THE KAIPARA MURDERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 19, 25 December 1863, Page 3

THE KAIPARA MURDERS.

j IMIt'KST ON Till: KOIUES. TliK inquest, on tin- bodies of Mrs. Matilda Ann ! ; Ihompson and her daughter Olivia Thompson was ' j held o„ Wednesday, the L'ard instant, in Mr. Thump- ■ I son's house ui Kaukapakapa before Oiai-lcs lk.iphv, I Ksq.. .1.!'., acting as from-:- on the occasion. 'Ph.. i I.allowing- g-.nflem.-n w,-iv on the jurv :-Messrs. (' - i "Williamson. C. St.phciison, ,1. 'F.' Nau-hton, <'. : ; Stocking, \V. Deacon, ,1. .Stewart, AV. AckJund, A. ■ I nthank, G. de Thierrv, \V. Long, \V. Jor.es. K. ; Oa!e, and I'. Sh phciisou, ion man. " The bodies h:id ; l';m buried previously to Mi', lloaphv's arrival, but ; by order nt' that gentleman wen; exhumed, and after they Jiiiil been viewed by the jury, tin.- depositions ; were read as follows:— ' ' ; Florida Thompson stated that -in- was twontv rear- . of aye, and lived with her parents at her father's farm (which is named Violet Hill) on the Kaukapal;apa. That at two o'clock on the ::!'• i n'on ol ' Monday ia-; a. native came to her father's ~ ■> ..•.ami seating him,, It down hv tin- tin-, a-ked !nr .in-.- f..0.1. As mudi l-r,..d ami meat as h.- ■ euM • .; v.< ~;v , a : to him. ,\( t e ; - he bad finished eating, mv 'sister ' Olivia asked him in Maori on what .'-.rami ie- had fine, v.-h-n he replied in broken Kugiish, •• Wait a hit and I will [-I]." She s;a;ed that ..In- km-w the ■native well, having sen him on ;LU d oli' for m,„.. : than two veers past. His name, too, Kuaramo. was | tattooed on his arm. a - was also a feure r.-M-mbliui; | a hraeeiet. He In. d at Kawan, 'i'amati lhwiti's /.a ,■>;.;. VT.dc the native was in the house there , ! w re no nan ah-nt. and w!i--n it became time to fetch . in tile cows, whieh was simi two hours ati'-r his ii,-st ; : i-omi.nr, h- was ssk-d |, v w::ne-,: to ■•;.. awiv. as she \ ■ and her mother and sifter wanted To g,, away't" bring '. the milking row- home. He- then Weill', and the ': family proceeded in search of the cows. This was : j about lour o'elo-k. i m finding the eov.-s and mil—- i i ing tiiem into tie- s-■>, kvard, Ku irauc,; join, d tiem ; i tie-re. and lvtumed with them to the lion's,-, wle-n lie a-k..l to purchase twenty pounds of sugar. This he ; obtained, and oll'en.d a oiie-pound note in pavment, I whieh was velhsi u, .Mrs. Thompson tellim/him to ■ i jiay her hm-dmnd at li:e mill. lie tle-n left lis,- house ! a second time, stay, d away hall-an-hour, and on re- : i turning enquired what -.vonld he the price o!' lihll' tieI quantity of sugar, anil then said, " Never mind tile j ! price, give me more sugar, :1 .. ( much as three shillings I ; and sixpence is worth. " Hi: had brought in an axe ! i with him which was nreviouslv outside. 11,:' ' was in the- hack kiU-h.ii when he said this,_ and wit- ! , ness was .'landing close to hi r mother in' the same ' room. Mrs. Thompson tinr, -d round io gel him the '■ | .sugar, and a* she- was reaching it down, lm earn,: un : i behind her, and struck her ;• blow witii the ;:-;,- : ! (which he '<:■■,': held ill his hand a:! the tine-), on the ' I back of her la-ad. and she fell down al one-. 'WiUu .-s j ran to th- corner of tie- loom with the baby, ami ; was follow, d by the native, who raised the axe and j shook it over her head, exclaiming that he would ; kill al! tie: women in ike house.'and then all the i j white people in the district except Mr. McLeod. At i i Christmas In: said he would kill all tin- white people, j ! lie did not appear to he at all in liquor, nor to 1„- ; i under the iniluence of insanity. He had not, shown j any anger when fir.d asked to go away, neilher had j | any dispute taken plae--. At most times Kuarangi j i was a peac-L-.ihly di.sjiosed native, and had never liiv.-n j i signs of being capable of such a crime. Whilst ' | threatened with the axe, Florida Thompson called to i I her sister, who was milking tile cows outside, to run .' ] away for a.