The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1867.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 274, 19 November 1867, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1867.

SUPREME COURT. Tuesday, November 19th, 1867. (Before his Honor Mr Justice Richmond.) The Judge took his seat on the Bench shortly after 10 o'clock. '1 he following prisoners whose trials took place on Saturday last, were then brought up for sentence: — Barnard Arthur Walter Goldsmidt, who had pleaded guilty to stealing a mare, dogcart, Sec, the property of James Lucre, was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment with hard labor. J-ime. Campbell, who had pleated guilty to forging an crder lor £25 upon Thomas Carter, l\sq., was sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labor in tlie gaol at Picton, the Judge observing that the case was one of a far less serious character than a similar crime committed by a person in a confidential position, and who had achieved his purpose by skilful and practised imitation of another person's handwriting. Junes Thomson, a prisoner of the Crown, who hid pleaded guilty to illegally escaping from custody, when sked why the sentence of the Court should not be passed upon him, admitted the justice of the sentence which he was undergoing, and said tbat he was broken-hearted and was driven to attempt an escape from imprisonment by despernio:). The >. v !ge inquired of the gaoler what characti r the prisoner bore, and the gaoier replied that his conduct had been irreproachable. The Judge tl. en said that he wa' unwilling to deprive the prisoner of all hope of an abbreviati>n of his sentence, and, proviiled his co duct continued goml, W"u!d fnrwar I a recommendation to the Government that his sentence should he shortene'l. He then sentenced him to lour years' pena! servitude, to commence at the expiration of his previous .cn tence, at the same tune holding out a hope that his good conduct won hi enable him lo shorten tlie term of liis imprisonment. John .uidersDii. who pl> aded guiliy to a similar offi me. and who stated that bis Honor Mr Justice Johnston had promised to reconsider his sentence, of wliicli statement no corroboration ap eared on the records of the Court, received a like sentence, accompanied by the same promise on the part of his lioitor, to forward a recommendation for the abbreviation of his imprisonment, on condition of good b haviour. James Wilson Avas charged with having on the 2nd August la>t, at _>eadnian's Creek, feloniuudy kiihd and murdered Jam.- L nnox. The prisoner pleaded not guilty, and was defended by Mr Pitt. John tdenrv Lowe, being sworn, deposed that he was a surveyor, in the employ of tiie Government, and stationed at West p. irt, and had bee* employed to make a plan of Headman's Creek on the ist September, i>y Detective Lambert, who punted out the various places ou the ground. There were ten pe.^s si ill standing, with the holes where others had been paced, and al.-o the remains of a fire, and the stump of a f..i!ed tree, lying partly in the cr.ek. Plans were produced illustrative of the places indicated. The distance of the place where the 'ent had been placed from the creek was about IS feet. John HT_euzi(, being sworn, said: I am a miner, residing at Deadman's Creek. I was there on the 2nd of last September, and found a dead body there. Ano her man named Wm. Mi ler was v ith me. The b nly was a full mile up from the beach. We foiu.d th ■ body iv the water in the creek, with whijfi ie was hilf covered. The b 'dy "as bare, with the shirt hanging 100.-e'y over the head." There wa-. & tr.-e felled lying across ths creek, and the .body .v. as.. do__ to tha ett- • p _ the tr-s".' I i'l'.ctiv '■ it v-'-.i- with a stick, and titi.ding it was the body or' a man, gave inormation to the police, who came up tbe next morning, and v. rcn»oTt*d the body from the

