THE RUNANGA MURDER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3339, 13 March 1918, Page 37

THE RUNANGA MURDER.

EGGERS EXECUTED. CHRISTCHURCH, March 5. Frederick William Eggers, convicted of tho murder of John Coulthard on the West Coast, was executed in Lyttelton Gaol today. His demeanour on tho scaffold was very firm. In a statement to the sheriff, which the press were unable to obtain except in snatches, the murderer persisted that he did not do the shooting. Death was instantaneous. DISCOVERY OF A DUGOUT. GREYMOUTH, March 7. A fresh discovery in connection with the Runanga murder ia a dugout in the bush 100 yards from the railway. The dugout was under"a stump, and Was covered with' corrugated iron and fern. It contained an alpenstock, the bags that contained the stolen money, and cloth used for a mask. Tho Lyttelton Times states that Eggers was attended during his confinement bv the Rev. J. R. Hewland, Anglican vicar at Lyttelton. He spent a great deal of time writing, mostly in the preparation of a long statement in which he declared with much repetition that he had not done the actual shooting. At the same time he wrote, certain letters, some of which were sent out in the usual way through the gaoler, and were subject, of course, to censorship. Two others were written apparently with the hope that they might be smuggled out. In one of them, addressed to Mrs M'Mahon. he suggested that she should obtain a. small quantity of strychnine which he already had among his belongings in Christchurch, arid should smuggle it into the gaol, sewn in the hem of some underclothes, which were to. be sent for his use. In another long letter, which was also written clandestinely, he had made a statement virtually confessing to the crime. In a later portion of this letter, however, ho stated that he had not actually done the shooting and that it was done by another man for £SOO, which was paid over. These two letters were intercepted by the authorities, but were not used against the accused on his trial.