THE GLENBROOK HORROR.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVIX, Issue 2999, 10 December 1896, Page 2

THE GLENBROOK HORROR.

Sore Hen Missing. Terrible Details from the Sydney newspapers. By Telegraph.—Press Association. — Copyright. Sidney, December 9. A man named Campbell is ir.isffing nt Mudg-eo, a’ad a man, whose name is unknown, missing at Orange. There is a strong presumption that they accompanied Butler on a prospecting expedition in the neighbourhood of Melbourne. A man, who is believed to bo identical with Butlor, passed through Bona!la a few days ago, and being hard up ho requested assistance. Ho stated that lie had tost ull his cash in prospecting for gold in New South Wales. Mo exposed some documents on which appeared the name of Harwood, under which Butler had been passing on tho strength of getting possession of the papers of Frank Harwood, a Westraliau mine manager. BUTLER SAID TO HAVE BEEN IN NEW ZEALAND. Received December 10,1 a.m. Sydney, December 9. An evening paper is responsible for the statement that the police are making en-, quiries witli regard to the visit of Butler to New Zealand, which was coincident with tho mysterious murder of several prospectors. The enquiries have special reference to the sou of a well known Sydney Civil servant, whose mutilated body was found ;in a shepherd’s hut in one of the goldfield districts a few months ago. SHOCKING DISCOVERY. Sydney papers to hand last night give farther particulars of the mountain mystery. Preston’s body was found inNumantia Gully. Quick work with the shovel soon exposed tho body, which presented a horrible sight. It had been placed in neither a sitting nor a lying position, but between the two. Tho logs were drawn up towards the trunk. The arms wore clasped round the right leg, and tho head, which was bent forward on the chest, was leaning on tho rock, while the remainder of the body was supported by tbo right buttock. Tho portion of tho head exposed yesterday proved to be the side and not the back. The stench was almost intolerable, producing a feeling ot nausea in all the party and tainting tho air for a distance round. By some mischance disinfectants had not been provided, and for that reason the work of exhumation was rendered much more .odious than it need necessarily have been. The body had been pushed into tho grave with considerable force, and in order to got it out with as little injury as possible the sides were dug wide and below the depth of 2ft, to which the corpse had been buried. A blanket was then spread in the wide space thus secured, and with the careful use of sticks the body was levered into the blanket. No difficulty was experienced in lifting it to the surface. and at once a - close examination was made.

A youth named Robert Fielding, of Septimus street,! Erskineville, who was a friend of Preston’s, and who had come up overnight by tiain, immediately recognised the remains to bo those of the missing man. The features wore in a good state of preservation, and wore easily recognisable. The body was clothed in a blue coat and light trousers, with blue socks. Round his waist was a black leather belt, which together with the trousers Fielding was certain belonged to Preston. Both feet were without boots, but one of these articles —that for the right foot—had been placed underneath the body, while a search about the surrounding rocks revealed the fellow-boot 15 yards away from the grave. In one of the pockets Detectives Roche and McLean came across a mass of paper almost reduced to pulp. A portion of it appeared to be promissory notes from the writing which was on it, but nothing definite can be said till the paper has been dried sufiicently to enable a detailed examination to be made. Round the neck and under the arms of the body a towel had been placed knotted at the neck, having apparently been used to drag the body along after the murder was committed.

Only one external mark of violence was apparent. On the right side of tho head, a little above and in front of tho ear there was a circular wound which was subsequently ascertained 'to bo duo to a bullet. As soon as the body was uncovered swarms of flies attracted by the fetid odour annoyed tho diggers, making continued operations for a time impossible, and nothing could be further done till the smoke from tho fire of green leaves drove the insects away. The smoko was extremely irritating, bub it was the lesser of two evils.

No attempt at a regular post-mortem examination was made on tho spot, out tho corpse was placed in a coffin which was temporarily screwed down, and tho ascent was begun. If possible this was more arduous and sickening than the disinterring. Walking two abreast four men lifted the ooifin to their shoulders, and with great difficulty managed to clamber up the steep ground of half a mile, to where the beaten track to the road commenced, ielief had to be frequent, not on account of the weight, which, along the unoven track, was bad enough, but because of the stench, which rendered the carrying of the shell for more than five minutes at a time impossible. In three-quarters of an hour Linden platform was reached, and from there the coffin and its contents, which had meanwhile been liberally sprinkled with ohlorozone obtained from the stationmaster, were placed aboard a luggage train at 9 o’clock for Penrith.

