N. Guinea’s Mystery

Murder

Circumstances Around Death of

Girl Resemble a Detective

Novel.

THE murder of Miss Jean Wilson at Wau, New Guinea, in the night of June 22 last, has not yet been solved.

The circumstances remain mysterious, and the crime apparently motive-less.

Suspicion points strongly towards a na tive labourer, but the evidence is not yet regarded as conclusive.

There have been most exhaustive in quiries by the New Guinea police, and by Detective-Sergeant Arnold and a finger-print expert sent up from Sydney.

Very good work has been done by the Wau police, especially Warrant Officers Haviland and Gluyas. Voluminous evi dence has been placed before the Coroner (Mr. H. R. Niall) but the latter could only return a verdict that the girl had been killed with a short-handled axe by some person unknown.

Here are the circumstances, taken from many reports.

Lillie Jean Wilson, single, aged 27, good-looking, esteemed and popular, was an employee of Burns, Philp and Co.

Ltd. She had been on the firm’s staff at Kavieng and Rabaul, and about 18 months in Wau. She lived in Wau with her sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Ray.

On Sunday night, June 22, the family retired early—about 10 p.m. About 2 a.m., Mr. and Mrs. Ray were awakened by screams. They rushed at first to their children’s room, then to Miss Wilson’s room. As they entered, Miss Wilson cried, “Don’t let the kiddies in. I’ve been at tacked by a native with an axe”. They switched on the light. Miss Wilson clearly was terribly injured—face, shoulder, arm —and in distress.

While Mr. Ray tried to help the girl, Mrs. Ray went to the telephone, and they summoned police and doctor. W. O.

Haviland, when he arrived, heard Ray say to the girl, “How do you know it was an axe?” She said, “There it is on the bed”. Ray then straightened the bed clothes and found the axe, which was bloodstained, and he also picked up, from the floor, two pieces of black lap-lap

(cloth from which natives’ lap-laps are made). One was sewn roughly into the form of a bag, and from this there fell a key.

The girl was taken to the hospital where she died a few hours later.

THE axe, lap-lap cloth, lap-lap bag and key were examined very carefully by the police. The bag smelled of trade tobacco. On the cloth were a couple of hairs.

It was found that the key unlocked Miss Wilson’s room door. It and the back door were standing open when she was found. The police, immediately after the discovery of Miss Wilson, went to the house occupied by Ray’s native ser vants. They were all sound asleep. The police awoke them and examined their feet. They found no evidence that the servants had been out, or that they were in any way abnormal.

The police, during Monday, June 23, were very busy. On Tuesday, June 24, W. O. Gluyas went out to Koranga, where there are many native labourers employed, and waited while Mr, Clark, labour superintendent, lined them up. A Manus native named Taiki, well known to the police through various offences, came out so slowly and reluctantly that Mr. Clark had to hurry him up. Gluyas,

who knew him well, said he “seemed abnormal, and had a mad look in his eyes”. Gluyas took him to Wau for examination.

There, after much hesitation, Taiki said that he knew the axe—it belonged to his master, Jim Currie. He was shown the piece of lap-lap in which the axe apparently had been wrapped, and the cloth bag, but merely remarked that they were new. Taiki was held.

Taiki’s living quarters were closely searched, and a red lap-lap was found.

There were minute stains on this, which were identified as human blood. Taiki said that the lap-lap was his, but denied that he knew anything of the blood stains. His body bore no mark of a recent wound, from which he might have bled, An expert examined hairs from an Alsatian dog kept by Mr. Clark, at Koranga, and compared them with the hairs found on the lap-lap cloth. They were declared to be identical.

DURING the Coroner’s inquiry, Taiki was cool and well-poised. He took full advantage of his right to ex amine witnesses. The Coroner remarked afterwards that never had he seen the skill in cross-examination shown by Taiki equalled by another native, and seldom by a European.

The Coroner added that it had been established to his satisfaction that the crime was committed by a native. As there was not sufficient evidence to enable the police to charge Taiki with the mur der, Taiki was released.

Detective Sergeant Arnold was still in Wau, prosecuting inquiries, on August 1.

Two baffling circumstances connected with the crime are, first, the fact that there has been a good deal of secret drinking of alcohol among indentured labourers in the Wau district—and these natives become quite crazy under alcohol; and, second, many of the native police

are “(pne talks’’ of the native labourers— that is, they are of the same tribe and language, and are suspected of working together.

The suggestion therefore is that the crime was committed by a drink-crazed native, and that he is being protected by his “one talks”.

But why should Jean Wilson have been selected for such an attack? Medical evidence is that there was no indication whatever of sexual interference. And, in any event, would a drink-crazed native deliberately plan a crime like this — wrapping up an axe, and carrying it with him, and also carrying with him the key of the girl’s room?

There are some very curious and quite unexplained circumstances connected with this case.

An Old Resident Offers a Theory

Y"|LD New-Guinea-ite” writes:— V/ This Wau murder is most puzzling.

In all my long experience of New Guinea, I never knew a “civilised” native to attack a European, man or woman, while asleep. And why should this native, Taiki, to whom suspicion is said to point, who lived three miles from Wau, come all the way into Wau and deliberately pick out Miss Wilson for attack?

The fact that the bag which the mur derer dropped contained the key of Miss Wilson’s room indicates premeditation.

We can understand that one of these natives might plan assault with intent, and creep into Miss Wilson’s room. But this man planned murder —else, why did he bring with him, all the way from Koranga (“it was Jim Currie’s axe”) this weapon, carefully wrapped in lap-lap?

There is no suggestion here of any questionable relationships, such as have occurred occasionally between natives and low-type young European women visitors. Miss Wilson had lived for

years in the Territory, and was a young woman of good type and class, and understood the importance of keeping these primitive New Guinea natives in their proper place.

I can see only one theory to fit the strange circumstances. It is possible that one of these flash, over-Europeanised natives, probably a man of sensual type, made some approach to Miss Wilson, in or near her home. She would deal with him in no uncertain manner. Then, if he were one of those natives (there are too many of them about now) who want to be regarded as the equal of Euro peans, he would go away and nurse a bitter grievance: and, if he were drinking alcohol, his drink-crazed brain might plan, in retaliation, just the sort of attack that occurred.

Up to a point, Taiki conforms to much of this theory. He is “flash”, and very intelligent and shrewd; therefore he probably considers himself the equal of Europeans, and has an “inferiority com plex”; he has a police record, and has been accused of sexual offences; and he is believed to have been an alcohol drinker. But had he ever been seen in or near Mr. Ray’s home, or accosting Miss Wilson? Is it known that she ever had occasion to speak to him? If it could be shown that any incident of that kind had ever occurred, then I think that the case against Taiki would demand the closest investigation.