A NOTORIOUS ABORIGINAL CRIMINAL.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 91, 1 September 1877, Page 3

A NOTORIOUS ABORIGINAL CRIMINAL.

The Brisbane Courier gives the following account of an aboriginal criminal. -Lt will be remembered that Peter, the aboriginal, charged with the murder of Mr - Wilkinson, at Wangawallen Creek, Upper Coomera, died m Brisbane/ gaol on . the 22nd ult. After the commission of his crime he betook himself to a mountainous and almost inaccessible region at the head of, Nerang, the head quarters of his tribe. A gentleman who recently visited this locality gives us some particulars m connection with this notorious criminal. It seems that since his departure from Nerang no news has been received by his kinsfolk of Peter's fate ; it was natural therefore the bereaved darkies should come flocking around our informant eagerly asking for news concerning him, who says, "When told -of his death m prison the intelligence was received with anything but dissatisfaction. There was no denying the fact that the assurance of Peter's veritable and eternal absence from the hunting grounds of his sable brethern was to them a cause of rejoicing ; for he had been a terror alike to friend, and foe, and the possibility of his" escaping the white fellow'_ and re-. turning 1 haunted *them like a nightmare. Peter is credited with the murder of three gins — done to death,' one after another, as he wearied of them. The way m which he got v rid of his father-in-law reads like a chapter from a yarn by Finnimore Cooper, the romaSncist. of that unsavory humbug, the Red Indian. The old man was blind and was a burden, so Peter invited him one fine day to take a walk. The walk happened to conduct them to a precipice, but the perception^ of the blind are naturally acute. The blind man declined to walk over the edge, and was pushed over by his affectionate relative. So - great was the terror that the powerful Peter inspired, that when his capture- was resolved on, nearly the whole tribe assembled to do the deed. . The course- of action adopted was to rush him m his sleep — to attack him m broad daylight was too hazardous. On' a given signal a dozen blackfellows, tomahawke mhand, rushed m on the prostrate and unarmed man. The struggle for a "few moments was desperate., but it was' soon over:, Peter lost one of his "feet and a "thumb, and received other severe wounds.' He was soon a prisoner- m the hands of the troopers, and thus ended the career of one of the most determined scoundrels that utter savagery, tainted by the the worst vices of civilization, could produce. But he was no t all bad — who is ? With all his cruelty aud lust Peter had one soft place m, tag heart. He loved his old father, and when he was flying from justice,' aided by a friend, he actually carried the. old man something like twenty miles rather than part with him.