-suntance to a neighbour named l'eunv, - 1 nnd'exehimed to the muni-rer, " Oh, my l.iod, why : did you not kill me and spare my mother', i At this he ran out to prevent the 0.-cape of her .si.-teis, taking the- axe with him. Wit- | nciw then barred the- doors, and looked for a | carving knii'i; v.ith wliieii to de-fend herielf if he re- ! turned. The door was scarcely barn-d when he ; Ciinr: back, and, ihiding it fa.-.tiued, struck at it with j the axe. He struck ,-:ever;d-.imes at the door and ! then went away. Witness looked out of the window, ! and saw him running after her sister Ann Matilda, a girl 11 vears old, also alter her ether sister, Olivia, , whi-n he'found ho could not catch Matilda. Witness I then ran from (la- house, pursued hv th" native, who had returned ■'. .'.ving killed Olivia), and -he .-ucc. eded in ivacl-.i.-.e- I'ei.ny- ■ bouse with the baby. Penny I was out;, and shi- then retunied to their own house j to try and iind her younger sister.-), but finding that the M;aji'i was still in tin: house, she made off into the hush, again pursued, and from the noise of branches cracking it seemed to her u.i if she was pursued by several persons, thougc. she had only .seen one. She then reached the house of Thomas Smith and Andw. j Urowu. In answer to a juror, hho stated that natives i j frequently came to their house tu purchase goods, I I and their manner had been the same as usual all i j along. The family had never had any quarrel with ■ I this or any other native. Her ~pin: m was, the ,-ir.t i I had keen done to cause a war, e-' Kuarangi was a j i great advocate of the- Maoris in lie present rebellion, j ! ib never grumbled al il. : pri..- asked l„r the sugar, j I When he iii-t came there were four oth.-r natives j | coming down the hill uppo.-itc, on liie road to Davis' j place. Tile axe had been taken away by some one j ■ ,-ince the murder. This was the evidence of Florida j j Thompson. _ ! j Matikia Ann, sister ol the previous witness, was I ! then sworn, and ,statcd that when the native tirst came j i to the hou.-ii', Mr. l'eunv called in and mentioned that | '. ho had .seen lour others coming down the hill, to I ! which Jluar.-ingi replied, " (), are there ?— plenty more ! : gone to ltonav's for sugar." [The evidence up to the I j time of niilking v,as similar to that of last witness]. Oiivia, aged 1-1 years, and witness were milking, when the latter heard .screams at the hou.-e, which was sixty yards distant. Witness felt sure somebody was I killed"by the nature of the screams, and at once ran to the bridge over the creek and waited for Olivia, who came towards her putMied by Kuarangi, who 1 had some sort of a weapon in his bond. She was nearer to witness than to him, when, screaming and holding her hands overht r head, she fell down in the 'I fern, the Maori follow imc close upon her, raising : .something over her head. Witne.-s stood still, and ' ' the Maori approached her, stepping over the dead body of Olivia. Witness commenced running, and ' I just then Mr. lVnny's dogs came up, and Kuarangi 1 | .stopped. Sim then'got to Mr. Penny's, and from I his house could see several .Maoris, but wiicthir men 1 | or woimn it was too dark to tell. liy Mr. Hcaphy— X„ angry words had passed between any of us and Kuarangi. She said she could I know him again by the maiks on his arm. 1 dohn Thompson sworn, stated that lie was the bus),,,: 1 ;,„d father of the murdered women : that he J v.-a :j ; n AuoH.ml -.ihen the muni- r ... , urn-J : h- had

seen in.; bodies on his return. A long axe belonging to him was missing. He did not know a native named buiirangi. Xl 7 j„ money, £<J in notes, and a of cloth had also been taken from the house. If is lamily and himself had always agreed with the natives, thniurh once he had some altercation about a pig, but with a native of the NgiUiawhukaui tribe, winch had left these parts ; this happened two years

