THE CONFESSION OF BURGESS THE MURDERER.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 99, 11 August 1866, Page 3

THE CONFESSION OF BURGESS THE MURDERER.

Written in my dungeon drear, this seventh day of August, in the year of grace, 1866. To God be ascribed all power and glory in subduing the rebellious spirit of a most guilty wretch, who has been brought, through the instrumentality of a faithful follower of Christ, to see his wretched and guilty state, inasmuch that hitherto he has led an awful and wretched life, and through the assurance of this faithful soldier of Christ he has been led, and also believes, Christ" will yet receive and cleanse him from all his deep-dyed and bloody sins. I rely on the invitation which says, " Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord ; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." On this promise I rely. He has told me Christ will pardon me who am deeply dyed with the blood of my fellow creatures. He has shown me the inestimable value to be derived by fleeing from the wrath to come. He tells me that, in order to obtain this, I must disburden myself before God, just as I am— a guilty wretch. He says, Christ will cleanse me (if I will but go to him with an humble and contrite heart) of the enormity of the unheard of crimes of which lam guilty. Thus humbled, I will now unfold to you the heinous sins that have been committed on the part of the prisoner Sullivan. He has been guilty, in order to save lus miserable and wretched life, of trying to Sacrifice the lives of others in order to save his own. But it shall not be done. Justice shall be done to the murdered men, who have been sent hurriedly out of this world, at the expense of my own immolation on tlie altar of justice, and the lasting execration and odium of my fellow-creatures while time continues, as a most bloody murderer. Therefore, all ye that are here assembled, listen, and while you listen, weep. Weep and listen to the confession^ of the murderer* of these men who have been foully murdered among you. Before I bring the scene of this bloody drama before you as it was enacted, you must accompany me in my revelations to the time I first saw the prisoner Sullivan. It will only be a synoptical view I shall now give you, because it is very distressing to me to furnish you with more, for I have not facilities afforded me even to give you this. It was written in the dark and on my knees, so that you will only have a brief account ; but it is the truth you will thus have, for I have no further motive than the furtherance of justice in this my bloody confession. It can do me no good in a worldly point of view. It is not done thinking that I shall be able to spare this miserable life of mine. No ! the reward I look for on earth is the execrations of my fellow creatures while the world continues. I trust I shall be rewarded by God, not by men, for I offer my vile body at any moment to atone for what I have done ; but it [his confession] is made to disabuse the public mind of the perjured and guilty statement of the prisoner Sullivan, and to spare the effusion of innocent blood from being shed. For the murderer Sullivan is a wretch who would go to any length to save his own life, since there is undeniable proof of his guilt. I will now proceed to put you in possession of the truth : — I was walking one day in the streets of Hokitika, with Kelly, when he drew my attention to a man who passed us. He said, " I think I know that fellow. If so, he is an old Schoolfellow of mine ; his name is Sullivan." He said, " Such a character !" No more was then said. But in a few days after, Kelly came to me, and said, " I was right the other day ; that was the same party ; I left him just now at the Rose, Thistle, and Shamrock Hotel ; come up ;" which I did, and there I saw Sullivan sitting in the parlour. We amused ourselves by playing at cards for the most part of the evening. Then Sullivan began playing a man for money. Sullivan began to cheat ; words ensued between them ; then they went outside to fight, aud Sullivan gave the man in charge for robbing him of half-a-sovereign. The man was locked up, and I said to Sullivan, " What is this you have done ?" He said, "Do you think I was going to let a wretch like that best me ?" This was the beginning of our acquaintance. Shortly after this we became on very intimate terms ; so much so, that I took him with me to effect several robberies — two in particular ; one being on the banker, at Ross Town, Mr. Kerr, which was not accomplished. I may mention here that Sullivan, at the time of our first intimacy, showed me the bottle of strychnine, mentioned in his statement, and

Here the Resident Magistbate interrupted, by saying that he thought the statement irrelevant, and that he did not think he could allow it to go on.

Mr. Pitt said, that as the statement had been commenced, he thought that the whole should be taken.

