THE MAUNGATAPF MURDERS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXI, Issue 2388, 14 July 1866, Page 2

THE MAUNGATAPF MURDERS.

{Wellington Independent, July 10.)

Even in that terrible record of crime the Newgate Calendar, it would be difficult to find a parallel to the atrocities with, which Levy, Burgess, Kelly, and Sullivan stand charged. If the confession of the accomplice"is to bo believed — and the whole train of circumstances renders doubt; almost^ impossible — then the perpetrators of the crimes now brought to light have earned tin infamy almost unexampled. So far as is yet known, it; appears that those men while at the Grey gold- fields banded themselves together for purposes of robbery aud murder, not contemplating the latter merely as a possible contingency, iv the case of their victims resisting" but coolly resolving upon it as a necessary part of the plan by which they would secure plunder without risk of detection. It is scarcely possible to conceive that men would deliberately murder their Wlowcreaturos, simply from the lust of blood, and ye therefore conclude that the motive in the

present ease must have been that temporary security from detection, which would have enabled them to amass a sufficient amount of

plunder and then escape to some other shores there to enjoy their bloodstained gains. Past experience had shown that New Zealand is an unfavorable field for the exploits of the bushranger. A gang of scoundrels tried sticking-itp in the Olago Province, but the nature of the country and the difficulty of escape rendered the capture of the ringleaders and the break-up of the gang an easy task for an experienced police. Possibly this circumstance made the alleged perpetrators of the Maungatapu murders adopt a different system. Robbed men give information •to the police, and pursuit, perhaps capture, at once results ; but the plundered victim lying dead at the bottom of a ravine, or stretched stark and stifFon a lone mountain side in a little known country, can tell no tales to set justice on the track of his mur- > derer. Such, it would seem, has been the thought of the men now awaiting their trial. To rob gold diggers on their way to town would bo a most hazardous undertaking, as thedistrict would soon become too hot for the thieves, but to rob and murder too, would make all safe at least fur a time. No scruples seem ever to have entered the minda of those forming this gang. Revolvers, guns, and ammunition were procured, the scheme of operations laid down with systematic precision, and each man assigned "' his particular share of the work. Levy, the Captain, was to hunt up information as to when men with booty were likely to pass, and Sullivan wn* to .vatch the road, while the others dealt with victims already so-

cured. Then, in case a largo party were ' met, whom it would be dangerous to attack, the gang were ready to accomplish by treachery what could not be done by force. They proposed to join the unsuspecting party oa the road and make friends with them; to tramp along in cheery converse, to sit round the same bush lire when a halt was made, and to drop a deadly poison into the tea of those whom they had resolved to murder and rob. What must have been in the hearts o( men who • could coolly plan a scheme so diabolical ? To sit beside their victims, to drop strychnine into their drink, and then after a brief space to hear thorn giving vent to shrieks of agony as they lay writhing on the ground in tetanic convulsions, is what must have been contemplated by these miscreants. And then they must have also had in their minds the work which was to follow, when the poisoned men, with stiff limbs and bodies bent outwards almost like a bow, would have .to be searched and then consigned to a hastily made grave. Surely, it will be said, human beings could not calmly conceive a • plan so unutterably horrible as this ? I3ufc it is clear from Sullivan's confession that poisoning "was resolved upon as a part of their programme. They were provided with sufficient strychnine to poison eighty men, and the bottle with its contents was found

in the place indicated by the informer. People stand asrhasfc at a disclosure like this, which in the fiendish cruelty contemplated i 3 fit to rink with the deeds attributed to a

Borgia and aßrinvilliers. When Palmer sat by the dying bed of Cook, the poor wretch cried out to his treacherous murderer, " 0 Doctor I shall dio," to which the other replied ;"No my lad you won't : here drink this," at the same time handing him another draught of the poison. Tlr.it was atreacheTousmurderunder the guise of friendship, but Levy's gang proposed to commit similar crimes wholesale as a matter of business. Their career during the last few weeks shows

how fortunate it is for society that they are now in custody, or else the eight murders now attributed to them might have been largely increased. It is almost certain that they murdered Mr. Dobson at the Grey, that a storekeeper was also killed there, and there is reason to suspect that one of their own gang was made away with in case he should betray the rest. Their career in Nelson was short. Their arrival at that port from the Grey, on the 6th of last month, their departure for the Wakamarina diggings, and their arrest on suspicion of being concerned in making away with the four missing men, was all comprised within a fortnight. The evidence connecting them with the murders of the old whaler and the four others is apparently complete. The confession of Sullivan, the finding of the bodies in the place indicated, tbeir presence in its vicinity at the assumed time of the murders, their apprehension afc Nelson with tlio plunder in their possession, and the presence of blood on their old clothes — all point to but one conclusion — and that is their guilt. We will not dwell at length on the circumstances of the crime, which can only be imagined from the confession of Sullivan and the evidence of those who found the

bodies. All the circumstances indicate that the murdered men wore caught in a trap, on a narrow road, beset before and behind by armed men, and escape rendered impossible by a steep bank on the right and a gully on the left. There was little chance to struggle for life, so the doomed men sub-

mitted, thinking their assailants would be

satisfied with plunder, and walked into the bush, there to be slain — three by the pistol and knife and one by the noose. The murder of the old whaler and the strangling of Dudley, were simply horrible. An old man deliberately slain for the £3 on his person, and another pinioned with straps and strangled witb a handkerchief, are things too horrible for contemplation. Let us turn the 1 pictm*e. to the wall. There Bhould be no delay in bring'ring these men to trial, and we join ■ the Nelson authorities in saying that a Sitfcing-of fchoSupreme Court should

bo held as soon as possible, at which they can bo arraigned. It may be that Sullivan will escape, as a free pardon was offered to any person implicated in the murders, except the actual murderer or murderers, who gave such information as would lead to the conviction of the perpetrators. Still, Sullivan is not quite safe. Ho has informed not only as to the murder of Mr. Dobson and the four mentioned in the proclamation, but also as to the murder of James Battle not mentioned therein, to which act he was an accessory. He might therefore bo pardoned in the former cases and brought to trial for the other. TVe. fear the whole truth concerning the deeds of thesa men has not yet come to light. There are ugly rumors of atrocities in" Australia which demand further enquiry, and there is work for an experienced detective to probe the matter to the bottom. It would be well to organise a small but efficient detective staff in New Zealand, formed of picked men belonging to the Australian police, who know the loading ruffians at large in the colonies by head- mark, and could stalk down those who may be prowling about New Zealand. The occurrence of such terrible crimes shows that our gold fields have, attracted some of the most desperate scoundrels of the Old Vandemoniau type and such can best be dealt with, by men accustomed to the detection of their deeds in other colonies.