STILL A MYSTERY

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 141, 16 May 1929, Page 10

STILL A MYSTERY

MURDER NEAR OPOTIKI. BAFFLING TASK FOR POLICE. Wrapped in the deepest and most baffling mystery, the murder of Samuel McAleese on Thursday on a lonely roadside thirty miles from Ofiotiki has given the police a problem with which they will have the utmost difficulty in solving, writes the special reporter of the Auckland Star from Opotiki under date May 13. So far detectives have not been able to gather a single clue or suggestion of a motive for this cold-blqoded crime. Inspector O’Halloran and Detective Sergeant McLeod, of Gisborne, have handled the matter from the outset and they are helped by Detectives Knight (Auckland), Walsh (Wanganui) and White (Hamilton), who were sent to the locality on Saturday. So far all their endeavours to unravel a very tangled skein have been resultless, and a wide area of rugged bush country is being carefully combed in an effort to find a solution of the tragedy. The place where the murder happened is thirty miles from Opotiki, and the road to Motu begins to lift and wind a sinuous way past precipice and ravine in the direction of Gisborne. It is one of those typical hill country localities where the valleys are full of shadows and the view is restricted to the next bluff ahead. Again, yesterday, the detectives made a detailed search in the vicinity pf where the body of the murdered man was found.- So far nothing tangible has rewarded an unremitting search which is being pursued with the greatest' vigouor day and night.

THEORIES. Much attention has been paid to the life and habits of'the murdered man. From what can be learned, he was one of the labouring class, used to ipad work in the back country, with its isolation and tent life. He had few companions. Robbery or jealousy as motives are highly improbable. Suicide is out of the question, for if -McAleese died by his' own hand he could not have dismantled the rifle and put it back in his bag where it was found near his body. It is possible that McAleese was not killed by his own rifle. The cartridge found in the magazine may have been used in a shot aimed at a bird or rabbit, for McAleese always carried his .22 gun in a sugar sack when wprking down the roads in the hope that he might get a pheasant or a rabbit for his tea.

If McAleese were shot by his own rifle, would the murderer stop to dismantle the gun and put it back in the victim’s sugar sack ? That feature is a strange one, and it is more reasonable to suppose that whoever killed the ypung Irish road worker did eo with a rifle of the same calibre and a similar bullet to that used by the dead man.

McAleese’s body was found within a foot of a precipice, which lias a drop of 1500 feet. The head was lying up the hill, yet tho blood appeared also to reach upwards, and it is thought that body must have been in the reverso position at first. It was possible for the murderer to leave no trace of his crime, for had he pushed the body over tho bushclad cliff no trace would ever have been found. Most likely the body would have rolled to the bottom, and if that had happened McAleese would not have been discovered. In a short while wild pigs would have disposed of the body. On the other hand, the undergrowth is so thick that the .falling body might have been brought to a halt, but that is hardly likely, for big stones thrown over as a test have" been heard to crash hundreds pf feet, if they did not reach the bottom. AVHERE THE MEN WORKED. Only an hour elapsed trom the time McAleese left “Scotty” Lappin 'and the ttimo the body was found. After lunch the men went to their work as usual. McAleese was working nearest Opotiki; a mile further on towards Gjsborne was Lappin, and three miles from Lappin there was a Maori named Makarini (McLean) working. As neither tho Maori nor Lappin saw anybody on tho road, except service cars which passed earlier, it is presumed that the murderer came from the direction of Opotiki. That appears to be tho most feasible suggestion, although it rpuy have been possiblo for him to come from the opposite direction. If he did that lie would have had to make a wido sweep through the dense bush to avoid being seen by Makarini and Lappin. The " suggestion that McEleese was murdered for the greed of money is quickly dissipated. He had worked in tho locality for only threo weeks, and would not have drawn his money until ho had worked a month. Only about 4s in silver was found in his tent. There was a suggestion that tho dead man was saving hard so that he could make a trip to seo his people in Ireland, but his best pal, Pat Fitzpatrick, said that McAleese had never made a remark such as that to him. In spite of this, apparently McAleese was a man who always had money. One Opotiki man said that he had often loaned tho roadman £2 or £3, and the money had always been repaid within a few days. McEleese apparently did not have to wait for ibis wages, but he had been out of work for some timo, so that it is likely any money lie had saved would have ben absorbed. ! Jealousy is another .theory which hardly suggests itself as a motive. McAleese had . few friends, and those he had were emphatic about his cheerful and likeable nature. “He had no enemy,” said McAleese’s pal, Fitpatrick. "Sam was as straight as you make ’em. I met him two and a-half years ago _ in Gisborne, and he was then up against it and eager for work.' I was responsible for bringing him up this way.” i “He was a find chap,” said “Scotty" Lappin, an old roadman who has been in the hill country for tho past fifteen years. “Sometimes I would go down to his tent in the evening, and sometimes ho would come up to my hut. The night before he was killed he came to my hut with three sausages and wo had a yam for a time. It’s hard when you lose your mato like that.”

BEWILDERING TASK. For the police it is' a bewildering task to bring Samuel McAleese’s murderer to a court of justice. There is not oven the suggestion of a clue on which they can work. Every possiblo line has been worked on, and, whatever the detectives do, they find themselves at a dead end. In an effort to find any blood-stained stone, Detective-Sergeant McLeod climbed down the face of the cliff as far as was possible with safety, and later in the day Constable A. T. Breed went down about 300 feet on the end of a rope. Ho swung precariously on the face of the ravine, and, although he made the closest search possible ho found nothing which could be connected with the tragedy. Besides making a search down among the bush of the' cliff, Constable Breed travelled over an old military track, a relic of Maori days. A distance of about two miles was covered over a winding track, starting at an old mill, on the Opotiki side of the scene ,of the murder, and coming out on the road not far from where tfie body was found. UNEXPLAINED INJURIES. Injuries which were found on the dead man presented another problem for the police. His upper lip was badly gashed, and his nose was broken. There was also a wound on the forehead. How he came to receive those wounds, together with the bullet shot which killed him, is another mystery. It was thought that he may have been hit with a stone, but not trace of a stone with blood on it could be found. The shovel with which McAleese had been working was found leaning against the bank quite near the body. It was quite clean, as though it had recently been washed. McAleese may have washed the shovel himself, as roadmen often do. On the other hand, the injuries to his, face could quite easily have been caused by a blow from the' face of the blade of the shovel, after which his assailant may have washed away any bloodstains. Up till to-day there was no solution to this tragedy of the hills, nor at present . is there any indication that the matter will be quickly cleared up. It may drag on for many weeks, and it is also possiblo that an arrest may be made in a very short time. LONELY LIFE. Life for roadmen in the Papamoa Hill (which is many miles from the Papapioa, district,. near .Te . Puke), is .a lonely

one. They visit Opotiki only occasionally, and apparently they have no recreation. At night they yarn with each other, and sometimes play a game of cards. “Scotty” Lappin’s hut is a quaint place. For two years he did not leave the spot, his only friends being about half a dozen cats, which prowl round the hut, and a number of hens, which persist in finding their way inside. McAleese lived in a tent about a mile from his companion. His bed was a typical bush camp bed, made with sacks nailed on to a crudely-made bedstead. A few papers were scattered about, this being v the only reading matter. In the other part of the' tent McAleese had built a fireplace where he cooked his food. It was just an ordinary roadman’s tent, comfortable and clean. To-day the police were continuing their investigations, and searching questions are being put to anybody who it is thowght might throw some light on what at the moment is a baffling mystery.