TRIAL FOR THE MURDER OF THE GERMAN AT DUNEDIN.

Evening Post, Issue 112, 19 June 1865, Page 2

TRIAL FOR THE MURDER OF THE GERMAN AT DUNEDIN.

The prisoners Anderson and Ford, under trial for the murder of the German, Charley, have been acquitted. The trial lasted over two days, and naturally occasioned a good deal of public excitement. The circumstances under which the unfortunate victim must have met his death, and the vague rumours which for some time previous to the trial were widely circulated — among others, that the female prisoner intended to turn Queen's evidence, combined to excite public interest to a high pitch, and the court was densely crowded. The evidence produced against the accused undoubtedly connected them with the deceased, and proved that he must have been in their company up to within a short time of the murder. The chain of evidence, although presumptively strong, was utterly inconclusive, and failed to convince tli,e jury of the guilt of the prisoner. Public opinion is generally opposed to the belief that the prisoners murdered the man, although much weaker testimony would in by gone time have sufficed for their condemnation. This case makes the third murder which has been committed in Otago, of which the perpetrator has escaped, and public opinion is aroused to the question of the efficiency of our much vaunted police. This last instance is a most singular one ; the man was murdered within the precincts of the city, and must, before he reached the locality where the deed was committed, have traversed public streets at an untimely hour ; and yet the police can give no account whatever of him. — Correspondent of the Canterbury Press.,