Whakatane Residents Alarmed by Presence Of Armed Murderer

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26996, 3 February 1949, Page 4

Whakatane Residents Alarmed by Presence Of Armed Murderer

PA AUCKLAND, Feb. 2. The man who shot dead the 24-year-old traffic inspector, John Kehoe and wounded Arthur William Godfrey Wiggins, the 35-year-old contractor, about five miles from Whakatane on Monday night, was still at large to-night. The grim probability that the murderer is armed with a .38 pistol and ammunition has spread alarm among hundreds of people in the townships and scattered farm lands. Lights were burning all night in some houses on the outskirts of Whakatane last night. There is reassurance, however, in the presence of armed police and t civilians guarding the bridges in the district.

Part of the search, in which some 26 police and about 50 civilian volunteers, most Legion of Frontiersmen, took part was directed to-day to the scrub and bush-covered hills behind Te Teko, a small settlement 17 miles south-west of Whakatane. This move followed a report that the wanted man may have been in the vicinity of the Te Teko Hotel early this morning Two civilian volunteers who were seated in a motor car on guard duty on the Te Teko bridge heard a splash from near the bank of the Rangitaiki River at about 2 o’clock this morning. They then saw a shadowy figure move along a low bank into a clump of pine trees below. He then disappeared. If the wanted man was the person seen by the two volunteers on the bridge, it is thought that he may be trying to get to Matahina, 11 miles from the Te Teko settlement for timber workers, at the Whakatane Board Mills’ plantation. After leaving the area where the crimes were committed, he would have had a walk of about eight miles in a direct line to cross the Rangitaiki Plains farm land to the Te Teko bridge. He must have then swam the 50-yard wide river to reach the Te Teko bank. For some miles beyond Te Teko he would be on flat farm land, well studded with clumps of trees. Then

he would be in country that even an army of men could not comb thoroughly. High fern and ti-tree cover the succession of steep hills that tower above the river. About three miles from Te Teko the pine planations begin, and they stretch as far as the eye can see toward the Rotorua - Waikaremoana highway. There is hardly a sign of habitation between Te Teko and Matahina., on the south bank of the river. Scrub and native bush, divided by patches of farm land, cover the hills. A thorough search of this country would be impossible, and the police are concentrating on keeping a look-out from vantage points. Hunger may, however, bring the man into the open very soon To-day guards and searchers worked in blazing sunshine. Many of the men on duty were showing the strain of their long vigil. Some of the volunteers had been away from their homes for 28 hours and had snatched only a few hours’ sleep. The police were reinforced to-day by another six men. It is understood that the wanted man had at least three firearms in his possession. One was a registered rifle, another was a shotgun which does not require registration and the third was probably a revolver or pistm Military books about marksmanship were found in his rooms and there were also pieces of deer-stalking equipment. , A man stated to answer the description of McGill was seen in Waihi early this evening by a youth who claimed to have known him personally. He immediately informed the police, and all men that can be spared from nearby police stations are concentrating on the Waihi area.