THE MAUNGATAPU MURDERS.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 81, 3 July 1866, Page 2

THE MAUNGATAPU MURDERS.

INQUEST ON THE BODIES.

FUNERAL oe THE MURDERED MEN.

FURTHER EXAMINATION OF

WITNESSES.

Now that the excitement which attended the late murder on the Maungatapu mountain, and the discovery of the bodies, has to an extent subsided, we are able, with some degree of calmness, to look back on the horrible transaction, and weigh the consequences which appeared to threaten our community by the neighbourhood of Nelson being chosen for such an almost unheard-of outrage, and to estimate the blessing conferred upon us by the murderers being so promptly traced and captured by our police, and their career of crime brought to so speedy an end. The discovery of rich gold-fields in a remote part of our province was naturally calculated to attract to the spot some of the worst characters from the neighbouring colonies of Australia; which, although no longer the receptacles for all the rascality of the mother country, still suffer, and must long continue to suffer from the convict taint which, until a comparatively recent period, poisoned their social atmosphere. The history of New South Wales during the past few years, has been a painful exemplification of the dreadful legacy convictism has conferred on that fine country. Bushranging could never have attained the success it has there, but for the sympathy and assistance the violators of the law receive from those whoappear to be living in obedience to the laws. Shortly after the discovery of gold in Otago, we learnt, that together with thousands of diggers from Australia, there had appeared a gang of desperadoes, who were rendering travelling there unsafe by "sticking up" persons supposed to be possessed of gold. An energetic body of police, however, to many of whom the "notabilities" from Australia were previously known, very soon broke up the gang, and consigned its members to various terms of imprisonment in Dunedin gaol. That these men on obtaining their liberty, which they recently did, should betake themselves to the West Coaßt, was what might have been expected, and that they should fall in with kiudred spirits who had hied there direct from Melbourne or Sydney, was also reasonable to suppose. It was therefore with no surprise we heard of bank clerks and others being robbed on the road ; but until Mr. George Dobson was missed at the Grey, the presence in the colony of miscreants who set no value whatever on human life, and who possessed also the hardihood to brave the punishment which awaited their misdeeds was never imagined. The confession of Sullivan has laid bare the crimes and machinations of his comrades, and others of the gang now on the West Coast, and it would be difficult in the criminal history of any country to surpass these men in wanton cruelty. It would seem as if Mr. Dobson was murdered almost in mere wantonness, or out of a feeling of disappointment that JFox, the gold-buyer, had escaped from their hands. We learn now that the murderers were aware who Mr. Dobson was before they attacked him, and that they could have had no expectation of finding any booty upon a young Surveyor employed iv examining a newly-formed road. This murder, however, was probably the immediate cause of the four men now in custody leaving Greymouth suddenly in the Wallaby, and betaking themselves to Nelson, with the intention, as we now know, of robbing one of the banks here. They had doubtless heard of Nelson as being a quiet sort of place, and they therefore regarded it as a suitable field for their operations. They had calculated that they should be unknown here to the police, and that they might pursue their nefarious calling in safety. But in this, as is often the case with criminals, they were most seriously mistaken. Almost before ■fcbejr tad landed from tte steamer the police were on the look out for them as characters dangerous to the peace of the community ; and although they were suddenly lost sight of when they left Nelson for Wakamarina, they no sooner returned to town than they were under surveillance ; and so far from their being able to reside here for a time unobserved, the mode of life they had proposed to lead would have contributed to a strict watch being kept on all their actions. This will explain the circumstance of the police being able so promptly to arrest these murderers when made aware that a murder was supposed to have been committed. When informed that four men from Deep Creek, who should have been in Nelson on a particular day, had never reached the town, and that there was reason to apprehend they had been waylaid on the road by four ill-looking fellows, who had been lurking about Canvas Town, on the Wakamarina, the police at once knew whom they had to look after, and the four criminals were arrested, before it could be proved that a murder had been committed — that is, before the bodies of the murdered men were discovered. The intelligence and tact exhibited by the police throughout the whole of this painful transaction, have been in the highest degree praiseworthy, and it is but due to the force that their services should be spoken of as they deserve.

But if these hardened criminals were mistaken in the character of our police whose vigilance they thought to baffle, they were equally mistaken in the character of the citizens of Nelson. We can truly say that the search for the bodies of the four missing men would never have been abandoned. Notwithstanding the inclement weather of last week, and the discomfort of camping on a mountain nearly 2,000 feet above the sea level, the search nartv was every day receiv-

ing accession to its numbers ; and on the morning following Sullivan's disclosure, a strong part} r of active men came from liichmond intending to start at once for the Maungatapu, while a liberal subscription had been raised in the village on the preceding evening to assist in defraying the necessary expenses. The same spirit was spreading into the other country districts, and had the search been prolonged, the other suburban districts would have followed the example of "Waimea-east, and every yard of the country would have been searched if necessary. A feeling of more resolute determination to procure the requisite evidence to bring the supposed murderers to justice, could not possibly have been exhibited. All this will nob be without its effect on the followers of crime here and elsewhere, and will teach them that Nelson is not the place wherein they can practise their misdeeds with impunity.