justice are few; and, though aboriginals have been convicted and hanged, there is no case in the criminal annals of Victoria of a European having been found guilty for taking the life of an aborigine. T h e scene of the murder I a m noyv writing of was the station of a Mr. Brock, at M o u n t Rouse, in the then District of Port Fairy. C o d d yvas, as yvas c o m m o n in those days, a " gentleman overseer;" and on the 19th April, 1840, yvith a couple of the station hands, was at yvork in the scrub, not far from the homestead. A m o b of blacks, some eighteen or twenty in number, were seen prowling about, but not m u c h heeded, yvhen suddenly the white m e n yvere rushed, and before they had time to defend themselves Codd and a m a n n a m e d Rooney yvere stricken down, the former fatally, and the other dangerously wounded. C o d d survived only five minutes, and Rooney recovered after a protracted illness. T h e blacks fled, but their leader, quite a model of the thoroughly developed and powerfully proportioned aboriginal, was easily identifiable, and a warrant was issuedforhis arrest. For more than tyvo years he contrived to elude capture, though parties of mounted-police seldom slacked rein in endeavouring to run him to earth. At length he was overhauled, secured, and sent to Melbourne for his trial. His tribal n a m e was Figara Alkepurata, though he usually yvent under the English appellative of " Roger." There yvas m u c h difficulty in obtaining the services of interpreters, but the Crown succeeded in procuring four persons, by whose united efforts he was brought to some dim comprehension of the process of trial by jury. This quartette consisted of Messrs. G. A. Sieveyvright (the Assistant Protector of Aborigines for the District), Hurst, Lacy and Smith. T h e prosecution yvas conducted by the Crowm Prosecutor, and the defence by Mr. Barry, yvho wras noyv regarded as standing Counsel for the aborigines. T h e facts above summarised yvere deposed to in m u c h detail, and satisfactory proof yvas given that the prisoner wras not only the leader of the attacking force, but that he had struck C o d d several times yvith a heavy native club. T h e prisoner in his oyvn yvay yvas not devoid of a certain shreyvdness and intelligence, and seemed to thoroughly understand (through the interpreters) all that passed. In defence, he declared himself innocent of the murder. H e put in a verbal alibi, i.e., that he yvas at the time of the committal of the offence away on the neighbouring station of a Captain Webster, yvith his brother, " Milk-and-Water," and three white men, employed sheep-washing. Whilst so engaged three blacks arrived, and told them of the murder of Codd, and he asked them why they did it, but got no ansyver. T h e jury returned a verdict of " Guilty," and after sentence of death yvas passed the prisoner, little conqerned, was removed to the gaol. Next day the Chief Protector of Aborigines m a d e him a visit, when the prisoner was very anxious to know by what m o d e he would be put out of the world— whether by being hanged, shot, or having his throat cut. O n being told that he yvould syving, he replied that he liked hanging least of all. THE FIRST CRIMINAL LIBEL CASE.—17TH AUGUST, 1842.
T. M. Marshall v. George Arden. The plaintiff yvas a Commission Agent, and the defendant the Editor and registered proprietor of the Port Phillip Gazette. Anterior to the passing of the Melbourne Corporation Act, there was much local agitation arising out of the proposed provisions of the measure, and meetings were held in the several Wards, into the proceedings of yvhich m u c h personal feeling and unwrorthy jealousies were introduced. A s a matter of course the newspapers took different sides, and Marshall having presumed to officiate as Chairman at a gathering in Bourke Ward, and to accept a vote of thanks for his services, the Gazette pitched into him in a style that yvould scarcely be sanctioned by the most relaxed canons of criticism. It yvas an intensely acrimonious attack, in yvhich personal abuse and innuendo yvere so bitterly mixed, that it was small wonder that the publisher should be brought over the coals for it. Not content yvith treating of Marshall's colonial career, it yvent back to his pre-emigration period, disinterring a former bankruptcy and some alleged questionable doings on the London Stock Exchange, and declared that he had quitted England for Belgium under circumstances the reverse of creditable. Marshall s u m m o n e d Arden to the Police Court, whence the case was sent on for trial; but beyond formally sanctioning the filing of a bill, the Croyvn Prosecutor had nothing further to do with the business. T h e case was tried at the Criminal Sessions in the usual manner, Mr. Barry appearing for the complainant, and Messrs. Murray and Williams for the defence. T h e
