The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1882. MURDER AT STRATFORD.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 4126, 1 September 1882, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED DAILY. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1882.

MURDER AT STRATFORD.

INQUEST ON THE BODY. Ax inquest on the body of Mathias Knoll was held at Stratford on Tuesday last, before Mr. G. A. Marchant., J.P., and the following jury: —Messrs. 6. A. Curtis ("foreman), C. S. Curtis, S. H. James, Peter Hunter, R. Neilson, M. Collins. J. Smith, •T. Cacutt, J. A. Jones, T. Blair, H. Mehaffy, Robert Stanley, and William Baird. The jury having viewed the body, the following eAidence was taken :—: — Charles Stuart Curtis, deposed : I am a storekeeper, carrying on business at Stirtford. I have seen the body of deceased lying in the stable of the Stratford Hotel. I have known deceased for about a year. He passed as an Italian. From something I heard I went on to the Opunake Road yesterday (August 28th), and there I saw the body of the deceased in a sitting attitude, with the right leg doubled under him. He was leaning against a bank, and his head was bent quite backwards, with his mouth wide open. His coat was very much torn —a piece ef the coat collar lying about seven paces from the body on the middle of the beaten track (coat collar produced and identified). I handed it this morning to Constable Tapp. I was shown the pipe produced, which T recognise as being similar to one which deceased was in the habit | of smoking. Mr. James, Mr. Firmston, and I another man were present when I first saw the body. The coat was thrown open, and I saw blood on the shirt, near the belt, and a clean cut in the shirt. I lifted up the coat, and saw blood on the back of the shirt above the belt. I assisted in the removal of the body to the stable, where it now lies in a bullock cart. The body was not stiff when I first saw it, but was quite dead. There is now an nbrasion of the skin on the forehead, which might have been caused by the removal o£ the body in the cart, otherwise I believe the body is in the same stfte as when I first saw it. The body was brought to where it now lies at about halfpast 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, and was handed over to Constable Mclvor at about twenty minutes to 5 on the same afternoon. I saw the deceased and the prisoner together yesterday morning at about 9 o'clock, in our shop at Stratford, and at the request of one or the other (the prisoner. I think), I read to them the specification of some bush felling required for Malone Brothers, whose property is on the Opunake Road. The bush that is to be felled is about a mile from where I saw the body. William E Urry, deposed : I am in the employ of Messrs. Curtis Bros., at Stratford. I saw the deceased and the prisoner Gschnell on the Opunake Road at about 10 a.m. yesterday. They were going in the direction of Malone's bush. I saw them again at about 11 a.m. on Malone's ground. They were sitting down on a big log in the clearing. About half an hour afterwards I saw them walking in the direction of Stratford. I did not see either of them again until I saw the body of the deceased Iving by the side of the road, which was about a mile and a quarter from where I last saw the two men together. They seemed on friendly terms when I saw them, and they both spoke to me. John Twig?, deposed : I am foreman of works to the Ngaire Road Board, and reside at Te Roti, near Normanby. Yesterday (28th) at about 1.45 p.m. I saw the body of deceased lying by the side of the road. He appeared to be quite dead. I spoke to him and got no reply. I noticed a good deal of blood about the stomach. The body was in a partly kneeling position, the back resting against a bank of earth, and the head thrown back. T, this morning, accompanied Sergeant Cahill, Constable Tapp, and the prisoner Gschnell to the exact spot where I first saw the body. The prisoner pointed out a place under a log, and Sergeant Cahill then looked there, and found the knife produced. The prisoner also pointed out a place in a stream, at the edge of the Stratford Township, on the Opunnke Road, a«d he said that he had there washed his hands as well as the knife. Thomas Andrews stated that he and a man named Clough were walking up the Opunake Road at about 11.30 a.m., when they met prisoner and deceased about 400 or 500 yards from where the body was found. They then appeared to be on friendly terms. John Becknell stated that he saw < Jeceased and the prisoner on the Opunake Road at about 10 o'clock. He afterwards saw the prisoner come back alone at about noon. Dr. Leatham, deposed : I am a duly qualified medical practitioner residing at New Plymouth. I have to-day made a post mortem examination of a body of a man now lying in the stable of the Stratford Hotel. The body was fully dressed, with the exception of a hat. One coat sleeve was torn at the shoulder, which might be caused in a struggle. The front of the clothes on the chest and abdomen was saturated with blood. The clothes are penetrated in many places as if by a sharp cutting instrument. On examining the body externally I found a spare but muscularly built man, and well nourished. Rigor mortis is well marked in all the muscles except in those of the legs. On examining the front of the body I found five wounds in the region of the heart and liver, mostly on the right side, all of them penetrating deeply, and apparently made with a sharp outting instrument. There is another large wound about four inches from the angle of the scapular downwards, penetrating deeply, which is about one and one-third of an inch in length, extending transversely. There is a small superficial wound about half an inch long below the left armpit, also a wound about an inch long, and one and a-half inches in depth, at the back of the right shoulder. Altogether there are eight wounds. On opening the body I found the pericardium partially filled with blood, and it had three slits in it. On examining the heart I found a cut made by ft sharp instrument, extending over the lower third of the left ventricle, the bottom of the wound communicating with the cavity of the left ventricle. This wound corresponds with the largest cut in the chest wall. It extends obliquely downwards and to the left. On examining the right side of the heart I found a wound on the upper third of the right ventricle, extending into the cavity of the ventricle. Extensive hcemorrhage into the chest cavity had taken pla«e from these two wounds in the heart. The upper surface of the liver presents a large cut, corresponding with another wound in the chest wall. There is also a wound at the back of the liver, corresponding with tbo wound in tho back. This wound also penetrated tho lower part of the right lung. The cause of death, in my opinion, wub haemorrhage, consequent on tho wounds in the two larger cavities of the heart. In my opinion the body has not been dead more than 24 houra. Tho knife produced would make the wounds in the body. Ido

