ARREST OF SULLIVAN.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 174, 29 December 1874, Page 3

ARREST OF SULLIVAN.

From the Melbourne Age of the Hth wo glean the following particulars of the arrest of the notorious Sullivan The man arrested at Inglewood on suspicion of being Sullivan, so notorious for his connection with the Maungatapu and other murders, in the province of Nelson, N< w Zealand, has been fully identified. It turns out that he never sailed for England. The unfortunate man who was taken for Sullivan on board a ship going to England, who narrowly escaped being thrown overboard as a Jonah, who was landed at Penzance amidst the curses and jeers of his fellow-pas-sengers, and who was, according to statements by the last English mail, being jealously watched by the London detectives, must have had a miserable time of it ; aud it is to be hoped that he will be at peace when the news reaches England that the real criminal has been at last unearthed. Sullivan found his way from New Zealand to Inglewood, where his wife, whom he had left there when he started from Victoria for New Zealand, still resides. The uufortuate woman has, however, it seems, formed another connection, having, it is said, man’ied another man. The only resource for the Government seems to be to send Sullivan back to New Zealand whence he came, and let the authorities there work their brains a little over this their social problem. The Wedderburn correspondent of the Bendigo Advertiser gives the following particulars :—“This important capture was made by Senior-constable Colvin and Mounted-constable Killen yesterday, at noon, at the house in which his late wife (?) lives in this township. I say‘late,’ because she was married about three years since to a man resident here. It appears that Sullivan arrived in this township about 10 o’clock on the previous evening, and spent the night in the house in which he was taken. Shortly after his arrest and removal to the lock-up, the trooper was despatched to Inglewood to telegraph to the Chief Commissioner the important duty they had performed. Sullivan was arrested under the authority conferred by the Criminal Influx Prevention Statute, passed some years back to prevent the colony being flooded by a felon population. Sullivan says that he came from England by ship to Sydney, thence by steamer to Melbourne, from the latter place to Inglewood by coach, and then w a’kcd up to Wedderburn. The most absurd stories are afloat about him as usual in such cases. At present it is only necessary to state that the police await instructions, and that he will be brought up before the Bench aud formally remanded.”

The Telegraph writing on Sullivan’s capture, says To hear that O’Ferrall was to be brought back to Victoria was by no means unwelcome intelligence, but yesterday’s news —that the wretched Sullivan, most notorious of colonial murderers, had come to Victoria — was most unwelcome. It was a misfortune that New Zealand could not hang the creature, but had to strike a bargain with him that if he betrayed his comrades in the terrible outrages his life should be spared, Such a bargain, however, was made, and the difficulty is now what to do with the wretch. In New Zealand he is in hourly danger of being lynched, and the United States Government has already interfered to prevent New Zealand carrying out its intention of swelling the crime of the country by exporting Sullivan to San Francisco or New York.. The digestion of those cities is very strong. A good many desperate characters from the old world are swallowed annually by them, but their authorities deem it needful to draw the line somewhere, and they draw it at Sullivan. England, the detectives have made too hot for the outcast, and baffled on all hands, the hunted wretch seems to have turned, in his sullen despair, to Victoria. He had a home here at orre time. His wife is reported to be still living—with another man. He probably thought his old chums would hide him, but we may well imagine that they are disposed to turn from him in terror and disgust. Dickens made a close study of criminal life, and his picture of the fear and hatred felt towards Bill Sykes after his great crime is true to the life, and Sykes was hy no means the villain that Sullivan is. We are happily protected by our Convicts Influx Prevention Law, which was passed to prevent the pardoned felons of Tasmania flocking to our shores, and which holds good against all criminals and all pardons, whether issued by a Governor or the Queen herself, but under any circumstances it would be impossible to allow him to remain here. Wedderburne and its vicinity were the scenes of dark and mysterious murders while Sullivan lived there, murders which were similar in striking features to the tragedies in New Zealand. With his departure these murders ceased. At any price the country must be protected from a renewal, or from even the dread of such horrors.