Latest Australian News.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 33, 29 June 1870, Page 6

Latest Australian News.

At a pic-nic ia the Melbourne Botanical Gardens, a purse was awarded to the prettiest lady and the ugliest gentleman There was a large concourse of people The largest nuggot yet found at Berlin was brought into the Bank of New South Wales on the 3rd irist. It weighed 1121oz 15dwt, and its value ia estimated at upwards of £iOQO. l Another accident on the Victorian Railways (says the Ballarat Star) occurred on Tuesday night, though, fortunately, no damage was done to life or limb. The special train which brought back the volunteers smashed the gate at the Eastern station to pieces. The engine was fairly smothered in splinters, and the lamps on the engine were destroyed. An acrobat, one of the Wieland Brothers, was observed standing for a couple of hours yesterday morning in the middle of Bourke-street; and on being asked what he was waiting for, he replied with much solemnity that he was expecting to receive the wrath - of God, which he anticipated would burst on his head in the shape of a thunder-bolt. Sergeant Parry removed him from the road to the watclihouse, and he was remanded for medical inquiry. The closing chapter in the life of Mr Gregory Nicholas, of Fitzroy—an old colonist who had accumulated considerable property, but who was riot well known beyond the circle of hia own friends—is possessed of more than passing interest. His aged partner in life was to be buiied yesterday, but the funeral was postponed in con-, sequence of his own death, which occurred within a few hours of the time named for the removal of his wife's remains to the cemetery; and to-day the aged couple, who upwards of fifty years ago pledged their vows, will together be carried to their last resting-place. An inquest was held at Armidale lately on the body of the bushranger Thunderbolt, when a verdict of " Justifiable Homicide'' was returned by the jury. It seems that Constable Walker chased the outlaw for seven miles before bringing him to bay. Thunderbolt tried to make his escape by crossing a piece of water, but Walker came up and shot his horse. The constable then summoned Thunderbolt to surrender, but he refused, saying "I'll die first." Walker replied, " Then it is you or I for it," and fired, shooting the prisoner through the left breast, dead. The Colonial Secretary has ordered that Constable Walker shall be promoted, and a reward granted to him.' It is contemplated to strike a gold medal for the reward of members of the police force performing similar services. The following is the lettsr written to the Chief Commissioner of Police by t!ie Tate" Mr Parsons before his death :•—" Kind Friend, —Please 3end some person or persons to Kew to take my corpse out of the rirer there, sajsjjig nothing to anvbody until you have done so. Passing by the Kew Hotel, and up Princes-street to the line of the back fence of the Chief Justice's premises, and proceeding thence to the river, one end of a clothes line will be found on the last post, and my body at the other, in the water! Take it to a cheap receptacle near, from whence, when the law has done witli it, it may be buried in Kew Cemetery. Kindly at the inquest produce this and the two accompanying manuscript letters to the Queen. Of the printed one, many hundred copies are already distributed in Melbourne. Mr Gaskin, office-keeper of this court, or some friend, will kindly identify my remains, to save the pain of any of my family being called. Kindly, too, insist on no verdict of ' temporary insanity,' or anything of the sort, being returned; but 1 found drowned,' or 'felo de se,' or anything of that kind, to prevent my labours from being in death, as in life, discredited. If you can get these papers into print, and myself thus better known, my memory dear to my family—may yet be esteemed. Unable to stem vice in life, I die to terrify it and escape the torture of unjust defeat and poverty, If ever land law title be again considered, I may here state—having omitted it elsewhere—that an able English lawyer sent me word that he thought the suggestions of my pamphlet of August, 1863, one of the best systems the landed interest could adopt. Kindly urge my family not to remove my remains from where you take them to until. burial, and not to spend an unnecessary shilling over that."

_ 9 MADNESS, MURDER, AND SUICIDE. (From the Age, May 23.) The town was startled on Saturday by the announcement that a terrible tragedy had occurred at Ballarat in the early part of the day. Our evening contemporary gives the following account of the ghastly occurrence:— The metropolis unfortunately is not the only place in the colony where horrible c-imes are perpetrated. The premier goldfield city has become the scene of a more awful occurrence than has just terminated in Melbourne. This morning, shortly after 9 o'clock, and just as the business of (Ballarat was about commencing in full activity as is usually the case on Saturday morning, the residents of Ballarat were startled by a report that Mr Cook, of the firm of Cook Brothers, had shot Mrs Moss, the wife of a tinsmith and plumber in Armstrong-street, and had then committed suicido. As far

