Otago Witness Illustrations

Otago Witness, Issue 2690, 4 October 1905, Page 39 (Supplement)

Otago Witness Illustrations

A SUNDAY EVICTION. -»- EXTRAORDINARY SCENES AT AYR. Extraordinary scenes were witnessed at Ayr on Sunday, July 2, on the occasion

— Muir and Moodie, photo.

of the Free Church congregation occupying Newton-on-Ayr Church for the first time. The evicted congregation assembled at the church gates in Main street before 11 o'clock, and, headed by the minister (the Rev. John Miller) and office-bearers, inarched in processional order to the Town Hall, where the morning servioe was conducted by,< Mr Miller. A HOSTILE CROWD. The opening service of the Free Church

was 1-okl al 12 o'clock, and the nreachrr was the Rev. Murdo M'Queen. Kilteam. i e\-Moderator cf fcho Free Church. A ' hostilr crowd of nearly 2000 people watched the assembling of the congregation half an hour before the service started. The church officer, on opening the gates, was loudly hooted. As the members of the congregation began to arrive the crowd

became more aggressive, and the police had , the greatest difficulty in clearing the way 1 for the people entering the ohurch. Each fresh batch of worshippers was greeted 1 with a storm of hissing and jeering, and | several oi the men had their hats knocked off. One woman, after struggling through the crowd, marched up the pathway to the church waving her umbrella above her ■ head triumphantly. Another, after getting to the gate, turned aside, and was I

met with derisive shouts, while someone cried, " She turns from the error of her ways." Most of the worshippers walked with pale, set faces, but others, after getting within the police cordon, turned and bowed mockingly to the crowd. Altogether about 130 people entered the church. Mr M'Queen only made a slight reference to the special occasion. He said that, coming

to Ayr for the first time, he could not forget that he was in the land of the I maartyrs. He was not surprised that there was a Free Ohurch congregation in Ayr, and he hoped the time would never oome when there would not be a town ,n whioh there was not a- congregation to up hold the principles of the Free Church as their fathers believed in them. Though the police force had been augmented — all the day duty men, 16 in num-

ber, having been collected. — thore was a renewed scene of disorder as the congregation dispersed. The crowd in Main street by this time numbered probably four or five thoiisand. The first members of the congregation to emerge were badly hustled. Various missiles, including rotten eggs, were thrown, and some ladies even had their hats torn from their brads, and had to beat a retreat within the gates

The temper of the crowd seemed to rise as the local Free Chuiroh leaders made their appearance, and in a concerted rush the police and some members of the congregation were forced back on the railings. Orders were then given for the police to draw their batons, and the pavement was ultimately cleared. Later another threatening rush was made, and batons were drawn for a second time.

At this juncture the Rev. John Miller, bare-headed, and the Riev. Dr Howie passed down the street on their way to the afternoon service in the Town Hall, and this helped to draw off a portion of the crowd, though the excitement and disorder continued for some time. The noise in the street was so great that the forenoon service in Newton Parish Church — Rev. Mr Raimie's — was stopped

for a time. Fearing a renewal of the disorder, and acting on the adyioe of Chief Constable Lowden, it was deoided to abandon the evening service. A notice stating fchat the service had been postponed was posted at the church gate. Nevertheless the street was thronged with people, and when a Free Church adherent, evidently unaware of the postponement, put in an appearance he was hissed, and a shower of eggs was thrown at him.

The announcement that the Atlantic Fleet would cruise in the Baltic Sea at the termination of the Anglo-French festivities at Portsmouth, on August 14, has drawn the attention of all diplomatists and foreign offices of the world to that quarter. The map shows the extent of t l ;e coasts of the four nationalities bordering the sea, and also shows tli^ narrow entrances which are guarded by the Danish islards. The largest entrance is known as the Sou'^d. and is nearly three rni'es wide at its narrowest part. It is defended by -tine Danish castle of X onberg. A "great quan+ity of shipping passes through the Sound annually. The Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, which extends from Kiel to tliemouth of the Elbe, is of great value to the German navy owing to the fact that it cuts off some 600 miles of dangerous sailing round the Danish coast Ihe map also shows Bjoerkoe Island •where the meeting took place between the Russian a.d Geiman Emperors. The mean depth of the Baltic Sea is 44 fathoms, and its gre-tcst ascertained depth, situated" between Gottland and Courland. is 140 fathoms. The numerous reefs a' d shoals along the Prussi n coast m ke the navigation of the Baltic very diffipult.— From the Sphere.