Attached to the Public Works Statemen are several reports and tables which present a large number of facts within a small compass, and some of them are of considerable interest. Prominent among them is the statement that the revenue derived from working the lines during the year 1881-82 was £906,726 7s. 7d. Of this sura the Canterbury and Otago trunk line contributed £651,762 7s. lid., or rather more than two-thirds of the whole amount. There are 1319 miles of railway open for traffic, and the train mileage for the year was 2,502,804 miles. Thus the average revenue per mile of railway per annum was £686 158., or 7s. l£d. per train mile. The takings for the year 1881-2 exceeded the previous year by £56,991, whilst the expenditure was only increased by £2142. There are fifty-one miles open for traffic in the New Plymouth district, which last year produced a revenue of £13,231 65., against £9071 Is. sd. in 1880-81, or an increase of £4160 4s. 7d.. at an additional expenditure of £1708 0s 3d. The average cost of the railway per mile in this district was for the same period £275 15s. 2d., or 3s. ll£d. per train mile. The working expenditure on the line amounted to £9489 6s. 10d., which leaves a sum out of the revenue towards the interest on the cost of construction of £3741 19s. 2d., or nearly 1£ per cent.; the net expenditure in the formmation of the line to date being £267,831 Bs. sd. The per centage of revenue to expenditure on the Greymouth line which is but eight miles long, is 47-43; the next is Napier (70 miles), 53-87 ; then follows Hurunui-Bluff (810 miles), 55-84 ; Westport (10 miles), 59-40; Wancanui (115 miles), 65-20; Auckland (139 miles). 1)8-34; Picton (19 miles). 68-55; New Plymouth (51 miles), 71*72 ; Nelson (23 milps), 73-20 ; and Wellington (69 miles), 74-91. The most economically worked line is the New Plymouth one, the traffic expenses being only 35-75 per cent, of the revenue per mile per annum. The next lowest is Wanganui, 54-38 per cent.; Auckland comes next with 56-60; then the Hurunui-Bluff, 68-43; the rest being over 74-71 ; the highest being the Greymouth line, which is 283-73 per cent. With the »xtenßion of the lines, although the expenditure will not be materially increased, the revenue is almost sure to. The obvious moral of the above figures is that our railway investments are thoroughly safe and sound, and .will ultimately be highly remunerative, provided that they continue to be prudently and economically administered, and therefore further investments in the same direction are justifiable, and indeed advisable. Under these conditions the continuance of the public works policy is assured, and theprosperity of the Colony also.

An inquest as to the origin of the fire at the Stratford Hotel was held yesterday, at Stratford, before Mr. T. M. Smith, J.P. Mr. Goodall examined the witnesses, of whom there were four —Messrs. Mehaffy (proprietor), Robert Jackson (a lodger), R. Taylor (cook), and J. Duncan (a lodger) — but nothing new was elicited. Tho jury returned the following verdict: —" That no evidence of the origin of the fire doth appear to the jury." (

not think that any of the wounds could have been self-inflicted. Alexander Michali, deposed: I am a labourer residing at Stratford. I knew the deceased. His name was Mathias Knoll. I have known him eight years. We have been working together since February, 1881. He would now have been 30 years of age if living. He was bom in the village of Tissons, in the Austrian Tyrol. He was a single man, and had no property in New Zealand that I know of. He has money in the Post-office Savings' Bank, at New Plymouth. Deceased has father, mother, and four brothers at home. I last .saw him alive yesterday morning. The prisoner was born in Tyrol, about two hours walk from where I was born : and about five hours walk from where deceased was born. Sergeant Cahill stated: From information I received I and Constable Tapp went to the prisoner's hut yesterday. We found prisoner there alone. I told the j prisoner I arrested him for murdering deceased, and at the same time cautioned him. He said " I killed the man. I will show you where I put the knife." He also said "The police and the asylum have played the fool with me. I told them I would have to kill a man, and that is why they sent me from the asylum." I examined the coat which prisoner said he wore, and I found traces of blood upon it. He showed me the boots he wore and said he had cleaned them. Prisoner took me to a log this morning lying on the Opunake Road, and said he had put his knife under it. I searched and found the knife and sheath now produced. I see what I take to be blood on the handle of the knife. Prisoner went a little off the centre of the road into a chamber where the earth was excavated, and put his finger on a spot on the ground, and said, " That is where I killed the man," and then immediately retired some distance. I took some earth from the spot he pointed out, which I produce, and which I believe to be mixed with blood. Michael McCormick and Constable Mclvor were examined with reference to the custody of the body since it had been found. The jury returned a verdict of " Wilful murder" against the prisoner Antoni Gschnell, who was thereupon committed to take his trial at the next criminal sessions of the Supreme Court.