MURDER AND SUICIDE NEAR MELSON.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 165, 10 February 1868, Page 2

MURDER AND SUICIDE NEAR MELSON.

EBOM THE EXAMINEE OP THE 4TH INST. A very painful occurrence took place on Wednesday last, through giving way to violence of passion, aud which has cost the lives of two young nen, whose general conduct was as blameless as that of most men in their situation in in life. As far as we have been able to learn the particulars of the dreadful occurrence, we will narrate them, and while we believe in the main they will be found correct, we are not prepared to say that some of the minor details may not be imperfectly stated; A (young man named Ivy Augarde (eldest surviving son of Mr Augarde, of the Turf Hotel), in the service of Mr T. Carter, and in ciarge of his cattle station on the Clai ence, lately entrusted a letter, addressed to a young wman living in the Wairau Valley, to a man known as German Charley. Augarde was averse to placing the letter in Charley's hands, and wished another man, who was travelling the same road, to undertake its delivery, but the latter excused himself as he was not likely to pass where the young woman resided. Charley appears to have resented the mistrust Augarde sho.vel towards him, and to have in revenge opened the letter, and read its contents at all the stations he passed on his way, and when he subsequently delivered it, informed the young wo:nan of what he had done. These circumstances having reached Augarde's ears, he vowed to avenge himself on Charley whenever he should meet him, and this meeting took place on "Wednesday last, somewhere near tie junction of the Alma with the Acheron, some distance beyond Tarndale. A fight here took place between the two men, the result of which was unfavorable to Augarde, who thereupon got upon his horse, and rode off to the nearest station, a distance of several miles, and obtained a gun, with which it is supposed he shot Charley, and afterwards himself, as the bodies of both men were found on the road, fie latter with his scnll blown off, and the gun between his legs.

FURTHER PARTICULARS. {From the Evoning Mail of the 6fh inst.) It appears that having informed by Mr. E. Hope of the circumstances, Mr Greenwood left Motueka Valley on Friday last, taking with him Constable M'Farlane, and reached the Tophouse at 11 o'clock the same night. On the following morning he continued his journey to Tarndale, collecting by the way, all who, having horses were able to accompany him, to act as jurors on the inquests. He reached the Accommodation House, about two miles from the scene of the murder at Tarndale, about 7 p.m., where he found several other persons awaiting his arrival, who afterwards took part in the enquiry as witnesses. The next morning (Sunday) after an early breakfast, the party started for Tarndale, Mr Greenwood having determined on holding the inquest that day, though it was Sunday, as the

bodies had already been dead four days, and the threatening aspect of the weather made it a matter of uncertainty whether auy delay would not have rendered all travelling impossible. Half an hour took tho party to the spot where the body of tho murdered man lay in one of the rooms of the station, carefully sewn up in a blanket. The jury then viewed the corpse, which was that of a man of about 30 years of age, strongly built, and about five feet five or six inches high. Two wounds presented themselves, where the bullet had entered tho back below the right shoulder blade, and passed out below the ribs in front, about two and a half inches from the central line of the body. The face was not distorted, and presented the usual appearance of death from gunshot wounds. From the evidence taken it appeared that the deceased, who was a Gorman, and well known by the name of ' G-er-manCharlie,' as well as by other aliases, w -.ich he always allowed to be feigned names, was working as brjekmakar's assistant at Tarndale on Wednesday, the 29tb ult. In the afternoon, according to the evidence of Charles Sparrow, the brickmaker who was working with him, Augarde (who was not personally known to witness), rode up, carrying a rilie on his left shoulder, and after making one or two ordinary remarks, enquired 'where all the chaps were ?' to which Sparrow replied that they were all away from the station except Grerman Charlie. He then rode on to the place where deceased was at work, about 20 or 30 yards off, and Sparrow heard him say ■ Charlie, I've a letter for you,' the words being followed by the report of a rifle, and looking up he saw Augarde galloping past him as hard as he could go. Sparrow's first care was to see in which direction Augarde went, fearing that as the only witness of the crime, he would be the next victim. But seeing him galloping away at a distance, he then went to the clay-pit, where Grerman Charlie was working, and found him, curiously enough, still standing upright, and wounded as we have already described. He immediately told Sparrow that he was shot, mentioned Augarde as the man who had shot him, and asked to be taken to the house, towards which Sparrow carried him, until, overcome by pain and weakness, he requested to be set down, saying that he was dying. With this Sparrow complied, and then went for assistance. When he returned with Messrs Hope, Shrimpton, and G-oble, he found him quite dead, not having moved to all appearance since he had last seen him.