The Ceowx Pbosecutob, being of the latter opinion,

Burgess continued : — Which he brought from Melbourne. I said to him, " What made you bring the like of this with you ? " He said to me, " You-don't know the value of this. Who knows but what we may require this in some big thing we might want to do." These were his words, as nearly as I cannowrecollect. The other robbery was that of Mr. Fox, the banker at the Grey ; at this time I was meditating robbing the bank at Okarita, in order to effect which I said it would be necessary to procure some' trooper's clothes if possible. I watched my opportunity, and robbed the camp at Hokitika. I took four revolvers and cases, sword-belts, and cartouch and cashes, with their pants, &c. After I had effected this, I said I must be very steady for some time, dt else suspicion would fall on me. I said, to provide against any accident from happening through neglect or any other mishap, I should provide myself with a competent witness ; so with that I proposed taking the man Chamberlain, now in charge at Hokitika, to go and see the ship Maria its she lay on the beach a wreck, and on the way finding some of the property taken from the camp. On the way I kicked the sand where they were planted, and thus exposed them. Chamberlain picked them up and gave them to me. I said " Look about, there might be something else." Shortly after I was taken on suspicion, and searching my dwelling they found two revolver-cases belonging to the camp. The revolvers I had lent that night, just before I was arrested for the robbery. At the investigation, Sullivan came up with Chamberlain, and swore he was with me when they were given to me by the latter, which resulted in my acquittal. This is but a specimen of his abilities. Since he has been in custody, he has tried to make himself useful at the sacrifice of all truth and justice, for he has given information against this said Chamberlain, whom we gulled into believing that he found those cases, which the man really thought he did. With him he has charged Mr. Carr, the constable, against whom he knows he had a greater antipathy than any man in the force. Perhaps this is the way he has chosen to pay him out. After I was discharged, I felt that I must leave Hokitika — for a while, at all events. So with that we proposed going to the Grey. We arrived there on Saturday, the 26th May. I took up my residence at the Provincial Hotel. Sullivan began drinking, and spent what money lie had, which was very little. He left the Greymouth township on the Sunday night, and did not return till the Tuesday following, late in the day. During this time Mr. Dobson, surveyor, was murdered. Sullivan came to town, and sent the man Wilson, at Hokitika, now charged with the murder of Mr. Dobson, to find me, and tell me to go to the bridge. I went to the bridge indicated, and there I saw Sullivan. He told me they had made a great mistake in stopping a man whom they took for a banker, and who turned out to be only a surveyor. He said, "He was such a nice young fellow. After we stopped him, we could not let him go. So I took him off the road about a hundred yards, and there we burked him [meaning choked him]. He said, laughing while in the bush, 'Did you think I was a banker. Here is all I have, some six pounds odd." Sullivan said, " I buried him, compass and all, for he had a compass with him." He has since been found, I believe, by the murderer Sullivan telling where he was buried. And mark (he atrocity of hi> aoti . He

