TRAGEDY ON STEAMER.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 10 December 1925, Page 5

TRAGEDY ON STEAMER.

MALAY RUNS AMOK. FURTHER PARTICULARS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, This Day. The full horror of the .Straits Settlements tragedy on the steamer Klang is revealed in details received yesterday. A Malay fatally stabbed Captain Murdock McDonald, who wa9 born ’ in Auckland, and killed seven other persons. Five others were wfiundcd, including the Chief Engineer, Mr. McWilliam Rae. s ' The Klang left Singapore for Port Swettenham and Penang on October 31 with about eight European pasengers and over 200 deck passengers. When approaching Tanjong, Pagar, a Malay passenger suddenly ran amok witli a knife and stabbed right and left. A panic ensued, the deck passengers rushing all over the upper deck to escape the madman. Eventually the main deck and the boat deck on which the saloon is situated were isolated. The ship was put about, and within half an hour'the Malay stabbed thirteen persons. Captain McDonald left the bridge to investigate, after the ship had anchored, and was fatally stabbed in the abdomen. Rae on coming from the engineroom, encountered tlie madman, who stabbed him seriously in the chest. Medical assistance and the police were summoned. , Two inspectors with eight constables all armed with rifles and bayonets went to the stern of the upper deck, where they found the Malay with his back to the second class dibins, After trying for a quarter of an hour t#persuade the man to drop the knife, Inspector Bostoek was forced to disable him with a shot in the leg. Subsequently the chief officer, William Lutkin, told the police that the captain had been killed, and he ordered the man to bo shot down. The inspectors both fired and the man died on the way to the hospital.