THE INQUEST AT KAIAPOI.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XIII, Issue 769, 21 March 1860, Page 4

THE INQUEST AT KAIAPOI.

The following evideiice was given at an inquest. f held at tHe-Northern Hotel, Kaiappi, on the 12th Mai-ch, before Charles Dudley, Esq., J.P., on the body of a man unknown, discovered lying within ■ a mile of Mr. : Moore's station at Grlenmark.; John Henry, s worn—l: am a carpenter; living ait,-. Mr. Moore's' station at Glenmark. On Wednesday, evening last,: March 7fcli, the deceased called at the hut at which I live on the station about dusk. He asked me the nearest way to the accommodationhouse, arid I tbld_ him. that it was sp dark that I could not direct him in a proper manner. He asked for a drink of water which I gave hini1, as I had no tea at the time. He said "I have just seen Mr. Moore1 who has denied me stopping there this dreadful wet night: what shall Ido ?" The deceased attempted to come into the hut, but I refused;; and; said that Mr: Moore had on a Jormer occasion accused me of having had two men at the placed This was the reason wh^ I refused him admittance. I directed him to the wdolshed about three or four hundred yards distant, where he would find shelter. It was raining heavily all' night while j was awake. About midnight I heard the dogs barking, and I said to my wife that poor man has "lost his way, I think. I heard nothing more of deceasecl till Friday following when I heard that a matt was found dead about a mile off on the road to the accbmmodation house called the Pass;: There is no track by which a stranger could; fihd his way to the . accommodation house, i; I went with others tp; see"" ttie body found, and discovered: thaV; ifc;; was ?the deceased, the same who had called at my liut on the Wednesday night. He was lying on his back with his arms extended and his legs crossed. A pistol, a^revolver, was lying near: his feet. "His hat was about 20 yards him.'! The revolver produced is I believe the same. 'My house is very small and I could give no accomraodatiori for the ;nigh't;; and : -'as Mr.- Moore hail refused I should'have cprisidered that I was acting contrary to his- wishes if I had done so. ; I believe that no one attempted to cover up the body or to remove it to the woblshed or any other'house, till.it was brought away by-the i police.-- ■' •- '■ '■'; ■•■'•• ■•' v:-1. ; :_' fi;'>■■■■■-.'':.■■''{.■ ■■■'.■^■^x By the Jui7--The deceased appeared agitated when he-called at my hut. It hadbeenrainino'.the whole of the afternoon of Wednesday. .:'^- '■ John Lawcook sworn.---I ama'shepherd living a^/' Mr. Moore's station, at CHeamarki ;Ori Friaay:

morning last, March 9th, between 8 and 9 o'cWv I saw a man lying on the ground about a m? from the Btation, near the direction of the P a He was lying on his back with one leg ero S over the other and his arms spread out his }l lying about twenty yards from him. I thought? was sleeping, but as I saw nomotion when I 1 calling to my dog, I then thought that he *? dead. I wont forward and saw some spots of bio i on his face>and a four-barrelled pistol lying a t y ' feet with .the muzzle"towards him. I th en i e ii s and went down to the station and told Mr Ho and Mr. -Douglas of it. The place where it deceased was lying was covered with grass and stones. There was no appearance of the gron i having been torn up. The corpse was not remov"i on the Friday, and I believe no orders were c i v at the station about it. Ido not know the dece as T he was a stranger at the station. The revolv!' produced is similar to the one I saw lyine -if- a feetof the deceased. " ".. :;■ bat tile : ' Police constable Hayman' sworn—l am one f the police living at Kaiapoi. In consequence! information being received that a man was fou n ] dead: on Mr. Moore's station. at Glenmark, I w sent.'off to make enquiries and to bring down th body. v I left on "Saturday afternoon soon after \\ information arrived. I got to Glenmark on Su^ day morning at 9: 1 saw Mr. Moore.. He told me that I should find some of the men who would shew me where the body .was lying. He had not seen the man himself. .A man had called at the station ■on Wednesday afternoon and enquired his way to the Pass, but he did.not know whether it was the same manor not. He believed that the man had not been removed or touched by any of his men since he was found;: I asked Mr. Moore to allow one of his men to make a^ box to put the body in. He said his men were on piece work and that he could not order them to go to work, but that I might have a | box; lying at his house. I looked at it and found it too narrow.; He then ordered some wool bales which! took with me. .When I got to the place where the deceased was lying, I saw the body h/j ni , on the back as described by the other witnesses' He was not over and apparently had not been touched; I'thought that he had been shot as there had: been blood running from what appeared to be a small pistol wound. The revolver pistol now produced lying close by his feet, the muzzle was rather inclined .towards his feet. His hat was about 20 yardsfromhiin. I searched him and found the powder-flask!produced with powder in it/a pair of stockings,-'comb"; paper, and handkerchief, but nothing by which I could identify the body. The pistol has four: barrels, two appear to be loaded and one that is discharged has on the remains .of an exploded cap.; I wrapped the de« ceased>in the \^pol bales, procured a cart, and took it to Kaiapoi.'l. Samuel Beswick sworn—l am a medical practitioner living at Kaiapoi'. I have examined the body of the deceased, and found a gun shot wound alittle above the ear, on the'right side. On removing, the,scalp :I found a considerable effusion of bloqdin theF posterior part of the head. I removed the bone of the - skull-—thel-", brain was so broken ddwn by .decomposition that I could not trace the track of tlie ball, which I found amongst the mass :of brain which I;hkd removed from the head. The bullet I how prpduce. It exactly .fits the pistol ; found by■.the side',of tlie deceasea.' I believe the f wound must: have been'inflict^r by the deceased himself. The^^ ■apparent course- of .theball was upwards arid backwards, and just such a direction as it would have taken if a man deliberately committed suicide.' I believe such a \vound would he : instantly fatal. Prom the position 'in which \ deceased was founds think that he must have shot himself Btandmgu^^ • Mr. Revel, sub-inspector of police, requested that ■ the Case might be adjom'ried for ■ further' evidence, jwhich was accordingly done. The; time,for'the next /hearing w^s fixed for Monday 19th inst. r:'\;;' v ■ ;;;\;; <MoNi>^'I9TH';MiECH.