has since charged an inoffensive man, Wilson, with complicity in the murder, who is as innocent as the babe at its mother's breast. Sullivan said, " Where is Tommy ? " — meaning Kelly. I said, he is over at Cobden. He said, " Well, what is to be done?" I told him that since he had been away, I had heard there was a bank at the Buller, aud I thought of sending for a man I had known at Hokitika, and ask him if he could come with us and put the bulk of the notes away for us. Ho said, " A good idea. " So with that, I sent a note then and there to Levy, asking him if he would come. He replied to the letter, " That if it was worth while he would ;" and come he did. We shipped by the Wallaby, but before leaving, I asked Sullivan how much money he thought we might want to take with us ? He remarked, " Oh, we have got plenty," I said, " When we get there we might have to wait. I will go and get £10 more at all events." We arrived at the Buller, and then found that it was untrue about a bank being there. So it was settled that we should go on to Nelson by the Wallaby, and from there to Havelock, and thence to Picton. We came here, as you have heard, on the 6fch Juno. We> reached Canvas Town, as you also know ; but, before leaving the Wallaby, Sullivan brought away with him the cook's large knife, which he charges Levy with doing. . I asked him what he wanted with that ; he said, " I would sooner have it, and a revolver, than all the number of arms you could give me. Armed with these, I am a battery of defence," or something like this. After we reached Canvas Town, I told Levy that we Bhould not go any farther that day, so he might as well run up to this Deep Creek, and see what sort of place it was. He went, and after he had gone we learnt that Havelock was such another place as Canvas Town. We said, that is, I, Sullivan, and Kelly, that if we were going on to Picton, which was undecided, that it would not do to go by the road, for there were no wayfarers travelling, and the residents on the road took great notice of all who passed ; so that the beat thing we could do was to return back to Nelson, and proceed by boat to PictoM. This was 'settled during the time Levy was away. We ground the knives, as Sullivan has said ; in the evening, I cleaned the guns and pistols, but did not load them as Sullivan has sworn. Levy returned on the Monday afternoon ; he brought a newspaper, but for the life of me I could not say whether it was a Marlborough Press or not; I know it was a newspaper, and contained matter regarding the bank at Picton. I asked Levy what sort of a place it was where he had been to. He said it was a poor place, and that he saw about fifty or sixty people there, he should imagine. He remarked that he knew a great many of them. He stopped at Mathieu's publichouse, whom he also knew. He said Mathieu asked him how things were progressing on the West Coast. He told him. Mathieu replied, he " was going there to-morrow himself, with some more friends ; at the worst on Tuesday." I told Levy that we were going back to Nelson in the^morning; that Picton was a good distance from there; farther, I believe, than it was to Nelson. He laid down, when I, Sullivan, and Kelly went out. I said, "We will intercept these people on their way to Nelson ; Levy says that " publicans are storekeepers and everything in the buying line." I remarked another thing : " They are going to the West Coast, and it's ten to one but they will buy up all the gold they can get." Kelly said, "Do no such thing; we did not come here to do that; you could have done that where we have come from with greater certainty of having' something for your trouble." "Well," I said, " that is right enough ; but wo did not bring money sufficient with us. We may have to remain in Nelson a week, and then wait perhaps at Picton." He said, "I have got about £16, besides what you have, and that will see us over three or four weeks nicely." " Well," I said, " I shall put those people up ; who will be any the wiser that it is me ? I will keep secluded after I have done it ; so I'll do it." He said "It is just like you ; you won't be reasoned with. I should like, before you set this road on fire, to be at Nelson." I said, " That you can do ; these people don't start till to-morrow ; by that time you can reach Nelson. We shall go as near it as possible." Sullivan said, " I think it is the best thing we can do. Who knows what