THE NEW BRITAIN MASSACRE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8097, 28 September 1904, Page 2

THE NEW BRITAIN MASSACRE.

Fuller details of the terrible New Britain massacres show that they were planned with a treachery and executed with a ferocity which could not be surpassed. Tomaria, the leade/, had been treated with great kindness by the mission. He was I rescued from 'captivity and cured of the I effects of ill-treatment, and later, when ho was crushed by a falling tree, he was nursed by Father Rascben, who appointed him his shooting boy. The priest, however, would not allow Tomaria to take a second wife, and it is thought that this was the cause of his participation in the tragedy. One of the natives tried to prevent the murder of Father Bley, who bolted for the bush, and then, Beeing escape was hopeless, turned and waited his end. This native Urged Tomaria not to ahoot, and stood between him and his victim, ready to risk his life for the missionary. Tomaria, however, was unwilling to waste a cartridge on a native, and he signed to Borne of his followers, who approached the Brother from behind, and felled him with an axe.. Sister Sofia fought for her life with the courage of despair, and avoided several blows aimed at her, but at last she was struck down by an axe and her body horribly mutilated. Father Van der Aa, the prießt in charge of the next station, had a miraculous escape. When he heard the news he rode over to St. Paul's unarmed and alone. Before going to Father Rascher's house, he tethered his horse in tho coffee patch. While he was finding the bodies of the murdered missionaries, tho murderers rushed towards him, but just at that moment his horse neighed loudly, and the natives, thinking that white men were riding up, ran away. A brave Irishman named Goff, living at Beim'ng, collected some natives and marched ■to St. Paul's to recover the bodies, but could only rescue that of Father Kascher. The body was borne away by the natives and Goff covered the retreat with a rifle. The massacre was <m a Saturday, and on the following Tuesday a Government expedition wont to Bt. Paul's. One large grave was dug, and the bodies of the eight martyrs buried together. Round the grave stood seven white men with rifles in their hands, and Father Kleinditschen, who read the service in a voice broken with sobs, kept his rifle at his feet. The police and friendly natives kept a watch on the bush in case of an attack. By a sad coincidence, Father Rutten, whose station was inland, was reading "jive Martyrs of the Catacombs" when he was murdered. The Sydney Morning Herald's correspondent in New Britain reports that the plot was divulged to Father Rascher by a native, but the priest, who had heard similar reports before, refused to believe the story. The natives are described aB unintelligent, cruel, and bloodthirsty, and the dirtiest tribe in the Pacific.