water. I was digging a grave for it, when Constable Hunter called out to me that the man had been murdered, and that he should take it to town. I then went and looked at the head of the corpse, ami saw two large cuts on each temple, which looked as if they had been done with an axe. The body was taken to town, and I went down next day to the inquest. "There was a small woollen comforter round the neck. I think the body had been thrown into the creek at the spot where I saw it; the stream was so small and crocked, and so full of snags, that it could not have been washed down. The camping-place had been inhabited a short time beiore. The track, which leads to Fairdown flush, was but little used at that time. There was another camping-place ahout 500 or 600 yards off I had been camped there f.ir a month before, and was not aware before I found the body, that anyone had camped at that place, as it was the first time I had been up so high Cross-examined by Mr Pitt: The back of the body was uppermost, and there was only about two feet depth of water in the creek. A good few men came from Californian Lead to the beach, and were mining th-re. There were about 40 or 50 people prospecting there a month before I found the body. I noticed that the nose of the corpse was broken. I could not tell the time since the camping-place was last used. Henry Hunter, bei-^g sworn, said: I am a constable at Westport. In consequence of information received I went up to Deadman's CreelPon 3rd September last, where the dead body was pointed out to me by MKenzie. (The 'witness gave a similar description of the position of the body in the liver as that given by the previous witness.) There were two shirts, flannel and Crimean, with a knitted comforter, and a leather strap on the wrist. ( )n removing the body I found two large wounds on the head, one as if inflicted with an axe or tomahawk, the oilier by a more blunt instrument, oti the ieft cheek-bone. The deceased had a fair complexion, fair-haired, shaved all round, with a small goaree, and the upper lip was rather short. I cut off some of ihe hair. [The hair was produced. | I took the body to Westport, to Trimble's Hotel, where it was inspected by Drs Bond and Itockstrow. The face was then much swollen. On the fith September I went up with detective Lambert to Deadman'screek, and after searching about found several articles, includin? a pannikin marked J, two pairs of trous- rs, and a prayerbook. buried about 6 inches deep in the earth, which had been recently disturbed. A small fragment of the woollen comforter was sticking to the trousers, and a coat and a boot, at small distances apart, on the ground in the scrub, the farthest distance being 80 feet from the site of the tent. A bottle of laudanum we afterwards found on the 16th Sep 1 ember, on the camping-place under some fern, and also a pair of blue blankets and a pillowcase, 95 feet from the eamping-place,inthe water, which had apparently had earth thrown on them, to make them sink. [These articles, with two combs, one • f which was marked J.L , with the two shirts and comforter found on the body, were produced, and laid on the table of the Court ] Some branches cut off the felled tree, were lying below the body. I aftPrwards went upon the ISth September to Waite's Pakihis. to a place known as the Pass, Denis M'Carthy accompanied me, and there I obtained the fly of a tent, some blankets, lookingglass, portmonnaie. axe, two flannel shirts, frying Pin. etc., which were pointed out to me by* M'Carthy in the tent of which I took possession. Some pieces of the tent which were stained, apparently with blood, were cut out, one of wliich was given to Dr Hockstrow, and it was handed over to Detective Lambert shortly after M'Ca-thy gave it, to me. The strap found on one of the wrists of the body was stitched with white thread Cross-examined by Mr Pitt: The lips of the body when removed from the creek became of a dark strpenish color. I judged from the appearance of the clothes, that they had been buried about a month. Francis Bond, being sworn, said: I am a qualified medical practitioner, and I examined the body on the 3rd September, at the Courthouse, Westport, and I next day made a postmortem exmiination at Trimble's Hotel. The deceased was a! out 3. r ) years old. 5 feet 9 inches hish, light hair, and fair complexion, with scarcely anj beard but a little on the chin. and. I think, a very small moustache, 'i'he face was recognisable These was a long clean incised wound, with contracted edges, from above the apex of the right tar to the eyebrow, 3 inches long, euttincr thronsrh the frontal and temporal bones of the skull. 'J'he wound on the left, side, at the corner of the eye, was lacerat'd and contused, and the bones were much smashed, and the orbit, of the eye was quite loose. I can 'ay positively that the wounds were inflicted during life. I infer from the convex or semicircular shape of the wound on the right side that it was from a blow struck upwards, and by an axe or tomahawk. The aye produced might have inflicted such a wound as that on the right si'e. and the back of it that on the loft. The nose was a little cro ked, but not broken. The corpse on the stood day was rapidly advancing towards putridity, and was no longer recognisable. This had been delayed by the body having been previously immersed in cold water for so-ne time. The witness here described the results of the post mortem examination, fhe lungs were the natural m'zc. and the heart contained no blood whatever, nor did the stomach contain water or food, and the oth'-r organs were healthy. lam of opinion that, death was caused by the injuries inflicted on the head, either of which would have been fatal, and could not have been inflicted by the deceased himself. In his cross-examination the witness stated that, the body must have been dead four or five weeks.- The hair came away easily, and that the te.fth were very good and regular. The incised wound might have been inflicted by a larpre stone. A body immersed in' water rises to" the surface in two days' time, and, as a rule lying on the back. John Frederick Rockstrow, Surgeon to the Gaol and Hospital at West; ort, beiivrsworn, deposed to having been present at the post-mortem ex mination made by Dr Bond, and to rim fami nar,ni'c- of Lhe woundd inflicted on the deceased. He believel that tlie bo.iy miuhi Lav- beer, five wtfcks ur UiereabouLs in me water, L».:t vieciined to speak positively. The witness produced three slip, of canvass taken from different parte of the

tent, with stains on them, to which, he' had applied chemical tests, and which had been taken from .different parts 'of the tent, ' because they all exhibited various' colours. Two of these, marked X and V were recognisable by the naked eye as being stains of blood, and the witness described the chemical process by which ho had arrived at the conclusion that they were indeed caused by blood. fhe third marked Z bears a stain similar to others with which the entire tent was marked. Samuel Athanasius Cusack, being sworn, said: lam Fellow of the Koyal College of Surgeons, Dublin, and have examined the tent especially thoae parts of tt which were stained, and pronounce the stains to be blood, proceeding from the outside of the tent, and penetrating through the canvass It is impossible to di-tinguisii between the blood of human beings, beasts, birds, or fUhes. I decline to state decidedly how long ago this blood had be> n shed. Robert Lambert, detective officer stationed at Westport, being sworn, corroborated the evidence as to the discover} of the body and its removal to Westport, and also ot the various articles conceded near the place where the body was found, already given by Constable Hunter. On the 18th September I had some conversation wiih the prisoner at.the Courthouse, Westport, with reference to where he had left his mate, James Lennox. He replied that he had left him away up north, to see some old mates. I then arrested him on the charge of murdering James Lennox, cautioning hiniin the usual way. Nothing further transpired then. Ou the 23rd 1 went to tlie lockup, at the request of the prisoner, and he said he wanted to make a statement. 1 again cautioned him, and he said", ' A man came to the tent where I an I my mate *v<_re, and asked them to let him go mates with them. We consented. We were then up a creek, and the man w.-nt away next morninir. and Jim then sahl he would go away ; o the Caledonian rush to see some old mates. He went away and I then took down the tent. I made inquiry of the storekeeper about the man, but he kn'iw nothing of him. There is a number of stores on the beach. The prisoner told constable Hunter in my presence, that Lennox had gone away by himself. McCarthy and Johnston, his then mates, were present when he said this. Cross-exa /lined by Mr Pitt. The prisoner did not tell me the name of the storekeeper at the mouth ofthe beach. I afterwards went to Waite's Pakihis where I saw the prisoner. The examination of this M'itness was not concluded when we went to press.