THE NELSON EXAMINER. Saturday, October 6, 1866.

Journals become more necessary aa men become more equal and individualism more to be feared. It would be to underrate their importance to suppose that they serve only to Beoun» liberty ; tbey maintain civilization. De Tocqukvillb, Of Democracy in America, vol. 5, 230. The execution of Burgess, Kelly, and Levy, for the Maungatapu murders, took place yesterday morning. The account we have given of the execution shows that the wretched men went into eternity with a falsehood on their tongues — or that the evidence given against th*m by Sullivan is untrue, and that adduced, of a circumstantial character, wholly untrustworthy. Sullivan's statement was, that the murders were committed by his three companions, and that he keptjjwatch on the road ; whereas Burgess accused Sullivan of being his active coadjutor in crime, and absolved Kelly and Levy from any participation in the murders. As far as personal testimony goes, we have the oath of Sullivan opposed to the statements of Burgess, Kelly, and Levy — statements we must say, however, that were maintained to the last ; and which, if untrue, were made by these men in the knowledge that they would leave this world with a lie on their tongues. But setting aside the personal testimony of the men, who may all be regarded as having had ends of their own to serve, the circumstantial evidence is wholly in favour of the truth of Sullivan's statement, and points to the guilt of the three men who have suffered. The force and consistency of this evidence is indeed remarkable. Sullivan swore that he kept the road, and had charge of the horse, while Burgess, Kelly, and Levy took the four men from the road into the bush and murdered them; whilst thus employed, he heard parts of a conversation that occurred between two travellers, who met on the road just beneath where he stood. The meeting of these persons at this spot (at from fifteen to twenty minutes after the four men were stuck up) was proved by their own evidence, as was the occurrence of the conversation which Sullivan stated he had overheard. Burgess has said that this meeting did not occur for an hour and a-half after the murdered men were stopped on the road ; and that he and Sullivan had accomplished, the bloody deed, and had returned to the road before Bown and Mdller encountered each other. But this was impossible, and can so be demonstrated. A loaded double-barreled gun was found, which had been thrown into the bush near where the horse was killed, and which showed no sign of having been recently discharged. This gun Sullivan states had been given him by Burgess, and that he threw it away whilst walking along the road. This statement was never contradicted by either of the other prisoners, and was confirmed to some extent by Burgess, who admitted Sullivan's ownership of the gun, and said he had brought it with him from Victoria. If Sullivan had assisted in the murders would not the gun he carried have been discharged ? Burgess stated that Kelly and Levy, knowing the intention of Sullivan and himself to stick up the travellers from Deep Creek, parted company with them on the Tuesday afternoon, a little beyond the Heringa bridge, with the avowed intention of reaching Nelson that evening, in order that they might not be implicated in the crime about to be committed. But, instead of proceeding on to Nelson, they, according to their account, accomplished only some seven miles, or less than half the distance, where tbey remained until nearly dusk the following evening. Their tale is, that fatigue and illness on the part of Kelly caused this halt ; but as their avowed object was to be seen in Nelson on the Tuesday night — so that they might not be implicated in murders they knew were intended to be perpetrated on the road on the following day — they offer no explanation, why, instead of lying all Tuesday night and Wednesday in the bush, they did not attempt to reach Dwyer's Accommodationhouse, only about two miles farther on ; or why, failing this, they secreted themselves on the Wednesday, from numerous travellers who passed along the road, when the object for which they parted company with Burgess and Sullivan would have been served

}by only once showing themselves. During the trial, and after the condemnation of Levy and Kelly, search was made for signs of their stated camping-place on the night and day in question, but no trace of it could be found ; although they said they cooked food and partook of four or five meals there. Not the slightest evidence could these men adduce in support of their statements, and in every particular the circumstantial evidence was against them. It is not necessary to call attention to the altered condition of Kelly and Levy, as well as that of Sullivan and Burgess, after their return to Nelson from the Wakamarina, to what it was before they visited that place. They had little or no money when they left Nelson, and pleaded poverty on arrival at the Wakamarina ; yet when apprehended, they were all well furnished with money. We have brought these facte together in order that they may be borne ih mind when the protestations of innocence, made by Kelly and Levy on the brink of the grave, are read. We have no intention of setting ourselves up in judgment over these three men — they are now where no equivocation will avail them, and where they will