A cook at Mr. MoLcod's, mimed C. Davis, was also examined, who came after tin: murders, with others, up to the house, and was present when the doors were opener. i] v went into the kitchen, and saw the boilv !'! ft - v,i - fhoinpsoii lying on j t3 b . lck j n a poo i o 'f Wood i hey did not touch the body, but went and searched the scrub in the direction o'f Mr. Penny's. Lying across the path they found the body of Olivia i nompson, tho head seemed nearly severed from the body, but on looking closer they saw the head was bent under her ; leaving- the bod'v undisturbed, thev looked about and discovered the prints of naked feet, about the size of a man's, g,,inj.- i tl tho direction of lcnnys. .Messrs. Uonar and Stocking and others then came up, and the body of tho daughter was carried up to the house. On examination, those present concluded that the wound had been made with an axe, and it was a like one to that which killed the mother.

In the absence „f a medical man, Mr. Henphv. the a.-tnig Coroner, win, informed the jury that he had studio., anatomy and surgery, stilted that the body of tlie mother showed an incised wound in the. neck, severing tin- spine tit tho fourth vertebra. That the wound „f her daughter Olivia was also an incised one, passing iroui behind downwards into the neck ami also severing the spine in the same pine.-, the head remaining attached to the body only by the skin and integuments in front and at one side of the throat. 'Ihe wounds in both instances were such as would, in his ..pinion, be caused by an axe, and death from them would lie instantaneous.

This closed the evidence, and the following verdict was then returned .•—•'That the said Matilda Ann lhompson and Olivia Thompson came to their deaths respectively by blows dealt with an axe at the hands of one Kuarangi, an aboriginal Native man of New Zealand, on Monday, the' 21st day of December, KSli.'j, and further line! ami record a 'verdict of wilful and deliberate murder .against the said Kuarangi and other aboriginal Natives whose nams are unknown." TN'QUKST OX THK HOIIY OF WILLIAM SMITH. A SEi-.-i.vi- inquest, with a fresh jury, was held on the body of William Smith. William Long deposed that he knew the deceased, who went by name oi Hill. Deceased was foremost. man of a party of men going towards the scene of the late murder when witness joined tiie party. Henry Collins was following behind deceased, ami carried a gun, as did four or five of the pum. Collins was carrying his gun (a double barrelled one), in his right band, and'at the trail. Witucs-. heard a report and sav,- deceased turn, and heard him say. "it has gone though me." He died within ten minutes, ami the ball entered the hu-k and came out at the pit of the stomach. Witness had no doubt that that wound ocoa-ioned his death. Henry Collins stood still ami said -God forgive me." 'lie said, "shall 1 go lo town and give myself up, or remain here .'" "Witness never heard of any quarrel having occurred between Collins and deceased, and e.mid have seen if Collins bad taken an aim at deceased. The gun was not raised when it went oil'. lieiirv Burnett gave similar evidence, stating that the oth'er barrel was loaded ami capped, and" boll, hammers were down; also that no drinking hud been The other w-itness.s gave similar evidence. \V. Howden stilted that lie knew 1b... deceased, who eame from l,Vri.l,\. in Miigl.ind. De.-c:. icd had given himself out as formerly a soldier of the 70th. Had any quarrel exi-tc.l belw.cn Collins and d>>eca.ed he should have known of it. The.jury inning deliberated, returned :' verdict of •'accidental death,'' adding as a. rider, that tbay liesircd to impress upon all persons earning lire-arms in the bu-1, the necessity of using eu-rv care and precaution in handling them.