NEW GUINEA MURDER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20889, 3 June 1931, Page 6

NEW GUINEA MURDER.

GERMAN PROSPECTOR'S END

MASSACRE BY NATIVES. nine kanakas .also killed. Advices received in Sydney early last month that Mr. Eric Baurn,' a German prospector, and nine Kanaka carriers, were killed by natives near Surprise Creek, about 12 miles from Edie Creek, New Guinea, have been authenticated ; by mail. Baum, an experienced prospector, had discovered gold and was working it'on a tributary of the Watut River. He had 12 carriers, and had settled on a run of payable wash. Much of the food used by the party was obtained from the Cooka-Cooka tribe of natives, who appeared on the scene shortly after Baum made his camp. According tn tlie three Kanaka survivor.l; of the tragedy, the Cooka-Cookas brought in kau kau—sweet potatoes and yams—in bags, and were paid in trade at tegular rates for a bagful. Baum noticed that the bags were becoming lighter and lighter, and he remonstrated with the sellers, who answered impudently. At length, Bauin, exasperated when a bag was delivered almost empty, refused to pay for it, and told the natives to take it away. He was in his tent, and a cmwd of hostile natives assembled outside. When the bag was refused a rush was made at Baum. He was seized by the arms by natives on each side of him, while a third hit him on the head with a stone-headed club. He was probably killed instantly, f(jj- these clubs, known as skull-crackers, are terrible weapons. To make sure they cut his head off and opened the body. Nine Kanaka Boys Murdered. The natives then decorated the body and sang round ifc in triumph. Meanwhile, they kept the Kanaka boys surrounded, but suddenly set upon them for a massacre. During the fight that ensued, and in which nine boys were killed, three escaped and hit! in the bush for clays, and it was only by means of the most skilful bushcraft that they escaped the keen search incessantly made for them. The three b'Dys eventually arrived afc the camp of Sehmidtberger, a. prospector and friend of Baum, who was working on Surprise Creek, only a mile or two away from the scene of the massacre. The news was sent Co Salamoa and received by Mr. Eeldt, district officer, who, with an armed party of native police, went in pursuit of the murderers. Baum's Strange Career. On the arrival of the Australian troops in New Guinea all Germans Were called on to surrender. Baum, a German officer, refused to do so, and instead "went bush" and wandered from village to village, earning the help and goodwill of the natives by his fair dealing. For years he wandered about the mountains of New Guinea, clad only in a little iappa. cloth and barefooted, living a? best he could and prospecting the streams for gold, which he located in many t places, one of which he was working at his death. When, after the war, arrangements were made whereby Germans were permitted to return to the mandated country, Baum went to the coast and reported himself. He could converse fluently in several dialects. He had, moreover, established friendly relations with every trib# he had met, except the Cooka-Cookas. His knowledge of the natives was frequently used' by the Government. Pierce and Treacherous Tribe. Thfi Cooka-Cooka tribe is peculiar by reason of being the only truly nomadic tribe in New Guinea. They have no regular villages, but cultivate isolated garden patches in various parts of the country they wander over. They have always been fierce, intractable and treacherous, and are remarkable in their habit of raid< ing in the dead of night and for travelling over the roughest country in the dark to surprise their victims. Their beat covers a wide extent of country along the main watershed, but lately they have ventured into the gold workings to steal edged tools and other coveted property. They were responsible for many murders of prospectors and earners on the Papuan side, and the Papuan authorities sent several punitive expeditions after them, with varying results, for they ;ire able to evade pursuit in jungles and mountain gorges. Mr Alfred Belfield, one of the oldest and best-known prospectors in New Guinea and Papua, is also missing. It ;s supposed that Jie has been killed by natives. He has been prospecting on the Ramu, Upper Sepik and Yellow Rivers.