be judged according to their deserts. But it is not the less our duty to call attention to the contradictions and inconsistencies of which they were clearly guilty— ron the part of Burgess, to be reverged on Sullivan for turning against his late companions ; and on the .part of Kelly and Levy, in the vain hope of saving their lives. First of Burgess, lfe might be said that, having confessed to his own guilt, Burgess could have had no sufficient motive to tell a falsehood in the dreadful position in which he yesterday morning stood. Tet it is a fact that while he then, * as he has repeatedly done since his trial, admitted the complicity of Kelly and Levy in the murders on the Maungatapu, he solemnly repeated the statement that neither of his fellow-sufferers was guilty of the capital offence. To explain how this man could pass out of time into eternity with what most persons will regard as a falsehood on his lips, we must look to his character. Proud, and self-willed to an excessive degree, it has been his great boast to the gentlemen who have attended his cell to afford him spiritual consolation, that he never betrayed a mate. This was clearly his "one virtue 'mid a thousand crimes ;" and of this he was inordinately vain. To gratify that vanity, and the selfesteem arising from it, Burgess may have been guilty of falsehood where truth should have been expected of him. When talked with concerning the evidence against Kelly and Levy, he freely admitted its force, but, bo far as we 1 ¥now, never directly contradicted the st^ement he had made in respect of them, although we believe in one instance he did what almost amounted to it. The motive of Kelly and Levy in denying their guilt was evident. Tbey doubtless hoped, up to a very late hour, that by asserting their innocence of any participation in the murders, they might interest persons to stir on their behalf, and by appealing to the Government, save their lives. Levy so far succeeded in this, that a minister of his religion exerted himself very greatly on his behalf. Unfortunately, however, for these two condemned men, all the facts elicited beyond their own bare assertions, were against them. Painful as it may be to say it, notwithstanding the awful position in which the ' prisoners stood, little reliance is to be placed on what they said even when the rope was round their necks. Burgess, as we have already stated, had fully admitted the complicity of Levy and Kelly in the murders, and yet Levy, . writing deliberately in his cell, only nine houra before he was to be led to the scaffold, pro~ tested to his mother and sisters "by the eternal God, or Jehovah, that not only was he innocent of any murders, but also innocent of ever receiving any money, knowing such money to have belonged to any murdered man, woman, or child." Let the following incident, told yesterday by our contemporary the Colonist, the truth of which we have ascertained be taken as an answer : — Levy perseveringly asserts his innocence. He made an attempt a few days ago to convey a note to Burgess inclosed in a fish. One of the under assistants of the gaol had been attending on Levy at breakfast, when he asked him to take a small fish, to Burgess for his breakfast. The man was proceeding; to do so, when one of his seniors stopped him > and on opening the fish found a small billet artfully concealed within. It was couched partially in slang,, but the main purport of it was to the effect, that if he and Kelly should put their heads together to endeavour to get off, he (Burgees) must bear them out in it. The concluding part of the note stated, that he was puzzled how to account for £20 of the money he had about him when apprehended, and if he could do that it would be hopeful, or some expression of the like nature. When he learned that the note was discovered, he became greatly agitated, and implored the officer to return it to him, saying that he would not on any account that the Rabbi should knpw he had written it, as it would cause him to think worse of him. He was told that the note was already in (he hands of the authorities, and that very likely the Rabbi would know its contents. Upon this he became as pale as death, and trembled so violently that, he had to be supplied with restoratives, which, hecould not properly convey to his lips. Other incidents of yesterday's tragedy might be quoted, which tend to the same conclusion respecting the value of the last words of this, in every way miserable creature. Of the dreadful exhibition made by Kelly on the scaffold, it will be most charitable to say but little. No victim. ever mounted a scaffold in a more prostrate state—mentally and physically. The manner in which he and Burgesss directly contradicted each other respecting the scratching of the nameof " Thomas Noon " on the gun, is only another evidence of the little reliance thereis to be placed upon the last words of themen whose fate we have recorded. It waa evident to all who witnessed the execution, that Kelly had been prepared for the* scene by stimulants ; towards the close he scarcely was conscious of all he said, and perhaps should not therefore be held accountable for it. Such an execution, in which the g^^M^ c an( i the serious were so blended, lw|||phever before witnessed. It was the rirsf execution that has ever taken place in Nelson, and we hope it may be long before there is another.