THE POVERTY BAY MASSACRE.

West Coast Times, Issue 1008, 15 December 1868, Page 3

THE POVERTY BAY MASSACRE.

Mhs* Wilson's Escape. The correspondent of the Herald says i— .

" I wili try and give you a correct ftnd circumstantial account of poor Mrs Wilson's sufferings and marvellous escape, as I have' gathered it frdm her and her boy. She says that it was soon after 10 o'clock on Monday night when the Hau Haus came to them, but I think she must be a little confused about the actual time, for I saw a house on fire at 4.30, which, as far as I can make out, could be no other than theirs, or some building close to it. Goldsmith's, I understand, was not burnt until later. However that may be, Mrs Wilson was in bed, and Mr Wilson had just gone to bed, having been writing letters for the overland mail, whicii vVas to leave on ihe following morning, when a Maori knocked at the door, and wanted Mr Wilson to open it, sayina- that he had a letter from Hiriiii. Mr Wilson's suspicions were aroused, and he told the man to put it underneath the door, feooii afterwards he looked out and saw the outline of a number of* heads, and suspected that mischief was intended. The wretches, finding that it was of no use to try to get the door opened by fair means, proceeded to batter it in with a piece of timber • but when they liad done so the cowards dared not enter the house. Edward Moran was sleeping in some place outside, and Mr Wilson called to him to come into the house. Mrs Wilson lay on the floor with one of her children (three children were upstairs) and Mr Wilson and Mora-n returned the fire. Being- foiled in this movement also, they next proceeded to set fire to the house at both i ends. This necessarily drove the poer creatures out, and the flames had got so far that Mrs Wilson's hair and the feet of some of the little ones were scorched as they came out. Mr Wilson had his revolver and was prepared to use it, but they -stopped him and told j him they would not kill him now. They started to walk towards Goldsmith's. One of the Hau Hau's took up Edward, Mrs Wilson carried Jessie, Moran carried Alice, and Jemmy was on his' father's back. They had very little clothing having- been turned summarily out of bed. Mrs Wilson had a shawl over her night-dress. They i walked about two hundred or three | hundred yards along the bank of the oid river bed, when one of the Hau Haus rushed upon Moran, but did not ! hit him ; another then stabbed poor Mrs Wilson through the body with a bayonet. Mrs Wilson, on hearing her husband call out turned round, and as she uttered a dry of horror, she received a thrust from one of them through her body. Her nrm was pierced, through her trying to shield poor little Jessie. Beyond this, she was conscious of nothing more till daylight, when she came to herself, and on raising herself on her elbow as well as she could, she saw the o^ther poor things lying dead around her, and missed Jemmy; wondering what they had done with him, but never thinking for a moment that She would see him alive again. She lay in the same place the whole of Tuesday, on which day Hori Wai-akihi came and took away her shawl, and it was not till Wednesday that she crawled back again to what was once her home. There she found a small tea kettle, which she filled with water from the tank, and with this and a broken bottle io drink out of, she hid herself in a small building which was still left standing on the premises. Jemmy, when his lather tell, had some difficulty in scrambling away, as his arm was under his father's body. He did get away, however, and ran towards Captain Bloomfield s. It was still dark, and' he lay dowu in the verandah. While lying there he heard Charlie James calling out to Miss Steggalc, but he knew nothing about anyone coming out of the house, and in the morning he wandered about, hiding about under a sweetbriar bush. He found something to eat in Jem Garlaud's cottage, and as he knew that the old man had run away from the Hau Hans, and would uot be likely to gome back again, he thought it

would not exactly be stealing if he at< some of what he found there. Th< following night he went to the Bloom' field s to look for a bed, and got intc one of the little boys' beds, which musi have been just as they left them in the morning. As he lay there ho heard people in the house— a man and a woman —and he therefore got up and locked the door of liis roo'ili. It would seem that he was heard, for tlie woman cume to the door and thumped at it, calling out who was there ; but getting no answer* she went away, and, aftei making free with things they found in the house, they left the boy undisturbed. On Wednesday he wandered about as before, and iv the evening, instead of going into the Bloomileld's house again, he took iip his quarters under the sweetbriar bush, which, he says, was the best place he ever hid iv from a lot of savages. It was well he changed his lodging, for in the.morning" he saw the wretches go by — as many, he thinks, as would iill the redoubt here — men, Avomeu, and children. Soon -afterwards they set fire to all the houses, and it he had been in any of them, he must either have fallen into their hands or been' burnt. After they were gone away, he w'aivdered back to the neighbourhood of his old home and saw his father, brothers, sisters and Moran, lying dead, and thought that they must have taken his mother to eat her, as she was not there. He then went to Toanga, where he found Ilori Warakihi, who gave hint a little bread and iiie.it, which he had probably looted out of one of the houses; Then he wandered back again and found his mother; to their mutual surprise and deiighti The fowls were still there, and he found some eggs, but they wanted fire to cook them with, so he Avent to Toanga again and, asked Hori for.some matches, but the old vagabond did not give him any. Mr Wilson then suggested that he might a bit of fire at some of the houses Avhich had been burnt that morning. This he did, and put the kettle on the fire and cooked the eggs in it. He also got some potatoes from old Hori at Toanga. In the pocket of his father's coat there happened to be his father's card case, in which he Avas in the habit of carrying Avith the cards a tiny bit of lead pencil. This furnished the means of writing a note, and poor Mrs Wilson then tried to Avrite, but her attempts were illegible, iv consequence of the weakness or unsteadiness of her, hand. After about four hours' work, and .great painstaking, she at last succeeded in producing something that Avas legible, asking whether some, kind friend could not come to their assistance, and stating that they were badly off for food and clothing,, and that she Avas severely wounded. After two unsuccessful attempts to bring this note to Turanganui, iii which he could get no further than Makaraka, the little man brought il, as y.ou know, on Monday, the 18th inst., having been guided by Mrs Brown's dog " Flo," which, of course, knew the Avay to Turanganui, and as she came on he followed her. He was iiiet hLoufc two .miles from Turanganui by a party avlio were going out to reconnoitre. When he first saw them he Avas afraid that they might be Hau Haus, and he hid himself in the bushes; but, Avhen they got up to the place where he was, " Fio " barked, and consequently betrayed their hiding-place. Tom Goldsmith, one of the party, then took him upon his horse and brought him in, and a party -went off immediately with the doctor to bring Mrs Wilson doAvn to Turanganui.