THE MAUNGATAPU MURDERS.

Grey River Argus, Issue 83, 24 July 1866, Page 3

THE MAUNGATAPU MURDERS.

We are in possession of Nelson papers to. the 20th inst., from which we collate the. following particulars i— On the pri-. soners; being brought;- up before the Resident Magistrate,- on • the -10th, Sullivan ; ■was the.first to airivej'and he took Up his' l)osition, sonte moments .before the others -made thero appearance. He was without irons, and -appeared^thoroughly dejected, and; suffering from ill health. Shortly after; the' three -others' made their appearance, heavily iroiied, but carrying them in an ';[ easy jaunty manner, which showed such fetters, were £uite familiar to them. Next to [Sullivan', at one end of the 'dock, stood Levy, then . Kelly, the other end being , occupied r by . Burgess, . who , main-tained-anair of firmness, even of defiance, throughout the further examination of the witnesses. Kelly .and -Levy appeared quiet, md scarcely moved a muscle of their faces from the -time they entered to , the, time they, left the Court ; there, is," hqwever, a difference noticeable in the expression of Kelly V eyes., When he Avas first in custody the glare of; them was remarkable,- but tins has now given' place to a wild, scared appearance which is scarcely less horrible to notjee. As the prisoners entered the- archway, "leading to the entrance of the Hall, the feelings of the crowd vented themselves in.a simultaneous outburst' of hisses", which were' partially taken up by th6se in-- the interior ; order was, 1 however, at once- restored by the Bench. On leaving the Court, and enterr ingthe coverfed vehicle in which they had been brought from the '■■'gaol;.. the execrations of the crowd fell, thick upon them, and Itevy was seen to turn/round and face thqise who were thus greeting him, and to . laugh scoi;nfiUly in .their faces. , The -f oiir prisoners were, again brought, up on Thursday,. July 12th, before the Resident Magistrate ; liis Honor, theSuperintendent =;• also his? 1 Honor. Mr Moorhouse, the Superintendent of Canterbury ; and a fullrßench of Justices. -The audisnee was as large,, "but Hless "excited than on the previous occasion. "The galleries were filled with ladies, and the Hall as 'well as,. the space within the. bar was fully 7 occupied.: -■■■■.--.. - v >',;■- >. ■ - It was expected 'that Sullivan's statement would be made ' : thatday, but in. consequence of some correspondence with' Wellington,^ it was postponed. There are also various other links of circumstantial" evidence connected' -with property which the police are" in search of, and .these it is thought jiroper first to produce before taking Sullivan's supplementary- statement. A large portion of. the public who were present yesterday, expecting to hear Sullivan, Tvere therefore hot gratified. ■Exactly "at eleven o'clock, the four prisoners entered, all. being in irons except 'Sullivan, who wore hand-cuffs, and who stilt looks ill and emaciated. The three last were hooted by a few stragglers outside the Court-room, arid a groan or two" came from the body of the Court, but were quickly over-stopped. Burgess was flushed ami defiant, his small eye looking «ruelly around. .Kelly seemed a little haggard, and Levy appeared .to breathe hurriedly, and looked more excited than is his wont, as he entered the room. .This was to be accounted for by the fact that, as the prisoners were passing from the lock-up to the Court-room/Mrs Matthieu, the widow of the murdered Eclix Matthieu (in whose house at Deep- Creek Levy had slept, and there gained information of the intended movements, of the-^ murdered men,) went up to him, V and lPokingin his face and holding up her- hand with an extended finger -said, " 0 L|yy, Levy! how could you be sueh ■ a villain?" < Levy made no answer, but this address would readily account for the unusual trepidation he displayed; ■-■ : i - , - - rti s, v =d • SulHvanrdidnottloolfcaround, but-stood still, rarely lopkiilg v up: '"■ *~""" ' The "Colonist" has the following re- ' garding Sullivan and Levy :-y Y'V ' • There is a peculiar circumstance connected with the Christian name of Sullivan which 13. worth examining. In Mount Korong" (Victoria), he was always known by the name of^Phoinas Sullivan. This is certified bypi^ons who knew the man. On arriving in -this colonyTn April last he' assumed' the name of John Joseph Sullivan.. .He has' "declared that he has never before been in New. Zealand, except when quite' young he visited Auckland many .ye^rsagoY The •O tago Daily Times" in a recent, issue spoke of John Joseph Sullivan having been an accomplice of Burgess and Kelly, and getting off on trial, while the two latter were found gulty in -a case of robbery. About a fortnight ago it was reported that there had arrived atHokitika from Melbourne, a Mrs Sullivan, who was at first, supposed, to' be the present prisoner's iwife ; and it was stated by the steward of the steamer Qothenb'urg, that the woniaii. had told him that she had heard from her husband last from Okarita, whence he had §ent h,er jnpney. It was 'beUieyed-that.l^VS^yart.-inight be connected with some pHhis gang, and we be-/lieve-the police of Hokitika were instructed to keep their eyes on her, -and ascertain whether • in 'her baggage may have been contained %ny of the •burglarious implements and apparatus which had been sent for to Australia', to aid ; ih 'the projected robbery ; of; the Bank of ' New South Wales. We Tiave 'heatd*riothirig further of this, ' an' 4 probably nothing has cpme out of.it. ~ Jt would be worth while to know for what, reason Thomas. Sullivan took the CbJn'stian ". ; name :whidii : the Otago journal say* beli>ngii to the epeape« frqiii the Otago

' ' ' '/ Criminal Court, where this Sullivan never ;was'. ■ .■ . ■ . N . ■■ ■ ■ . .. A circumstance . has come to our knowledge respecting Levy, which is of some, interest. 'While he. was at Matthieu's Hotel, at Deep Creep, on the Sunday before the murders, a Mrs Morgan, \yh.q knew him' on the Dunstan, recognised him, and after some conversation, said to -him, "By. the by 'Phil' Levy • what did •ypu do with Emma 1" This was a woman wha lived with him Avhile he.wasonthe Dunstan, and who had disappeared. Levy replied — " Oh, don't speak of that, keep that dark," or words to that effect. Mrs Morgan (whoso husband was afterwards pn the search party,) said no; more-then, but afterwards she told Mrs Mattliieu of tlie conversation, and of the report that was there current of the sudden disappearance of the woman which "was said at the time to be looked upon with suspicion. What the full particulars ;are we cannot state, but that a conversation of this kind took place at Deep Creek, is vouched for by parties who were present, while. Levy was ih Matthieu's hotel. _■■..-.■