s When tKe ';.ca^';^as;r;adjpdrned;7tbeV.time'iised for the next hearing was 6 p.m^ to-day, which f'was altered a few days aftei-wards to 2 p.m. on the same day. '■. One of the jurors, however, had not received notice, and the consequence/was that the 5 whole court and the witnesses hid to wait his arrival till'sixy-at^hifeli^horayth^h^aring of the case was resumed before: Charles; Dudley, Esq., J.P., ; acting as Coroner! The following gentlemen were present on the bench •—C.'.'O. Torlesse, Esq., J.P,, '■ W. G. Beswick,/E^q., J.P., and JV Birch, Esq., J.P. The case .was re-opened by recalling— - Samuel i:Beswicki' who ''" stkted^ that' since he was last exami^iedr he remembered1 having seen the man at; Felton's Ferry about three weeks ago, and believed thathisriame was Davis. Hadkriownhim well some years ago as a sawyer in the Church Bush with,a man. of the;name of Wilson, and Had ho doubtithat^^ he wasthe: same person. ;Joseph;'W:m/Piipprill-Syora-^X'jiim an innkeeper :at Rahfiriora. A man named Stephen Davis came itp my place on the 11th Pebruaryand stayed there till 7th.March. I believe him-tb be the deceased. :: During that time he ; went up to Mr. Chapman's to commence work "for him> but returned after an of two days. Aboiit the commencement of March/ he asked me-ifl had apistol for sale. I him a four barrelled revolrer, stating the ■price to be £5 -he ''requested :me to keep it for him till he went to Timarii, as he should require it there, and agreed .to purchase it; he left my place about half past six on the'morning of the 7th March, beforel was down:";: lie1 was -to !iiave worked out his account with me,\but-did. riot. The pistol an(^ powder flask produced :^re^the' same. I did not miss the pistol'till'thie Tuesday after the inquest; the pistol - was nWer loaded while in my house. ?He was never the vvorse.fqr liquor wliilein my house, inor am: I aware'that he ever suffered from: delirium tremensj or from the effects of drink at all. He gave me no; reason to 'suppose that:: he meditated self-destruction '; HHrer was dressed in a dark green velveteen coat; and striped blue shirfc which I purchased for him, arid a black wide-a-awake, anil cord trousers; He always wore the same dress while with me. He never alluded to going up the country to get;work. ' By. the jury—The pistol was riot in an easy position to. get. at. I did not notice any particular patch in his trowsei's.- \

John Leith : sworn—l am a pxiblican afc the Eowai. An elderly man- caiitie to my house about mid-day on Wednesday:, March 7., He/ had on a dark velveteen shbbting-cbatj I believe him to have been■ ;Heniy Davis, the deceased; He complained of being weary and foot-sore.' He told me that he was going up to Mr; Moore's to make some hurdles, and enquired where Mr. Moore's bush was. As he appeared very tired/ and I thought he was a poor man, I gave hinv a glass of ale,' and seeing Mr. Moore s dray on/theother side of the river, told him he might overtake it, but he stated that he was 100 tired.- T then pointed out another dray which, was coming Up (Meldrum's), and told him that he could go by it. I then took him in and gave him some^ dinner arid another glass of ale. He had a careworn appearance. I supposed he had no money, but he promised to send some down by White, and from that I supposed he was engaged by White m° T 01" m r Mr-lMo6re;■-; He showed me a powder flask. The o ne produced is the same. It was shortly after two /when he left.- Hewas quite sober when he left my house, and I do not think that any liquor,was taken away by him: -.John Waters, sworn-J am a shepherd to Mr. Douglas, and live at the station. I was at Leiths on Wednesday, 7th March, when a man dressed in » velveteen coat, cord; trowsers,; and black felt Ua* came there. 1 believe him to have been Henry Davis ; : helaeked for a drink of water. Leith aslce* him if ac would have a glass of beer, he had it.

