LURE OF RADIUM.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144198, 15 September 1913, Page 4

LURE OF RADIUM.

MURDER BY PAPUANS,

A search for radium has ended in the- murder by Papuan savages of John Hdnry Warner, an American mineralogist, who was in • Sydney last July. Warner believed radium was to bo found in hitherto-unexplored country in Papua, and it mattered not to him that lurking hostile savages would assail him at every turn alter he struck out from the coast. . < Tho story of the tragedy wasjtold on the Priiiz Sigismund Isays the Sydney Sun). , _ ; ■ ; Warner was ill-equipped for a journey which proved to be his last. His downfall was brought about by his contempt for the native®. Ho was told of tho dangers, but ho scorned them. Armed with one tiny revolver, he made for the interior through; mountainous and extremely rough Country. _ With him was a young man named Windsor, while three natives were engaged as carriers. They stayed at the mission station at Menapi for a week, and then their quest for radium commenced. They penetrated 20 miles into the heart of tho bush. Then Windsor, - as, events turned out, had a great stroke of luck. Ho was stricken with illneds, and had to return to tho mission station.

A cautious man would have waited for his mate to recover. But in the mind of Warner there was fortune at the other end of the trail, and’ho went on alone. It was a fatal mistake. He had not gone far when the natives attacked him in largo numbers. Properly equipped, it is doubtful whether Warner cbnld have held off the murderous savages. Armed with his tin,pot popfeun he had no chance. He was not skilled in the use of firearms either. But he made no attempt to run. Instead, he covered the retreat of tho native carriers ho had engaged. They not unnaturally needed no second invitation to clear out. They vanished. The lone American fought on, but he was soon surrounded. This .predicament was had enough, but worse was to follow. Warner’s ridiculously inadequate Weapon of defence became useless. A cartridge jammed, and do what ho would Warner could not right the trouble. That was;the beginning of the end. The natives armed with slings gradually closed in on him. Warner suffered cruel wounds, but when finally both his'arms were broken he was helpless, hud the exultant' natives swooped down on him, and then proceeded to cook their victim without first killing him. Bleeding from spear wounds, ho was tied to a. pole,'and.a fire was built round him. Then tho accounts vary. One version is that a cannibal feast followed; another is that Warner’s body was burned to ashes. At any rate, both arms were cut off at the elbow and smoke-dried to be retained as trophies. Tile native carriers reached tho mission station, and told their story to the Rev. J. Hunt. A'punitive expedition set out almost at once. Windsor was sufficiently recovered to join it. When the Prinz Sigismund loft the island this expedition had not returned. If captured tho murderers will be tried at Port 'Moresby. If, as hardly seems likely, the ringleaders are not secured, all tho inhabitants of tho village .will bo brought to the seat of government.'