OUTRAGE THROUGH JEALOUSY NEAR DUBBO.

Evening Star, Issue 3231, 28 June 1873, Page 3

OUTRAGE THROUGH JEALOUSY NEAR DUBBO.

The following dreadful outrage, caused by jealousy, is reported in the Dubbo DUpatc/i: —lnformation of a dreadful outrage committed at Murrumbidgerie, about fourteen mOes from Dubbo, has been brought into town. It was stated that a woman had been shot by a half-caste, and her life despaired of. Dr. Tibbits and sergeant Wallings, accompanied by a black tracker, went immediately to the scene, and the report made in the first instance was discovered to bo unexaggerated. About eight o’clock on Wednesday morning, a half-caste named David Peckham rode up to the garden of the Murrumbidgerie Inn, a roadside house on the main road from Dubbo to Wellington. He tied his horse behind the paling fence, and walked towards the kitchen. He was armed with a doublebarrelled gun, which he carried in his hand, and a single-barrelled gun strapped to bis back. He went into the kitchen, in which, at the time, was Mary Ann Gill, a half-caste woman. She was sitting by the fire, dressing her children, and on looking up and seeing Peokbam armed, she became frightened and asked what he wanted. The fellow, with an oath, replied, “ You have made a fool of me before, but you shall not do so againand almost as soon as the words were uttered he raised the double-barrelled piece to his shoulder, and taking deliberate aim, fired. The bullet entered Mrs Gill’s right side, glanced off a rib, went through the fleshy part of the back, and came out on the other side, striking the wall The woman at once fell to the ground. The little child she was dressing was also knocked down, and narrowly escaped being thrown into the fire. Peckham, who seems to have gone about his work as coolly and deliberately as if he were killing a bird, kept the gun to his shoulder for a minute or so, and there appears every reason to believe if the unfortunate creature had stirred «r showed signs of life, he would have discharged the contents of the other barrel at her. Immediately on hearing the shot, Mr H. L. Zoucb, who was at the time at the inn, rushed out, and seeing Peckham running round the fence, towards his horse, followed him. The ruffian, however, covered his pursuer with the gun, and threatened if he were followed to fire at Mr Zouoh. The fellow was thus enabled to mount his hone and ride off unmolested. Mr Zouch was not aimed, nor had he any horse at hand, so un* willingly indeed he was obliged to allow Peckham to get away. However, he followed him on foot for some distance, but finding the chase a fruitless one, and thinking of the poor woman that lay weltering in her blood, he returned to the inn without a moment’s delay, and took steps to obtain a horse and send a messenger to Dubbo for medical assistance. Mary Ann Gill was removed to bed, and everything that kindness could suggest was done by ' Mrs Fogarty to alleviate the sufferings and calm the mind of the victim. t Dr Tibbits, on examination of the injured woman, found that the ballet had entered the right side, struck the angle of the rib, and broken the bone. This turned the direction of the ball, which passed out on the left side, doing considerable injury and producing much hoemorrhage. The woman was in a very weak state when the doctor arrived, but he administered remedies, and she was soon in an improved condition. It was then deemed advisable to remove her te the Dubbo Hospital, into which institution «he was received on Wednesday night at nine o’clock. The only motive assigned for his shooting Mary Ann Gill is jealousy. It is said that he was enraged at her not returning his affection, but rather showing a preference for another person; and to revenge the slight, as he considered it, he determined to murder the woman.