Latest Australian Items.

Cromwell Argus, Issue I, 8 June 1870, Page 7

Latest Australian Items.

[From Daily Times' Correspondent.] 1 Melbourne, 23rd May. . Twice within a week the inhabitants of Victoria have been startled from their propriety by awful news. Murder seems indeed to be the very error of the hour, and it is to be feared, like the suicide mania, it will spread. Let me narrate the facts. Last ( Tuesday, as Mr George Paton Smith, ex- , Attorney-General, and now M.L.A. for South Bourke, was proceeding from the Supreme Court to the House of Assembly, he was met at the corner of Latrobe and Spring streets, by Gerald Henry Supple, also a barrister, and also, like Mr Smith, a constant contributor to the press here. Supple drew a revolver, and said, “ Look out, lam going to fire.” Suiting the ac- 1 tion to the word, he did fire. Smith dodged, and ran away, crying out as he ' went, “ For God’s sake save me, this man 1 wants to murder me.” As he ran Supple ' ran, and kept at the same time blazing away with his revolver. His fourth shot hit \ Smith on, the elbow joint, and passed along the bone to the wrist, where it lodged, 1 and whence it was extracted by Dr Motherwell. At this juncture a by-stander named Walshe rushed at Supple and threw ' him to the ground. He fired as he fell, and the ball pierced Walshe’s abdomen. In a city like this, you can judge what the commotion was. The news spread like wild-fire, and soon the town was flooded with contradictory reports of all kinds. First, it was said that Smith had shot Supple ; then that Supple had killed Smith, and afterwards shot himself; and then that both Smith and Walshe were dead or about to die. The excitement spread even within the walls of the Legislative Assembly, and there a formal announcement was made of the fact that a member of Parliament had been shot on his way to the House. Soon the uneasiness which was felt on Mr Smith’s account was dispelled, for after having had his wound dressed he walked to the Assembly, and had an interview with the Chief Secretary in the minister’s room. It was not so well with poor Walshe, though. He was conveyed to the hospital, and at first it was thought that he was only slightly hurt. The ball had entered above the hip and traversed the muscles of the back till it reached the region of the spine. No difficulty was found in extracting it, and it was thought that as the spine was uninjured all might be well. This did not prove to be the case, however; and at three o’clock next day he died. A sub scription was at oface started, and I believe over £SOOO will be raised for his family, which numbers six. The State intends taking the responsibility of the children on itself, and a sum will be placed on the Estimates for their future support. Supple’s ' friends want to make out that ho is mad. He has since the act gloried in it, but ho has expressed regret that he killed Walshe ’ instead of Smith. He now lies in gaol, , awaiting trial. Public feeling is very strong - against him ; still, I fancy a great effort ■ be made to prove him insane. The ) Cfown, however; will not accept the plea, ; and lam told that an article ho wrote in ~ the Aryus tjie day before the murder will be jbut in *9 evidence against him. f

The floods in New South again been accompanied by a sad IoBIS life, and a great destruction of At Maneroo',' Mrs Caldwell, her seven dren, and a man, whose name has not pired, have been drowned. The bridge has been swept away, and property* of different descriptions greatly damaged. 1 The weather along the coast has been very stormy. Tho ship Medea, from Liverpool, encountered very heavy weather off Cape Otway, lost two of her boats, and sustained other damage. Portions of wreck hare been washed ashore at Wollongong. The wreck has not been identified, but is supposed to have belonged to the schooner Hannah. The Tasmanian Immigration Commissioners hare received information from Mr Buck, their agent in Germany, to the effect that a large number of Germans are coming out to Tasmania i pr the Victoria, and* that a continuous stream of emigrants may be expected from Hamburg. Berlin is maintaining its reputation for nuggeta On Monday, Bonar and party got a piece weighing 101b. in Catto’a ground, just outside John’s paddock-fence, and on Tuesday a 141b. nugget was got in a claim a little lower down on the same' run; 30oz. were also got on Tuesday, in pieces weighing from 7oz. downwards. The Chinamen are still doing well, one lucky Celestial having obtained a 20oz. piece a few days since, besides a handful of smaller nuggets. There is to be no Birthday Ball to-mor-row, Queen’s Birthday, and great is 1 wail among tho ladies and the with the gentlemen. Parsimony is aljcJßl by some as the reason of his Excellences deviation from a time-honoured custom. One of the grounds alleged is the recent death in the vice-regal family, and another that there is no room fit for such a reunion —the Exhibition Building being occupied for Mining Museum purposes. H Infanticide and child desertion are upoiH the increase. The Legislature will have tH take soma decided steps by way of preveu-B tion or check if this practice is not to be-l come a national crime; hardly a week I passes but some unhappy result of indis-" cretion is found murdered or deserted, by its unnatural parent. During the criminal sessions this week, we had an instance of “once a thief always a thief,” in one or two of three men brought up for a daring burglary most artistically executed in Bourke-strcet. Baxter, one of the trio, was concerned in the Nelson robbery in 1852, and though he had contrived to keep out of serious mischief since has led a life of plunder. One of the others hadj. . been convicted several times, and the thirdj i was well known to the police. The pr* r " ners were found guilty, and sentence. A shocking murder at Smythesdale is reported by the Ballarat Evening Mail. An old resident of that place, named Donald Cameron, living near the toll-gate, arose at about seven o’clock, and with scarcely any preliminary words, cut his wife’s throat with, a knife he had sharpened some days kept in his possession. The fa£w instantaneously done, and woman rushed out of the hou where ‘5once to the 0 man, sent this arrival, tho medic,d genfl ' ing that, even lfl| \ i spot, he would the woman's 1 ife. had been divided. eight children, and at currenca was encienie. young man, aged 20, was time, and, hearing her shrieks, came toWB assistance, but it was all too late. The band Waslately secured and by tho kept until the arrival the police, tinhorn he was given in chargH Cameron sufferecr sane months ago froH brain fever, since whicbStajigfeLp ] laa no « been considered in his tho wofl man having frequently that he would do her Daly’s asking him the act, he replied that “ it was star in heaven, and would be for thenHH fit of the Almighty.” The excitement over this sad affa/ not abated when the telegiaphh flashed to Melbourne the news of a still more dire in its effects, by * HU". ’ Mrs Moss was shot by a man namefaiS,*' who, immediately after the act, / ABHB his own brains. Both parties spectable position. Both and both,* seem, bad fIBHHB| a criminal jntercourse. A case illustrative of “ Tho SHH Wanted,” has been lately . Williamstown. A woman i Cox, who has been the paramour years of a man earning good i wages, a few weeks since, in a dnHßj i bout, her mother and the man she was , with being partakers of the orgie, allowßl ; her infant child to fall out of her arms into ; the fire without her knowing anything > about it. She was tried' for the offence,< , found guilty, and now awaits i Surely Williamstown would I for the missionary schooner f ■HI and much handier than Is'ln. /