The Ohinemuri Gazette. AND UPPER THAMES WARDEN. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3rd, 1896.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume VII, Issue 244, 3 June 1896, Page 2

The Ohinemuri Gazette. AND UPPER THAMES WARDEN.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3rd, 1896.

The report published in the vaihi the Auckland papers mystery, purporting to be one made by Chief Detective Grace who was sent up to Waihi to investigate further into the death of F. O'Neill seems to us to throw no light whatever into the mystery, and however satisfied he may be that death was the result of an accident, we are sorry we cannot agree with him. Let us look at the facts of the case. In the first place^ before anyone could get to the pass or hole down which this man was supposed to fall by accident, a barricade would have.;,to be removed, or crawled under on one's hands and knees, then the 9in plank that covered the hole would ..have to be moved, and then there would only be the space of loin for a large man, such as the deceased was, to fall through accidentally. Detective Grace says the barricade could easily be moved and.the plank shifted to one side, but does" he mean to saythat the barricade was moved by accident ? if not it must have been moved by someone or other, and, what is more, it must have been replaced as the sworn testimony of the witness McAlpine, who had been over that particular spot since Christmas last, is that the barricade has always been in its place* : But even supposing the man crawled under the barricade and came to this hole of 15 inches, if he had only made a single effort to save himself, such as every man does when he finds himself falling, by throwing out the aims he could not have fallen down. But suppose again that he made no effort to save himself ,and fell down, how did he get undressed? Detective Grace says: "He does not think O'Neill was killed by the fall, but finding himself unable to get out he became delirious and stripped himself while in that state." If the man was not killed by the fall of 15ft on the soft mullock, and was strong enough to undress himself, and rip his coat in halves, whilst he was doing it,,why was he not able to get up the ladder that was down the side of the hole for 12ft, or within three feet of the bottom' and within his easy reach, why did not he walk up the ladder and get out if he had sense enough to undress himself. Another point is, how did the body get buried ? The evidence of one witness, whose word is not to be doubted, says he was over that hole every day since Christmas and never smelt anything. In fact only the day before the body was found he wanted to ascertain what quantity of mullock was in the hole, so he took up the plank, and held the candle down as far as he could, but saw no dead body, neither did he smell anything. Now, the smell was so great from the body when it was found, that, is on the next day, that Constable Brooking was killed by it, yet this witness never smelled anything, and the only conclusion to come to, both from this and other witnesses' sworn testimony is that the body was buried. The detective accounts for this by saying: v The man's nock was broken by the mullock which foil in on him.'.' But where did the mullock come from, if it fell in on him, considering the hole is hewn out of joli4 iwk f»d there was ao Joose earth

anywhere near except what was in the hole, it must have fallen in on him when he fell in the hole, and that boing the case, according to the detective, it broke his neck. .Then, of course, the man undressed himself after his neck was broken^ if not, it could not have fallen in on him at the time he fell in, but after he was nnr dressed and properly prepared for it. There are other difficult matters, as for instance, the very severe fracture of the skull, which according to the evidence of tho doctor, was enough in itself ■ to ' cause death, but we 'think there can be no doubt that a further investigation is absolutely necessary to solve the mystery which has resulted in two deaths. No stone should be left unturned ■ until the matter is thoroughly clearedup. •