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OLD CHIMES RECALLED.

LATE DETECTIVE BROWNE, ! REMARKABLE MURDER CASE. [BY 'TBLEORAPH.-*-PBES3 ASSOCIATION.] Wblmnctos, Thursday. Me. Cbajbles Towsixy- Browse, whose death took place this week/ wa* for many years connected with the detective branch of the police force, principally on the eat Coast and at Wellington and ; Auckland. The deceased made a name for himself, which few of the 'early settlers will easily, forget, and was repeatedly before the public.' as an energetic and capable, officer, who sheeted home many cases to notorious criminals. Ho first came into prominence •"as a detective hi Victoria towards the end of the fifties, when ho brought to justice the perpetrator of one of themost atrocious murders in the annals of Australian crime, the murder at Casterton of Mr. and Mrs. Hunt by George Wains. Another brilliant arrest about the same tune was that of a bushranger named Scott, who. but for the pluck and perseveranco of the deceased, would probably have escaped punishment. In 1866 New" Zealand appealed to Mr. Browne, who secured a position in the police force' here. In March, 1879, he travelled froni.Hokitika to Wellington to take up the position of chief detective, the first appointment of the kind made in New Zealand. His only relatives in New Zealand are Mrs. MeGrath and two nephews. Mr. J. U. Browne, of Auckland, and Mr. H. V. Browne, of Blenheim.

The career of the deceased detective was full of exciting incidents, but. it will be sufficed to recall one or two of the many. In connection •with the Casterton murder, Mr, and Mrs. Hunt were murdered by Wains for gain. Ho cut the bodies up and placed them in a bag and anchored them at the bottom of the. Glcuclg River, near Casterton. After the murder became known to the authorities the matter was placed in the hands of Detective Browne for investigation, with tho result that after 15 months of careful and ingenious working he discovered the murderer,-who was tried, convicted, and eventually hanged. The detective, after investigation, had his eve on Wains, and with an end in view took a position as "wood and water joey" at a certain hotel. He had not been long in tho position when Wains came along and put his horse up at the stable. Tho crime was almost ancient history by this time, and the detective could not risk talking about it without raising tho suspicions of tho people, but to revive the matter he secured an, old Government, notice, with the Royal Arms at the top, and posted it up, wording it to the effect that the.Government had decided to re-open the case and offer a reward for the capture of., the murderer. Wains saw the notice, and as a result got drunk. Browne gave him a shake-down in tho stable, and after the man had rested a 'while .wakened .him- up and asked,* as; a means of testing him, why he had been talking in his sleep about choking people. Wains sobered up directly, and asked anxiously what he had been saying, his whole demeanour convincing tho detective that ho was on the right track.

The detective took the risk of having Wains arrested on suspicion, and a few hours later had himself arrested at the hotel for being a ticket-of-le&ve man out of his district. The . sergeant of police was in the secret, but the arresting constable was not, and the |al© the constable told on returning to the hotel of the rough behaviour of the ticket-of-leave-inan under arrest quite disarmed suspicion. The ; detective spent a week in prison, and kept in touch with Wains, who invariably asked where the prisoners were searching for the remains of the murdered people. The detective kept letting his fellow-prisoner know of various places in the Glenelg River that the authorities were having searched by the prisoners, of whom he was one, until at length the-murderer told the whole story to the disguised detective, -and asked him to remove-;the remains, offering him £500 for doing so. : Then followed the 'trial.and the scaffold. On the morning Wains was to be hanged he sent for the detective, as he wished to tell him he. bore him no ill-will, as he;(the detective) had done his duty. The capture of the bushranger Scott was also a plucky piece of work. The outlaw had locked himself in. a shed, and the detective had no chance of getting him out without exposing himself, so enlisted the aid of a boy who was sent to the whare to nek for the loan of a billy for his father. The bushranger handed the billy out through a partly-opened doorway,' and while ho was. in this position the police officer, who had crept up, secured th© outstretched arm with an iron grip, and presented a revolver at the man's head with the other hand. The capture was effected.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19080214.2.76

Bibliographic details

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13673, 14 February 1908, Page 6

Word Count
813

OLD CHIMES RECALLED. New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13673, 14 February 1908, Page 6

OLD CHIMES RECALLED. New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13673, 14 February 1908, Page 6