as wo can learn the particulars of this j most distressing case, they are as follow : I At nine o'clock this morning Mr Cook J was seen in the yard at the rear of Mr jf Moss's shop talking earnestly to Mrs Moss, fj From some part of his dress he produced a bottle and exhibited it to Mrs Moss. Sho inquired what was in it, and to her horror was told by Mr Cooke that it contained poison. For some time the conversation was prolonged, but it was carried on In such low tones that it was inaudible to 1 those near. After the conversation was i over Mr Cooke went into the shop alone. As Mrs Moss seemed intent upon following hira, a servant who was standing by If interfered, and urgently requested her not to do so. The doomed woman.would I not, however, be moved from heu rpurpose, and she immediately followed Cooke into § the house. A few moments after her enter- r , $ ing into the house, the report of a gikj/was I heard, accompanied with loud sfHima. I A woman then rushed into the shop, and- 1 found Mrs Moss shot. She was leaning I against the wall, pale, bleeding, and appa- f rently dead. Cooke was armed with a • jf double-barrelled gun, aud just as ho was j secured round the body, by a I who had come into, the shop, he fired the 1 weapon, which was pointed at his throat. The charge, entering at the lower part of , the face, went right through his head, and, 1 blew the brains through the top of the' skull. Mrs Moss fell from the wall to the floor on the second discharge from : the gun" 1 taking place. The dead body of Mr Cooke I fell close to that of Mrs Moss. From the j timewheu Mrs Moss was first seen after J she had been shot, she never spoke. Aa J the two bodies were lying on the floop of "t[ the shop, they presented a most awful: appearance Mrs Moss had been shot below ; the left breast, and' the charge had gone through her heart; Cooke's head was 1 literally blown to atoms. Mr Moss was |jj absent from home when the murder and 1 suicide took place ; but a' messenger was ;j seat for him. When' the sad news was j conveyed to him, he fainted away, and in j this condition he was taken home. The I excitement caused is very great, as all the parties to this lamentable occurrence are so well known. Mrs Moss was & woman of more than " ordinary attractions. She was well known and universally liked : her connections are very numerous and m«*"Os respectable ; and for some years Mr r Mosi has been carrying on a most e^y business as a tinsmith and pliuj^f J ? r « Mr I (Jooke, as already mentioneci. ir*] 8 a part- I ner in the firm of Cooke Brc# ■'' lrs { | sale ironmongers. He was uJp !! ' ,ri^ t ''dj and ! was universally respected. T, 1G r^ l ßered 1 woman had no children, sot Jsnp family deprived of *j» jMSttT*Up"to tlui""tune no^tefhtttS^c^ f^ij^B^! * ] assigned for the committal of ful tragedy, but rumours of n\r. •ustSSSsl* are afloat. The bodies are now in charge of the polios, and, until the inquest is held, I i it would be unwise to mention any of the j numerous guesses as to why such a fright- I * ful crime has been committed. This melan- 9 choly affair will certainly cause . great ex- I j citement in Geelong, where the unfortu- I ! nate lady and her family were for years I < well known and greatly respected. For B some considerable time, dating, we believe, j from 1855, Mrs Moss, then Miss Claxton, ! was one of the leading amateur vocalists in ' that town, and was for some time connected jR with the choir of the principnl Baptist B Church. She was also one of the 9 best amateur contralto singers in Victoria. H She was also a member of the Sacred Har- n : monic Society in that town, and it was I j during her connection with that body that H she made the acquaintance of Mr Moss, to I whom she was eventually married. Mr 9 Moss was then associated in business at a H wholesale tinsmith with Mr Bennatt, a » gentleman highly respected by his brother i townsmen. A strange fatality seems to 1 have been attached to this ill-fated firm IfO and family, for, some few months after*his j' marriage with Miss Smith (another mem- ['■ ber of the same musical society), Mr Ben- 1= nett was accidentally slot while in the 1 height of enjoyment at a picnic at Mount n Moriac. Shortly after this melancholy 18 event, Mr Moss relinquished business in j» Geelong, and left for Ballarat, at which « place he has up to this :ime been carrying Wm on a large business. Siill more fetality: Jm Mrs Doolan, the younger late £mm Mrs Moss, and who hfself ■■ of great personal atti-aitions, jtleTSapme few Tarn years back ai EcfiWa^afteKa"linrflite ill- mm ncss, caused jy rccqpving severe a 1 W fire which tok place at her residence.*"* 1 |i From anoher correspondent ir. Ballarat I I we have recived the additional particulars I B that Cookewas about thirty year 3of age I H and the ufortunate lady thirty-one or I B thirty-two. The statement is also made li « that Cook/had for socio time carried onp an impropr intimacy with Mrs Moss, and ii that it wn jealousy on Cooke's part'that Stlf promptedlim to shoot the murdered Wo- Wm HoUoxofa Ointment and Pills tho best reme- Hill dies for 1? cure of Female Complaint:! The 111 extraordjiry effect theso Pills have upoa all Mil complain peculiirly incident to females would MM appear iireVhblel if it were not confirmed daily sSjflP* by the yndorfujeures they effect in the Cape Colony. It is arfunquestionable thare § * / 1 is not n,' remeifr to equal them throu»t"7*«M World,"»r cxti-niinating suffering fr««,T5« 1/ softer », thaulhese admirable HJJ S nTti-V S// 1 larly tofounß frls catering into tamanhnJ I ' therefojall arcj'equested to give Ihcm ti la which j\l insiw their rocomm«adiion j flf \