FIFTY YEARS AGO

Nelson Evening Mail, 4 July 1916, Page 4

FIFTY YEARS AGO

(From The. Mail of 4th-July, 1866.)

Last evening the body of James •Battle, the ''whaler, the fifth victim of the desperate-; gang of convicts how in. custody, -was brought! to Nelson by the - search party, and iplaced in the '.engine?. -.- house at "the' Government Buildings.. The . body, of the pooi; fellow was not' much decomposed, and was ; ea-sily identified 1 by a. great number of persons "who knew him when alive. The public excitement was not so great as . when the four bodies werb found on Friday last, every pei'son having made up/his .mind that this was the final of the Maungatapu. tragedy. ' . . We understand that, Sullivan lias shown the police the 'spot 'where the strychnine was concealed, -which the ganw had provided to effect their diabolical purpose. It was in the crystal state, and 1 sufficient. in> quantity to poison , several hundred ' persons. ■ < A;-pistol was 1; also found in the same spot, which-JWas planted there.on the.night of the mur- , der. It is stated that, several revolvers - •were placed in -another. place /known only to Burgess, in all probability those stolen from the police: camp at Hokitika. This contemplation of poisoning on a>. large scale-discloses quite new era in cfime as known to society generally, although, in all probability, it has Jong been a favourite resort' 0f... these mcarnate demons.