STORY OF A FORGOTTEN CRIME

Otago Witness, Issue 3414, 20 August 1919, Page 46

STORY OF A FORGOTTEN CRIME

Ex-detective Campbell, formerly of Dunedin, who died at Wellington on the 26th, was connected with several notable criminal cases. One concerned the murder of a young Englishman on a station on the East Coast. This man had secured work on the station, another employee on which was acquainted with the newcomer's history. That acquaintance developed [ with tragio results! One day the older .hand and the young Englishman went shooting,. and the former came back alone. Later, when questioned as to the Englishman's whereabouts, the older hand stated that the man had gone to a certain town. Time passed, with no return-qf the missing man, and some of the hands from the station, on visiting the town in question, made inquiries as to the whereabouts of their former mate, and were told that he had not visited the town for many weeks. The circumstances looked so suspicious that the police were advised of the whole affair. Detective Campbell, then in Wellington, was sent to make inquiries, and in order to reach the place anobserved made the trip in a scow. After making all inquiries, he went up the coast to the station, convinced that there had been foul play. Detective Campbell engaged a number of Maoris, who, armed with sharp-pointed manuka poles, went carefully over the ground that the two men had shot over on the fateful day. The search appeared likely to be abortive, when they came across the remains of a fire, in the hush. The ground, blackened by embers, was prodded and poked, until one Maori struck the corpse of the missing man, buried under a few inches of soil. With great difficulty the body was taken down to headquarters. A medical man was called in to examine the remains and testify to the cause of death. The result was the arrest on a charge of wilful murder of the man who had been out shooting with the English- 1 man. The case was thought to be a clear one, but the essential witness gave his evidence in such a manner that the accused was acquitted. Ostracised in the district, however, the man who had been accused left it, and took work elsewhere, and whilst so engaged he was carrying a kerosene lantern one night, when he stumbled; the flame of the lantern set fire to his oil-soaked clothes, and he was so severely burned that he died in the hospital almost immediately.