THE PEAK DOWNS MURDERS.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 221, 16 April 1868, Page 3

THE PEAK DOWNS MURDERS.

(QUEENSLAND, MABCH 28. After a long and patient trial extending over several days, Thomas John Q-riffiin, late police magistrate at Clermont, and gold commissioner for that district, has been, convicted for the wilful murder of two troopers belonging to the gold escort, on 6th November, 1867, at the Maekensie River. The prisoner pleaded not guilty to the indictment, but the chain of circumstantial evidence connecting him with the crime with which he was charged was so complete that no one was surprised when the jury, after a brief deliberation, brought in a verdict of guilty. Sixty witnesses were examined for the Crown, and only one for the defence. The counsel for the prisoner appears to have relied principally on shaking the testimony by subjecting the witnesses of the Crown to a severe crossexamination, but nothing was elicited materially at variance with the evidence previously given at the preliminary enquiry before the magistrates. His Honor Judge Lutwyche passed sentance of death. The prisoner's counsel raised two objections to the judge's charge, and his Honor reserved the points to be argued before a full court, so that the execution will be delayed for a short time, but it is scarcely probable that anything will arise which will alter the decision already arrived at. The circumstances under which the murder was committed, the enormity of the crime, the high and responsible position of the prisoner, and the conclusive manner in .which the guilt has been brought home to him, all combine to make the trial one of the most remarkable that has occurred in this colony, and will account for the deep interest taken in it by the public, both in this and the neigh boring colonies.