TRAGEDY AT TAPANUI.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13385, 11 September 1905, Page 3 (Supplement)

TRAGEDY AT TAPANUI.

MURDER OF 'A OIIINESR V ' i- " • ' ' ■'TWO ARRESTS MADE.' V

At Jialf-past 2 on tho afternoon, of the 22nd ult. a Chinaman named Ah-Chongl from thp Beaumont district, visited ij|9 houso of a countryman qf'his named.Ham\ Sing Tone at Tapanui, and on opoiiing tho door'of tho hut found him dead. .Ho reported tho matter to tho local constable, who readied tho hut about' a quarter of an hour later. Entering tho bedroom, ho found Ham Sing's body lying on tho floor with tho feet towards tljo sido of tho btxl and his head against tho leg of tlio tabic. On further examination ho discovered that tjio man was quite dead, and had evidently been'dead for about*l2 or M hours. Tho body was badly burned, and tho underclothing was almost burned off it. ■Thero was a bruise on tho forehead and several cuts on tho faco, and thero was. a pool of blood, evidently from tho injuries to tho faco and head, aljout tho bed! T|\o floor was strewn with fragments of a bottlo, and thoro wero somo pieces of tho same bottlo on the shelf near tho bed. . Tlio burning had evidently been causcd by tlio explosion of a lamp, which was foupd on tho bed, and which had set firo to tho bedclothes, as these ■ wero partly burned. Tho man lived by himself in a small fourroomed cottage, just on the outskirts tif tho township, and seemed to have gained the good opinion of all the people in the district, so thijt it is unreasonable to suppose that anyone had a grudge against him. Ho was supposed to be. worth about £200, hut only somo £70" or £80 has been discovered. rFom the evidence it would ap-. pear that Sing Tong habitually carricd a roll of notes, generally about £10,' about with him, and this sum, it would have been thought, would have been found in the pockets of his clothing. Search has, however, failed to discover any 'money in that direction, and it seems probable thatiit has been taken by his visitors on tho fatal night. ' Thoro aro two or three ■ small houses close to Sinpr Tong's plaoe, and two parties state that they heard a shot fired between 9 and 10 o'clock on Monday ovciiing, tlio day preceding that on which tho body was found. .. THE INQUKST.

An inquest was commenced on August 22 by Mr W. Quin (sitting a3 coroner) and a jury of six, of whom Mr John MacFarlano was selected foreman.

Yung Choo,' known locally as Peter- Ling, the first witness, recognised tho body ps that of Ham Sing Tong, whom ho had known for many years, both in China, ne'jtr Canton, and in New Zealand. Ho was 66 years of age, and witness had known him somo 40 years. Deceased was a gold miner before ho ciimo to Tapanni, and had resided in tho district some 20 years. Ah Chong deposed that ho resided at Beaumont, and was a cook and labourer by occupation. Ho left Beaumont on the 21st inst. Stayed at Patrick Diamond's that night, and arrived at Tapanui about]2 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon. He went to Sing Tong's, found no one about, and went and bought tobacco at Anderson's store. Ho then went back to Sing Tong's, knocked, and sang out two or three times. Ho waited for a few minutes, turned tlio handle of tho door,, pushed tho door open, and went in. Ho went to tho bedroom-, the door of which was open. Tho blind wftfc down, and lio struck a match and saw tljo tody lying on tho floor, covered with blood, Ho then left tho houso and went for the police. ■ Dr William Robertson, resident at Tapanui, said he received intimation from Constable Cowan that Sing Tong, a Chinese gardener, was dead. Ho went and saw tho body at 7.15 p.m. on the 22nd inst. The body had been lifted from the floor of tho bedroom and placed in another room. 'Ho examined tho room where tlio body was found, and discovered a pool of blood on floor—arterial blood chiefly. He noticed that a lamp had seemingly exploded, and that the bed was burned on tho side nearest tho wiiidow, where deceased had been lying. Only the under part of tho bod was burned, and tho blankets wero not destroyed. Tho sheet, mattrass, and wooden edge of tho bed were charrod. Ho noticed that tho globe of tho lamp was. not broken, but that tho vessel containing tho oil was in small pieces. Pieces of tho broken lamp were lying around tho burned bed. Ho thon noticed that picces of a clear-coloured whisky bottlo wero lying about, part on the bed and part on tho floor. Thero was also Bomo on a shelf at tho far end of the room, the shelf being about five feet from tho floor. Tho neck of tho bottlo was intact and lay near tho door. ■ '

To tho Jury: Ho considered the lamp had fallen and exploded when coming in contact with somo object of a hard nature. Lamp glass was lying whero deceased had been lying, Ho examined tho body of' deceased, and found on 'tho loft side that tho clothes wero all charred and portions of the flesh burned a little. The face was marked with ono wound on the right cheek in tho region of a rather largo artory. Close to tho wound was a piece of glass, part of the whisky bottle referred to. The piece of glass was about tho 6izo and shape of tho edge of the wound. Over tho loft of tli.o forehead was a large bruise. One hand grasped a handkerchief tightly. Tho faco was covered with blood, and ono eye was dosed. Tho noso was flattened on one . side owing' to tho weight of tho body. To all appearanco deceased had then been dead .over 12 hours. When tho wound in tho check was received Sing Tong must'have been alive. The bruiso on the forehead had lieen inflicted during life. Deceased had not had any largo doso of opium or alcohol the previous evening. He had no reason to suppose deceased was addicted to opium habits. lio would not like to say- if the wound and bruiso wero incurred at tho samo timo. Tlje bruise looked as if made from something round. Tho apparent loss of blood was not sufficient to cause death.

On tho resumption of tho inquest, Dr Robertson detailed tho results of his post mortem examination of the body. There was a small wound 011 tho left corner of tho mouth—such as would be caused liy a bullet. There was no doubt about the wound being caused by a bullet. It was this wound, that had caused tho man's .death. He might liavo lived foi- four or five minutes, or perhaps a littlo longer, after receiving tho wound, but would- have dipd. ultimately of hemorrhage, tho large vessel' having been penetrated. Tho sjiot would not noee&sarily cause tho man to be uneonr scions, though witness thought blow on tho head would. Ho had followed up tho courso of tho bullet wound, and found that tho bullet had penetrated tho spinal column _ and passed through it in ' a aoivn ward direction and towards the right., Ho traced tho bullet 2in further, still going downwards and towards tho right, into the soft musclo tissue of the back, between the shoulder blades, and found tho bullet produced just in front of tho upper part, of tho right shoulder blade. Witness examined 1 tho body internally, and found all the organs healthy and normal, but thero was. a rib tho right side. Tho bullet wan evident!}- what was known as ii 32 calibro long bullet, and would fit either certain kinds of revolvers or certain kinds of Remington rifles. Evidence was also given by Archibald Currie, Charles Robert Aburn, . David Daekera, Sarah Dackers, and Constable Cowan, aftor which

The Jury consulted together very briefly, and roturned a verdict—" That Ham Sing Tong had been wilfully murdered by. somo person or persona unknown," TWO MEN ARRESTED. On AugusS 27 a man named Thomas Stot.t, said to bo a half-caste ■ with Australian aboriginal blood in his Veins, was arrested at Tapanui on a charge of wilfully murdering Ham Singi Tong, and the following day a youth named George* Hill Bromley, about 16 or 17 ye»TS of age, was arrested on a similar charge. Both liayo been remanded to appear at Tapanui oh tho 13th inst. ...