The Story of Richard Rathbone.

Observer, Volume XL, Issue 11, 15 November 1919, Page 18

The Story of Richard Rathbone.

(Reprinted from the "N.Z. Observer" of June 10, 1882,)

I NOTICE in your issue of the 27th ult. a contribution by a lady, which purports to be an account of the undiscovered murder which took place at Cabbage Tree Swamp thirty years ago, but the details are in many particulars inaccurate. For instance, she states that his name was Alfred, as well as being that of his son; that the weapon he had in the house to defend himself was a cutlass ; that he sent his son to town, as he had a presentiment that the boy would be murdered ; and that the ship in which he arrived made a five months' passage. The real facts are that Mr. Rathbone's Christian name was Richard, and that of his son then with him in the Colony, John. The name of Mr. Rathbone's brother, who resides in England, is Alfred, and that may have led the lady into the mistake. The reason Mr. * Rathbone left his son in town .was not through any presentiment, but because, being en-o-nged as assistant in the ■ establishment of Mr. P. A. Phillips, Victorialane (now Town Clerk), the distance was too great to walk night and morning with such roads as Auckland then possessed, and he boarded with Mr. Phillips. As for the "cutlass" alluded to, it was a cavalry sword, having been in service in the 4th Dragoons. The Sir Edward Paget made a passage of 120 days instead of five months, so that the lady must have been led astray considerably in most of the statements relating to the unfortunate man. Richard Rathbone, and the Cabbage? Tree Swamp tragedy. As a fellow -passenger with Mr. Richard Rathbone in the Sir Edward Paget to this Colony, and well a<;qainted with the murdered man (who was in my house the evening of th" night on which there is reason to believe he was murdered), permit mo to repeat the story of this undiscovered crime:—

Richard Rathbone was brought up in his early days at Henley-on-Thames, where he was a school-mate of Mr, J. B. Strange, of this city, and also became acquainted with the late Mr. John R<mt, of High Street. He served his time to the trade of pastry-cook and confoctioner, and was a skilful tradesman. About 1845 he went into business in the Walworth Road, London, and at the time of the great Chartist meeting on Kennington Common, sir-' the threatened attack on the Bank of England, served as a special constable. Having lost his wife by death, as well as suffered some reverses in business, Mr. Rathbone, in 1850, determined to emigrate to Auckland, with his youngest son, John, in order to better his fortune, and to make a fresh home for his children. He was a well-informed, well-educated man, of middle-age, somewhat reserved in disposition and manners, but courteous and genial to those with whom he formed any acquaintance, and a skilful adept at fencing and swordmanship. He was also a man of quiet disposition, but of approved courage, and remarkably resolute. Being of an industrious, frugal turn, he lost no time on landing in getting to work, and took employment, till he could turn himself round, with the late Mr. James George, baker and confectioner, who then carried on business on or about where the present premises of the Bank of New South Wales stands in the Crescent. He soon saved money, with a portion of which he purchased the property at Cabbage Tree Swamp and walked from thence night and morning to his work. It was then a very lonely-district, containing but few settlers; and even the taciturn Ratthbone felt his isolation, for in the last letter he ever wrote to hie son Richaj-d, residing in England, he

THE MYSTERIOUS CABBAGE-TREE SWAMP MURDER

requested him to send out certain musical instruments (being a man of cultivated musical taste), as they would be "a great solace to him in his loneliness." The youngest son, John (who afterwards died at the Bay of Islands), as I have already stated, being engaged in business in Auckland to a later hour in the day than his father, boarded in town, and thus escaped sharing the lamentable fate which befel the latter. On the night on which Rathbone is believed to have been murdered (Thursday, the 28th April, 1853), lie was in town, and arranged with Mr. George (as ho was also cultivating his laud at his leisure time) to return next morning. On his way home he called at my residence, as was his custom occasionally, to chat over old times. So far from having any presentiment as referred to by your lady contributor, he was in excellent spirits, spoke cheerfully of the future, and the prospect he had, with plodding industry and good wages, of again making a competency for his old age, and gathering his children round him. He little knew it was his last night on earth! A week previously his place had been entered by some marauders during his absence, who prized the window of his bedroo7n and took some blankets. In one of his journeys to town lie told old Mr. Walker, the sexton of Symonds Street Cemetery, of his loss/ Mr. Walker replied, "I am astonished, Mr. Rathbone, that you should live alone in such a lonely, out-of-the-way place; you will bo murdered some night." Mr. Rathbone laughed, and said as he harmed nobody he did not see why anyone should attempt violence to him, and then passed on his way; but this is a digression. How tru- Murder was Discovered. On the Friday morning Mrs. Justin who was a near neighbour, of Rath bone's, and supplied him with the milk and butter he required, noticed a column tof smoke issuing from his dwelling, and sent one of her children over with some milk for him. The girl found the door ajar, put the milk on the kitchen floor, by the door, and on returning told her mother of the door being ajar, and not seeing Mr. Rathbone abour,. In those days nothing much was thought of people leaving their dwellings unlocked, and Justin gave no heed to the c'ircumst.'ince. In the evening, however. she went over with the child, taking with her his usual supply of butter and milk. On entering the kitchen the morning's milk was found untasted and unshifted. As Mr. Rathbone was accustomed to sleep upstairs when the lower bedroom was damp, Mrs. Justin desired the littlp girl to go up the. step-ladder which led to the attic, to see if he wr»° there. The child, on looking round from the head of the ladder, told her mother that he was not there, but his hat and walking-stick were to be seen in the room. As it was close on dusk, Mrs. Justin left for the night, previously noticing there was a peculiar singed smell about the house. She could not, however, get rid of a feeling of uneasiness, and a conviction that something was wrong Early next < morning. Saturday (her husband being engaged as a warder in the Auckland Gaol, where the present Theatre Royal block of buildings are now equated), Mrs. Justin went to her next-door neighbour, Mr. Thomas Home, and asked him to come and examine the house, as she could not find any trace of Mr. Rathbone. He accompanied her, and in an inner room on the ground-floor they found the unfortunate man lying on a bed, dread-

