ALARM AT GATTON.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8419, 19 January 1899, Page 3

ALARM AT GATTON.

The special reporter of the Queensland Times, writing from Gatton, states :— ln the light of recent events, it is not surprising that the community should be afilicted With a certain amount of timidity. The female members of almost every household iv. the Gattoh district (head being left alone, more especially at night time. The . conviction which they have that the murderer or murderers are local residents serves to fill them with an uncontrollable fear that they, too, may become the victims of the villains who so brutally did to death the unfortrnate Murphys. In several instances families have not slept in their own homes at night since the discover}' of the tragedy. They prefer to go to a neighbor's house each night, and it is manifest that this arrangemeDt is appreciated by both parties— hosts and guests. The people .feel that there is safety in numbers. At ! night' the streets of the town are practically deserted. Not only do country people refrain from coming into town after sunset, but the townspeople themselves do not move about much out of doors in the evenings. The retail shop trade after a certain hour in the afternoon is almost nil. These remarks apply even more forcibly to the shops at Grantham, Ma Ma Creek, and other outside places. In such quarters the Bhopkeepers report that they have done little or no business in the evening since Boxing Day. Questioned as to the cause of thiß, they unhesitatingly state that the residents of the neighborhood dread getting about after dark. Time does not seem to decrease this fear, nor is it likely that it will abate to any degree until the ruffians who are being searched for have been captured.