Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1891-10-17 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

NATIVES PUNISHED FOR MURDER.  In January last, it will be remembered, Captain Sam Craig, one of the best known South Sea Island traders out of Sydney, met his death at the hands of the natives of Makeira, in the Solomon Group. The captain had gone ashore to trade, and was shot by the savages whilst in the act of landing. No provocation whatever was given, and it was solely with the object of plunder, for the captain's boat was laden with trade wares at the time he landed, that the natives committed the crime. On the arrival at Sydney of the Sandfly (the vessel to which Captain Craig belonged) the murder was reported to Lord Charles Scott, commander in chief of the Australian Squadron, and he in due course commissioned Captain Davis, of H.M.S. Royalist, to proceed to_the islands and punish the natives for the atrocity. The Royalist, accompanied by the gunboat Ringdove, left Sydney for the islands in July, and, with the aid of interpreters, Captain Davis succeeded in tracing the murderer to a certain bush tribe. They had, however, made themselves scarce before the arrival of the war-ships and taken shelter on one of the high mountains along the coast of St. Christival, hoping by this means to escape punishment. In thi3 they were mistaken, however. Captain Davis heard from the coast natives of their whereabouts, and with that instinct characteristic of the British naval officer determined to have them at all hazards. As it happened, the schooner Sandfly, Captain Craig's old ship, was in the group trading, and Captain Davis availed himself of the services of the present master of the schooner (Captain Kirkpatrick) to pilot the boats with the fighting party to the nearest landing to the hiding place of the savages. It was 2 o'clock in the morning of August sth when the boats with a landing pay left the ships Royalist and Ringdove, which, to put the natives off their guard, had been anchored some distance away, at a place known as Bere. The party from the warships numbered 50, and accompanying them were nearly as many more natives, Captain Davis himself being in command. After safely 1 negotiating the many intricate passages a landing was effected at the foot of the mountain on which the guilty tribe was hiding, and under shelter of the thick undergrowth the men-o'-warsmen, guided by friendly natives, quickly began the ascent. The mountain being almost straight up and down, progress was slow, and it was late in the afternoon before Captain Davis and his men came up to the village of the natives. The captain hoped to surround the village and make the whole of the tribe prisoners; but the rough state of the mountain prevented this being done, and he had to content himself with a sudden attack. So carefully had he planned matters that the natives were taken by surprise, and though the men concerned in the murder managed by their thorough knowledge of the country to escape, Captain Davis succeeded in making a prisoner of their principal chief. He was taken on board the Royalist to be detained as hostage pending the handing over of the actual murderers of Captain Craig. Captain Davis and his party, before leaving, destroyed the native village. Previous to visiting St. Christoval, the Royalist had been to Malayta and punished the natives for the murder of Frederick Howard, an English trader. Captain Davis also intended paying a visit to Rubiana to endeavour to prevent the natives there carrying on that horrible practice of "head taking."