MURDER NEAR THE PATERSON.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4295, 25 December 1874, Page 3

MURDER NEAR THE PATERSON.

The Maitland Mercury (N.S.W.) gives the following particulars of what appears to have been a barbarous murder:—“ On Saturday (21st November), about four o’clock, a man named Edwin Wilks, In the employ of Mr. E, Pveynolds, of Tocal, discovered the headless trunk of a man in Webber’s Greek, about a mile and a half from Tocal House. Wilks was in the act of getting a drink of water at the creek, when his attention was arrested by two human feet on the surface of the water. He immediately went in to the Patterson and gave information to the police. Senior-constable Wells accompanied Wilks to the spot, and the body was taken out of the water and placed upon the bank of the creek, though not without some difficulty, as it was in an stage of decomposition, and a large stone, estimated to weigh over 3cwt., was firmly strapped to it by a feathern strap. The body presented a dreadful appearance, as the head was missing, and decomposition had set in to such a degree that it would have been impossible to identify it had the head not been separated. There was not a stitch of clothes upon the body when taken out of the water. On the following morning (Sunday) the head was found floating in the creek, some twenty yards from where the body- was discovered, and this, too, presented a dreadful sight, the back of the skull being completely smashed in, apparently by some blunt instrument. Information being sent to the coroner, Mr. Pearse, he proceeded to the Paterson on Sunday morning, and formally commenced an inquest. The body was buried on Sunday afternoon at the Paterson. Dr. John Pierce made an examination of the remains, and is of opinion that they are those of a young man not more than thirty years of age, and that the body had been in the water from four to six weeks. The features were perfectly unrecognisable. Subsequent search by the police has led to the discovery of an axo handle with a quantity of blood and a few hairs upon it, at a hut some distance away from the creek where the body was discovered. A boot has also been found, supposed to have belonged to the deceased, presenting the appearance of having been cut off the foot. As to who the murdered man is—and there is no doubt a most foul and horrible murder has been committed—it is impossible to conjecture ; but there are various surmises and rumors afloat. The head of the murdered man has been brought into Maitland by Dr. Pierce, who had it divested of the decomposed flesh and cleaned, and a photograph has been taken of the skull by Mr. Curtis, photographer. We have seen a copy, which shows that there is a large jagged cavity at the back of the left ear, as if the skull had been battered in with some heavy blunt instrument.” ARREST OF THE SUPPOSED MURDERERS. The Paterson correspondent of the Newcadk Pilot, writing on the 28th November, says:— “ la my previous communication 1 stated that the murder was a supposed fratricide—-that a uau was believed to have murdered his brother, >d was then assisted at the father to dispose

of the body of the victim in order to conceal the crime. This theory of the police, based on what were then supposed to be substantial grounds, turned out to be incorrect, both father and brother having since turned up. This led to a close watch being kept on the movements of the three men. The result of subsequent investigation is that the father and two brothers alluded to have been arrested on a charge of murdering a man, name unknown. It is now believed that the three prisoners and the deceased man were a party of ‘ringbarkers,’ employed near the Paterson, and that either a desire for the deceased’s share of the proceeds of the work, or else a quarrel, led to the commission of probably one of the moat atrocious murders on record in the criminal annals of t(iis colony.”