DREADFUL MURDER AND SUICIDE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 4066, 13 June 1882, Page 2

DREADFUL MURDER AND SUICIDE.

A MAN CHOPS ANOTHER MAN'S HEAD OFF. MURDERER SUFFOCATES HIMSELF. [per united press association.] A on.vsriA' crime is reported from the timber district of Oxford, some thirty miles north-east of Christchurch. So far as known, it appears that on Monday morning, about 8.15, soon after the gang of platelayers of the Oxford branch railway had commenced work, and whilst two mea named Packne/. and Home were placing sleepers on a trolly, another of the gang named John Greenfield, who was standing behind with an adze in his hand, sud* denly lifted the adze, and said to John Home, who was helping to load the trolly, " You b -r f I will do for you," and struck htm with the adze behind the ear, the blade of the adze running across the neck, and penetrating it to a depth of two inches and a half, seve-ing the head from the body. The foreman of the gang, Packnetz, said ".lohn, what are you doing, man ?" Whereupon Greenfield rushed upon the gan r ,er and said, " You b , I will do for you, too." Packnetz ran away and the murderer followed him for a considerable distance, when Packnetz suddenly turned upon him and seized him, and in doing so received a blow which the murderer aLned at him on the side of the head, but fortunately only with the handle of the adze. Packnetz then seized* the adxe and wrenched it from him. The murderer then ran away across the field on the opposite side of the ma ; n road, and was afterwards fo md by Serjeant Scott lying down in a fi'rrow where there was only a small quantity of water. He was stretched at full length in the furrow with his faco in the water, when turned over he was found to be quite dead. Home has lived a long time in Oxford, apd dv"ing the greater part of the time he has been employed on the railway. He has a wife, and a family of seven children. He had been a steady and a careful man, and acquired some property. Greenfield has not been long in the district, and leaves a wife and four children, th<? youngest of which is about six weeks old. From the position of the cut it must have been given while Home was stooping at the trolly, with his back towards tho murderer, the blow being given over the 'eCt shoulder. The adze, which is an ordinary carpenter's one, penetrated to the full width, and almost severed tho head from the body. Sergeant Scott was quickly on the spot, and had both bodies laid at the Oxford Hotel, on beds side by side. The murder took place near Starvation Hill.