The great natural harbour of Lyngen Fiord i=. according to current statements, again attracting the attention of Russia. The hrrbour is 200 miles within the aictic circle, and only some 19 miles from Ihe Russian frontier. It is stated + hat in 1900 several Russian officers visited the fiord for the purpose of " rectifying the Russo-Noi wegian frontier. This great natural haibour is neve" ice-bound at any period of the year, and can be entered in any weather; this would permit of several of the world's navies floating in it at the same time. Its position is shown on the map on this page

THE HAUNTED MAN.

REMARKA BLE DEVELOPMENT A CRIME REVIVED

Constable Dowr (^y* t] »c -•!> lljuinne Argus) wa* ai.vo-.tcd on Fn-'»i in.>> r ..*-«ptembei 1) in L trie Bour' c -triwi h\ <( i tl n who told him m a low trie, thai In- u.ihctunted l>y a man whom ].<• liad nmrdi ied \ ears ago in Ti-ma'iia. 1h • constable did l.ot belie\ o tin- story, liiif ho concluded !hat tho nun was hardly m a fir -tut<- to roam the streets, and iocked him up on a charge of insulting- bel~a\ion> The prisoner gave" the name ot Jo' n B( ckett, and told ih' 'on^abk 1 that th > n.an be murdered v.tis named Snidll, hut thai he had -food lik ti ial at the Lanncf ston Sessions. Heikett was brought bo^oie the City Court on Satuiday. September 2, and rema'ided to the gaol hosp tdi for medical oh«ervation. Ho has remained in bed e\er --iiice under the doctor"? care, and ha& said nothing more about ihe minder. "He r. aintam^ absolute «i cnci-. said the governor of the gaol (Mr Meagiier). and wear* the air of a man who is sorry that he opened his mouth at all."

Inquiries made show tho facta upon which Beckett's story is based. In 1397 he was working for Mr J. F. ti gney at Bona Vista, near Avooa, in Tasmania". At the same time a man named Rorort William Small was employed there. Beckett a.nd Smail lived in the same hut, and were both, said to be in love with a cook named Jane Kowe. She upparentlv (avoured Small, and Beckett grew jealous and morose. Then Small disappeared. On November 25 he was seen in the company of Beckett, and nothing more was heard of him until November 29, when his murdered body was found enclosed in a sack in a lagoon about a mile and a-half from Bona Vista. Suspicion at once fetll on Beckett, and he was arrested o:i a charge of murder. Signs of a struggle were found near a wood heap near the hut occupied by the two men, and a billet of wood lrom the heap was found covered with blood and hair. Small's head had evidently been battered in with this piece of wocd. The body had then been placed m the sack and carried across the paddocks to the lagoon. 'Ihe whoLe of the evidence against Beckett was circumstantial. He was tried at the Supreme Court, Launceston, on February 15 and 16, 1893, and acquitted. No evidence was given on his behaJf, but his counsel ridiculed the idea that Beckett — a weak man, only sft 3in high — should have overpowered a strong man like Small, and then carrird his body a mi'-t <md a-half o\«r hea^y ground and fenoes. The crime has remained a mystery -since that day. Further investigation by the police failed to connect anyone else with ih" murder, and no fresh evidence ha 1 - ever 1 obtained until Beokett voluntarily accused himself to Constable Dower on Friday mgiil.

A curious feature in connection wi.h the case is that tho r^cends show that, on Fobruaij 11, 18S6 Beckett, who wa* then 52 years of age was convicted by the Launoe^ton Supreme Court of wounding with intent to kill, and sentenced to 20 years' penal servitude. This sentence was. however remitted two months later, and on April 14, 18S6, hi> ..was liberated. In a little over a year he was again befoie the same court on a charge of murder. Beckett has Leen acquitted ol the charge of having murdered Small, and his conlession cannoi be used to reopen the case. Tho case in this respect is analogous to the Richmond poisoning case, in winch Rosina Hubbard, after having been acquitted of the charge of having murdered her mother, made a confession, in the form of an affidavit, (..ciaiing la she \\;s o u.iry oi i.:e charge.