WILLIAMS IN AFRICA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXVI, Issue 71, 28 March 1892, Page 3

WILLIAMS IN AFRICA.

BOBBING THE MAIL OART. BOME STRANGE ""REVELATIONS, (Ths Melbourne Standard,) In Ospe Colony in 1877 three boxes containing 5000 sovereigns were one day myetO" lioualy abstaoted from a mail cart travelling between King Williamstown and Grahams town, The gold belonged to tha Standard Bank and was taken over to the hotel in King WilliauSßiown, whenoa tho mail cart started, and there placed in tho vehicle by Mi Poynter, manager o! the hoßtelry, in tho presenoe of fche bauk oQioials, One ot them mounted the box with the driver, and all went* well until a oertain half wav turnpike was reached when the billa of Jading hod to be EOiutiuieed, end tho contents of tho vehicle examined. Then it was found that the gold was not on board, Ii bad disappeared in some unaccountable manner ; but how, or wheie it had gone to remained a mystery for tometime after. It was noticed thafc about thia time a seafaring engineering mau named '•Bully "Williams was knookiog about King Williamstown, aodinßUoh away as to ex* oite tiuspioion in (he minds of the police, for he had no ostensible nmnsolsuppoit, though ha represented himself aa being oonneoted with a big engineering fum in England. He lived at the hotel where Pointing was mana-gir,-tho owner of the plaoe being at tho time in the old country, having left Pointing to look after bis interests doting hia absence. Pointing and Williams were fast friends, and the faot'that Pointing evidently knew something of how tho money had disappeared bi ought suspioion on both men alike. There was no direofc evidenoe upon whioh either oonld bo. arrested, and bo ib was deoided to keep them under olose surveillance, Williams began to find this sort of thing lather disagreeable, and determined to put somo distanco between himself and the Cape Oolony police authorities as soon as poaejhle, Bat hifl time for departure Imd not yet arrived. He resolved fco put up with the riak a little longer, rather than leave the oountry, aud perhaps lose tho chanco of sharing in the spoil. Tha polioe at last determined to aoi boldly against Pointiog, fearing that ho would sooner or later givo tbem tbe Blip. So they pounced upon him suddenly one day and aocueed him ol the robbery ; and he, taken aback with the suddenness of the oharge, taoitly admitted thathe was a party to the deed. The bank, more anxious for the money than for the vindication of tha law, gave the thiei to understand that ii he would only lead tbem to ths plaoe where the ooin wae "planned," they would nofc prosecute him, He reluctantly consented. Tho money, he told them, had been planted in a sandhill near the town. There were several suoh hills, but he oould not tell them exactly whioh ooe. Two policemen, a bonk oftioial, and Pointing Bet oat for ihe conoaaled treasure. Pointing led them up ono hill and down another till darkness oame on, and they woro «U tired, and the 6000 sovereigns wero as far away as ever. For several days alter ihe search was renewed, but with no better reualfc. Pointing had changed his mind, Williams had lound an opportunity of pei Bunding him tbat it would be muoh better ta risk a term of imprißonm.ut, aud havo Uio money when he oame out, than give up tho money, and perhaps have to go to gaol after all, The hotel manager was afc last plnced on his trial. The evidence brought against him waa ojnoluaive, The jury found him guilty, and, muoh to his disgust, he left tho oourt to serve a aeHtenco of three years' im* prlsonmenfc, The poßitiou grew altogether too uucomfortable for Williams now. The eyes of the police were on him overywhero It was known that ho had piayed au impoitant part in fche robbery, and he knew he waa euspeotcd While Pointing was on his trial, Williams assured him he would Bee that he was properly supplied with luxuties during hiß incarceration, tbat he would wait till he came out again, and tbat theu they could lift the "plant," leavo tho couutry, and sail for Auetralia with tho £6000. At aoy rate, Pointiog asserted on hia liberation that suoh an understanding did exist between them, and how Williams on his part fulfilled it remains to be seen. One morning, after fche hofcelkeeper had begun to servo hia sen - tence, a mysterious disapp:aranco was roported. Williams had not beea seen for some dayß, and no one could say whero he had gone, or how he had taken his departure. He had disappeared liko a ghost in the night, and no traoe of him could bo found, Nothing more was heard of him till about nine months later, when a queerlooking little man, evidently disguised, got off Ihe coaoh ai King Williamstown. No one knew who tbe visitor waa, and as co many people werjß going and coming to the diamond fields he did not excite more thau ordinary notice, The little man wbb none other than " Bully " Williams, who had relumed for tho " swag " when the ccßst was olear. He found it where it was planted in the sand, and, laden with sovereigns, he made his way back aa quickly bb possiblo to the ooast. On arrival ai the port of Eaat London ifc was noticed ke waa very flush of oash. Ho gave & great Bptee ab one of the hotels, got all bis old acquaintances around bim, and after a really merry time of it, ho Bailed (or London The gentleman who haa supplied us with this information was at the time a promiu ent resident of East London, and his bona fides is undoubted, He knew Williams well and all about him, and lioh no doubt that fche man who committed the Windsor murder, aud the accomplice of Pointing in the South African gold robbery aro one nnd the same person, When at Eaib London he had to leave tbe vessel, ifc was supposed, through a row with the men, who could nob atand his arrogant disposition. Ho was known among seafaring meu as "Bully" Williams, because of the constant swaggor he assumed and his notoriously aggressivo manner. When Pointing got out of gaol ha went haok fco King Wihiamßtown to get tho monoy he and Williams had planted, bub found to hie sorrow that Williams who had promised to wait for him, bad been there before him. Ib transpired subsequently that Pointer, instead of putting fche boxes o! gold into the mail cart, put in dummy boxea instend, tho bank officials who were standing by boing deceived by the counterfeit parcels. Williams' favourite topio of conversation on board tho Kaiser Wilhelm was "My travels in South Africa," where h6 alleged ho had mado a fortune and " spent ifc like a man