THE MURDERS AT NELSON.

Dunstan Times, Issue 220, 13 July 1866, Page 3

THE MURDERS AT NELSON.

(from the daily tihes ) The plan settled for robbing the Bank was this:—When all was ready, one of the party was to go into the Bank just at closing time, and arrange to see the Manager, in his private room; and the others going in on some pretext, were to close the Bank doors and murder all the clerks. If this plan succeeded, the villians thonght they would be able to get away from Nelson, undiscovered. The bodies of Kempthorne, Matthews, Dudley, and Pontius, were buiried in the Cemetery yesterday (Sunday); upwards of 2000 persons were present. The prisoners were again brought before the Magistrate to-day, annd were mnanded for a week. Tuesday, 6.35 p.m. The body of old Jamie, the whaler, has been found at the foot of Maungatapu, near Neringa Bridge, in the Nelson Pro vince. The body was brought into town this afternoon; and an inquest will be held tomorrow. The corpse was in a frightful state. Sullivan, in the course of his confession stated that he had " planted" a revolver and a bottle of strychnine in a gorse hedge in town. The strychnire, he said, was intended to be used to destroy persons who proved to be too. strong to be otherwise got rid of. To-day, Sullivan was taken from Gaol in a vehicle, and he pointed out a spot as that which he had selected. There, both the revolver and the bottle of strychine were found. Sullivan's confessions will appal, when they are published; but they will not be fully made known untill the trial. The Superintendent is writing to the General Government, asking that a Special Commission may bo appointed to try the prisoners.

"Working for bare life," is defined to be making clothes for a new baby. Who are the the most tiresome people to children?— The mothers -who bore them. In 1831—it was on a Wednesday in " ovember—l was in thepit ofthe Adelphi. A man rose up, during the play, and complained to Mr Frederick Yates, who was then on the stage, that a lady in front would not take off her big blue bonnet, which prevented complainant from seeing what was going on. "Sir," said Mr Yates, severely, " you ought to have too much of the gallantry of an Englishman to desire anything that could be inconvenient to a lady." The house cheered the manager and the grumbler bolted. Nevertheless, I thought and think, that he had grounds for growls, and if he is alive, it may comfort him to know my opinion.—"Punch's Table Talk.". A " Local Editor."—The " Chicago Republican" thus enumerates the necessary qualifications of a " local editor" : " He must combine the loquacity of a magician with the impudence of the devil. He must know how to time a race-horse, gaff a cock, teach a Sunday-school, preach a charity-sermon, run a saw-mill, keep an hotel, turn a double somersault, and brew whisky. He must be up to a thing or two in political economy, au fait in the matter of cooking beans. On the trail of mysterious items he must be a veritable sleuth. His hide must be like that of a rhinoceros. He must be insensible to the cruellest snubs, and manifest no sense of anger when he is kicked down stairs. He must throw modesty to the dogs, and let his tiger howl. But above all he must be an adept at the art of puffing. .... He must be ready at all times to say something funny in regard to Smith's grocery, or to surround Miss Flounce's millinery establishment with a halo of glowing adjectives He must be enthusiastic on the subject of hams, verbose on extoling hardware, and highly imaginative in the matter of dry goods He must talk learnedly of panoramas, with a liberal admixture of knowing words, such as 'warmth,' 'tone,' 'foreshortening,' 'high lights,' 'foregrounds,' 'perspective,' <fec. He must be heavy on the concerts, with a capacity to appreciate Miss Squawk's execution of difficult feats in the 'upper register ;' ecstatic in praise of doubleheaded calves, and eloquent in behalf of fat women and living skeletons."—" Trubner's American Literary Record." Mr Foote, the ex-Confederate senator, has just published a book respecting the Confederate secession. In it is the following passage . —"lt is really astonishing to hear that men in this enlightened age should for a moment hesitate in regard to the propriety of allowing persons of African descent to testifiy in courts of justice, especially in cases where their own life, liberty, or property are involved: ... .- Itis heartlessly unjust to the black man to assert that he is less a respector of truth, and less inclined to the exercise of justice than the white man. I have lived among this race all my life, and what I now say on this subject is the fruit of more than half a century's experieuce and observation." Nearly 300 convicts were shipped recently from Portland for Western Australia. ; lion.pell was one of for some reason or other, he was rela; .ded, and was not sent off. It is stated that the diving-bell has been abandoned on the Thames in favor of the diving-dress, principally because the men employed were found while WestminsterBridge was being built, to spend their time at the bottom in playing cards.