BRUTAL MURDER IN TARANAKI.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1319, 26 November 1880, Page 2

BRUTAL MURDER IN TARANAKI.

.(by telegraph.)

New Plymouth, November 26,

•Information has just been received from Qpimake that Miss Dobie, sister-in-law, to Captain Goring, has been found murdered about two miles south of the Opunake camp.. She went out for a walk during the afternoon, and, not returning as expected, a search parry was sent to look for her, when her body was found in the flax with her head nearly severed from it. It is supposed that the unfortunate girl had been violated and then murdered. Sir. Bullen and the Coroner have proceeded to Qpunake to hold an inquest. Later.

Re murder, a man named Walter Stannard has been arrested on a charge of murdering Miss Dobie. Blood was found on his clothes. Miss Dobie, with her mother, was about to proceed to England, and she had been on a visit to her sister (Mrs. Goring), at the Camp at Cape Esrmont, where Captain Goring is stationed. She had been sketching all parts of the country, and had visited Parihakft, where she had been most kindly treated by Te Whiti and the other natives. Mrs. Dobie and her daughter had gone to Opunake, and it is supposed that Miss Dobie had gone to sketch Te Ngamu Bay, where the Lord Worsley was wrecked, about a mile and a half from the township, where she must have been waylaid by a ruffian, who ill-treated and then murdered the poor girl. There is great excitement here over the affair, as the young lady had been on a visit, and ■was well known to many. Keen sympathy is generally expressed for the qaather and sisters. ' ' . Wellington, November 26. The body -of the murdered Miss Dobie was found at 9.30 last night. Her clothing was nearly torn off. A man Walter Staunard, from Hawea, has been arrested on suspicion. Blood was found on his hat, clothes, and boots, which he accounted for by his horse haying cut his nose. This morning, a pair of fustian trousers were found within six feet of where the body was found lying, and also a piece of a bridle. Hawera, November 26.

Miss Mary Dobie, sister-in-law to Major Goring, weiit for a walk towards Te Ngamu alone. On not returning at 6 p.m., a party was organised and bonfires lighted along the coast line, and a search kept up. At about 10.30 p.m. the party found her body forty yards off the main road to the Te Ngamu pah. Her throat was cut from ear to ear, and life extinct. The body presents a dreadful appearance. A man named Walter Stannard, from Hawera, has been arrested on suspicion of committing the foul crime. His clothes bore traces of blood, and he passed the scene of the murder at or about the time it was committed, and Hone Pihama's daughter saw his horse with a saddle on tied up at the scene of the murder, Cp,l. Roberts, Mr. Hursthovise, and Hone Pihama have just returned from the soene. They found an old saddle and a bunch of wild flowers, evidently gathered by the deceased. Blood waß found from 10 feet to 40 yards off the road, and the ground shows traces of a desperate struggle. The scene is within a hundred yards of an uninhabited pah at Te.Ngamu. Great consternation at the murder and sympathy with Miss Dobie's friends prevails. Mr. Hursthouse was very enersjetic in pursuing the inquiry, as were also Colonel Roberts and Hone Pehama. It is understood here that the wife of a storekeeper at Hawera wiped some blood off Stannard's clothes before he started for Opunake. People here do not think hijji the culprit. Major Parris left Hawera for Opunake this morning, Stannard was married here by the Registrar, earl}' in the week, to Miss Prosser. The blood stains on his coat were probably due to his separating two men who wore fighting at the hotel in Hawera on Tuesday night. Ko (Srannardl has been hoi'sebreakirtg near hero, and bears a good name. He is a cultivated and superior sort of man, and not at all likely to commit such a crime.