The goods train with the body aboard arrived at Penrith at 10 o’clock. An immense crowd had gathered on the station in anticipation of the event. Quite a procession was formed to tho local hospital, where the body was deposited in the morgue preparatory to washing it. After cleaning had been accomplished, young Fielding had not the slightest doubt about tbe identification of his late friend. Decomposition had not advanced nearly so far as might have been expected from, the lapse of five weeks. The features were clearly defined almost as in life, and it was evident that death had occurred without pain. Mr E. J. Thompson, of tbe Railway Dining Rooms, George street, where Butler boarded for some time, and where he met Preston, was also sure about the identification. Preston had tea at tho rooms on 19th October with Butler and Thompson, who was travelling by the same train and bade them good-bye at their point of disembarkation, Emu Plains. Butler, when at Thompson’s, went under the name of Clare, but he confided to the proprietor of the rooms that his real name was Harwood, In proof of which ha showed him his miner’s right and his certificate from tho School of Mines, Ballarat. The three men who remained down the gully the night previous to the exhumation —Constables Hughey Johnson, Draper and Shelley, to guard the grave—had a trying experience. Under tbe most favourable circumstances such a duty is unpleasant, but when there were in addition hunger (provisions not having been sent to them), a darkness that could almost be felt, and the yelping of dingoes, which were noticed for tho first time last night, having been attracted by tho tainted air, the conditions were such as would try the nerves of any ordinary men. A visit during the night had been promised by their companions, but the arrival in camp at fjirjdpß of Superintendent Brennan and Detective Boohu prevented tho projected trip being made. Bight glad were the watchers when morning came, and they almost sent up a shout of welcome when shortly afterwards the grave-diggers appeared, . All tho circumstances point in the direction pf Preston having been murdered either when he was at tho creek or when bo was resting, and that tho nearest soft spot was chosen as his grave. The probability, therefore, is that Captain Bee .Weller was murdered in the same way. WHEN THE 6WANHILDA ABBIVEB AT BAN PBANCISCO.

The Swanhilda, on board of which -Butler is supposed to be a passenger, will in all probability arrive at San Francisco about the end of January. Before that date ample time is left for the police authorities to send one or more men to be on band when the ship is signalled at the Golden Gate. No doubt tbo San Francisco police are already seized of the facts, and when the pilot boat goes out to meet the Swanhilda in reply to hor signals for a pilot, just in the same way that piloting is done at Sydney Heads, some arresting officer will be aboard. The probability is that the tug proprietors of San Francisco will also be in readiness, so that when any of the tugs pick up the Swanhilda some communication will take place between the tug and shjp which will be sufficiently understood by those bn board the latter. It is not uncommon for a ship lq be taken in tow 20 or 30 miles outside the entrance to San Francisco, and the pilot schooners cruise even further Out to seaward. COULD THE SWANHILDA BE INTEECEPTED ? It has been suggested that the barque Swanhilda, from Newcastle on her voyage to San Francisco, might bo overtaken either fiom Sydney by a steamer or from one of the Southern New Zealand ports. Speaking as to the feasibility of this, an opinion was obtained from several shipmasters in Sydney. They appeared to think it quite possible to meet with the Swanhilda bjr sending a steamer from,

BY GABLE*

say, Port Chalmers down towards tho Snares, to dodge about there, ns tho course taken by almost every San Franciscobound sailer is round that way from Newcastle. Very few attempt to negotiate Cook Strait, and fewer go the northabout course passing north of New Zealand. " The Swanhilda is now knocking about somewhere.between this coast and the western coast of tho South Island of New Zealand,” said an old shipmaster, “ and a steamer from the New Zealand side oonld pick her up if the Government wanted to do so.” WHERE PRESTON WAS MURDERED. Numautia Gully ia indeed admirably (if such a word is permissible) fitted for a crime such as that which has been committed. Ou the eastern side the cliffs, running straight up to a height of TOft or 80ft, frowned down on a trickling stream hidden by bracken and other fern growing on either bank in wild profusion, while on the other sido tho land, though much more broken, allowing iu places of comparatively easy access, was still of a wild and forbidding nature. Such a spot would not bo visited once iu a twelve months by man, and oven boasts appear as if they had deserted it, as not a trace of dingo or kangaroo was over seen there. In such a place a human cry would .never be heard half a mile away, or would become so faint as to appear like tho plaintive cry of a bird, while with care a whole cemetery of bedies could bo buried, and no one walking over them would bo a whit the wiser. The only circumstance which drew attention to the spot whero tho body now is was the. appearauco of. clay on the surface. Such was unnatural, and had the murderer only been as careful to remove that as ho was to cover up the other traces of his digging, tho body would never have been discovered, and so, in all probability, th© mountain mystery would never have boen unravelled. The attention which tho criminal bestowed on tho grave itself proved that lie had well considered his plans before committing tho outrage. The earth was scraped over tho xipturned soil from the surrounding ground so that tho whole should appear oven and undisturbed. MOVEMENTS IN GRAFTON. Harwood or Bailor, tho supposed murderer, has been identified as an individual who came from Grafton in. tho middle of September last and stayed at tho Post Office Hotel. He gave his name as Harwood. He loft with three others for tho Yulgilbar goldfield, but returned shortly after, leaving his companions at the diggings. He then left for Sydney, taking his gun, whioh ho had loft at the hotel while absent at Yulgilbar. About tho beginning of October a man arrived from Sydney, stating that ho had responded to an advertisement .iu the- Sydney papeis from a person who wanted a mute to prospect in the Grafton district, offering equal shares. Arrangements wore made in Sydney between the advertiser and the applicant, tho former giving the namo of Burgess, and stating that -he would go up by tho same steamer as the party be had arranged with, and that they would go to the Post Office’Hotel, which he could recommend, having been there previously. Burgess, however, failed to keep his promise, and the party with whom ho agreed was much disappointed on arrival hero to find that ho was deceived, and also that no person named Burgess had over been at the Post Office Hotel. Burgess told his mate that he would be a partner, and that a small sum of money would do to prospect till Christmas. He further said that after going along tho road for 20 miles they would turn off into the bush, prospecting as they wont along. He said ho always carried a rifle to shoot kangaroos.