The Age (56)

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Prisoner: I dare say the day will come when we shall have to go to a bigger court than this. Then we will see who is right and who is wrong. As regards anything about myself, all I care for is that my mother, who is now in prison, shall not have it to say that she reared a son who could not have altered this charge if he had liked to do so.

His Honour: An offence of the kind which you stand accused of is not of an … character. There are many murders which have been discovered and committed in this colony under different circumstances, but none show greater atrocity than these you committed. These crimes proceed from different motives. Some arise from a sordid desire to take from others the property which they acquired of inherited, - some from jealousy, some from a bare desire to thieve, but this crime was an enormity out of all proportion. A party of men took up arms against society, organised as it was for mutual protection and regard for the law.

Prisoner: Yes; that is the way the evidence brought it out.

His Honour: Unfortunately, in a new community, where society was not bound together so closely as it should be, there was a class which looked upon the perpetrators of these crimes as heroes. But these unfortunate, ill-educated, ill-prompted youths must be taught to consider the value of human life. It could hardly be believed that a man would sacrifice the life of his fellow creatures in this wild manner. The idea was enough to make one shudder in thinking of it. The end of your companions was comparatively a better termination than the miserable death which awaits you. It is remarkable that although New South Wales had joined Victoria in offering a large reward for the detection of the gang, no person was found to discover it. There seemed to be a spell cast over the people of this particular district, which I can only attribute either to sympathy with crime or dread of the consequences of doing their duty. For months the country has been disturbed by you and your associates, and you have actually had the hardihood to confess to having stolen 200 horses.

Prisoner: Who proves this?

His Honour: That is your own statement.

Prisoner: You have not heard me; if I had examined the witnesses, I could have brought it out differently.

His Honour: I am not accusing you. This statement has been made several times by the witnesses. You confessed it to them and you stand self accused. It is also proved that you committed several attacks upon the banks, and you seem to have appropriated large sums of money – several thousands of pounds. It has also come within my knowledge that the country has expended about ₤50,000 in consequence of the acts of which you and your party have been guilty. Although we have had such examples as Clarke, Gardiner, Melville, Morgan and Scott, who have all met ignominious deaths, still the affect has, apparently, not been to hinder others from following in their footsteps. I think that is much to be deplored, and some steps must be taken to have society protected. Your unfortunate and miserable associates have met with deaths which you might envy. I will forward to the Executive the notes of the evidence which I taken and all circumstances connected with your case, but I cannot hold out any hope to you that the sentence which I am now about to pass will be remitted. I desire not to give you any further pain or to aggravate the distressing feelings which you must be enduring. His Honour then passed sentence of death, and concluded with the usual formula, “May the Lord have mercy on your soul.”

Prisoner: Yes; I will meet you there.

The prisoner was then removed, and the court adjourned.

In the next column the following appeared

NEWS OF THE DAY

A prosecution for conspiracy has been instituted by the Government against the leading promoters of the agitations in Ireland . Mr CS Parnell, the leader of the Home Rule party; and Messrs. Dillion, Biggar, Sullivan and Sexton, all Irish members, together with nine members of the Land League, have appeared on summonses to answer the charge. A portion of the County Cork has been proclaimed a disturbed district

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