customary to discharge firearms to frighten the natives; that there was no proof of the pistol having been loaded with ball; and if so, that the firing was in self-defence; and finally,that there was no proof to show that any death at all had ensued. After a charge so favourable to the prisoner as to amount to marked partiality, the jury returned a verdict of "Not Guilty," and the Judge expressed strong disapproval of the action of the Crown Prosecutor in filing an information in such a case, and so unnecessarily wasting the public time. The Crown Prosecutor curtly replied that in the performance of his official duties he should always exercise his own discretion, whereupon the Judge angrily retorted that he should take an early opportunity of representing the matter to the Executive Government. Mr. Bolden was released from custody, and warmly congratulated by a number of his friends in Court.
Murder of White Men by Blackfellows.—20th December, 1841.
On the 26th September a party of whalers were at a place on the Western Port Coast, then known as Lady Bay, which they left, and travelling through the bush until the 6th October, reached a coal-mining station at Cape Patterson, of which one William Watson had charge. The whalers possessed themselves of what they thought was an abandoned hut. Its being untenanted surprised them, and after a time two of them were sent as scouts to discover something of the people supposed to be attached to the station. Their names were Cooke and "Yankee" (as the second was called), and soon after their departure those who remained heard the report of two gun-shots. About an hour after, a William Watson (in the employ of Anderson and Massie), who had charge of the place returned, and was astonished to find his residence "jumped" by a lot of sailors. He had seen some black people prowling about the neighbourhood for a few days, and was fearful that something wrong had happened. A man named Patrick, also in the service of Anderson and Massie (who accompanied Watson), volunteered to try to solve the mystery, and after a brief absence he rushed back and reported that he had found the dead bodies of two white men only some three hundred yards off. The Yankee was shot as if a bullet had passed through his head. Cooke had a shot wound in his side, and his head was battered as if beaten with a cudgel of boxwood, portions of which as big as a man's fist were found close to him. The two bodies were buried in a sand-gully above high water-mark. Some days before this, intelligence had been received in Melbourne that armed blacks were committing depredations in the Western Port District, and Mr. F. A. Powlett, (a Commissioner of Crown Lands) started with a party of the Border Police and a few soldiers in quest of the marauders. On his route he heard of the white men's murder, and, following up a clue received from a native, swooped down upon a mia-mia containing two male and three female blacks, and took the five into custody. The men blacks took their capture quite coolly, and the women did as ladies generally do in any trouble great or otherwise, have a good cry, and with much unintelligible volubility cast all the blame upon the men. One of the prisoners known as "Bob," declared that the other, "Jack," had fired the first shot, and threatened to shoot him if he did not fire too; and one of the women, "Truganini," asserted that she had seen " Jack" brain one of the dead men. The prisoners were arraigned at the Criminal Sessions under the names of Robert Timmy Jimmy, alias " Small-boy," Jack Napoleon Tarraparrura, Lalla Rookh Truganini, Fanny Waterfordia, and Maria Matilda Natapolina. The male prisoners were natives of Van Diemen's Land, could read and write, and had some knowledge of the principles of religion and the existence of a Supreme Being.
Mr. G. A. Robinson, the Chief Protector of the Aborigines in Port Phillip, deposed that "Bob" and "Jack" had been attendants of his in Van Diemen's Land; he had found them to be always dutiful and trustworthy, and gave them a very good character.
Mr. Barry, Counsel for the prisoners at the opening of the case challenged the arraignment, on the ground that the prisoners, not being naturalized subjects, were entitled to be tried by a jury of half aliens, which the Sheriff had not summoned. After hearing arguments as to the Aboriginal right to a jury de medietate linguæ, the Judge overruled the objection but he should enter it upon his notes. Mr. Barry addressed the jury in a very effective manner, but the evidence he had to contend with was irresistible. He dwelt forcibly on the unreliability of circumstantial evidence, and the weakness of the prosecution against one of the men, who had acted under compulsion. The jury found the men "Guilty," and
