SUPREME COURT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 4039, 11 May 1882, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.

Wednesday, May 9. — Before His Honor Mr. Justice Gillies. MANSLAUGHTER. William Gallagher was arraigned upon an indictment charging him that on the 19th April he did feloniously kill and slay a native named Te Whiu. The prisoner pleaded " Not Guilty." Mr. Standish conducted the prosecution, and Mr. Samuel the defence. The following jury was empanelled : M. Cavrick (foreman), A. Jamieson, G. Turner, Atkinson, Clarke, A. Bayly, T. Joll, J. Douglass, W. Batten, S. Madgwick, Bason, Blythe, G. Bissett. The Court resumed at 2 p.m. Eneas Gallagher deposed that he was present at the disturbance. He saw the prisoner standing two or three yards away from the gate, with a stick in his hand, threatening the natives if they came inside [ the gate he would strike them. A native forced the gate open, and the prisoner struck him with a stick on the side of the head. That stopped the natives from coming through the gate. I cannot say wither more than one blow was struck. jn the native was struck he bent a >, as if to evade the blow. They d at the gate a short time, asking the ■cans to come out and fight. I went ie house after that. Shortly after if the natives came round to the door to get drinks. They did not rinks. That is the last I saw of them. jss-examined : The row commenced four o'clock in the afternoon. I

>n a noise in the bar, and I went into ie bar from the back of the hotel. I saw Mr. Gallagher and the native holding one another. There were two other natives in the bar. The flap of the bar was raised, and Te Kuku and prisoner were standing partly inside the bar. Te Kuku had hold of the prisoner by the throat. I caught hold of Rama, who was standing close by, to turn him out, and he resisted. I put him out of the door. Immediately afterwards I got hold of Te Kuku. He had a mallet in his hand. I tried to get hold of him from behind by the body and across his arms. He was trying to hit me with the mallet. He struck me with the handle of the mallet. We both went outside the door, and I tried to put Te Kuku down, but I could not. Some of the other natives came up and attacked me, and Te Kuku got away. He shortly afterwards appeared with a bottle in his hand, which ho held up as if goin<* to strike someone. I got hold of him and tried to throw him on the ground, but could not. Some Europeans came and tried to make peace. Te Kuku and Gallagher were both pleading. Constable ConnaU stated : On the 19th April I proceeded to the Manutahi Hotel. I saw the prisoner there and spoke to him. I was making arrangements for holding an inquest on the body of the deceased Maori. I asked prisoner if he knew anything about the accident. He told me it was a native and he must have got thrown off his horse and killed in that way. Shortly afterwards I went into dinner, and the prisoner came and sat beside me. The prisoner said he wondered half these Maoris did not get killed long ago, because they were so reckless with horses. He said the deceased was a sober man, and did not drink ; that on the previous day deceased had been riding a young horse that had never been handled before. He also said there was no use in bothering about the matter, as the Maoris would not give up the body. About fifteen minutes afterwards I was getting on mv horae, what news ? Have you heard anything more ?" I replied, " Not much." After a pause I said, " You have had a row here ; haven't you." Prisoner replied, "Yes, and of course I had to defend myself. I was not going to let them have possession of the house altogether." I then visited the pah, and saw the dead body. I went with the boy Tarehu, and he pointed out to me a triangular plot of grass near the Manawapou Bridge. It was about a third of the way up the hill. John Heywood pointed me out a spot in the road twenty feet above where the native pointed out to me. James Parke6, deposed: I am a labourer, living at Manutahi. On the 18th April last I was cook to Mr. Gallagher. In the afternoon I was standing under the verandah of the shop opposite the hotel when I saw a scuffle take place. I and others went into the hotel, and the doors were locked. About 10 minutes afterwards I saw M"\ Gallagher at the gate, at the rear of the hotel, telling the natives to go away. The native attempted to come in, and Gallagher struck him.

Te Rama stated that he picked up the stick which the prisoner hit Te Whiu with. He afterwards gave it to Te Kuku. Tne stick produced was the same.

Margaret Summers, servant at the Manutahi Hotel, stated that she was in the bar at the time one of the natives in the bar asked for a drink, and Mr. Gallagher refused to give it to him. The native raised up the 9ap of the bar and rushed into the bar and seized Mr. Gallagher by the throat. They struggled together until Mr. Eneas Gallagher came to the prisoner's assistance. F. G. Baker, carpenter, stated that he drew one of the natives off Eneas Gallagher. The native turned round on him and gave him a severe blow on the temple. He struck the native back, and another native came up and struck him. He knocked his new assailant down. At this time G. Gane and another European dragged him into the hotel, and the door was shut. After all the affray was over a native came and sat alongside of him, under the verandah at the shop. He did not think the native was hurt. He believed it was the same native who was afterwards found dead. The road going towards the bridge was composed of hard blue clay, and there were some boulders in the road. About twenty chains from the bridge, on the Manutahi side, the road is formed of sandstone gravel.

Thomas Mullins stated that during the row he saw a Maori with a mallet in bin hand. He took hold of the mallet, and wrenched the head off it. He threw the head of the mallet into the passage of the hotel. In the evening, as he was going home, he saw a Maori on a horse which had a foal with it. The Maori said, " The Pakehas at Manutahi are dead ; Maoris make the fight." Witness did not reply to the Maori. It was about twenty chains from the bridge that he met the Maori. He did not like what the Maori said, and he walked on Taster. There are several log fenders on the road down the hill to protect the water-table.