gold they might bring down with them. So Dick, you and I will do it. Let them go on to Nelson. It don't want us all to do it." So the next morning we started. Sullivan said, in his statement in Court, that to save the boat- hire we waded through the river. Now, in the first place, there is no boat but a Maori canoe, which could only take one of us over at a time, in consequence of the then state of the river, which was that low that we crossed it without wetting our boots as high as the ancle. We all had big boots on. Mr. Jervis can disprove what Sullivan said about crossing the river, for he was looking at us. We proceeded on our way without anything happening, till we reached three miles this side of the Pelorus Bridge. Then we stopped, and had some dinner, and, whilst having it, an old man came by, carrying a shovel ; he was going on to Nelson. As he passed, he gave us the time of day, and passed on. There were no remarks passed whatever about the old man. After dinner, we proceeded on our way, Sullivan, as usual, in front. We went for some distance without stopping. In journeying on, I walked principally with Kelly. He tried all he could to dissuade me from having anything to do with these men. I got offended with his continued importunities, so I went ahead, and overtook Sullivan and the old man, who were sitting down near a bridge. I put my swag down, which consisted of fire-arms, and joined them, and, shortly after, Kelly and Levy came up, when Kelly said, " Well, I'll wish you good day." I said, "So long." Levy also said, " G-ood bye, master," meaning me. They then passed on. When they were gone, Sullivan remarked to me that he thought the old man " held it," meaning that he possessed something. I poohed the notion. He said, " Allow me to know ; you must not go by appearances." Shortly after this the old man picked up his bit of a swag, and passed on. We followed not long afterwards. We went some distance, Sullivan still in advance, a good way ahead. When I came up with him he had overtaken the old man, who did not walk very fast. They were in serious conversation, and the old man, in reply to a question, said that he had been working for Mr. Wilson, grubbing flax up at so much per acre. We then preceded the old man up the range, when Sullivan said, " I don't like that old fellow — I noticed when I overtook him this last time that he had shifted the position of his knife. He partly knows who we are ; so, since we are going to do these people over (his very words), I think we had better prevent him from doing us any harm hereafter." I said " Very well," so with that we put our swags in the bush and turned back and met the old man coming up the road. Sullivan was in advance of me, and said to the old man, " Did you see a knife lying on the road, for I have lost mine out of my sash ?" By this time I was close to them. I pulled out a pistol which I had taken out of the swag, and which was empty, but I had put some pieces of paper in the chambers of the cylinders. I told him I thought he had some gold, he assured me that he had not. Sullivan said, " Let's see." He then caught him by the arm. At this the old man put his other hand on his knife, when I caught him by the wrist and took it from him. I said " Come down here." He replied " I wont," and then sat on the ground. He said " Are you going to murder me ?" I said, " What an idea to enter your head." He refused to go. When I took him by the throat, then he said " I'll go, I'll go." So with that we took him down the hollow, some fifty yards on the lower side of the road. The old man said "If you murder me, I shall be foully murdered." We made him sit on the ground. I then took him by the throat and held him until he was nearly dead. When I released my hold the, confined air came bubbling up through his mouth, when Sullivan drew his fist and struck him a severe blow on the abdomen. Sullivan took the old man's shovel, and raked a hole just where the old man lay. We rolled him over ; he stopped in the hole, with his face downward. We covered him up, and left him. When we regained the road, Sullivan said " That is a bit of nasty work, for nothing ; but it was not for what he had ; he might have done us a deal of mischief." We went about a mile, and then camped for the night at Franklyn's Flat, I believe it is called. We camped in one of the old skeletons of a former house. We had no tent, but the fly of one. Kelly

