The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 1866. THE MAUNGATAPU MURDERS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 94, 23 June 1866, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 1866. THE MAUNGATAPU MURDERS.

This morning; long before the time of the opening of the Resident Magistrate's Court, the doors were besieged by a crowd of "persons auxious, to be present at the examination of the men suspected of these fearful murders. When the- doors were opened a great rush took place to obtain admission. Besides the Resident Magistrate, there were present on the bench "Mr: Sauuders, Superintendent of Nelson, Mr. Moorhouse, Superintendent of Canterbury, Sir David Monro, and Messrs. Wells and White. The prisoners were then brought in, • charged with the wilful murder ol" Messrs. Kempthom, Matthews, Dudley, and Pontius. Their names are -Richard Burgess, alias Hall; Thomas Kelly, alias Haunon, alias Noon ; John Joseph Sullivan, alias M"Gee ; aud William, alias Phil Levy. The prisoners did not deny their names. The Resident Magistrate, addressing them, said he was given to understand that the gentleman who was employed to conduct the prosecution for the Crown was not yet ready with his case. He should therefore remand them till. Tuesday next. The prisoners were accordingly remauded. / After the prisoners were removed Mr. Saunders and Mr.- Moorehouse went and saw them in their, cells. As they put their faces to the window of the cell a good view could be obtained of. the fore part, of the head, and a set of foreheads more villanously leny has not often been seen. Sullivan was the principal spokesman. He expressed a great amount of virtuous indignation at his detention. He said he had net been iu New Zealand two months, and that a. Nelson resident could prove that he had only just left Mount Korong, in Victoria, where he had lived as publican and storekeeper- for the last 18 years. The Nelson resident to whom he has appealed is prepared to give a slightly different account of his antecedents. Mr. Moorhouse informed him he would have an opportunity of calling the individual he referred to, to establish his innocence, if he was really innocent as he declared himself to be. Sullivan said he attributed his incarceration to a person in the town, whom he named and abused, but he was quite mistaken in his supposition. Every person who arrives' from the scene of the murder, says that the excitement among the searching party is at the highest point. As time passes, and no result is attained, the indignation of the disappointed searchers is proportionately increased. A person from the Maungatapu, stated last evening that the searching party declare if they do not soon find the lost meu, they will come down in a body and demand permission of the Government to take back Levy, and compel him, with a rope around his neck, to disclose the spot where the bodies are secreted. Of course the. Government could not consent to such a proposal. Government exists for the purpose of protecting life and punishing criminals in a regular manner. We doubt not if the four suspected men got into the hands of the excited party of searchers, they would be strung up to the nearest tree. All the friends of good order will no doubt exert themselves to prevent any violation of law and order. The Daily Times of the 16th says : Burgess, Kelly, and Sullivan are well known iu Otago. In the early days of Gabriel's Gully, they stuck up some men near Wetherstone's, and afterwards fired upon the police. The three scoundrels were captured in Otago, by Sergeant Bracken, (now of Hokitika) and Sergeant Trimble. The officers traced them to a teut at the outskirts of Wetherstone's, but they bolted as the officers neared the tent, and Burgess and Kelly escaped. Trimble had previously noticed a very lonely tent four or five miles from Wetherstone's, and he made up his mind to search it. He and Bracken got to the tent just before daylight. Bracken got off his horse, undid the tent, crept iu, revolver in hand, and found the two men asleep. They awoke to find themselves completely covered|g||jfMj£rtKi|||^^^^

:^thiey; believed 'in the earnestness of Bracken's jthreat, that ! the first that stirred would certainly die on the instant, and that the. chances were strongly in favor of the fate of the second being similar. Meanwhile . Trimble had crept in behind the Villains, and taken from under their heads two revolvers . and two guns. Then their capture was easy. B_rges3"'and x I_eily"'wei_"" found guilty of shooting with intent to kill and also of stealing a gun. They were sentenced to penal servitude for three years and a half. They were discharged from prison on the 11th September last. ' . Early iu 1863, Burgess once or twice ! caused great danger in Dunedin gaol. Once he contrived to communicate with" the notorious Garrett and others, so as to concert a breaking out. He contrived to break through a thick stone wall, and' to ehter'the adjoining cell. On another occasion he and Garrett each barricaded the door of his cell, and. set the officers" ab defiance until tlie doors had been battered down. Those doors and others iu the gaol then opened iu wards; a stupid arrangement which "was speedily altered. Burgess was flogged, and he bore his punishment with seeming indifference. Sullivan was found not guilty, aud as soon as he was at liberty he sailed; for Sydney. The telegram received from Hokitika on the 15th instant was the first intimation the Dunedin police had that he had returned to New Zealand, and was charged with murder. All three of the men have undergone long periods of penal servitude in Victoria. Burgess's wound in the back was received while he and several others were attempting to escape from the hulk in Hobson's Bay. Burgess was formerly a mate of the notorious Captain Melville, and he lias the reputation of being one of the most cool and daring criminals in the Australian colonies. After this history of the ruffians now in custody, the Nelson -police will surely not require to be forewarned. .The most dangerous criminals are sometimes the quietest at first. By this they disarm' suspicion, and put their keepers off their guard A constant watch and a powerful guard are the only guarantees that the men' now in Nelson lockup will not play the same game they did. in Dunedin. Sullivan is the most bounceable, but he is by no means the most dangerous criminal.