fully hacked about. The mattress on which he lay simply in his nightshirt, had been set fire to, one of the legs being burnt and charred up to its junction with the abdomen, the bowels protruding. Owing to the pressure of the body on the mattress, the fire did not get headway; and the flooring also being damp, the blaze had ultimately died out. Information was. promptly sent to Auckland, and Constables H. J. Sims, T. Powley, J. Foster, Trafford, and Detective Patrick O'Hara were speedily on the scene of the tragedy. An examination of the premises showed the mark of a shingling hammer on the inner bedroom Window, but the Mark, it turned out, was that occasioned by the burglarious entry a week previously. The theory and conclusion come to by the police was that the assassin had come to the kitchen door, and that Mr. Rathbone, aroused by the noise, had got up and come downstairs in his night-shirt to the door to ascertain the cause. He had been struck suddenly, on opening the door, by a. down stroke with an American axe or sharp shingling hatchet, had then staggered back and got another blow on the muscles of the 'neck and shoulder. The floor gave evidence of a desperate struggle, the marks of muddy feet being noticeable in the pool of blood on the floor (it had been raining previously), and there were also indications that someone had slipped in the combat. On the jamb of the door there were axemarks, stained with commingled blood and hair. There was a clean cut on the. corner of the chest of drawers, which some persons concluded had been done by the sword, as Rathbone had wildly slashed about in his wounded condition, to defend his life. Rathbone's bod had been brought downstairs by the assassin or assassins, placed in the inner room, the body laid upon it. and a match applied to the bedding, so as to cover the- foul crime of murder with the scarcely less heinous one of arson. Police Look for Clues. The police authorities looked round for a clue. It was known that Rathbone was a frugal man, and as banking facilities were scarce in those days, it was believed that he hoarded money in his house. Judging from his habits, and other evidence, I am inclined to think that ho did so, but owing to his lonely mode of life and reticent disposition it was difficult to tell whether he had been so robbed or not. His silver watch and the sword he had in the house were never found, nor the axe or shingling hatchet with which the murder was committed. He had no private enemies, and therefore the theory of a personal quarrel had to be dismissed by the police. The 58th Regiment then lay in garrison, and the police made enquiries, as to whether any of the men were absent at tatoo on the fatal night. It transpired that two or three were out—one on leave, others absent from tatoo. Further investigations showed that one of these men had traces of blood on his trousers. Those absent succeeded in establishing an alibi. In the case of the soldier on leave,, the explanation as to the cause of his bloodstained clothing was curious but simple, and even the police, prone professionally, to take the most unfavourable view of matters, were at last satisfied as to its entire truthfulness. He -was a young non-com-missioned officer, and had got a "pass" to visit Onehunga to see the young girl with whim he was keeping company." The lady, on this occasion jwas njot in the meltiing mood, and, after an unpleasant interview, the attachment was severed. Chagrined and disgusted with everything and everybody, he called in at various public houses on the road home to drown his sorrow; and in coming through the scoria (for the Khyber Pass was a mere track), ■wandered "down the Cabbage-tree Swamp-road, tumbled in amongst the scoria and fern, and, on coming to his senses next morning, made his way to the Albert Barracks, minus his sword, which he had lost. In his various falls he had cut himself, and

