KUROW TRAGEDY

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 30 April 1925, Page 5

KUROW TRAGEDY

WHEREABOUTS OF! HUDSON. * IS HE STILL ALIVE? RESIDENT’S STRANGE VISITOR. Hl' GABLE —PRESS ASSOCIATION—'JOPYRiUUI. W AIM ATE, April 29. Is Philip Hudson, wanted on a charge of tlie murder of Olive Itutberford, at ivliareiiuri, stilt aave? The police are stm seaicuing the vVaitam River, but one woman in A\ annate believes him to oe nave. A stranger called at her house on Friday morning for a cup of tea. He stated tnat he came from Kuroiv (near Wharekuri) and apologised for his lack of appetite by saying he had been badly knocked about and had been sleeping out. He was a young, well-dressed man. tie appeared very weary, shaky and nervous, and had a number of fresh cuts on his face. He kept hie hat over his eyes. His conversation appeared significant to the woman, and on leaving he picked up a bundle from a hedge, which byThe shape may have concealed a ride, and asked for direction to the Main South Road. He apparently approached her house across the paddocks as he was not seen passing on the road.

BOY AND GIRL LOVERS

KEEPING COMPANY FOR FOUR YEARS.

MYSTERY STILL UNEXPLAINED

Southern exchanges to hand contain full details of the tragedy, but no new light is thrown on it. ,

Olive Rutherford, a girl 18 years of age, the victim of the Kurow tragedy, and Philip Hudson, 19 years, had been keeping company for four years, and were formally engaged, with the full approval of the parents. They had been away together on several occasions. Miss Rutherford, on the day preceding the. accident, nad a difference with her mother concerning certain details of the former’s employment. It is understood that the girl left home on Tuesday morning, April 21st, taking a dress basket, and did. not go to work. It is believed that a room was taken in a Dunedin hotel, and the dress basket left there. Mrs. Rutherford did not see her daughter up to the time of the accident.

Consent was given to Hudson by his parents to use the car about 6.30 on Tuesday evening. Hudson was a careful and experienced driver. There is no official information as to the time the pair left Dunedin, nor their movements up to the time of the accident. The scene of the tragedy is a lonely, rocky part of the road, 60 miles from Oamaru. Apparently the car, a twoseater Austin, was tfnot under proper control when it went over the cliff, as it had left the smooth part of the road and had just missed a telegraph pole by inches. From the evidence available the car was travelling at a fair speed when it shot over the cliff. The police, including Detective Le Seuer, commenced inquiries on Wednesday afternoon. They tound Hudson’s watch stopped at 7.25, beside the body of the girl; also a hat, glove, and a man’s handkerchief soaked with blood. A man’s hat was found nearby with a hole in the top. An empty cartridge was found beside Olive Rutherford and another near the wrecked car. Empty chocolate boxes and broken lemonade bottle were also found. The bloodstains led from the body of the girl down the side of the hill past the debris of the car and on again over the stones down to the water’s edge. The stains were not extensive, but sufficient to show the direction in which Hudson went.

The rifle, if used was not discovered, and it is thought that it may have been taken to the river by Hudson. Whether Hudson and the girl were in the car when it went over the cliff will probably never be determined. When discovered, the girl had a bleeding wound in the top of the skull, and there was a small round hole in the head. An operation was performed on Wednesday evening at 11 o’clock. Her face was scratched, apparently through striking on the ro?ks, and there wore severe abrasions about the body. ■ The girl, though unconscious,, spoke several times, but made no reference to the accident, excepting to say that her neck was sore.

The death of Miss Rutherford occurred at 9 n.m. on Saturday without her regaining consciousness, except to murmur* “Good night” to her mother. The body was brought to Oamaru, and a post-mortem examination, held in the evening showed that a bullet had entered the top of her head on the left side, emerging near the rifeht ear. The Vain was badly lacerated, and it is remarkable that she lived so long.