TRAGEDY AT GORE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 214, 7 September 1905, Page 3

TRAGEDY AT GORE.

WHOLESALE SiiJiJBP-STEALING. SUICIDE OF""I SUSPECT. For a considerable time sheepfarmers in the vicinity of Gore have had portions of their flocks stolen and ail efforts to trace the-.r whereabouts hare proved fruitless. Last year a bi<>- mob was taken from a flock paddocked at Croydon, and smaller-mobs were stolen from other farmers. The police failed to adduce any information as to their disappearance. During the past few weeks there has been quite an alarming revival of this thieving. Within the past two months J. O'Neill, a dealer in a large way in Gore, put a mob to graze on the Otakaramea hills, near Gore. Mustering them after a month he discovered that 130 were missing. Inspection of gullies in the neighbourhood revealed fourteen lying dead, but no trace of the others was discoverable. Within the last two weeks a mob of 164 ewes in lamb was stolen from Knapdale station—96 belonging to Mr R. McNab and 68 to his brother, Mr A. McNab. Several thefts of smaller lots were also reported. The police, in the course of investigation, had a conversation on Saturday afternoon with John McKenna, formerly a butcher in Gore, and latterly in charge of a skating rink. McKenna admitted having sold ifaO sheep through the Farmers 1 Co-opera-tive Association at Dunedm last week. The police prosecuted their enquiries on Sunday ,with results that warranted them visiting McKenna's house. This morning, however, it was discovered that he had left before breakfast, not fully dressed, and a revolver was discovered at a later hour to be missing. Inquiries failed to elicit any information as to his having been seen, but shortly before 1 o clock Ins daughter discovered him in the skating rink reclining against the wall, and shot dead through the right temple. He had been dead for some hours. The unfortunate man had, it is supposed, feared the result ot a turther interview with the police, which was arranged for this morning, and took his life. Deceased leaves a widow and a young family. He was respectably connected.