and Levy lad the tent. We had no billy ; that also was with Kelly ; we made shift with what we had. Before I lay down, I loaded the guns and pistols. In the morning, we started early towards Nelson. "We went to the spot where the rock crops out near the road. I must mention this was the place we stopped at the first night after we left Nelson for Canva3 Town. We put our swags in the bush, and cleared a place to take the horse off the road ; we then took up our stations. Sullivan remained behind the rock, because that gave him a view of the road by which the men were coming. He could see a distance of 600 yards or. more ; he was looking down a descent. I crossed the road, and took up my position. I had command of the road from Nelson. We remained secreted for some time, when a horsemau passed; shortly after, men with cattle, from Nelson, and then some Maoris on horseback. The day was getting advanced when we changed positions, in consequence of mine being in the shade and Sullivan's in the sun. We remained like this till Sullivan came from his covert, and said, " Here is a young woman and a fellow carrying a swag, I will put them up." I said, "No." He said, " I will." I replied, "If you do — " With this they rose the incline, and came along. I wish to God I had let him stop them ; these men would not have been murdered, but I should have shot Sullivan ; for when he persisted in his demand, I rose my gun, and as sure as he had stopped them, he would have rolled over a dead man, for in my hand a gun is a formidable weapon of destruction. So Ann Fulton, for such it was who passed, I saved you from a worse fate than death ; but that would have followed. So when you hear the fate you thus escaped, you, if no one else, can speak on behalf of Burgess the murderer, who now solicits your prayers on behalf of his guilty soul. After they passed, Sullivan remarked, "You are a fellow." I made some answer about Mother and sisters of our own. Shortly after, v a horseman was coming in the direction of Nelson ; it was Mr. Birrell. We were getting impatient, and we saw four men and a pack-horse coming. I left my covert, and had a look at the men ; for Levy had told me tbafc Mathieu was a small man, and wore a large beard, and that the horse was a chestnut one. I said, " Here they come !" They were a good distance away. I took the caps off my gun, and put fresh ones on. I said, " You keep where you are. I'll put them up ; and you give me your gun whilst you tie them." Ifc was arranged as I have described. The men came up ; they arrived within about fifteen yards, when I stepped out, and said, " Stand ! Bail up!" That meant for them to get together. I made them fall back on the upper Bide of the road, with their faces up the range, when Sullivan brought me his gun, and he tied their hands behind. The horse was very quiet all this time, and did not move. When they were all tied, Sullivan took the horse up the hill and put him in the bush ; he then cut the rope, and let the swags fall on the ground, and afterwards came to me. We then marched the men down the incline to the creek, the water at this time barely running. Up this creek we took the men, and went, I daresay, 500 or 600 yards up it, which took us nearly half an hour to accomplish ; then we turned to the right, up the range. We went, I daresay, one hundred and fifty yards from the creek. There we sat down with the men, and I said to Sullivan, " Put down your gun, and search these men," which he did. I asked them their several names. I asked them if they were expected at Nelson, and they said " No." If so, their lives would have been spared. In money we took £60 odd. I said "Is that all you have ? You had better tell me." Sullivan said " Here is a bag of gold." I said " What's on that packhorse — is there any gold?" When Kempthorne said, " Yes, my gold is in the portmanteau ; I trust you will not take all." " Well," I said, "wo must take you away one at a time, because the range is steep just here, and then we will let you go." They said "All right," most cheerfully. We tied their feet, and took Dudley with us. We went about sixty yards with him; this was through some scrub. It was arranged the night previously, that it would be best to choke them, in case the report of the arms might be heard from the road, and, if they were missed they would never be found. So we tied a handkerchief over his eyes. Then Sullivan took the sash off his waist, and put it round his neck, and so we strangled Mm. Sullivan, after we had killed the old man, found fault with the way he was choked. He said, " The next we do, I will show you my way." I said, " I have never done such a thing before. I have shot a man, but never choked one." We returned to the others; when Kempthorne said, " What noise was that ?" I said, "It was caused by my breaking through the scrub." This was taking too much time, so it was agreed to shoot them. With that I said, "We will take you no further, but separate you, and then loose one of you, and he can release the others." So with that Sullivan took De Pontius to the left of where Kempthorne was sitting, I took Mathieu to the right. I tied a strap round his legs, and shot him with a revolver. He yelled. I ran from him with my gun in my hand. I sighted Kempthorne, who had risen to his feet. I presented my gun, and shot him behind the right ear ; his life's blood welled out, and he died instantaneously. Sullivan had shot De Pontius in the mean time, and then came to me. I said, " Look to Mathieu," indicating the spot where he lay. He said, " I had to " chive" that fellow, he was not dead." Returning to the road, we passed where De Pontius lay. He was dead. Sullivan said, " This is the digger, the others were all storekeepers ; let us cover them up, and should the others be found, they will think he has done it, and sloped " — meaning that he had gone. So with that we threw all the stones on him, and left. This bloody work took nearly one hour and a half from the time we stopped the men. Sullivan says, in his guilty statement, that I returned in the space of a quarter of an hour. You could not reach the place where the men were murdered under that time. We searched only the box or portmanteau, there we found the gold belonging to Kempthorne, some forty-six ounces. We repacked the horse, and a horseman passed, going to Canvas Town. I left the horse and went behind the rock. There I saw a man on foot speak to the horseman. I heard the word " No," and then they parted. The man on foot passed in the direction of Nelson. I told Sullivan what I had heard. We paid no attention to these men passing, because I had asked the men if there was anybody else belonging to them behind. We then led the horse on the road. We did not proceed far, when Sullivan threw the two shovels down the gully ; one was our own, the other belonged to the old man who was murdered. We went about half a mile, or it might be more. The reason we took the horse away thus was to prevent anyone from knowing the spot where the deed was done. On the road, Sullivan threw the gun produced away. It was his own. He brought it with him to the Grey. He also put a shirt, foul with the blood of Mathieu off the road, and hid it behind a dead log. It was nearly a new shirt, and had a slight rent on the right arm. Sullivan : I wish your Honour would ask him to describe that rent.

