COAST TRAGEDY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18528, 15 October 1934, Page 6

COAST TRAGEDY

SMITH SHOT ON BEACH WIFE TAKEN INTO BUSH KILLED AT CL’OSK QUARTERS MURDER WITH BORROWED GUN _______ * A story of cold-blooded murder, followed ny the suicide of the perpetrator of the deed, was revealed by the police investigations into the Whareponga sensation, which on Friday night resulted in the deaths of George Smith and his wife, Iliueluni Smith, of Tolaga Bay, and George Taylor, of lliruhirama.

Taut Taylor had every intention of forcing Mrs. Smith to give up her husoand was shown by the fact that, his own gun being broken or at least out of order, lie had borrowed a shotgun from a woman on the station adjoining that on which he had been working, and had intercepted Smith and Jus wife on the beach track between Whareponga and Waipiro Bay., RECONSTRUCTION' OF TRAGEDY The reconstruction of the tragedy, from the evidence obtained during the week-end, indicates that Taylor had induced Mrs. Smith to leave her husband about two months a,go, and that on Friday, Smith had secured her consent to return to him. Taylor, seeing] Smith and his wife departing from the place on which lie had secured work, immediately left liis job to follow them. After proceeding a short distance, however, he turned back to another station homestead. borrowed a shotgun, and then made iris way across country with the intention of intercepting Smith and his wife on the beach track. He was seen on the track in the evening by a man named Boyce, and this was the last glimpse anyone had of the murderer. Early next morning Mr. Boyce found the body of George Smith on the beach, and some time later a Maori named Tipi flauraki discovered, on the track between Tuparoa and Whareponga, the dead bodies of Airs. Smith and George Taylor, tho woman having been killed by a shot in the back, and Taylor having hanged himself from a nearby tree, using a rein of his bridle. MURDERER’S FAREWELL NOTE The circumstances pointed to Taylor having met Smith and his wife on the beach road, and, an altercation developing, he shot Smith and made the woman return with him towards the place where they had been living. At the side of the track, about a mile from Whareponga on the way to Tuparoa, they lit a small fire, and it is probable that the woman was tending the growing blaze when Taylor discharged the contents of his gun into her back, at close quarters. He then wrote a note, which he placed in his nocket, and proceeded to take his own life. “It is because of the bad treatment I received from this woman that I decided to do away with the three of us. Good-bye all!” was the burden of the murderer’s last message, To which was appended, written as was the note itself in Maori, a prayer for forgiveness. ASSOCIATION OF PRINCIPALS The story of tnc earlier association of the three principals in the tragedy was told in Saturday’s issue of tho Herald, with the broad outline of tin. sensational happening itself. George (llori) Smith and his wife Hinohou, known familiarly as “Girlie,” lived at Tolaga Buy, and came into contact with George Taylor when the latter joined a scrub-cutting party on the Tamvharcparac block about two or three months ago. Smith was a member of the party, which was organised by Taylor and' Mrs Smith became unduly friendly, and after : dispute with George Smith, they left the camp, and lived for a while al Tokomaru Bay. Last week Taylor obtained work with Mr. Wiremu King, a Maori farmer at Whareponga, and. with Mrs Smith he took up his quarters on the farm on Thursday. The following day, George Smith arrived at, the farm, at about 4 p.m., and had a conversation with his wife He had previously heard, according to his relatives, that Taylor was not treating the ivoman well, and he apparently had little difficulty in per suading Mrs Smith to return to her home and resume life with him. Taylor did not fake part in the discussion, lining engaged at the milking shed when Smith arrived al tho farm. When he saw them ride off on horsehack, however, he dropped his work, caught his own horse, and told his employer that he was going after them.

BORROWED A SHOTGUN. Mr. Wiremu King had little to say on the subject of the quarrel, beyond telling Taylor not to start any trouble at the farm. After Taylor left M-. King’s, he was next seen when *n arrived at the.adjoining property and asked Mrs Sidney Christie for the us( if a shotgun. Taylor showed no undue strain in his conversation with Mrs Christie, and gave no inkling that he was labo"ing under excitement. Mrs Christie asked him why he did not use, his own gun, and he said that it was broken. When asked what' he required the weapon for, Taylor declared that he had to shoot a bullock, and eventually Mrs Christie gave him her gnu, witl throe cartridges, which Taylor con sidered would* bo sufficient for his purpose.

Taylor then went, off, but gave no indication of his destination to M Christie. He was not seen again so far ns has been discovered, until h, was met by Mr. John Boyce on the beach track at fi.3o p.m. The point at which they met. was about: two .miles from Waipiro Bay, and i! is

evident that Taylor rode across conn try, hid Ids horse in-a clump of scrub and then waited for Smith and !\b wife to pass by.

