FRIGHTFUL MURDER AT EMU FLAT.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 553, 27 March 1876, Page 3

FRIGHTFUL MURDER AT EMU FLAT.

On the evening of the 20th ultimo (reports the Yass (N.S.W.) Courier) an outrage, resulting in the murder of a respectable man named James Omant, took place at a small store at Emu Flat, near Binalong, in close proximity to the railway now in course of construction. There are a large number of men engaged on the line in this locality, and a couple of inns have been doing a good trade there for some time past. These inns are opposite each other, and about fifty yards on the Yass side a small iron store, which was the scene of the te»rible outrage referred to, is situated. Saturday last was pay-day on the line, and the consequence was that, as usual, the men ptfid oil their accounts at the store, and also, as usual, proceeded to the public-houses to enjoy themselves after their week’s hard toil. The store is kept by an old man named M'Connochie, who is stated to be fifty or sixty years of age. On the evening in question the man who has been so cruelly murdered, a sub-contractor on Messrs Amos and Go’s railway contract, had occasion to go to the store about nine o’clock on Saturday night, and on his entering two other men went in at the same time. They had their faces masked with black crape. The moment they entered they produced revolvers, and drove the old storekeeper and the unfortunate Omant into a bedroom adjacent to the store. They then ordered Omant to sit on a chair, and not to move ; M’Gonnochie they placed in a corner, and one of the robbers endeavored to place a gag in his mouth. Omant then rose to assist the old man, and a scuffle ensued, during which he ran to the store, with a view to get outside and alarm the people in the publichouses. On reaching the bedroom door he turned to see what the scoundrels were doing to M‘Connochie, when one of the two raised his pistol and fired, the ball entering Omant’s breast, penetrating one lung near the heart, and the bullet lodging near a rib on the left side. A second shot was fired, which singed M'Oonnochie’s shirt on the shoulder, burned the calico lining of the room, and passed through the galvanised iron of which the building is composed. Meanwhile Omant rushed outside, calling out, “I’m shot, I’m shot —help—they are killing the old man !” The miscreants "then rushed out of the store, and in the darkness succeeded in making good their escape. Omant succeeded in getting as far as M'Mullan’s inn, where he lay down ; and on Sunday evening death put an end to the poor fellow’s sufferings. The perpetrators of this outrage are described as having worn light tweed clothes, and the crape having fallen from off the face of one of them, it is believed he can be identified by M'Connochie. If, as M'Connochie states, he so seriously stabbed one of them, there can be no doubt that they will be speedily apprehended.