Burgess continued : We took the horse down the gully and there shot him. It was not Levy who was afraid to lead him down, but Sullivan. We then proceeded on the road. We did not stop till we reached the old chimney on this side of the Maungatapu range, when we had done these bloody deeds. We kindled a fire, not to make tea, but to read the letters and other papers we took from the men, which we kindled with these papers. There I undid the swags, and put the gold in them, and threw the powder I had in my pocket away, and the pepper which was in the handkerchief, with the remains of a cooked fowl which we killed, belonging to the Maoris at Canvas Town, in consequence of Mr. Jervis having no meat. Here we planted the satchel and gold bags. We then journeyed on. When we came within a mile of the first accommodation house from Nelson, I heard some one speaking. When Kelly said, ''Is that you, Dick ?" I remarked, " How is it that you did not reach Nelson?" He said "I got too tired, and could get no farther ; so me and Phil drew in off the road, and covered ourselves in the bedding." Going along, Kelly asked me "If I put them people up ?" I said " Yes." I did not tell him I had murdered them. He said " I did not like to be seen on the i road, so I waited till it became dark, vrhen I was go*

ing to start." He said " How much did you get from them?" I said " About £300." He said "I would not have had it happen for so man} thousands." He said " They will reach town to-mor-row." It was arranged between me and Sullivan before we came unexpectedly on Kelly and Levy, that, when we reached town, I must take charge of Levy, in case these people should be missed. He said "We can tell Tommy," meaning Kelly, " that we put these people up ; there is no fear of him ; bosides we shall be away as soon as possible. We | must not let that Jew know anything. Do you know, Dick, I don't like him ; so we must mislead him by telling him that we put a fellow up and got some gold." Accordingly we did so — Levy never knew till he was arrested that the men had been murdered. Coming to town, a man came out of the accommodation house, distant about four miles, because the dogs had given the alarm of our coming. We hid ourselves, and he returned to the house. When we were passing a woman looked out, but without a candle in her hand. She called her little dog and we passed by, but she could not tell if there were two or four men passed ; but there were four. We reached town ; we separated. I told Kelly and Sullivan to meet me at the Port in the morning. I asked Levy to take me to some quiet place. He said " I am at a loss, I am almost as great a stranger here a3 yourself." We went to the Italian Oyster Saloon, kept by Leonard. Levy asked him, by way of introduction, "How far it was to Collingwood ?" He then asked him about some acquaintance of his, and finally asked him to accommodate us with lodging, which was accorded to us after a little more conversation. In the morning I met Sullivan at the place appointed. I said, "We will go and sell the gold ; come on one side and we will alter the amount in the bags." I took one bag and Sullivan the others. I took my bag to the Bank of New South Wales, in Trafalgar-street. I had on a dark reversible coat, and a plush hat. He went, I believe, to the Union Bank with his. We met, that is me and Sullivan. He produced a bank-receipt for the amount of his gold, which came to £100 odd. He said they asked him where the gold came from. He said, " From the Grey." He said he had sold it under the assumed name of " Clarence Evereste." I produced a bank-receipt for the amount of gold I sold, which .came to £70 odd. They asked me no name, but where the gold came from. We met ; that is, I and Sullivan ; we divided the money. He said, "There is some more gold which I • kept back to sell with the large nuggets which we got off the persons of those men. I will go and sell them by-and-by, with the gold mixed. I said, "All right'; I will go and change myself.' With that I had a bath, and altered the shape of my whiskers, which at that time were all round my face. I got them split at the chin. I then cleaned myself, and we all met at the lower [upper?] end of Bridge-street. I told them where I sold the gold (the Bank of New South Wales), was the easiest place to be done I ever saw. I said, " When the Airedale comes in, we will go to Taranaki, and wait there a month, and come and do this instead of the Bank at Picton." I gave Kelly £20. He said "I do not want any yet." To Levy I gave £10, but not in the presence of the others. In the afternoon, Sullivan came to me, by appointment, opposite the church in Trafalgar-street. He gave me about £20, as my portion of the remainder of the gold. He said " They kept me a long time, in consequence of the assayer being absent, and he valued the large gold at £3 13s. per ounce. The other I sold by itself." He said " I have got too many sovereigns. I want two or three large notes. I want to send that woman of mine something," meaning an abandoned woman, who

Sullivan (excited) : Do you tolerate this, your Worship ? Will you allow him to speak in this way about my wife, in my presence ? The Resident Maghsteate directed Sullivan to be quiet, saying that Burgess must be allowed to make his statement without interruption.

Sullivan : I wish your Worship would order me out of Court.