the blood had stained his clothing. Colonel Wynyard gave the young fellow a good character as a soldier, and a man, and would not believe that he could be guilty of the offence. The man, however, never got over the mental shock, and the suspicion of so dreadful a charge, but fell into a state of settled melancholy and decline ; softening of the braiii set in, and he died, it is said, of a broken heart. A reward was offered by the Government, but not the slightest clue could be obtained by the police which could be ipartried feast the boundary of suspicion, in some cases very strong. Five different men were taken up, but in each case they had to be released. The police in search parties scoured the district for weeks,.but with no useful result. Mr. Richard Rathbone, junr., who left Gravesend by a singular coincidence on the very night his father was murdered, to join him here, on his arrival offered a further reward of £100; but nothing came of it. Months after the murder, Captain Beckham (Commissioner of Police) received information that a party of bushrangers Were in the Waitakerei Ranges, and it was. thought they might have been concerned in the business; but after a fortnight's search the police party—consisting of Constables Sims, Powley, Detective O'Hara and Johnny Coffin (a Maori policeman), who had held out till their last biscuit was divided, and they were compelled to subsist on oysters at Big Muddy Creek—were compelled to return completely baffled so far as solving the mysterious murder was concerned, but satisfied that the bushrangers were myths. On comparing notes, on getting to- town, they found the rumour owed its origin to a bushman who had been imbibing "greased lightning," and had muddled up the Cabbage-tree Swamp tragedy with bushrangers. The half-starved and exhausted policemen went in for a little "mule-exhorting" over the head of the bibulous bushman till they had worked off their anger and vexation. Some time afterwards SergeantMajor Brown, better known as "Biack Charlie," the detective, brought a silver watch to Mr. Richard Rathbone, junr., which he suspected was the missing watch of the murdered man. Owing to the fact that he had not seen the watch since his father left England—a period of many years—Mr. Rathbone, junr., was unable positively to identify it, and was not prepared to swear it was that of his father. Butcher's Aliened Confession of the Grime. A rumour got about that a convict named Francis Butcher, who had been executed in Hobart Town for the murder of- , his warder, had confessed on the scaffold to the murder of Richard Rathbone. Corporal Francis Butcher was an old soldier, and had murdered his comrade, young Francis McKeown, at their mess table, in the Albert Barracks, in a drunken squabble over a stick of tobacco. As I had witnessed Butcher's trial before Judge. Martin, and his sentence to transportation for life to Van Diemen's Land for his crime, the truth of the story was easily tested, and dates proved that Butcher was executed before Rathbone was murdered. A Lady in a Dream Sees the Murder Enacted. Years passed on, the .story of the tragedy never dying out, but occasionally slumbering, till 18 years had elapsed, when it was again revived in a most remarkable manner. Mrs. J. Bond, of Nelson Street, had a dream respecting it, in which the incidents were so vividly impressed upon her mind and memory that she narrated the details of the affair to her husband, and gave the name of the presumed, murderer. Her dream was repeated, and as it had not been the first time in the history of legal jurisprudence that a murder has been discovered, and avenged through the agency of a dream, Mr. Bond communicated the matter to Mr. Richard Rathbone, jun., the son of the murdered man. It was

well known that that excellent aiid much raspectc'd lady was remarkably subject to psychic and magnetic influences, as was subsequently verified by the wonderful trance which marked the closing hours of her life. The matter of her statements was tested at a Spiritualistic circle, and the result was confirmatory of the lady's, narrative (though there may be nothing in that), but I simply mention the incident as part of the rocord of the case. The Clairvoyant at Work. When Professor Baldwin, the clairvoyant, was in Auckland, I went to him in company with a friend, in order to test his powers in that respect. Among other requests contained in several folded pellets of paper placed on the table, I put this one—"Tell me the story of Richard Rathbone." The professor never touched or opened any of the pellets, which were shaken together, but, on touching one with his pencil, and then applying the pencil to his forehead, asked me if I knew "Richard Rathbbne." The reading of the contents of the paper pellet may be accounted for on the theory of "mind-reading." A lengthy communication ensued, written down by the professor, purporting to be made by the. spirit of Richard Rathbone, in which he complained that the question was so vague that he could not place himself en rapport with the questioner, or furnish the required information. I had known Mr. Richard Rathbone, but his ''spirit" -had somewhat "the advantage of me." As a proof of good faith, however, and to convince me* of the reality of spirit communication, Professor Baldwin asked me to pick up any of the paper pellets lying unopened on the table, and hold it in my clenched hand under th> table. On withdrawing ny hi , .iiJ from under the table, and opening the paper pellet, in it there was written across the inner fold& in a strange but bold hand, I wil ! tiy—R.R." Hero ended tho mutter, leaving the mystery a mystery still. .Professor Baldwin explained that he was doubtful of success, in the first instance, owing to the necessary magnetic conditions not being present. He was then labouring under strong feeling, owing to a rival professor being in town traducing his alleged pow-ers, and this destroyed the mental equipoise essential to success. I have in my possession the last home letter written by Mr. Rathbone before his murder, and the general handwriting does not bear any resemblance to that of the "spirit writing." There is, however, some little resemblance in the capital "RV of the signature. Whether the curtain will ever be lifted up which now remains over the Cabbage-tree Swamp tragedy is a matter of conjecture, as few of those old colonists whe knew the murdered man survive. For nearly thirty years the blood of Richard Rathbone has cried in vain from the ground. The parties indicated in Mrs. Bond's dream, by the "circle," by the investigations of Detective O'Hara, and by the further investigations of Mr. Rathbone's surviving son, still remain in the neighbourhood of Auckland. There are those in Auckland who have for all these years been striving to unfold the mystery, and who are working even now. I am in hopes of living to see the day when their efforts shall be crowned with success, and none will rejoice more if tardy Justice yet gets her due, than Richard Rathbone's Old Fellow Passengeb.