Supposed Murder.
On the Bth February last the remains of a man, name unknown, but supposed to be those of Doininico Borserini, were found in a gold-mining shaft at Fox’s, near Waimea, Westland, where it is supposed to have been lying for four or five years. At an inquest held on the remains at the Hevetia Hotel, Goldsborougli, on the 16th February, by Joseph Giles, Esq., Coroner, an open verdict was returned. No trace of fracture or violence could be found on any of the bones, but six lower and four upper teeth were missing ; a pair of digger’s knee-boots of similar size and make to those worn by Boi'serini when last seen (no other person at Fox’s had similar boots), a pick-handle, a leather strap, and a sugar-bag containing some wheat were found in the shaft with the remains. The gold-mining claim in which the remains were found formerly belonged toDominico Borserini and Jacomo Cometti, who worked in it up to the 18th September, 1877, on which date Borserini sold over 18 ounces of gold at the store of George Muller, where he left about dusk on that evening in company with his mate Cometti for their hut about a mile away, and which was within about thirty yards of the shaft in which the remains were found. Borserini has not since been seen or heard of. He and Cometti frequently
quarrelled. On the following day Cometti said that Borserini had gone to Waimea, but he was not seen there ; on the next day he removed a bag of clothes, blankets, &c., from the hut; and on the third day Borserini’s hut was found burned to tbe ground. Cometti some time after sold a double-barrelled gun belonging to Borserini, and although ho never had money, yet in December, 1877, he forwarded a bank draft for £37 to his father in Italy, and soon after left the colony for Victoria. Description : An Italian, about thirty years of age, 4 feet Ilf inches high, stout build, complexion pale and inclined to be sallow, dark-brown hair, dark eyes, rather slovenly appearance, speaks English tolerably well.
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Police Gazette, Volume VI, Issue 10, 17 May 1882, Page 73
Word Count
353Supposed Murder. New Zealand Police Gazette, Volume VI, Issue 10, 17 May 1882, Page 73
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