MARTIN WIEBERG, THE GOLD ROBBER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5520, 26 July 1879, Page 7

MARTIN WIEBERG, THE GOLD ROBBER.

Ihe trial of the above clever and ingenious scoundrel ended this week in the Supreme Court of Victoria. The circumstances of the ease are peculiar, aid, even at this stage, •will bear repetition. The offence with which he was charged was that of robbing one ol {he P. and O. Company's boats of a consignment of 5000 tovereigns, shipped by tha Onintal Bank, while the vessel was on the . passige from Sydney to Point de Galle. A \second charge of receiving stolen goods was J also laid, and it is upon the latter that he been sentenced to five years' imprison.. %. * All efforts failed to trace the thief at time, but, on evidence collected by an officer of the P. and O. Company, Mr. Elliston (the ohief officer of the Avoca), and Martin Wiberg (the carpenter), were both dismissed fur alleged neglect of duty. Elliston went to England, but Weiberg married a barmaid in Melbourne, and took up his residence as a selector on the Tarwin Kiver, Gippsland, announing his intention of making there a home for his young wife. A less hopeful spot for agriculture it would be hard to find, and into that desert Weiberg departed taking up a selection next to that of one Laycock, who ouned the one inn which adorned the sterile settlement of Baas. From "information received," the police went to watch the ship-carpenter who ifas so kindly disposed towards agriculture. A raid was made upon his hut, and 200 sovereigns found secreted in a hollow log. Another plant was discovered by Weibcrg's servant girl in a bar of soap, which she was accidentally cutting in t«o for household purposes. To her astonishment, the knife struck something hard, and, on looking for the cause, she saw the shining gold pieces wedged in the soap, and she took the money to her apparently astonished mistress. Other "plants" were discovered in various localities. Weiberg, on being brought to Melbourne, confessed his guilt, and blamed Elliston, who, he said, bad given him a bribe of £200 to do the deed. He explained also to the police, the method by which he accomplished the robbery, and stated that there were four different ways by which he could reach the bullion room of the mail steamer. By and by he told the detectives that his share of the plunder came to £ISOO more, and that if he was taken back to his home in Gippsland, he would point out where the money was concealed. The police closed with the offer, Inspector Secretan and two of his men (one ■ Mahony, being specially chosen on account of his fleetness of foot) started with the cuiifiding prisoner to Gippsland. The Tarwin was reached, and on the morrow the penitent thief declared he would bring up from its gloomy depths an iron pot, containing the missing gold. A boat was procured, and Secretan descended first into her. The bank was steep and slippery, the current strong, and Duncan, watchful for the safety of his officer, took bis eye for-a moment from the prisoner. Wieberg was iinbandcuffed, "so that he might givp the\better assistance," and a blow of his elbow in, the diaphragm of the fleet-footed Mahosny, laft'him an instant free. Then began a racb hetVeen the constable and the thief; but Weiberg knew the bush, and having the advantage of a start, was soon out of sight. A howl of public indignation was the result of this fiasco, and public opinion, as well as the report of the I Board of Inquiry, half-hinted at the current rumours that the police had been "provided for." These statement! put the detective force on its mettle. The first trustworthy information ascertained by the detectives concerning the movements of Wiberg after his escape were drawn from the circumstances disclosed in the case of Matthews v. Pearce, in the County Court. Pearce, was a. man well known to the police as a hunter. For some time he was a hunter at King's Island, and subsequently appeared as a hunter on Tarwin River. His skins were sent to Melbourne, and he appears to have had dealings with a pawnbroker, named Crawcour, at Williamstown. With Mr. Crawcour it is alleged that Pierce entered into certain arrangements for the purchase of a vessel, and deposited with him the sum of three hundred sovereigns. It was from Crawcour, and not Mr. Matthews, t'neowner, he had chartered the cutter Petrel, which was subsequently found to be nnseaworthy. After the case in the County Court in Melbourne, a member of the detective force saw Crawconr, and learned from him the nature of the transactions between himself and Pearce. The further intelligence was afterwards obtained that Pearce had given the son of Mr. Hill, hotel-keeper, at Emerald Hill, a further Bum of SOO sovereigns. Young Hill, after a little difficulty, disgorged the money he had received. Inspector Secretan and Detective Mackay paid a visit to Mr. Crawcour at Williamstown, and there obtained s portion of the sovereigns Pearce had deposited with him. Crawcour made a statutory declaration concerning the circumstances under which Pearce gave him the money. Hill did the same, and they were called as witnesses of the Crown in the charge that will be preferred against Pearce, who has received a year's imprisonment. The detectives, having been pnt on their mettle by the expression of public opinion, exercised a constant supervision over Weiberg"® wife, who lives in unassuming grass-widowhood at Emerald Hill. It was known that she had £50 in the house, and was suspected of possessing more. In consequence of further intelligence, another detective was sent again to Gippsland on the track of the fugitive. This officer, j disguised as a bnshman, travelled quietly to the Bass side of the Western Port. At an appointed place he met a mounted constable, and the two set out Bay. Dressed as swagsmen, and .aimed only with concealed revolvers, and Taylor made the seventy-mile jouriiey unsuspected. One day, on the sandy beach, they saw the print of a naked foot, which led to a track in the scrub, and similar footprints at an inlet leading to "the water. They conjectured that the hunt-.d man was accustomed to swim ' across the inlet, and camped in the scrob awaiting his arrival. A man is challenged. He vainly runs Kjr.. thy cliff and the river, as the bullets whiz Feeling that certain death awaits him hn dnea not surrender, Weiberg tJirSwsup Mb TJairds, and is speedily seenred, and brought down to Melbourne. It is believed* tile bilance of the stolen sovereigns have been HccrQted vby Weiberg in the vicinity oHiiajate hannt, apd impressed with that belieV"Tt-«ystfisamic Bearch has been instituted. Thus far the mystery of the Avoca has been cleared np ; it remains to be seen what further light future events may throw upon it.