SUPPOSED POACHER’S DEATH

Otago Witness, Issue 3619, 24 July 1923, Page 23

SUPPOSED POACHER’S DEATH

LITTLE BARRIER INCIDENT. THE CARETAKER’S STORY. . (From Our Own Correspondent.) AUCKLAND, July 22 How Hubert George Weidinan met his death on the Little Barrier Island has not yet been fully elucidated, but there is available considerable information as to the circumstances which preceded the finding of the dead body at the foot of a 200 ft cliff on the ocean side of the island. The police party which went down in a launch on Thursday took with them a coftin in which the exhumed body was brought back to Auckland on Friday night. According to the account of the caretaker of the island (William Cleave), he was clearing a track to the mountain on June 14, and when near the top lie saw smoke rising from a ridge in the vicinity, lie had with him his telescope, but this did not enable him to pick out any individual. Cleaver's first idea was that the intruder on the island was either a poacher or some other unauthorised man. Knowing that someone who had no right to be there was hiding. Cleaver on the following day continued his search, and in the afternoon he heard someone scrambling through the thick scrub which covers the island. Looking carefully in the direction whence the crackling sounds came, he saw a man whom he identified with the aid of his glass as Weidman. This man had assisted in taking him down to the island in May. 1922, when he began his lonely life as caretaker. At that time Weidman was employed by the launch people who carried Cleaver, his family, and his effects to the island. It did not take the caretaker long to discover the reason why Weidman had come to the island. A sack of kauri gum and a quantity of fungus were found in his possession, thus making it quite clear that he had landed on the forbidden island seeking kauri gum. ( leaver took Weidman down to his house and gave him food and a shakedown. On the following morning (Juno 16) when Cleaver arose be found that Weidman had gone, leaving behind him in the room he had occupied a portmanteau. Weidman had made his exit —it cannot be called his escape, seeing that he was in no way under arrest—by a side window, and thus he had managed to slip away silently without arousing any of the other inmates. Cleaver soon discovered that his dinghy had also disappeared This little boat was moored just in front of the house. The search for Weidman and the stolen dinghy was continued by Cleaver on the subsequent days, and on June 27 the body of the dead man in a considerably bruised condition was found. Weidman had then been dead for some ays. (ileavor tried to effect communication with the outside world by fires and a Morse lamp to tell of the tragedy tliat had occurred, but the weather was very thick and the visibility was limited, and to his signals of distress Cleaver received no response. In those circumstances he dug a gray* and therein in-

terred the body. The burial took place on June 29. and. it was not, until July 19 that (ho body was exhumed and plac’d in ds Coffin and brought back by launch to -tuckland yesterday. The coffin was at once taken to the morgue. The missing dinghy was discovered about threo miles from the spot where the body was found. Weidman was a seaman by calling. He was about 33 years cf age. sft 6i n in height, of medium to strong build, o! fair complexion, but bald in front. The island is well known as a bird sanctuary, and this fact suggests that it would not be difficult for a man to secure food. The island is about 7003 acres in extent, and the highest point is 2600 ft above sea level. Where the body was found the sea at times sweeps in with hurricane force. At the foot of the cliff ara numerous huge boulders weighing anything from a quarter to half a ton, and in the fury of a storm thesq boulders are sometimes swept away to sea. and then again thrown back to the foot of the cliff. The points that require elucidation are: How did Weidman come to land on the island? Did he meet his death by falling from the ton of the cliff, or did he fall out of the dinghy at sea, the "body then being washed ashore? The fact that the dinghy was found in good order on the beach and with the oars and rowlocks in. seems to negative the last-named suggestion. Weidman came to New Zealand nearly two years ago as a member of the crew of the schooner Cecelia Sudden, which was on a voyage from Newcastle to Callao when the first mate fell from aloft, receiving injuries to which he succumbed before the vessel reached Auckland. Subsequently the schooner sailed from Auckland and was burned tn the Hauraki Gulf on September 10, 1921. Weidman had then been promoted to the position of first mate. He had since lived in Auckland. It is understood that his mother resides in Melbourne. The body when i ,und was fully clothed, except for his boots, which were found over a mile away. INQUEST OPENED. AUCKLAND, July 22. At the inquest concerning the death of Herbert George Weidman at Little Barrier, William Cleaver, caretaker of the island, said he last saw Weidman alive on the evening of June 15, when he retired to bed at 7.15, He found the body on June 27 at the foot of a cliff lying face downwards, the arms being outstretched. The body was in a decomposed state. The deceased was fully dressed with the exception of his hat and boots, the latter being found above the high-water mark about a mile and a-half a way. 'lfiey appeared to have been kicked off the feet. The inquest was adjourned sine die.