A SINGULAR AFFAIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9492, 23 April 1894, Page 5

A SINGULAR AFFAIR.

MAN FOUND DEAD IN THE MAORI HOSTELRY. FACE COVERED WITH BLOOD. DETECTIVE GRACE MAKING IN. VESTIGATIONS. Last night, about eleven o'clock, a man was found dead, with his face covered with blood, in one of the rooms of the Maori Hostelry, Mechanics' Bay—the eastern aide fronting the roadway. The following are the particulars, so far as they could be ascertained :— The hostelry is supposed to be used by Maoris coming to town, but as there are no keys on the apartments, the Maoris losing them or taking them away, the rooms are practically open, and European vagrants slip in of a night and " doss " on the bundles of flax which servo as bedding. The oustodian of the buildings, which are very dilapidated, is Mrs. Devally, a widow, who has living with her her daughter, Mrs. Judge, and her two eons. About half-past ben the two women heard a sound in the room as if some one was sick or vomiting, and Mrs. Devally called oub ab the door of the room, " You had better | clear out or I'll get the police," thinking it was some drunken vagrant who was in the room, and the place might be seb on fire, She gob no answer. The room was dark in the interior, the moonlight not having gob in, and she could not see who was in. She returned to her rooms, which are on the western side of the quadrangle. Shortly afterwards her daughter (Mrs. Judge) saw a man come out of the apartment, He had no bab on, and was in the act of putting? on his coat, and passed her, without speaking a word, into the Strand ; but whether he went up Constitution Hill, or along Custom-street, she could not say. Ab eleven o'clock Mrs. Devally, intending to go to bed, took a light, and, accompanied by her daughter, went) round the place to see that the place was empty, A man was seen lying on the floor on his back, with his face covered with blood, and dead. Mrs. Devally roused her son Peter, and, after looking at the man, he went to inform Constable Hutchison, of Parnell, and then went to Dr. Orpon's residence and roused him up. Dr. Orpen (and Constable Hutchison ex. amined the man, and the doctor declared life extinct. The face was so covered with blood that it was impossible to say whether he had been struck or had burse a blood vessel, and no attempt was made to remove or interfere with the appearance of the body. There were splatches of blood, which might have been caused by heavy spitting, in one corner of the room, and a heavy gout of blood in front of the fireplace, about two feet from the man's feet as he lay on the floor. The man's shirt sleeves were rolled up, the boots taken off, and the coat folded in a corner as if the man had laid down to rosb. In the meantime Sergeant Gamble had arrived, and Chief Detective Grace shortly came on the scene, and proceeded to investigate the circumstances, and were doing so when we went to press. There are two theories ab present—one that the man may have died from bursting a blood-vessel; the other that he may have possibly been tho victim of foul play. Bub Mrs. Devally states neither she nor her daughter heard any sounds other than those like vomiting— nothing resembling a scuffle. The man seems to be between 30 and 40 years of age, tabooed on right arm. A paper was found on the body purporting to be the certificate to one Thomas Glynn, certifying that he was a qualified quartz miner, and signed by Mr. Clark, of the Thames. No doubt an inquest will bo held to-day, when some further light may be thrown upon this singular affair.