"STthewas going up to Mr. Moore's to make ««* £?JJ then liadius dinner; he shewed me a llUrdi^ask the one produced is the same; lie told 1110 lv« with-he did not shew me the pistol. He sboOtP/fectlv sober. He rode on Meldrum's dray was PUvVp miles and then walked about a mile and abOUiVJSSh me I then turned off to Mr. Douglas. fl-llftlf,«fnothing to drink on the dray, and he -obef *hen we. parted. He appeared vai Pv.7full possession of his senses. He said he io} L tools on Mr. Moore's-dray going up with liadf About a quarter of an hour after I left him AVl llt\o?ainal,d continued to rain hard till I jt l)Cga" l s j eep . the weather was cold, wind 1 south-west- He stated that he had come from S|j jJry^WbiSwas driving Mr. Moore's dr ny Moore, sworn—l am a station 060 5 Denmark. About six o'clock on Wedmßfv abou the time we knocked off, an elderly nesy' o f me between the stock-yard and the hut; wan m.T that you White?'-Isaid 'No.'. He then he.fS want to see White about the settlement of sa Jr-nunt with Beswick,'—to which I made no SOll ie ac^ t]ieil as k e d me if I could give him .any rep i to which I answered that I had none, I was i Vn landed I bave no recollection of,the.man, f ul i believe him to he the deceased .Henry K«s from the description I havelieard. He then i impif he might stay the night and.l said no.; fSi had already five travellers in my hut, which nnite enough, and had given vp1 making an V Sation house of it. The weather had been Sorts wet for an hour or two; it was not dark. ? \ntoA out where the accommodation house was, i , t in hour's walk' from the station; about three about an uu.u Henry , g or son j et i, ue? Weka v!< I did not ask him any more questions. I Snot observe anything particular; about him. tLp is no track to the accommodation house the JJJI pointed out. The distance by the other, way • 8 five or six miles. He could have found; his way f he had been the right sort of man by the way I : nninted out to him; it was getting dusk. Panckurst and two others with him and two sailors were: n the hut." There might have been room in the it for several more; but I have given my hutteper orders not to take in any person without mv orders, as I have been imposed upon too often. I refused him because he was in liquor. I smelt j him of it. That was one reason. The man was J not drunk but had been drinking. He ..did not appear to be feeble; he looked a strong able man.. lam guided by my opinion as to whether men are impostors or looking for work. I considered this > man an impostor. I did not think he was really looking for work, although he asked for it;.. I did not hear any more of the man till the Friday mornino' following, when I saw one of. the shepherd's running to me. I thought he had . lost .his dcs, and] was going to assist him, when he said he"had found a man lying dead about a mile or so away, with a pistol at his feet. My dray was Just starting, and I wrote a letter by it to Mr. Revel. I did not go to see the body, nor did I give any orders respecting it. A man on foot might get down in a day to Kaiapoi. The dray would arrive about 11the following morning. I had no horse handy. I have an indistinct notion that some of the men asked me to have the body removed to the woolshed. I forget my reply. It was my impression that it was illegal for me to interfere with the body till the authorities j had seen it. The body remained there till Sunday. | Ibelieve the constable removed it, but I was not at home when it was removed. The constable asked me if I could provide the body with a ;shell. I told him that the carpenters were oh contract work, and I could not order them to do it;,moreover,-it was the Sabbath. I gave some, wbolpacks to wrap the body in. Ithinkthe deceased did not see White that evening, as he was unwell. . '■:

Alfred St. John White sworn—l am a workman at Glenmark. I never gave orders: to any man to corae up to Glenmarkto make hurdles. I had no tools on the dray belonging to the deceased.

This closed the evidence. The Jury having retired for about half-an-hpur, returned to the room when the foreman read the following verdict.-:~

" We are of opinion that the deceased died "by his own hand, there being no evidence to show the state of his mind at the time. And the jury cannot too severely reprobate the conduct of ;Mn Moore for denying the deceased shelter, and committing him in an exhausted state to the inclemency of the weather in a dark tempestuous night, with an almost'certainty of his not being able, to ; find any other accommodation." :

Considering the excitement caused in the neighbourhood of Kaiapoi by this event,: the proceedings during the investigation were conducted with gr.eat decorum. At times, strong expressions 'of feeling were displayed, but were promptly repressed by the tench. . ' . ■•.■■■•■.- ".-.;, ■