THE MAYHEW MYSTERY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14665, 24 July 1918, Page 7

THE MAYHEW MYSTERY.

FINDING OF THE BODY.

IPer Press Association)

OAMARU, last night. | I Tlie mystery of the strange disappearance of Onslow Mayhew, accused of the murder of George Swan Burke, and also with shooting at thi'e© defenceless women at Gemm ell's Crossing, near I Oamaru, on the night of April 14, was cleaned up this morning by the finding of Mayhew's body in the thick gorse on j the south bank of the .Kakanui river, , about one mile and a half from the scene of the tragedy. Between 10 and | 11 o'clock this morning Peter McAuley, a farmer, of Totara., accompanied by Ins IS-year-old £on, was collecting firewood' along the bank of the river. McAuley ' pushed his way through the gorse to a . Lig patch where the close undergrowth j had oeen burnt off by the searchers for, th© missing maai, and there, about 150 yards from the bank of the river, McAuley caught sight of what he took to bo a log or a fallen tree. He was greatly surprised and horrified, however, to come across the body of tlie missing man. Tlie body was on its back, with the right arm flung out upon the muddy ground. The left ' hand gripped tightly tho barrel of a ' service rifle, the weapon lying across the dead man's chest with the muzzle within an inch or two of the chin. The j magazine of the rille was fully loaded. Although th.e body was very much weather-beaten and the eyes were gone, the remains were in a sufficient state of preservation to show that Mayhew had shot himself, there being a "large ' hole in the left temple and a grievous S injury to the back of the head. Near ' tho body was an empty methylated 1 spirit bottle. Tho cork had been replaced in the bottle. Under the body was found a corkscrew, cigarette holder, some tobacco, and a locket containing a few pieces of "Sen Sen." It is thought that Mayhew shot himself on the night of tlie tragedy. j The flames which some days later con- ; sumed the scrub in the vicinity passed over tlie body, and destroyed the! trousers, charred the coat alicl portion" of the hat not actually covered by. the dead man. The boots wore still intact, although the laces hiadl apparently been, consumed ih the fine, It Was evident that after the tragedy Mayhew waded across the river and plunged into the thick gorse, and but for the burning of the gorse the discovery of the body Avould not have been possible. Indeed, Mr McAuley, on finding the body, had to tako the precaution to marie the spot very carefully to enable hion to direct the police to the place where the perpetrator of the murder of George Burke took his own life.

) Tlio dwellers on tho whole countryside are much relieved that the mystery of Mayhew's disappearance has been cleared' up, but thoughts of the grim tragedy, the subsequent suicide, ana the sorry ending of young lives — one of a man who was expecting the call to the colors any day, and the other of one who 'had served his King and country at Armentierea and on the bloodstained Somme — will not readily he effaced from the memory of the people of North Otago..