A MAGISTERIAL FIEND.

NZ Truth, Issue 1001, 31 January 1925, Page 7

A MAGISTERIAL FIEND.

Gold-Commissioner Griffin. Gold-Commissioner Thomas John Griffin was a remarkable man, though as a homicide he proved himself something of a bungler. Nevertheless, he challenges Deeming for second place on ; Australia's roll of disfame. His case is certainly unique. Here is a man of education and ability, a man who had been policeman, chief constable, clerk of petty sessions, police Magistrate, and gold commissioner, '■ murdering the two constables who formed a gold es-' cort, and robbing them of £4000 m «, ■ notes and minted gold and silver! A man of 35 when he was executed, Griffin, like Butler, was Irish. ! He joined the New South Wales Police m Sydney, after having served m the Irish Constabulary,/ and seen service on the. Crimea. . . He had arrived m Melbourne about 1856/ ,-;v "■: Of good birth, tall, and militarylooking, 'with a long, fair beard and cruel, hard, blue eyes, he made ah impressive figure.'. After being chief constable at Rockhamptoh for some time; he became chief constable at Brisbane, later becoming assistant clerk of petty sessions. . ■.'•.-; A few years' later he was Gold Commissioner and Police Magistrate at Clermont, but he dispensed justice In

rsuch a rough and ready way that a public petition for' his removal was presented to the Government, and he was sent to Rockhampton as Assist-ant-Gold Commissioner, a post he occupied at the time he turned murderer. A Spendthrift. Griffin was a gambler and a spendthrift, and it was this vice which led him to crime. He had lost many hundreds of pounds, and at last spent £250 which six Chinese gold diggers had entrusted to his care. The Chinese demanded their money back, and became so insistent and threatening that Griffin decided to rob the gold escort from Rockhampton to Clermont. The escort consisted of Constables Power and Cahill, and Griffin insisted that he should accompany them for part of the way, although his company was not desired. • W.hen they had proceeded part of the way, and were m some scrub, Griffin shot both ' men dead and skipped with £4000 Avhich had been m their charge. As soon as word was received that the escort had been murdered — Sub Inspector Uhr's 100-mile ride, With one arm, m a sling, to report the murder, still figures amongst the greatest riding feats of Australia's intrepid horsemen — Griffin informed the authorities that he had accompanied the escort for portion of the way. Fatal Error. He was allowed to become one of the police party sent to investigate

the murder, and his conduct on that trip was, to say the least, remarkable, v On a flimsy pretext, he dismounted from his horse, and climbed into the trap m which the doctor was driving, taking the reins from the medico. But so furiously and recklessly did he drive that he was ordered from the trap, and, after having nearly caused a serious catastrophe, obeyed. On that trip, too, he made that . fatal error, so characteristic of the majority of murderers of talking too, loosely and too frequently.. The police report had stated that the men had been poisoned. Griffin, however, declared that they had been shot. Naturally the police officers wanted to know how Griffin knew, and instantly their ,suspicions were aroused. " So that at a wayside hotel the police inspector induced Griffin to have a few drinks. By arrangement with the hotel proprietor, when he asked for gin he was given only water, but Griffin was provided with the "real goods." When the Gold Commissioner was sleepy and almost drunk, Inspector Elliott removed his pistols, took out the detonators from the bullets, and poured water m the nippies to dampen the powder. And at the" scene of the murder he arrested Griffin with ease. The job of proving Griffin's guilt was comparatively simple, and m. due course this pleasant-mannered though at times abrupt and tyrannical, murderer was hanged.