THE DUNEDIN TRAGEDY.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XIII, Issue 3570, 24 March 1880, Page 3

THE DUNEDIN TRAGEDY.

The Dunedin papers contain full particulars of'the horrible murders in that city. Wo giyo the following from the Times:-'

"It was found that Grant was quite dead; the child was also dead; and Mrs Grant was- quite unconscious. At tho head of the bed was an ordinary American axe, which belonged to tho bouse, Grant had a severe blow on his head, inflicted without doubt, by this instrumentjor it was covered with blood, Blood was also on the pillow, and over the bed, and spattered over the wall. The wound had been made, not by the sharp blade of the axe, but by tho butt. Mr? Grant had three wouudson her head—one on the crown, ono behind tho right ear, and trrVolher on the temple. These have bten inflicted also b/ a portion of the axe other than tlin sharp edge, And they have undoubtedly been, inflicted while the woman was in bed; for she has burns about her body and legs, and her nighldress is also burned. Thus, apparently, she must have bad a conscious interval after receiving the blows, and have made an abortive attempt to get from the room. 'I he baby has no blow upon it, but has died by suffocation by smoke. Underneath tho bed, aftT the blows had been struck, and ihe axe placed at the head of the bed, a lighted candle had been placed. When Mr Eobb had 'got the flames under, he found that the bedclothes bad been partly burned, the mattress was burned pretty well through, and a hole was also made in the floor. He judges from half an-hour to an hour must have elapsed from the time the thing was set agoing until he got into bed; but of course this is mere conjecture. A t any rate, it seems perfectly plain that the intention of the miscreant who is responsible for the whole tragedy was to burn the bouse, bodies, axe, and everything, and thus destroy all trace of his crime. A fortunate chain of circumstances led to Mr liobb's arrival at the house, however, and thus happily prevented the fulfilment of such a plan.

There was not the slightest sign about the house afterwards of any disturbance, or struggle, or anything of the kind. The windows were not unfastened, nor the front door, Only the back door was wide open._ There is not the slighloßt reason to believe that robbery was committed. Mrs Grant's jewellery remained un. touched ou the chest of drawers in the bedroom. The house was perfectly in order, except that, as was said, the back door was standing open, "The name of the man arrested is Eoberfc Butler, alias Edward James Donnelly. This man's antecedents will be found pretty fully slated below. He was' discharged from the gaol here on February 18th, after serviog a sentence of four years on a charge of burglary. Since the commission of the deed the police have strongly suspected him of bejng the criminal, and from the first have laid their plans to catch him. heard that ho .had gone out of '),. Dunedin northwards, the two constables stationed at Waitatiand Waikouaiti respectively^were ordered from headquarters to go'out in search of him. Yesterday afternoon these constables—Colbourno and Townsend by. name—overtook him on the road, about, five miles from Waikouaiti. They at once ordered him to stand, when he sprang behind a flax bush at the side of the-road, and drew a londed six-chamber revolver, which he presented at them, The constables, however, rushed upon him and securrd him, giving him no chance to use his woapon. This man, Butler, whatever may turn out regarding his guilt or innocence of the crime at present imputed to'him, is unquestionably a notorious and desperate criminal. His age is 28; he is a smart, clever, intelli-gent-looking man, of good address and carriage; and be has a really good education (said to havo been received chiefly in I'eutridge Gaol, Victoria). If not a Victorian native, he has been iu that colony, siuco ho. was an infant. From tho time he was ten years of ago ho has been ' in trouble' almost constantly. In Victoria he served sentences in the lotsl amounting to thirteen years, his principal crime being robbery under arms. We believe lie came to Oiagoiu 1875, or the beginning of 187(5, The first knowledge we have of him in (Hugo is, that for a period of some luonlha in llio early part of 187(5 ho held tho position of teacher iu the iiomtm Catholic school