Michael Forbes, labourer, corroborated the evidence of the last witness with respect to meeting n nat've on tho road from Manutahi, who said that all the pakehas were killed at Mauutahi. His evidence, howeve.-, differed materially from Mullinh 1 , inasmuch &a he stated that the Maori who spoke to them cantered past.

Martin McMahon stated that at about 8 o'clock on the morning of tke 10th April he crossed the bridge going in the direction of Manutahi. He met some Maoris at the bridge. He passed them, and ft littlo further on he saw a. man lying dead in the water-table on the side of the road. The water-table was about eight inches deep and one foot wide. A hat was on the other side of the road.

The Court adjourned until 9.30 a.m. tomorrow (Thursday.)

Thuridvy, May 11. — His Honor took his seat at 0.30. Nuku stated that he was a relative of Te Whiu. He was present at the disturbance at Manutahi, hut he did not take part in it. He saw the prisoner strike Te Whiu with a stick. He only saw one blow struck. The mare Te Whiu rodo was very quue, and had been broken a long time. Te Whiu was a strong, healthy young man, and was not in the habit of drinking much. Witness rode home with To Kuku. They rode on white horses. They did not see any one on the road. Cross-examined : He did not look for To Whiu that night before leaving Manntahi to see if he had gone homo. Witness did not join in the fight ; it was beneath him. He was not drunk ; because evil always follows drink. He saw the body of Te Kuku lying near the bridge, and about three feet from the gutter. There was no Europeans present when he saw tbe body. He diil not see a Maori man and woman fighting at Manutahi, opposite the hotel. Mr. Samuel : Did you not bold the baby for the Maori woman while she was fighting the Maori man. Witness : I do not know anything about it. By the Court : Ho was sure there was only one blow struck with a stick by the prisoner. Rangihaita said he went with other natives to get the body of Te Whiu. He did not see any Europeans at the place where the body was lying. The body was lying between the water-table and the middle of the road. It waR lying on the grass, and there were no stones near the body, no were there any logs of wood near the body. He did not notice any dirt on the body. They took the body to the pah. Dr. Smith, deposed : I reside and practice my profession at Hawera. On Thursday, the 20th April last, I went to examine the dead body of a male native. Rangihaita was present. The body was lying in a tent on its back. From external appearance the body was that of a muscular well de%-eloped man flf about twenty years of age. I examined the clothing of the body and found no marks about it. I uncovered the chest and felt the limbs. There waß extreme rigidity of the body. T then made an external examination of the head. The features were quite calm and composed, both eyelids were closed, and both pupils widely dilated. There was a very slight abrasion of the skin over the right temple. There was a large swelling on tho back of the head, the skin was not broken, it was a contused wound, there was extravasated blood underneath the skin. The Bwelling was about 4 inches long and 2 broad. Along the centre of this there was a deep depression. I examined to see if there was any sand in the roots of tbe hair, but there was none. There was nothing sticking in the skin. I did not observe anything about the neck. I was not authorised to open the body. On Monday, the 24th April, I made a further examination of the same body. I saw the body exhumed near the pah. I Ifte l^ er£ s^eiie%"ifia"Tiiscblofed. il ""'lliere was blood oozing from the nostrils and mouth. I proceeded to open the head. I removed the skull cap. On doing so I found a large firm clot of blood between the skull and the membrane lining called the dura mater. This clot was pressing on tho left side of the brain. It was a large clot, and about six ounces in weight. When I moved the clot there was a depression on the left side of the brain There was no fracture of the skull. I then examined the brain itself, and found it in a perfectly healthy, normal state. The The blood vessels also of the brain were in a healthy state. I examined the baße of Iheskull, but could find no injuries there. I was not allowed to examine the body further. The clot of blood I have described I consider was sufficient to cauae death. The cause of death was compression from effusion of blood on the brain. A blow on the head with the stick produced would be likely to cause the injury I have described. Death was not caused by apoplexy. There was no rupture of tho anterior communicating artery. Apoplexy is generally a disease in persons of advanced life. The pupils of the eye were dilated, and if death had been caused by apoplexy, opium, or arsenic, the pupil would have been contacted. In injuries external to the covering of the brain the pupil would be dilated. In my opinion a kick from a horse would not have produced the swelling I have described. The injuries I have described might be produced by a fall from a horse. It would depend upon the nature of the fall and the circumstances. If a man was shot into the air by a bucking horse and came down on his head on a peculiarly shaped stone or a piece of stick. I have been a surgeon for 25 years. Ido not think death could have been caHsed by drowning, as there was no appearance of death by drowning. Cross-examined : I have been 20 years in the colony. It is 25 years when first I went to the hospital. I obtained my degree in 1861, In injuries to the brain itself the pupils are contracted. I do not think the pupils change after death, but remain the same. I think that, as a rule, the pupils do not change. In the case of an injury like the one found on the head of the deceased, the probability is that tho man would die within an hour. Mr. Samuel : Is it not likely that a blow from a stick like this would cause a fracture of the skull ? Witness : It depends upon the amount of force used. His Honor : And the thickness of the skull. (Laughter). Witness : I have never known an injury like the one I described being received without also a fracture of the skull being found. I should imagine the native staggered under the blow. I should think it was a knock-down blow. There would probably be an interval of consciousness. The man might have been knocked down and pick himself up immediately afterwards and go away. Court adjourned until 2 p.m.

Our Waipuku correspondent informs us that an accident happened at Waipuku Township on Wednesday. A man named Caticet, while endeavouring to turn a log, got his arm broken at the wrist. Ho was sent to New Plymouth by the train last evening.