NEW  ZEALAND
FO LK * SONG

Puketapu
John Archer 1989

Song List - Home

In 1957, Walter Bolton of Wanganui was the last man
in New Zealand to be hanged for murder.                 

On the top of Puketapu, there's a frail clematis vine
and a scraggly old manuka bush growing close entwined
'n looking down off Puketapu, you can still see old Tom's farm
Though the dipping race is bulldozed now, and that water tank pulled down.

For 40 years Tom dipped his sheep to kill the ticks and lice
Old Betty made home remedies from sheep dip once or twice
Poor old Betty, her home remedies, and her cups of tea all day
Old Tom preferred a beer or two to keep the dust at bay

Poor old Betty, always sickly, though her husband nursed her well
Poor old Betty, always sickly, not like her sister Sal
Tom loved to visit Sally with her hair all flaming red
Tom loved to visit Sally, and share her widow's bed

"Go home, take care of Betty, take her tea and toast in bed
Two spoonfuls in the teapot..."
.......................................... Come quickly! Betty's dead!
There was arsenic in the sheep dip, arsenic in the water tank
There was arsenic in poor Betty, was it all the tea she drank?

Was it murder? misadventure? was it ....suicide?
Tom waited just two hours in court for the jury to decide
Then they took him to Mount Eden; "I'm innocent," cried Tom
They hanged him at Mount Eden, and they've hanged no man since then.

On the top of Puketapu, Betty's buried all alone
Somewhere behind that Norfolk pine, where the scrub's all overgrown
Where the bracken's most entangled, there's a frail clematis vine
And a scraggly old manuka bush ....growing close entwined.
.

Background

68 year-old Walter Bolton, born at Mangamahu in 1888, was the last person to be executed in New Zealand. Bolton was hanged in 1957 for the murder of his wife Beatrice, who died of arsenic poisoning. The death penalty for murder was abolished in New Zealand in 1961.

Bolton's farm at Okoia, just 5 kilometres east of Wanganui, was tested and found to contain arsenic, and traces of arsenic were also found in small doses in her tea. The quantity consumed over the best part of a year was enough to kill. Bolton admitted to having had an affair with his wife's sister, Florence, a widow living in Wanganui. This was considered motive enough for the murder.

Bolton dipped his sheep with Young's arsenical sheep dip powder, and the water from the dipping was emptied into a gully, near where water for his farm house water tank was pumped from a spring.

This water was tested and found to contain arsenic, and traces of arsenic were also found in Walter and one of his daughters, and the defence argued that sheep dip had inadvertently got into the farm's water supply.

But the trial was in mid-December: and with eight of the jury being businessmen who wanted to get back to their pre-Christmas preparations, they deliberated only two hours before bringing a verdict.

A year later Florence committed suicide, also by arsenic poisoning, and the ambulance driver who attended the scene later reported she left a note saying she had killed Beatrice.

Go to Page 48 of Investigate magazine PDF

The Ballad Writers' Toolbox

A movie script in ballad form

I made this in the format of a script for a short film.
 
- I divided the action up into 20 camera shots...
-     - opening image -panning shot -close-up
       -dialogue -action -climax.

Then I used techniques from traditional English ballads
Leap quickly from scene to scene...
Cut out the intermediate parts of the journey.
...then linger on the scene.
Describe two or three details so vividly that the audience feel they can really see everything.
Use direct speech
No need to identify the speakers,
the audience can see them on the screen of their mind's eye.

Repeat the scenes (verses) containing the main action
...but with a significant change in meaning.
Tom loved to visit Sally, and share her widow's bed

Keep the language spare and laconic.

Don't describe feelings,
-make the audience experience the feelings.