at Cromwell, a position his educational attainments enabled him to fill wonderfully well, !fc also established a nifiht school in the town, which was numerously I attended. For a time in Cromwell he seemed to be settling down to a respectable life. [lis antecedents were not known, and ho earned for himself the charae'er of a decent, deserving, and respectable young man. ' But the criminal instinct could not bo repelled. Although trio charge was, wo believe, never brought against him in a Court of law, there was assumption so strong as to almost justify its being termed proof, that from tho residence of the Rev Father Kehoe, tho Roman Catholic clergyman stationed at Cromwell, he stole a large sum of money—.€so or £60, wo believe. This theft he is believed to have effected by hia favourite mode of entrance—the window. Through Butler's suggestions, suspicions became fasiened on a young lad who attended his school, but it was transferred into what was believed afterwards io be the right path by the fact that Butler nWo heavy investments in clothing and jewellery.' Almost immediately following this, he made a sudden exit from Cromwell society, and made his way to this city. Here he. Inst no lime in getting to work. He gave the police a great deal of anxiety. His Cromwell history having been communicated to the police here, there was not loner a doubt as to who was the chief actor in the burglaries which night after night were _ reported; but the difficulty was to discovery tho man, for none- of the- Dunedin Police had any knowledge _ of his appearance. However,, detection came at length. Butler's first exploit in Dunedin was breaking into the Queen's Theatre in Princes-street, on tho night of Sunday, 23rd July, 1876. He obtained admission by breaking open a side door leading into the Theatre from Do sling- street, tie stole therefrom a couple of wigs, a cornet, and other articles. On the 2nd of August he com mitted some further small robberies; on that night also he entered the house of Bishop Moran. This he followed, upon the night of the sth of that month, by obtaining entrance to the houses of'Mr G. K. 'J urton and Mr T. S. Graham. In all these cases he made very considerable " hauls" in cash and jewellery. He did not long enjoy his liberty after this, for on the evening of the Bth he was arrested. From the Guardian of August 10th we extract the following paragraph in reference to the burglar:-"lnspector Mallard and Detective Henderson found out the man Butler's residence yesterday, and secured a large quantity of stolen property. They found secreted in his box two loaded revolvers an.d an assortment of wigs and burglar's housebreaking instruments. _ There is very little doubt that Butler is a systematic housebreaker, and he is supposed to be entirely alone in the' different thefts that he has so cleverly accomplished. To known what thorough rogue he is, we may mention that last Sunday he taught a certain Sundayschool in Dunedin, and the same night broke into two houses and made away with £150 worth of jewellery." Ifc is elsewhere explained that the Sundayschool referred to was not one in connection with the lioman Catholic Church, as might havebeen inferred from his previous history would have beeu the case. On the 16th August, at the City Police Court, Butler was charged with having foloniouW and burglariously entered, the dwelling of Patrick Mornn, Roman Catholic Bishop of Dunedin, and stolen therefrom a gold pencil-case, a binocular, and an umbrella, on the 2nd of that month. f 'n this charge he pleaded guilty, and was committed for trial Ho was then further charged with stealing from the premises of Mr G. K Turton, on the 6th August, a gold watch, &c, valued at £40, and was for this offence committed for trial, reserving his defence. A third charge was preferred against him on the same day of having entered thehouso of Thomas Sherlock Graham on the 6th August and stolen therefrom jewellery and cash to the value of £78. He reserve'd his defence in this case, also, and was committed for trial. On the 17th the Queen's Theatre charges were brought against him, These robberies were committed on the 23rd July. Theohatges were for stealing two wigs, value £5, the properly of John B. Steele, comedian; a cornet, value £12 10s, the property of William Wilson Oliver; and a brace of pistols, a flask of powder, and a box of caps, value £5, the property of George Ward. Upon theso three charges he was also committed for trial, reserving his defence, To Jurther charges of, stealing a crowbar, an overcoat, and a pair of' gloves he pleaded guilty, and received a sentence from;the Police Bench of three months' imprisonment.

At the October (1876) sessions of the Supreme Court, before 'Mr Justice Williams, Buttle: pleaded guilty to tho six different charges of burglary, housebreaking, and larceny mentioned above, and sentenced to four years' penal servitude.' Tho following is a copy of a document handed by Butler to his Honor :~ " I have to acknowledge-my guilt, and do not desire to excuse it. I myself can too clearly see the maguitude and meanness of my crime to hope to make it appear less in the eyes of others. I was a stranger in a strange country ; uufortunato, unwillingly out of employment, in distress, and suffored myself to be led away. 'I his was my condition. I state it as a matter of fact, lor I am aware of its utter worlhlessnesß as a plea. I make no defence, and do not ask you to stint tho full justice of my punishment. But, your Honor, while I do not venture to ask for mercy, I am a young man, and I yet hope to retrieve eveu this disgrace I am not one of thoao criminals from practice and by inclination, which society dreads. In becoming a criminal I rebelled against myself, and my own mind and soul seconds the law in my punishment. While I am willing to bow to the just penalty of the law, I humbly hope that if your Honor can see fit or expedient lo ' shorten the actual term of my punishment by adding to its rigour and severity,, you will ba so far merciful to me and do so. I am yet of that ago when I can (if I may) still hope i;i the future, and I venture to trust that your Honor will so deal with mo that while 1 may be justly punished, I may not be deprived of the hope that the - fairest and best and roost energetic of my future years will bo Spared to me, My own sense of niy position, my sense of how I muslappear to others, makes me to hesiiato to say that I feel that I have felt contrition. Some glimmerings-of it might appear to your Honor irom the fact that I have submitted to my position with patience, and that although I might, with, some hopes, of success, deny part of my crime, I have fully, and or my free will, acb.ow-1 ludged all; I hare rendered all the assist- '[ anea within my power to repair the mischief I had done, in reform;;, or' causing to be reslo'-e-l, tho property thai, had beeu itikm. I trust that your HoiiO:'

will pity my hopes of a redeemed future, and extend some mercy to me. Myheart is not callous and hardened by crime, but softened liy hope, that I trust will not be crushed out of it. Recollect, sir, it is not leniency T ask, but mercy; that your Honor will inflict such a penalty as shall be rigorous and severe, and a welldeserved punishment, while still I may nr.t be weighed down by tho despairing misery of knowing that the best, tho most valuable, and the most redeemable of my future years shall be wasted iu tho living death of a prison."