There was much mystery in the case. Mr. McGeary, the best linguist among the roving parties after the Aborigines, protested that the crime was never committed by the three men, but by some of the supposed friendly Sorell tribe on the occasion of a quarrel. A letter from Launceston appeared in the paper of September 14th, giving the story of a native woman. She stated that both were armed, and were accompanied by some decoy females, for the capture of some Blacks. The rest is told in her own words: "White man and black man fight—white man kill black man—black man kill white man." Strange to say, the three supposed murderers were merely sent to Flinders Island, where they roamed freely with the other Aborigines.
One of the most stirring incidents in the history of the war is given in an official communication to the Colonial Secretary, dated August 25th, 1831, by Captain Moriarty, so well known and respected afterwards in the port of Hobart Town. It narrates the circumstances attending an attack upon an isolated homestead, and exhibits the heroism of a half-cast, Dalrymple Briggs. She was so named from being born at Port Dalrymple, and was the first of her race on the northern side. She had married a settler in the interior, and, in her contention with the Natives, forgot the blood of her own race, in her feelings as a wife and a mother. For six long hours did she sustain a siege, and nobly did she defend her position. It is customary for the historian to describe the strength of the beleaguered place, when detailing a succession of assaults. Our heroine fought behind no granite wall, nor was she shielded by a bomb-proof roof. Her castle was a simple slab hut; though the bark roof, fortunately for her, had been covered with a thick coating of mud and lime to keep out the weather. The story will be better told in the Captain's words:—
"There was no person in the hut, when the Natives first appeared, but a woman named Dalrymple Briggs, with her two female children, who, hearing some little noise outside, sent the elder child to see what was the matter, and hearing her shriek went out with a musket. On reaching the door, she found the poor child had been speared. The spear entered close up in the inner part of the thigh, and had been driven so far through as to create a momentary difficulty in securing the child from its catching against either door-post. Having effected this object,
