EXTRAORDINARY DISCLOSURES

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 334, 19 May 1877, Page 2

EXTRAORDINARY DISCLOSURES

(by tei-egrapix, from our own corres rONDHNT.) <►— Duneiiix, May 19. Some extraordinary . statements wefl made at the inquest touching the deat of a girl named Margaret age

-- 'C-' - 17. Her father said that she had been in the service of Mrs. ~G. F. Reid since 11 o'clock, he was sent for to see he-. She was then quite nite >nso : ous and moaning. She lay on a maifrav; on tic floor and was quite cold, thcro not being sufficient covering on the bed. was speechless. There were three marks on Jier forehead, two of them being open cuts. Her arms and legs were also cut, though the marks on the latter did not appear to have been recently made. The girl was like a skeleton, being extremely thin. Before she went to Mrs. Reid's she ■was in good health. Mrs. M'lntyre said that when she was called in to see her daughter on Wednesday morning, the latter was laying on a mat trass without blankets, as though she were a beast. Siie was in a deplorable state, and never spoke. Her face was bruised as though it had been marked with weapons. Mrs. Reid said to witness that she had been tumbling about the room during the night. Her legs and feet were scratched down to her toes, while her back was blue and marked. She did not notice this till after she was dead, not having turned her over until after death. Tier chest was discoloured also. She was as thin as any skeleton could be. Before jjoing to Mrs. Reid's she was a stout, healthy girl, and was not subject to tits. Mrs. M : In tyre continued : " When I got to Mrs. Reid's house X was met by Mrs. Reid, who w:. s crying. She took me to my girl, and when I found that she was lying like a brute beast, 1 could do nothing. I said, 'Do yon think I would come and see my daughter lying like a beast ?' -.lrs. Reid said, 'Don't speak to me like that,' ansl tore my bonnet from me. Thinking the girl was dying I begged Mrs. R.id to keep quiet. Mrs. Reid further said that she had shifted my daughter from the servant's room, ami had hud down the mattrass in the room in which I fount! her. I went into the servant's room ; it was in a very dirty s f .:tte." Mr. M'Tntyre recalled said : " Whim Mrs. Keid paid my wife yesterday s'.ie wanted to give her L2 more than my daughter's wages. She said she would i;ive L >OJ it I would not bring it to light. S'.ie hoped I would not divulge the matter for the sake of her father and family. I said I would not take New Zealand : I would bring it to Irsht. I told her that money was no to me. Wnen I was in the passage •'••ia'it'4 away, she said she would give L 2.000 .lown soonor than have trie natter brought to light. Mrs. Reid ' ••• :'t>re<l to pay all the expenses. S • did n.-r appear to be unduly I h.id her that I did not want to persecute lier; a!l I wanted was the matter brought to jus tic". I told her that I considered my child had been murdered. It was after this that she svoke of the money offers. A Mrs. Brooks was present when Mrs. Reid offered L200U." Mrs. Crooks gave confirmatory evidence as to the state of the room, and said: ■'V, hen Mrs. M'lntyre threatened to have an inquest held, Mrs. Reid said she would sooner give L2OOO than that the matter had occurred in her house.'' Mrs. Reid's evidence went to show that the girl was delicate and melancholy, and came to her in an emaciated condition. She caught cold by go.ng to a tire a fortnight ago, haltnaked. She never complained till Friday last, and then of giddiness, and afterwards of diarrhcea. Up to the time or her death she eat heartily. When getting worse, witness offered to send her home? but the yirl expressed a desire to stay her month out, saying her mother would be frightened otherwise. Last Tuesday she was seized with increased giddiness, in consequence of which she had several falls, causing the marks found on her body. As she got worse, and became delirious, witness put her on a mattress in the nursery. The girl was not of cleanly habits. The inquest lias been adjourned until Tuesday next.