Burgess resumed : I do not mean his wife, your Worship. I have better sense than to speak thus of her. I mean an abandoned woman, that came over in the ship with him, and with whom he was having illicit commerce at Hokitika. I said " I would get some large notes, and see if they would recognize me or not." On my return, I said they don't know me. " Know you," he said, " your own mother would not know you." We used to meet, as he said, of an evening, because I never left Levy ten minutes together all the time we were in town. During these meetings, Kelly said to me, " There is nothing about this bit of work." I said " Oh ! they are keeping it quiet." I rilenced Levy the same, if ever he alluded to the fellow I put up. Things continued like this till the Monday morning, when Sullivan walked into the Oyster Saloon, and beckoned me out. I followed him out. There was Kelly on the other side of the road. He motioned me over, and we went as far as Mr. Edwards's store. He said he was in Dupuis', the barber, getting shampooed, when he heard the Sergeant of Police telling the barber about these men being missed. He said, " What did you do with them, Dick ?" Sullivan Baid, " What odds — let them find them ; who knows it is ua. Was nobody else on the road?" I returned to my lodgings, and had breakfast. I kept Levy in the house until \dinner time, I then took him out into the suburbs, and we sat down on the grass until nearly dark. I saw Sullivan again in the evening, in the absence of the others., He said, "It's all right, Owens has quashed it altogether. He suspeots three Italians ; so he has sent a telegram to intercept them ; they are supposed to have gone in the Kennedy." That night, just before going to bed, Levy said, " Will you take a glass of porter, master, before going to bed ?" He went out, and did not return. I went to bed, and fell asleep waiting for him. I never missed him till the morning. I then cleaned myself, and went down the town, where I saw Sullivan. He was the first who told me about Levy being apprehended. He said that Owens described him as a " dark-looking ruffian." I said, " Where is Tommy ?" meaning Kelly, He said, "He has gone with Potter for a ride. lam going, too. There is a horse left for me in the stable." I left him. I saw him soon after, on the Waimearoad, riding a cream-coloured pony. He eaid, " You might as well come for a ride." I said, " I want to see Tommy, for I think we had better go ; you don't know what might happen." With this he went and got me a horse. We went as far as the Plough Inn, and remained there some time to kill the day. On the road thither we stopped at the turnpike-gate, and I threw down a shilling for the toll of the horses. The woman picked it up off the ground, and asked us, in the presence of a young man, whom I took to be her son, " If there was any news about these unfortunate men ?" We said that " One man was arrested for being a suspected party." Further on the road, I alighted at the first inn on the right-hand side. Up to this, I rode a cream-coloured pony ; Sullivan, the bay horse, hired for me. I asked for two glasses of ale, which were brought by the landlord. The landlady came to the door, and said, " Any news about these men ?" When Sullivan said, " Its all moonshine ; they may have gone overland to the Buller, or elsewhere." The landlady said, "It was very wrong of them if such was the case, and they ought to be severely punished for upsetting the public mind." When we started from the Plough Inn, Mr. Potter came by in his gig, driving his wife, child, and Kelly with them. I rode my horse ahead, because Sullivan stopped with them. I returne 1 the horse } and paid the hire. I asked what was to pay. The livery-stable-keeper said, 12s. 6d. I said, " The horse has only been as far as the Plough ; there he has been baited." He said, " Well, give me half-a-guinea." He said, " You were not the gentleman who hired the horse." I said, " No ; it was Mr. Symonds." I said, "We shall want two horses tomorrow." He said, " I will let you have two fresh ones." Sullivan came with Kelly to Collingwoodbridge. I told them, " Since Phil," meaning Levy, "was taken, it would not do for me to return to my lodgings." Kelly said, "Well, I shall stay where I am." I shook hands with him, and told Sullivan to come with me, and see if there was any suspicion on me where I lodged. I then left. Sullivan came after me at a great distance. I felt piqued that he did not come quicker. Not far ahead I saw a constable in disguise, pretending to light his pipe. The constable was Mr. Murphy. I knew bis mission. I waa aware who he wai. Sullivan came

