and heflungthe letter and its enclosure into the yard, yvhen Ryan mastered sufficient presence of mind to pick them up and run away. Croke set off forthyvith to the Police Office, and instituted criminal proceedings, yvhich eventuated in the runayvay's committal for trial at the Criminal Sessions. T h e only defence set up was that neither insult nor bribery was intended. Ryan had been knoyvn for some time to Croke, yvho had more than once done him a kind turn, and it yvas as a recognition of such, rather than through any corrupt motive, that a present, and not a bribe, had been offered. T h e jury returned a verdict of "Guilty," and Mr. Croke, addressing the Court, intimated that though as Crown Prosecutor he had through a sense of duty brought the defendant to justice, it yvas neither his duty nor his wish to urge a severe sentence. Ryan yvas sentenced to a fine of £ 1 5 , and imprisonment until payment. T h e penalty was at once paid, and the released Ryan departed amidst a large retinue of friends. T h e curious incident of this case yvas the selection of the official to be operated upon. Ryan had been for years, a Melbourne watchhouse-keeper, and must have knoyvn that £ 5 passed to other hands than Croke's yvould have secured him what he yvas in quest of; for it was a matter of notoriety at the time that the most influential of the Licensing Magistrates "took tip," as it was styled, from everyone who gave it; and such a largess as the one so indignantly cast forth by the Crown Prosecutor, yvould have secured any licensing favour that could possibly be asked. A " PENTONVILLIAIN " MURDERER.—I6TH JUNE, 1848.
About 5 o'clock on the evening of the 20th April, Mr. Walter Butler, a resident of Williamstown, was returning h o m e from Melbourne, and in a holloyv at Stoney Creek, two miles from the then Saltwater River punt, and about four miles from Williamstown, he discovered the dead body of a boy lying near some scrub, with the head half cut off. Constables Sugden and Brodie lost no time in endeavouring to track the murderer; for that a foul murder had been committed there could be little doubt. Sugden took Melbourne as his searching ground, whilst Brodie rode away to Stoney Creek, yvhere he sayv approaching, a Williamstoyvn constable and two other persons, bearing the dead body on a door. They took it to the Punt Lnn, and on being searched, there was found in one of the pockets of the deceased a letter enclosing £ 2 , purporting to have been written by his brother in Launceston, and requesting him to go there. This led to a knowledge that the deceased was one Matthew Lucke, a Pentonville " exile," yvho had arrived in the colony by the " Marion." F r o m enquiries m a d e by the Toyvn police it was ascertained that the deceased and another "exile" boy—Augustus Dauncey—yvere on terms of intimacy, and frequently together. Dauncey was hunted up at a lodging-house, kept by a Mr. John Stanway, in Little Flinders Street. H e was then arrested on suspicion of the murder. A n inquest was held next day at the Saltwater River, and the evidence against the prisoner yvas yvholly circumstantial. H e and the deceased kept company on the day prior to the murder, and occupied the same bed that night. Next morning they started together from Melbourne to walk to Williamstown, and crossed by the Saltwater punt. T h e puntman, afterwards noticing Dauncey alone, asked, whilst towing him over the river, what had become of his companion, and Dauncey carelessly answered, " I left him behind at Williamstoyvn." After the prisoner's arrest his clothes yvere examined, when some blood stains yvere found on his trousers, and two of the bone buttons of his vest showed blood marks. In a pocket he had a black-handled, one-bladed pocket-knife, the blade of yvhich seemed as if recently rubbed or scoured with gravel or sand. T h e principal wounds on deceased were such as could be inflicted yvith a knife. A frightful gash reached from ear to ear, and on close examination appeared as if done by three several cuts or draws. T h e head presented contusions, as if deceased had been felled before the throat cutting, or had b u m p e d his head against a stone or stump whilst being slaughtered. A verdict of "Wilful Murder " was returned, and the prisoner committed for trial. O n the 17th M a y Dauncey was indicted at the Criminal Sessions, and yvhen called on to plead, said he could not do so unless he had Counsel. T h e Judge (A'Beckett) ruled that he had no power to assign Counsel to prisoners. If Counsel yvere present it would be for him to say whether he would appear in the case. T h e Croyvn Prosecutor promised that the prisoner should be treated as fairly as if he had Counsel.