They had scarcely removed the body to the house when they saw a younor man named Kemp riding from the direction of the Clarence, and on his coming up to the station he informed them that he had just discovered the body of a man lying across the road, about five miles off, at the junction of the Alma and Severn, having his brains blown out, with his right foot lyinof over the stock of the rifle, and his horse grazing at some distance off, the bridle having been removed from the mare's head, and carefully fastened up to the saddle. They at once concluded this to be Augarde's body, which was afterwards proved to be correct, and Mr Hope soon after started with tho news, to find the nearest magistrate, in order to hold the necessary inquiry. The various witnesses having given their evidence, the jnry, of which, Mr Adolph Wiesenhavern was foreman, returned the following verdict : 'That the deceased Charlie the German died from the effects of a gunshot wound, the buliet entering the back of his body below the right shoulder, and cornincr out below the heart, in front of the body, and inflicted wilfully and deliberately by Ivanhoe Augarde.' Immediately after the inquest on German Charlie, a fresh jury having been sworn in, Mr Greenwood repaired to the spot where the body of Augarde lay, which presented a most horrible appearance, the whole of the roof of the skull having been blown off and the brains scattered in every direction. After covering up the body in a blanket the jury returned to the accommodation House, "Wairau Gorge, and after arepast, which was much needed after ten hours' fast, resumed the enquiry, which occupied until eleven o'clock that night, and was concluded on the following morning, when they arrived at the following verdict, which, it will be seen, is tantamount to one of " Felo cle se : " That the deceased Ivanhoe Stanley Augarde met his death by commit'tinopremeditated suicide, by blowing out his brains with a rifle." It appeared that Charlie had been employed at Mr Carter's station on the Clarence for about 17 months, where he had frequent quarrels with Augarde, and six weeks ago had opened and shown a letter from Augarde to a young woman to the Wairau, to whom it is

•supposed was he paying his addresses. fSome time after they met and fought, without any decided result, they being stopped. These circumstances evidently rankled in Augarde's mind, who sought satisfaction in the death of his antagonist, and conscious of the retributive justice which instantly follow upon his had as evidently determined upon his own subsequent destruction, for a letter was produced by Percy Augarde, written by his brother the night before the murder which plainly showed this to be the cise. The body of Charlie was to be buried at Tarndalo on Monday last, and that of Augarde was left in charge •of Mr Augarde, sen., who reached the scene on Sunday, and undertook its burial.' The inquest was not concluded at all too early, for on leaving Tarndale it was almost a matter of a few minutes whether the travellers at the fresh reached the crossing at the Rainbow first, for the river was rising rapidly. The river, however, having been crossed with safety, the rest of the journey, in spite of the tempestuous weather which prevailed, was comparatively easy, and after being detained a day by the rain at the Tophouse, Mr Greenwood was enabled to renew his journey to town.

The following letters were produced at the inquest. One of the two to Percy Augarde appeared to be a draft of that given below : " Clarence Station, Jan. 28. " Mr. Percy Auoakde,

"My dear Brother, —I bid you good-bye. We shall never meet again in this world. lam very sorry to leave you, but it must be. I leave you all I have in the world ; all is yours. You can get my mare when she comes from the Wairau Valley. You must go to Mr G. Gee, Wairau Valley, ar : d he will give you the deeds of my land in Benwickton, and you must ask Miss Gee for a packet of letters that I gave her to take care for me. She has got the deed of my land in the "Wairau Valley. I have five months' wages due from Mr Thomas Carter. You must pay any debts that I have ; the people will send their hills in when they hear whns has happened. You must pay all that is right. My house is let at present to Mr John Smart, hut you can do as you like with it ; he is only renting it. Perhaps Mrs Smart will give you a bill for £2, but don't you pay it. Now, my clear Brother, I must bid you good-bye, and I hope you will get- on better than your unhappy brother. We shall never meet in this world again, my dear boy. " I. S. AuGARBE. " Dear Brother, —Never trust her in any o.ie's keeping but yourself [meaning the mare, probably]."

' : Clarence Station, January 28. " To Mr T. Cabteb, " Dear Sir, —I have engaged my brother for twenty-five shillings a week I hope ho will suit you ; he is a smart lad. I. S. Attgarde."