by. I allowed him to pass. He crossed the road and moved on. I could see I was surrounded. Murphy stopped Sullivan, and asked him to go to the Oyster Saloon to fetch one of the Italians, to see if I was the man that lodged there. This Sullivan told me the next day in the watch-house. Sullivan left, pretending to go with the message. He went down the street, instead of coming over to me and telling me. Shortly after, I was arrested not far from the station. I had no arms with me, or you would never have been put in possession of the foul and bloody way in which we effected these murders. Sullivan said in his statement I removed my arms from the Italians, the night Levy was taken. I planted them the first night I came into town. They are to be found where ten cottages are newly erected. At the end of the last one there is a gorse bush, and in the bush there is an opening. The arms are in the opening. They consist of a doublebarreled gun, one revolver, and one pound-canister of powder, rolled vp a m an oil-cloth." When we were at the watch-house, and Levy had beeu removed, Sullivan said, " I was not far wrong about that bloody Jew." I said, "I am surprised at you not knowing better ; it is only a ruse on the part of the police to create a misunderstanding among us. Another thing, if he does suspect we killed those men, he would put his foot in it if he opens his mouth." The day after we were in the watch-house, the bill reporting \the murder of Mr. Dobson was put up on the door of the cell. I was cognizant of the murder of Mr. Dobson. Two days after, the man Stone arrived [Stone was the man who was charged with robbery under arms at the Grey, and who had broken'out of the gaol at Cobden, and made his escape to Otago, where he was was re-captured. He was being taken back to Westland.J He was put in the same cell with Levy. He told him it was reported in the papers, that me and Kelly and Sullivan were supposed to have murdered Dobson, which account was borne out by constable O'Brien, who said there was a warrant issued for our arrest. Sullivan said, " I blame the man Wilson, for it." The night Levy was removed, the bill was torn down, and another one put in its place. When we got up in the morning, I said, " What have we here?" I said, " Here is a rum affair!" for we could not speak without the constables hearing us, so I made little of it. I read it and remarked to Sullivan, " Now, what do you think of the Jew ?" Shortly after Sullivan said he would write to his wife ; he was let out for that purpose, when he made that guilty and bloody state* ment.

The Resident Magistrate : Mr. Pitt, if this is to go on much longer, I must adjourn the Court till to-morrow. Ido not see the use of all this.

Burgess : I have nearly done, your Worship. Mr. Pitt :He has very little more to read ; but he is in your Worship's hands, and, if you think proper to stop his statement, you of course can do so. The Cbown Pboseoutob : I think it would be better to allow the prisoner to finish his statement.

Burgess resumed: I have now finished this awful version. Let me again repeat 'my motive in making it. It is that the red-handed and bloody murderer, my confrere in these bloody deeds, shall not abuse the public mind, by sacrificing the innocent lives of others for what he has done. By giving credence to his guilty statement, justice is outraged, innocent blood is spilt, and the clemency of tho crown is abused. Mark th© victims he is about to sacrifice, who, by my just and offended God, are innocent of these men's blood ; and had I been persuaded by Kelly, these men would have been still alive. Levy was a man whom we brought with us for another thing, and by my eternal damnation hereafter if I lie, does he know anything about it. He was the cause of their being murdered, but he was the innocent cause, for after it was done, he waa not made a confidant of. Chamberlain, at Hokitika, he is innocent. Wilson, for the murder of Dobson — than which never a greater villany was enacted by one fellow against another, than to charge with complicity in this deed. I trust, before tho coming trial, if the Government will but show itself to Bee the innocent righted, I shall be able to prove, by competent witnesses, that the man Wilson is innocent of what he is charged with. Why has Sullivan made these people his victims P It is because there is undeniable proof of his own guilt. There is his shirt, befouled with blood, found on the road; the gun, which the G-overn-ment may be able to trace to him; and the banker, where he sold his ill-gotten gold; all of which he knew would come ' against him. I was nearly forgetting to repeat the innocence of Mr. Carr, the constable. I bore him enmity once, hut I forgive him. And what is my reward for all this, that I have told you ? Oh! G-od assist me in thia my hour of need, for I have incurred their everlasting curses whilst thus unfolding my guilty consoieace to my fellow-men. But what care I what they may say or do to me, if I can attain G-od's blessed forgiveness for these my bloody crimes. All you that acknowledge God as your Father in heaven, pray to His dear Son on my behalf. Amen. ,

This concluded the statement, whioh ocoupfed the attention of the Court for over five hours; when the Court adjourned until Friday, at eleven, a.m. Immediately Burgess had disclosed where the arms were concealed, the constables went to the spot, and,, in the presence of a large crowd, they were found at; the place indicated, and brought into Court before the close of the proceedings.

Fbiday, August 10, The four prisoners, Burgess, Kelly-, Zevy and Sullivan, were again brought up yesterday morning, before the Resident Magistrate. Sullivan was allowed to sit in a chair, which was placed at the side of the dock.

The confession of Burgess was read over to him, at the conclusion of which he signed it, saying, " I have signed my own death warrant."

The Resident Magistbate fully committed all four prisoners for trial at the approaching session of the Supreme Court, which he beheved would 'be. held about the 12th of next month. At all events) the Judge would arrive here on the 10th, and ther trial would take place shortly afterwards.