The encounter with Boyce did not appear to shake Taylor’s calm. Hi briefly talked with Mr. Boyce, and incidentally asked hitn not to say anything of having seen him with the gun, which lie said was unregistered, and moreover a borrowed weapon There is no liability on the owners ol shotguns to register those arms, and Taylor was under a misapprehension in this respect. Ho,was afoot when soon by Boyce, who was returning from work to his home. Mr. Boyce lives at Books’ Point, the Maori name of which is Matn-alni, and his rouU from Kopuroa, where he works, to his

home is by way of Waipiro Bay and thence along the bench road to Books’ Point. DISCOVERY OF THE BODIES. It fell to Mr. Boyce to discover the first evidence of tho tragedy, when making his way back along the beach on Saturday morning. Near the point at which he had seen Taylor the previous evening, Mr Boyce found the body of George Smith, with an ugly wound in the throat, the work of a shotgun cartridge. Some of the shot had spread and had struck Smith in the face and chest, but the central wound was fairly in the throat, and must have resulted in ®miost immediate death. Hastening to Waipiro Bay, Mr. Boyce informed the police of his discovery, and within a short time both Sergeant Sparks and Constable Ryan were on their way to the scene of the crime, from Tokomaru Bay and Ruatoria respectively. First on the scene, Constable Ryan, was making investiga tions at the point of Smith’s death when information reached him of the finding of two other bodies, those of Mrs Smith and Taylor.

A FRESH DISCOVERY This fresh discovery had been made by ,a native named Tipi Hauraki, who was travelling (between Tuparoa and Whareponga, and who first saw a shotgun lying in the roadway. On the sijlo of. the. track., he saw the .body.of the woman, Mrs Smith, and a hasty glance into the bush fringing the roadway showed him the body of Taylor, hanging by a bridle-rein from a ngaio tree. Hauraki did not wait for an examination of the bodies, which lie observed at a glance were lifeless, and hurried into Whare'ponga. He called at one house to use the telephone, but found no one there, and so rode on towards Waipiro Bay, six or seven miles away. Ilauraki was thus able to deliver to Constable Ryan personally the news of his discovery, which furnished unmistakable evidence of a triangular tragedy. When Sergeant Sparks, arrived, Constable Ryan went on to the site of the second portion of the tragic event, and later with Sergeant Sparks had the bodies conveyed to Waipiro Bay. ,i The wound which had caused the death of llori Smith was apparently inflicted while the victim was astride his horse, but the direction of the wound indicated that Taylor must have been standing on slightly higher ground. Near the scene of this murder, there was a small fissure in the hillside, in which were found indications that Taylor had lain in wait there for the reconciled husband and wife. The sea bad washed out all evidence of what had occurred on the sand, and it is impossible to say whether Smith was shot from ambush, or whether Taylor halted him and entered into a conversation before carrying out his murderous intent.

THE ILL-FATED MRS SMITH ' The ill-fated Mrs Smith could have had no choice but to accompany the murderer of her husband back towards the place at which Taylor had been working. The murderer was armed, and must have been in a desperate condition after the shooting of Smith. What happened later to bring the tragedy to its terrible culmination can only be a matter of conjecture. One feature of the occurrence, however, which is worthy of notice is that Mrs Smith evidently met her death without knowing it. The most likely conclusion is that Taylor acted upon a swift, impulse, prooably after some discussion with tho woman as to how the death of her husband should be accounted for. The fact that a fire was lighted gives an indication • that neither contemplated further violence, for any considerable time before the death of the woman. It is probable that Taylor, finding the woman obdurate in regard to his proposals for covering up the death of her husband, took a sudden decision lo end the whole matter by killing her and making away with himself. He must have despaired of escaping justice by any means short of death by his own hand, after the second murder.

INQUEST OPENED The work of bringing the bodies into Waipiro Bay, to police headquarters there, was a matter of some hours, and during the late afternoon and evening Inspector Martin and Detective McLeod, from Gisborne, conducted a de« tailed inquiry of the general circumstances of the tragedy. At Waipiro Bay an inquest upon the bodies was opened by Mr H. Williams, J.P., actingcoroner, when evidence of identification was given by a brother of George Smith. The inquest was then adjourned until October 30. The body of Georgf Taylor was interred yesterday afternoon at a native cemetery near Waipiro Bay, and the remains of George Smith and his wife were taken in eharge by relai tives. There, was some uncertainty as to whether they would be buried at Toiaga Bay, where the deceased had both been resident for many years, or ut Rangitukia, where both had family connections.