TOPHOUSE TRAGEDY.

Colonist, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8066, 10 October 1894, Page 2

TOPHOUSE TRAGEDY.

To the Editor of the Colonist. Sib,— Can you inform me why the Police did not arrive at the ecene of the Tophouse tragedy until seven o'clock on the evening of Friday, although they were alarmed at three in the morning? With ordinary celerity a constable should have arrived at Tophouae by eleven a.m., and this delay seems to me to require the strictest investigation. The mere fact of help being called for on the wire at suohanhour of the morning was sufficient to warrant a constable or constables being despatched with all speed, Bnd the apathy, displayed by the Police calls for more man a passing oomment, — Your?, etc., ESQUtaSR,

To the: Editor of the totalise. Sir,— ln the interest of sooiety, I beg to give public expression to my disgust at the lack of promptitude displayed by the police authorities in the discharge of their duty. It appears to me most extraordinary and inexplicable that an appeal for help, obviously emanating from a distracted woman, should not have been more promptly responded to Notwithstanding the fact that the police were apprised of the faot that something was radically amiss at between 2 and 3 a.ra, the constables did not arrive on the scene till 6.30 p.m. That is, an alarm whioh might easily have been responded to in six hours, was 16 hours practically unanswered. Had reasonable promptitude been displayed, it possibly would have resulted in the arrest of the murderer. That no other live 3 were sacrificed is indeed most fortunate, for the responsibility of the lives of subsequent victims would undoubtedly have rested on the authorities. Furthermore, the absurdity of holding the inquest so far away from the aotual scene suggests itself to everybody. Even amongst savage nations in the most barbaric times the bodies of the dead were respected, but the manner in which the corpses of the victims were treated was simply outrageous. The bodies, on arrival at Foxhill, were placed in the harness room exposed to publio gaze. . , . I would consider no language too strong to express my utter disgust at the scandalous manner in wbich the whole proceedings were conducted. In the sincere hope that an exhaustive enquiry will be held into the whole proceeding?, Yours, &a, HuaiANiTAg. [A portion of our correspondent's letter, describing the condition of the bodies, has been omitted.— Ed. Col.] To the Editor of the Colonis. Sib, — I hear that one or two persons with big voices have been finding fault with the Police because they did not make more haste to Tophonse on Friday last, but as one who saw the Police, kindly let me say that the offioers went away before anything positive was known, and no doubt they thought that if there was any danger, it was simply impossible for them to get there till long after help bad been obtained from the Ltka Station, which is connected with Tophciue by telephone, and from other people living Within 12 miles of the scene. I happen to know, too, that the officers made enquiries along the road, and I suppose they thought that if any person had committed any outrage it was their duty to find him out. There is no doubt about it, that had the murderer got away by the Big Bush road, their action would have led to his discovery, and if they had not taken the Btepa they took, they would have been still loader blamed by these people. It is very well to know when you are told, but no one could bave dreamt that the madman wou : d have stopped there till anyone could get up from Nelson. Yours, etc., Wax-iti.