“Nearly Died”
p. 85 · Read in the full issue
Assaulted Man “Nearly Died”
The Rev. W. H. Cox, the mis sionary who was assaulted in the Namatanai incident, was a tall, but not robust man, who was in his early forties when the incident occurred, according to PlM’s Tolala, who knew him.
“He came first to New Guinea in 1901 and was posted to New Ireland,” Tolala recalls. “Later he went to Ulu in the Duke of Y orks.
“He told me of his ordeal some years after the incident. I do not remember how many strikes he received, but more than he could stand, anyway. Poor Cox nearly died.
“He told me that the whole affair had been a misunderstand ing in which, in some way, the young skipper of the mission schooner had been involved.
“One of the offenders, a medical man, cut his wrists in an attempt to commit suicide, but was unsuccessful.
“1 do not remember hearing of the nature of any reaction amongst the people generally as a result of the ‘flogging ’. 7 was in Bougainville at the time, and was not feeling the Rabaul pulse until 1920 on return from the war in Europe.”