THE DUNEDIN TRAGEDY.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5646, 25 March 1880, Page 2

THE DUNEDIN TRAGEDY.

THE SUSPECTED MURDERER. HIS ARREST AND ANTECEDENTS. Full particulars of the arrest {^ cedents of the man Robert But) °^Kias Edward James Donnelly, who *.^Pocen arrested on suspicion of being the perpetrator of the Dunedin double murder, are given in the Otago Daily Times, Butler we learn, was discharged from goal on the' 18th of February, after serving a sentence of four years on a charge of burglary. Sinco the commission of the deed the police have strongly suspected him of being the criminal, and-from the first have laid their plans to catch him. flavin* heard that he had gone out of Dunedin northwards, the two constables stationed at Waitaki and Waikouaiti respectively wore ordered from headquarters to go out in search of him. On Sunday afternoon A these constables (Colbourne and Townsend ■ by name) overtook him on the, road, about \ five miles from Waikouaiti. They at once ordered' him to stand, when he sprang behind a flax bush af the aide of the road and drew a loaded six-chambere,d revolver* ■"& which" he presented, at them. The cor. f stables,* however, rushed upon hith ac j ;.. '\j

secured him, giving him no chance to use his weapon. Ho was taken to the Waikouaiti lock-up. Butler, whatever may turn out regarding bis guilt or innodence of the crime at present imputed to - ! him, ia unquestionably a notorious and desperate criminal. His age is 28 ; he is a Smrirbj clever, intelligent-looking man, of good address and carriage ; and ho has S really good education (said to V ..have been received chiefly in Pentridge '<•' ' &aoj, Victoria). If not a Victorian native, he has been" In ihat colony since he was an infant. From the titrie hs was JLO years "'-'of age he has been "in trouble" almost Constantly. In Victoria he served sentences, in, the total amounting. to 12 years, his principal crime being robbery under arms. The first knowledg6 w6 h,ave i of him 1 in Otago is that for a period oi ferae months°in the early part of 1876 he held the position of teacher in tho Roman Catholic . Bchool at Cromwell, a position his educa-•tional-attainments enabled him to fill •wonderfully well. He also established a night school in the town, which was vntithe'rously dtteitded; "For a time in Cromwell he seemed to be letting- down to _' a respectable life. His antecedeh&j were \ hbt;kn6wn, and he earned for himself the character of a decent, deserving, respectable young man. But the criminal instinct 'ctftild' not be repressed. Although the ' fenarge was 5 , .\ve believe, never brought against hini in a, co'iirt of law, there was .'assumption so strong as to aliiios't Justify its' being termed proof that at the residence of the Rev. Father Kehoe, the Roman Catholic clergyman stationed at Cromwell, he stole a large sum of money t-^SO or £60, we believe. This theft ho is believed to have effected by his favorite riiddg of entrance— the window. Through , Butler's suggestions, suspicion became fastened on a young lad who £{tendfcd his school ; but it was transferred into what Urdß, believed afterwards to be the right path by the iact that Butler made heavy investments in clotheS and jewellery. Almost immediately following thi3, be made a sudden exit from Cromwell !ocietyy and made his way to Dunedin. Lere lie was detected in a number of tirglaries' r-th'e principal being at the .Quieeri's Theatre ana the residence of Bishop Moran. An interesting little circumstance recorded of him by tlie police is that, after teaching in a Sundayschtfol one Sunday morning, he broke into two hotrs'&3' the same night and made away with £150 worth of jewellery. He made a very eloquent appeal to the Judge for mercy, when brought up in October, 1876, and charged with the various robberies sheeted home to him, but was sentenced to four years' penal servitude. ;