoke-dried, and when Kereopa continued his travels to Tangnroa he look the head with him. tile hearer being the renegade Louis Baker. Later the head was taken to South Taupo. and it is reported to have been hidden in a caw at Roto-n-Ira or Tongariro. Kereopa was captured six yer.is later in the Urewcra bv Major Ropata and his hand of Ngati-Porous taken across country to Vaii'ea and shipped to Napier. ’Flic reward of Clooo offered by the Government for Kereopa’s arrest was paid over to Colonel Porter, who returned from Hawke’s Bay, and the money was distributed amongst the NgatiPorous, officers receiving £“5 each and the moil £lO. Kereopa was tried at Napier, after an unsuccessful attempt at suicide with a razor, and the Eve-Eater was convicted and hanged.