Town Edition.

Marlborough Express, Volume LIV, Issue 245, 15 October 1920, Page 8

Town Edition.

SHOOTING TRAGEDY.

MURDER IN THE BACK-BLOCKS.

[Press Association.]

TAUMARUNUI, Oct. 10. It is reported that a murder occurred at the back-block settlement of Tokirima., twenty-five miles out, last «i»ht. It is stated that a, returned soldier named W. Anderson, aged thirty or forty years, went to the house of Loft Brothers. Ho found Jim Loft, a married man, and his nephew Fred Telfour at home. The man asked for tea and bread, which Loft got. He next asked for an overcoat, and then said : "Are you .nil at home?" Loft replied "yes." Anderson said: "I will get the two of you," meaning Loft Brothers. He then pointed a. riiie at Jim Loft, but Telfonr, aged eighteen, interposed, receiving the charge in the chest. He died in five minutes. *

The other brother Loft was1 absent at a farm at Ohura. Jim Loft-rush-ed through, the bedroom and escaped through the window. He .swam the Ohura River and walked barefoot through the bush for sixteen miles to Aukopae, a "boat landing on the Wanganui River, where he is now in bed in a. state of collapse. The Taamarunni police went out this morning with the coroner. Anderson had been sacked by Loft Brothers, and it is alleged that he had a grudge against them. Anderson is still at large. He once lived at Tauinarcmui, and was well known as a Scottish piper.