EXTRAORDINARY MURDER AND SUICIDE.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 190, 5 February 1887, Page 5

EXTRAORDINARY MURDER AND SUICIDE.

The Glen Innes "Examiner" gives the* following account of the tragic occurrence at Wellingrove :~ " One of the moat extraordinary tragedies which it hae been our lot to chronicle wa* enacted at Wellingrov© at an early hour oa Wednesday morning last. It nppeard that a half-caste named Billy M'Dougall, who was eDgaged on ihe station kangaroo shooting, and a man named Daley, a siarion hand, returned to Daleys tent about eundown. They had tea, and shortly afterwards a small flask o£ brandy was pioduced which they drank, M'Dougall then leit for the purpo?e of procuring more drink at Carroll's public-house, Being refut-ed by the landlord, he returnee^ to the tent, and eutered into convdi^atioa with Daley and his wife, the latter of whom is a half-ca&te, with a family of six children, M'Dougall then went outside, and wt.B hsard striking matches. He entered the tent for tbo third time, when Mia Daley remarked to her husband that eLe did not like the wild look in Billy'a eyes, and felt frightened, and, as ehe described it, her ftearc gave a big jump. Daley, too, appeared to have a premonition, of some impend ng danger, for he remarked to his wite, that he also was afrail that something waß going to happen. Meanwhile M'Dougts.ll again left the hut, and wad absent for some three or four hours. Baing naturally afraid, they did not rbtore t o ret»t. Shortly after mictnight, Daley was leaning over og his right side, ai if to lie down on tho pillow, when M'Dougall rushed in, holding an axe in bo<h hands, and struck Daloy with his full force over the left tempir ,. crushing in the felcull. Mrs Daley assens that she heard the bones crack. The unfortunate man fell over on the bed, and. groaned once, bus did not make any further uoibo. Blood coorniaenced to flow, from, hid head, ears, and nofee, and ho breathod his last about eight hcurs after waids, never regaining consciousness. After the blow was struck, Mrs Daley threw up her arm?, aud said to M'Dougall, " Yoa have killed my husband !" to which he replied, " JUave X killed Peter? Tnen I will get a knife und do tho same to myself." She and the children commencea to scream. M'Dougall told them that if they did not stop he would serve them all alike. He thiew the axe outside, and shook hands with Mrc Daley and the children, and said, "I will not shoot you," and put on his hat and coat, and aaicl •'Good-bye " The terror-stricken wifatheix said, " Don't cnine back and kill ua !" to which he replied, " No, I will kill myself, and you will find my body in the bush." He then galiopped away, and the saw no more of him. M'Dougall ( who is? living with a half catvte namtd Emma Harrison, gob home at daylight and went to bed. By this time ne*s of the murder had reached tho head station, aud Constable Hargt avert, who was there collecting the electoral roll went to M'Jjungall'a but, wich a view of ascertaining the murderer's whereabouts. The con^tabie inquired whether Mr Seton was about. M'Dougall, who was inßide, st.id that he was at the drafting yards. When Margraves was leaving, tbe muidorer paid to his paramour, "That's the police coming to hang me for killing Peter Daley." Having found Mr JSecoa, Hargraveß returned to tbe hut in hi& company ; whon they were cbsa to tbo place, M'Dougall remarked to the woman, "Shall I shoot the constable through tbe slabs ?" Hhe replied, " Ko, tion'l P At> this time he had a loaded gun in his hand, pointed as >f going to do co. Jusi aa the coustable was coming up to the door, M'Dougall sat down on the bed, put the gun to his forehead* with the stock resting on the ground,, and leaving over the barrel, he pulled the i trigger with both thumbs,, thereby blowing the whole af the left aide of the ekull clean ! off, his biains being scattered all over the room, Daley was a man 50 years of age, and M'Dougall, who waa a five athletic tellow, was about 2S. There does not appear to have been the elightf-sfc ill-feeling between the two men up to the moment of the commission of the murder,, aud the coroner is of opinion that the act was the outcume of murderous instincts, aroused in a half-Bavago naturo by recent indulgence in drink.