MYSTERY SOLVED.

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18158, 24 October 1930, Page 6

MYSTERY SOLVED.

DEATH-BED CONFESSION. MURDER IN SOUTHLAND. * J • OLD TRAGEDY RECALLED, i INVERCARGILL, Thursday. 4 A death-bed confession has cleared up the mystery that for many years has surrounded the Lora Gorge murder, one ■ of the most sensational crimes in the history of Southland. For obvious reasons the name of the man who confessed'to the deed , just before his death has not been disclosed, but it is sufficient to state that his confession has at last cleared a number ,of persons on whom suspicion has rested for so many years. The scene of the murder was in the midst of the HokOnui Hills, in the centre of the province. Thickly bushclad and populated by a hard living and working people, the district ol I-lokonui came to be synonomous with the illicit distillation of whisky.

Farmer Shot Dead. Richard Bell, a farmer, residing at Lora Gorge, was deliberately shot late at night on July 25, 1892. He was returning to his home on horseback from a farmers’ meeting, and was stopping to unfasten a gate to his property when the shot was fired by a man who had been waiting behind a bush. Terribly wounded about I the head, Mr Bell managed to crawl home and was conscious until his death in the early hours of the following morning. When he was dying he stated he had been shot by John Mcßae, a neighbouring farmer, and on the murdered man’s statement Mcßae was later arrested and charged with the c" ri m 6. At the inquest a neighbour told of a dispute that had arisen between Bell and Mcßae as a result of some of Bell’s stock breaking through into Mcßae’s property and destroying the latter’s oat stack. Arbitrators had been appointed to settle the argument, but had failed to award Mcßae the satisfaction he demanded.

Denied Hl* Guilt. At the inquest an open verdict was returned, and later the case against “Mcßae w'as heard in the Police Court. Mcßae stoutly denied his guilt, but admitted he knew the person he believed was responsible for the murder, declaring that he would not disclose it except as a last resort. The evidence against Mcßae was slender and purely circumstantial. He was committed for trial. When the Supreme Court session commenced it was intimated that the Crown was not at that stage prepared to, enter a bill, and as the position remained the same three months later , the charge was withdrawn. , , ' The mystery remained unsolved anti unsatisfactory until the recent deathbed confession. It is satisfactory to know that at last Mcßae and his family have been cleared of suspicion.